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The hydrostatic pressure gives $p_x=\rho g{h}_x$, independent of depth. Thus Darcy's law gives $u=-K{h}_x$ and the horizontal volume flux per unit width isThe coefficient $K$ is the hydraulic conductivity, with units of velocity. For a column of unit horizontal area, the stored water volume is $\varphi h$, and rainfall supplies volume flux $R$. The local mass conservation equation is $\varphi h_t+q_x=R$. Therefore the Boussinesq equation for an unconfined aquifer isThis assumes rainfall is entirely converted into recharge and neglects unsaturated storage and losses before the water reaches the water table.

Let $H\ll L$ be the characteristic saturated thickness and let $\delta =H/L$. Scale pressure by $\rho gH$. The horizontal part of Darcy's law gives the scaleBy incompressibility, $w\sim \delta u\sim K{\delta }^2$. The vertical part of Darcy's law isIts left side is smaller than the scale $K$ by ${\delta }^2$. Therefore $p_z+\rho g=O(\rho g{\delta }^2)$, and the leading pressure is hydrostatic pressure:Here the water table has pressure $p_a$. This is the Dupuit approximation, valid away from the small region near an outlet where the surface slope need not remain small.

The condition $f(0)=0$ means the river maintains the water table at the impermeable base level: $h(0,t)=0$. The liquid is exposed to atmospheric pressure there. It does not imply zero drainage, because $h_x$ may be singular at the outlet.

Far from the river, lateral drainage has not significantly affected storage. Rainfall simply fills pore volume, so the dimensional height is $h\sim Rt/\varphi$. In the dimensionless variables this is $h\sim t$, giving $f(\infty )=1$.

Although the physical aquifer is finite, these boundary conditions describe its early similarity solution before the drainage-affected region reaches $x=L$. In dimensional variables its horizontal extent is of order $\sqrt{KR}t/\varphi$, so the semi-infinite approximation requires $t\ll T=\varphi L/\sqrt{KR}$.

The water table is the upper surface of the saturated zone in an unconfined aquifer, where liquid pressure equals atmospheric pressure in the simplest drainage model. Under the Dupuit approximation, its height determines hydrostatic pressure throughout the saturated region and therefore the lateral Darcy flux.