With increasing concerns surrounding global climate
change, there has been growing interest in the
potential impacts to aquifers; however, relatively
little research has been undertaken to determine the
sensitivity of groundwater systems to changes in
critical climate change parameters. It is expected that
changes in temperature and precipitation will alter
groundwater recharge to aquifers, causing shifts in
water table levels in unconfined aquifers as a first
response to climate trends (Changnon et al. 1988;
Zektser and Loaiciga 1993). This activity may have a
considerable impact on wetland systems that are
groundwater driven where a change of less than one
foot in the surficial water table elevation can significantly
impact a wetland.