Monitoring and modelling the hydrological behaviour of a reclaimed wadi basin in Egypt

Abstract

We analysed the hydrological behaviour of a wadi basin in Egypt, whose channel was modified into levelled terraces for cultivation. A yearly data set was used, consisting of weather data, distributed water content measurements in the terraces of the wadi channel, and run-off discharges at the wadi outlet. A modelling approach combining a run-off model and an agro-hydrological model was tested to simulate, respectively, the water stored in the wadi stream bed after a single rainfall event and the depletion of the stored water by evapotranspiration in the period between two subsequent rainfall events. Calibration and validation of the run-off model were based on both basin outlet run-off and distributed water storage measurements. High Nash-Sutcliffe efficiencies were obtained for both distributed channel water storage and outlet discharges, showing the importance of having available distributed storage measurements, besides basin outlet discharges, to obtain more robust model predictions. The soil-plant-atmosphere model was not calibrated as the parameters for the hydraulic properties, all coming from direct measurements, proved to describe effectively the distributed water storages measured in the terraces during the monitoring campaign. It was observed that the terraces (about 100,000 m 3 ) may store up to 50,000 m 3 of water. By considering that in the soil considered, the water content at the wilting point is about 5% and that in July, the soil profile is still able to retain about 40% of the initial volume, most of the water stored may be used by crops for the whole spring-summer period.

Upstream-Downstream Influence of Water Harvesting Techniques (Jessour) on Soil Water Retention in Southeast Tunisia

“…Considering the capacity of water harvesting terraces to retain and store soil moisture, similar results were found in a wadi basin in Egypt using a monitoring-modeling approach [54]. In this case study, the soil profile in terraces was able to retain about 40% of the initial volume, and most of the water stored could be used by crops during the whole spring-summer period.…”

The indigenous Bedouin farmers as land rehabilitators—Setup of an action research programme in the Negev

“…In order to examine a possible solution for the 'Lose–Lose' situation described above, the Atid Bamidbar nonprofit association, which runs the 'White Hill Farm', initiated in 2018 a unique agricultural, intercultural and ecological project (Figure 2). The Atid Bamidbar Project is similar to a project carried out in Wadi Kharouba in Egypt (Coppola, Abdallah, Dragonetti, Zdruli, & Lamaddalena, 2019; Zdruli, 2016). The outlines for this study are summarized in Figure 2.…”

“…Figure 2). The Atid Bamidbar Project is similar to a project carried out in Wadi Kharouba in Egypt (Coppola, Abdallah, Dragonetti, Zdruli, & Lamaddalena, 2019;Zdruli, 2016). The outlines for this study are summarized in Figure 2.…”

Soil Moisture Sensor Information Enhanced by Statistical Methods in a Reclaimed Water Irrigation Framework

“…Agricultural and environmental sciences are increasingly making use of data-driven methods to accomplish their goals and improve their assessments. Here, we focus on the problem of irrigation with reclaimed water on farms in semi-arid regions (see [ 1 , 2 ]). This issue has an obvious agronomic relevance but it is also of significant interest from the environmental point of view in a circular economy framework, in which natural resources find new lives after their primary use.…”