The drainage of the aquitard and its implication for groundwater exploitation in Hengshui City

The deformation and the drainage of the aquitard is the main concern in the North China Plain (NCP), and the water released from aquitard compaction may be a large portion of the exploited groundwater. The skeletal specific storage of aquitard is the element parameter to the drainage of aquitard, and the undisturbed core samples are the best choice for the measurement of the physical parameters. In this study, the consolidation test was employed to analyze the skeleton specific storage of the clay sample drilled from Hengshui City, and the contribution from the drainage of aquitard to the groundwater exploitation. The results suggest the consolidation test can be utilized to understand the skeletal specific storage of aquitard, which is about 3.92×10-4 m-1 in the Hengshui. The water-saturation content of the aquitard was less than 100%, and the amount of the drainage of the aquitard was about 69% of the volume of land subsidence. The water released from aquitard compaction was about 35% of the groundwater exploitation to the deep aquifers.