The restoration of the aquifer to its original shape with higher pressure heads would depend on how elastic the compacted material was. A rubber ball, which is very elastic, will return to its original form after being squeezed, while a chunk of putty will not. A confined aquifer would be somewhere in between these extremes. Recharge of Confined Aquifers Regional precipitation is the source of water recharging confined aquifers. A small portion of this precipitation infiltrates the surface of the ground and is pulled downward by gravity.
Downward movement continues until a point called the water table is reached.
Below the water table all pore spaces are filled with water. If the surface of this saturated zone is at an elevation greater than the pressure head in a lower confined aquifer, leakage of water into the confined aquifer will continue until the two are in equilibrium. This saturated zone could be an adjacent aquifer, a region in the overlying confining layer, an aquifer above the confined aquifer or a combination of the above. Recharge could also come from an adjacent confined aquifer with a higher pressure head. Here are a few ways you can identify a confined aquifer.