Implementation of GIS and Geographic RDBMS Prototype for Water Resources Management. Zeuss-Koutine Basin (South of Tunisia)

Abstract

The scarcity of shallow water, which is a delicate matter in southern Tunisia, is relatively compensated by groundwater resources. Indeed, the South contains 25% of water reserves of the country whom 10% are superficial water. The different hydrogeological studies show that the Zeuss-Koutine region is composed of several aquifer systems, which may be subdivided into two distinct levels; a superficial and a deep one. Such water resources show signs of localized overexploitation which has a serious effect on the change of the hydrosystem characteristics in this region. Recently, Tunisia proves to be very interested in the contribution of new technology in particular Geographic Information System (GIS) to resolve the problem of water resources deficit in Tunisia essentially in semi-arid southern part, in addition to the increased exploitation of groundwater resources, not renewable basically in last years. Hence, preserving water resources in the short and long term is a must. This fact might be achieved by the geographical information system (GIS). To respond to this object, detailed hydrological and hydrogeological studies are efficient, and a Geographic Relational Data Base Management System (RDBMS) by MERISE model was created in this study for organization of all these data in a structured way (method) and was easily exploitable under it. In addition, a lithostratigraphic correlation by the GIS is very important for understanding of the aquifer geometry and hydrodynamic interactions. The correlation among multi data shows a high degradation increasing from the South to the North (both quality and quantity of the Zeuss-Koutine groundwater). That is why another study of the water quality (salinity) and exploitation is considered crucial.