Variability of karst water flow

What is it about?

Some karst aquifer systems exhibit considerable hydrologic variability. A review of factors inducing such variability and consequences it may cause is presented. In dependence to respective hydrologic conditions groundwater flow also results in variations of flow directions and velocities. This may have many implications for contaminant transport, groundwater availability and vulnerability. In karst hydrologic variability should be considered for proper planning.

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Why is it important?

Behavior of karst aquifers is often unpredictable and their water resources are extremely vulnerable to contamination, over-exploitation and climate change. Ignoring variability of groundwater flow and transport processes in karst under different hydrologic conditions, when carrying out hydrogeological investigations, when confronting specific environmental and engineering problems or when planning management of groundwater resources, is potentially erroneous.