Network design for groundwater monitoring - a case study

The applicability and usefulness of Geostatistics (kriging) as a tool for o ptimum selection of sites for monitoring groundwater levels has been demons trated through a case study. The criterion used is the estimation of error variance. Groundwater level data (pre-monsoon 1994) obtained from 32 observ ation wells of Upper Kongal basin, Nalgonda District, A.P. (India) has been stochastically analyzed. The spatial distribution of water levels and its associated error variance is computed and the locations having maximum erro r variance are selected as additional sites for augmenting the existing obs ervational well network.