<p> The Chico Aquifer System is a sole source aquifer located in the southwest region of Louisiana. A comprehensive study of the groundwater level of the Upper, Massive, and “200-foot” sands was undertaken to produce potentiometric surfaces for every five years from 1940 to 2015. The historical surfaces were produced for two different periods of the year; peak water-level months (non-irrigation season from January to March) and trough water-level months (irrigation season from May to July). ESRI ArcGIS extensions Arc Hydro Groundwater and Geostatistical Analyst were used to evaluate the spatial variability of the potentiometric surfaces, and ordinary kriging interpolation models were used to produce the surfaces. The cross-validation process indicated that the models were unbiased with satisfactory accuracy. From 1945 to 2015, Acadia Parish had the highest overall groundwater level decline (44.4 feet), followed by Evangeline Parish (32.6 feet), and Jefferson Davis Parish (29.63 feet). After high declines from 1945 to 1980 (33.2 feet), Calcasieu Parish showed signs of recovery since 1980 (+16.3 feet). The rate of change of the potentiometric surface for all parishes in the Chicot Aquifer System was higher from 1945 to 1980 than from 1980 to 2015. The grand average of the change in the potentiometric surface for the Chicot Aquifer System since 1945 was a decline of 23.3 feet. As society continues to improve water resource management, the results and methods presented here demonstrate an improvement in historical hindcasting that could create better plans for water management in the future.</p><p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10682252 |
| Date | 03 May 2018 |
| Creators | Speyrer, Fabiane Barato |
| Publisher | University of Louisiana at Lafayette |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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