The impact of urban groundwater upon surface water - eTheses ...

MONITORING NETWORKS AND METHODS
Because of the broad scope of the investigation and the wide range of methods employed, an
initial overview is presented of the techniques and monitoring networks used, together with
the locations of sampling and measurement points. The reader may then refer to the
subsequent sections if a more detailed description of each methodology is required. The
sections are divided as follows:
• Archive data
• Surface water flow gauging
• Surface water quality sampling
• Groundwater quality sampling
• Groundwater head measurements
• Characterisation of the riverbed sediments
• Riverbed temperature survey
• The groundwater contribution to baseflow
• Sample analyses.
4.1 Overview
The 23.8 km study reach of the Tame is delimited by the Environment Agency’s flow gauging
stations at Bescot (upstream) and Water Orton (downstream). The main focus of the study
was on the central 7.4 km stretch of the river that flows over the unconfined Birmingham
Aquifer (Figure 4.1).
Surface water sampling was undertaken at ~ 200-500 m intervals along the river to determine
the variation in surface water quality (Figure 4.2). Results were compared with the water
quality data from 96 piezometers specifically installed in the riverbed at depths of 15-200 cm.
58