How are groundwater and the river related or connected?
In the Ipswich River Watershed, groundwater and the river are closely interrelated. Groundwater flows into the Ipswich River, and maintains flow between rainfall events – this is called “baseflow.” Pumping groundwater (wells) can interrupt this flow into the river, resulting in lower flows or even no flow in the Ipswich River (See water pumping effects). If your “groundwater container” (described above) had some leaks or drains in it, allowing water to seep out into a trough, this might be a simple model representing the connection between groundwater and the Ipswich River. Picture what would happen to the groundwater, if you covered your container with a lid, and then poured water on it. The water would not be able to sink into the soil, but would “run off” the lid. This represents what happens to groundwater when land is paved over, built upon or even cleared and compacted. The water can’t penetrate into the ground, and therefore groundwater is not replenished. This loss of groundwat
