Four variants of damming water in a projected storage reservoir were examined for their effects on groundwater levels in the surrounding area. The extent of reservoir’s influence on the ground waters under stable motion conditions was determined, and the effects of a short-term damming up to the crest level and of increased seepage from the aeration zone were assessed. An author’s mathematical model based on a two-dimensional non-stationary Boussinesq equation was used. The differential equation was solved by finite element method. It was found that the level to which water is dammed has a significant impact on the extent of the reservoir’s influence on ground waters, while neither a short-term damming in a flood period nor higher seepage from the aeration zone during a wet summer results in a significant increase in groundwater levels. The computer simulations made it possible to adopt a safe variant of damming, posing no threat to the structures in the reservoir’s surrounding, already at the planning stage.

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