scholarly journals Evaluation of the Effect of the Wadi Bih Dam on Groundwater Recharge, UAE

2021 ◽  
pp. 509-527
Author(s):  
Mohsen Sherif ◽  
Abdel Azim Ebraheem ◽  
Ampar Shetty ◽  
Ahmed Sefelnasr ◽  
Khaled Alghafli ◽  
...  

AbstractIn Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, groundwater from the alluvial aquifer in Wadi Bih was the only source of freshwater for various uses prior to the construction of a seawater desalination plant in 1998. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the Wadi Bih dam on groundwater resources and to increase knowledge of the hydrodynamics of the aquifer. A local-scale numerical groundwater flow model was developed and used to investigate the impacts of different groundwater management options on groundwater resources. The calibrated and validated model was defined as the base case, and subsequently, simulations were performed to analyze different management scenarios. The simulations indicated that maximum recharge occurred during years of high rainfall (1995–1998). Minimum recharge occurred in 2000, 2002, and 2004. The major contribution to the water balance was from subsurface inflows from the upper wadi zone and the two tributaries. Overall, the annual water balance was negative in most years, with an average net decline of 0.6 MCM per year, indicating a slow but continuous depletion of groundwater resources. At the end of the simulation, the total groundwater recharge due to rainfall and water storage in the ponding area was 9.81 MCM.

Author(s):  
S. O. Grinevskiy ◽  
S. P. Pozdniakov

Water balance and groundwater recharge simulations based on meteorological data with climate trends were made for the South-western part of Moscow artesian basin. Modeling results comparison of mean annual water balance and recharge values for previous (1965-1988) and present (1989-2012) periods allow to estimate their changes due to transient climate conditions. Assessment of groundwater resources climate changes was made on the basis of mean annual groundwater recharge maps for the investigated region for previous and present time periods, which showed their increase of 9% (720 thousands m3/d).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renata Romanowicz ◽  
Emilia Karamuz ◽  
Jaroslaw Napiorkowski ◽  
Tesfaye Senbeta

<div> <p>Water balance modelling is often applied in studies of climate and human impacts on water resources. Annual water balance is usually derived based on precipitation, discharge and temperature observations under an assumption of negligible changes in annual water storage in a catchment. However, that assumption might be violated during very dry or very wet years. In this study we apply groundwater level measurements to improve water balance modelling in nine sub-catchments of the River Vistula basin starting from the river sources downstream. Annual and inter-annual water balance is studied using a Budyko framework to assess actual evapotranspiration and total water supply. We apply the concept of effective precipitation to account for possible losses due to water interception by vegetation. Generalised Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation GLUE is used to account for parameter and structural model uncertainty, together with the application of eight Budyko-type equations. Seasonal water balance models show large errors for winter seasons while summer and annual water balance models follow the Budyko framework. The dryness index is much smaller in winter than in summer for all sub-catchments. The spatial variability of water balance modelling errors indicate an increasing uncertainty of model predictions with an increase in catchment size. The results show that the added information on storage changes in the catchments provided by groundwater level observations largely improves model accuracy. The results also indicate the need to model groundwater level variability depending on external factors such as precipitation and evapotranspiration and human interventions. The modelling tools developed will be used to assess future water balance in the River Vistula basin under different water management scenarios and climate variability.</p> </div>


Hydrology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 178
Author(s):  
Muhammad Aslam ◽  
Ali Salem ◽  
Vijay P. Singh ◽  
Muhammad Arshad

Evaluation of the spatial and temporal distribution of water balance components is required for efficient and sustainable management of groundwater resources, especially in semi-arid and data-poor areas. The Khadir canal sub-division, Chaj Doab, Pakistan, is a semi-arid area which has shallow aquifers which are being pumped by a plethora of wells with no effective monitoring. This study employed a monthly water balance model (water and energy transfer among soil, plants, and atmosphere)—WetSpass-M—to determine the groundwater balance components on annual, seasonal, and monthly time scales for a period of the last 20 years (2000–2019) in the Khadir canal sub-division. The spatial distribution of water balance components depends on soil texture, land use, groundwater level, slope, and meteorological conditions. Inputs for the model included data on topography, slope, soil, groundwater depth, slope, land use, and meteorological data (e.g., precipitation, air temperature, potential evapotranspiration, and wind speed) which were prepared using ArcGIS. The long-term average annual rainfall (455.7 mm) is distributed as 231 mm (51%) evapotranspiration, 109.1 mm (24%) surface runoff, and 115.6 mm (25%) groundwater recharge. About 51% of groundwater recharge occurs in summer, 18% in autumn, 14% in winter, and 17% in spring. Results showed that the WetSpass-M model properly simulated the water balance components of the Khadir canal sub-division. The WetSpass-M model’s findings can be used to develop a regional groundwater model for simulation of different aquifer management scenarios in the Khadir area, Pakistan.


2011 ◽  
Vol 63 (6) ◽  
pp. 1289-1297 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Barron ◽  
A. Barr ◽  
M. Donn ◽  
D. Pollock

Integrated analysis of land use change and its effect on catchment water balance allows the selection of appropriate water and land management options for new urban developments to minimise the environmental impacts of urbanisation. A process-based coupled surface water-groundwater model was developed for Southern River catchment (Perth, Western Australia) to investigate the effect of urban development on catchment water balance. It was shown that urbanisation of highly permeable flat catchments with shallow groundwater resulted in significant increase in net groundwater recharge. The increased recharge creates the opportunity to use local groundwater resources for non-potable water supply with the added advantage of reducing the total discharge from new urban developments. This minimises the environmental impacts of increased urbanisation, as higher discharge is often associated with greater nutrient loads to receiving environments. Through the used of water balance modelling it was demonstrated that there are both water and nutrient benefits from local groundwater use in terms of reduced nutrient exports to receiving waters and additional water resources for non-potable water supply.


2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 1336-1343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davi de Carvalho Diniz Melo ◽  
Edson Wendland ◽  
Rafael Chaves Guanabara

ABSTRACT Groundwater management depends on the knowledge on recharge rates and water fluxes within aquifers. The recharge is one of the water cycle components most difficult to estimate. As a result, despite the chosen method, the estimates are subject to uncertainties that can be identified by means of comparison with other approaches. In this study, groundwater recharge estimates based on the water balance in the unsaturated zone is assessed. Firstly, the approach is evaluated by comparing the results with those of another method. Then, the estimates are used as inputs in a transient groundwater flow model in order to assess how the water table would respond to the obtained recharges rates compared to measured levels. The results suggest a good performance of the adopted approach and, despite some inherent limitations, it has advantages over other methods since the data required are easier to obtain.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (7) ◽  
pp. 3835-3850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieter Scherer

Abstract. The Qaidam Basin in the north of the Tibetan Plateau has undergone drastic environmental changes during the last millions of years. During the Pliocene, the Qaidam Basin contained a freshwater mega-lake system although the surrounding regions showed increasingly arid climates. With the onset of the Pleistocene glaciations, lakes began to shrink and finally disappeared almost completely. Today, hyperarid climate conditions prevail in the low-altitude parts of the Qaidam Basin. The question of how the mega-lake system was able to withstand the regional trend of aridification for millions of years has remained enigmatic so far. This study reveals that the mean annual water balance, i.e. the mean annual change in terrestrial water storage in the Qaidam Basin, is nearly zero under present climate conditions due to positive values of net precipitation in the high mountain ranges and shows positive annual values during warmer, less dry years. This finding provides a physically based explanation for how mid-Pliocene climates could have sustained the mega-lake system and that near-future climates not much different from present conditions could cause water storage in reservoirs, raising lake levels and expanding lake areas, and may even result in restoration of the mega-lake system over geological timescales. The study reveals that a region discussed as being an analogue to Mars due to its hyperarid environments is at a threshold under present climate conditions and may switch from negative values of long-term mean annual water balance that have prevailed during the last 2.6 million years to positive ones in the near future.


Hydrology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Salem ◽  
József Dezső ◽  
Mustafa El-Rawy

The assessment of spatial and temporal distribution of groundwater recharge is required as an input to develop the regional groundwater model in the Drava flood plain for more accurate simulations of different management scenarios. WetSpass-M, a GIS-based spatially-distributed water balance model, was implemented to assess monthly, seasonal, and the annual averages of groundwater recharge, surface runoff and actual evapotranspiration in the Drava basin, Hungary for the period between 2000–2018. The basic relevant input-data for the Wetspass-M model is prepared in grid-maps using the tool ARCGIS tool. It comprises monthly climatological recordings (e.g., rainfall, temperature, wind speed), distributed land cover, soil map, groundwater depth, topography, and slope. The long-term temporal and spatial average monthly precipitation (58 mm) is distributed as 29% (17 mm) surface runoff, 27% (16 mm) actual evapotranspiration, and 44% (25 mm) groundwater recharge. The mean annual groundwater recharge, actual evapotranspiration, and surface runoff were 307, 190, and 199 mm, respectively. The findings of the WetSpass-M model are intended to support integrated groundwater modeling. The analysis of simulation results shows that WetSpass-M model works properly to simulate hydrological water budget components in the Drava basin. Moreover, a better understanding of the simulated long-term average spatial distribution about water balance components is useful for managing and planning the available water resources in the Drava basin.


2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 4501-4533 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. C. Bonsor ◽  
M. M. Mansour ◽  
A. M. MacDonald ◽  
A. G. Hughes ◽  
R. G. Hipkin ◽  
...  

Abstract. Assessing and quantifying natural water storage is becoming increasingly important as nations develop strategies for economic growth and adaptations measures for climate change. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data provide a new opportunity to gain a direct and independent measure of water mass variations on a regional scale. Hydrological models are required to interpret these mass variations and partition them between different parts of the hydrological cycle, but groundwater storage has generally been poorly constrained by such models. This study focused on the Nile basin, and used a groundwater recharge model ZOODRM (Zoomable Object Oriented Distributed Recharge Model) to help interpret the seasonal variation in terrestrial water storage indicated by GRACE. The recharge model was constructed using almost entirely remotely sensed input data and calibrated to observed hydrological data from the Nile. GRACE data for the Nile Basin indicates an annual terrestrial water storage of approximately 200 km3: water input is from rainfall, and much of this water is evaporated within the basin since average annual outflow of the Nile is less than 30 km3. Total annual recharge simulated by ZOODRM is 400 km3/yr; 0–50 mm/yr within the semi arid lower catchments, and a mean of 250 mm/yr in the sub-tropical upper catchments. These results are comparable to the few site specific studies of recharge in the basin. Accounting for year-round discharge of groundwater, the seasonal groundwater storage is 100–150 km3/yr and seasonal change in soil moisture, 30 km3/yr. Together, they account for between 50 and 90% of the annual water storage in the catchment. The annual water mass variation (200 km3/yr) is an order of magnitude smaller than the rainfall input into the catchment (2000 km3/yr), which could be consistent with a high degree of moisture recycling within the basin. Future work is required to advance the calibration of the ZOODRM model, particularly improving the timing of runoff routing.


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