Fundamental attributes of water-conducting features

The fundamental attributes of water-conducting features are discussed in two parts. The first part is a generic discussion of the attributes of water conducting features, and the second part illustrates some of these attributes using site-specific cases in various geologic media. The description of water-conducting features may use either geologic or statistical geometric approaches or a mixture of the two. More often, however, correlations of geologic and hydraulic properties are not completely adequate. The spatial structure of water conducting features affects strongly their importance for performance assessment. (author)