This subject has been a topic of research in Perth, Western Australia, since 1984-85. Prior to and during the Perth Urban Water Balance Study, there was tendency to believe that the magnitude of water table fluctuations could be interpreted to infer the annual fluctuations in recharge to the water table. While this is true in some circumstances, it is not always the case.

Townley (1985) presented a simple theory for one-dimensional situations, and referred to the use of AQUIFEM-P, which was developed at that time.

Townley and Brooker (1990) extended the results to multi-layered aquifers, but these results have not been published in a more formal form.

Townley (1993) prepared documentation for AQUIFEM-P. While the documentation was prepared at CSIRO, the model does not belong to CSIRO and any requests for information should be directed to the author.

Townley (1995) published a number of analytical solutions, demonstrating a methodology for the use of complex algebra rather than an important new range of solutions.

The most recent advances have been made by Dr Anthony (Tony) Smith, who now works with CSIRO Land and Water in Perth. Tony's PhD research focused on computation and visualisation of dynamic groundwater flow patterns beneath shallow lakes and wetlands, in response to periodic forcing. By "periodic", we mean a combination of steady (or average) climatic conditions, and harmonic (or sinusoidal) fluctuations in climate with a particular amplitude and phase. In general, our focus has been on annual or seasonal fluctuations, though the same techniques apply to tidal or diurnal fluctuations. Dynamic animations of streaklines have been prepared by Tony and made available via a standard web browser. One paper has been finished on the influence of regional setting on steady lake-aquifer interaction (Smith and Townley, 2002). Another describes the methods by which periodic fluctations can be visualised (Smith et al.,2005).