Sustainable management of coastal aquifers requires a coupled understanding of drawdown dynamics, saltwater wedge advancement, and upconing phenomena. In this study, 24 laboratory experiments were conducted in a transparent glass flume (300×80×20" cm" ). Eight well locations situated 25to 200" cm" from the saltwater boundary were evaluated under three pumping rates of 10, 20, and 30" L/min" . Dynamic changes in the saltwater interface and drawdown cone were captured and analyzed using digital imaging and a dedicated MATLAB image-processing routine. The results revealed that increasing the pumping rate from 10to 30" L/min" increased the final drawdown by 90.4%(from 14.6to 27.8" cm" ) and reduced the equilibration time by 41.9%(from 1075to 625" s" ). Near-coast wells demonstrated a horizontal advancement sensitivity to pumping rate that was up to 6.5times higher than that of inland wells (27.7% vs. 4.2%). Nevertheless, the effect of pumping rate on final toe length was marginal compared to upconing, showing only a 5.3%variation against a 64.7%increase in drawdown. In contrast, net upconing intensity ((Z_r/Z_0-1)) at L/S≈5escalated by 79%with increasing discharge, expanding the mixing-zone thickness by up to 2.8-fold. In the inland well (W_8), gentle pumping at 10" L/min" yielded 1245" L" of fresh water prior to salinization—a 101%increase over high-rate pumping. These findings demonstrate that critical discharge and optimal well location must be jointly determined to mitigate upconing and delay well salinization.