December 2012 overview

Groundwater levels - December 2012

We expect to see groundwater levels rising in December, as this is part of the usual recharge season when soils are wet and rainwater can infiltrate into aquifers.  However, the final month of 2012 was still exceptional - as the map shows, groundwater levels in over three quarters of our index wells exceeded their December average.

Record levels for December were seen in 7 index wells, e.g. Skirwith in the Sherwood Sandstone and Wetwang in the Chalk.  The second highest levels on record were seen at a number of sites including the long record boreholes Chilgrove House (since 1836) and Compton (1894) in the South Downs.  Further extensive groundwater flooding is probable given the high levels in the Chalk.

Groundwater flooding has been occurring in some Chalk areas, and groundwater discharge has been contributing to high flows in some streams and rivers for which the Environment Agency have issued flood alerts.

For more information, see the hydrological summary for December 2012 [PDF].