Water table fluctuations due to canal seepage and time varying recharge

Transient water table variation in an unconfined horizontal aquifer, lying between two canals located at different elevations above the impermeable ba rrier and receiving time varying recharge, is predicted by obtaining an ana lytical solution to the linearized Boussinesq equation. The proposed soluti on is for the generalized form of time varying recharge and has been obtain ed by applying an indigenously devised transformation to the flow governing equation. The solution for constant rate of recharge, a special case of th e proposed solution, is compared with the existing analytical solution and almost identical Values of water table rise are obtained. The effect of con stant recharge, exponentially decreasing recharge and a combination of cons tant and exponentially decreasing recharge on the water table rise is analy zed with the help of a numerical example. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. Al l rights reserved.