Recharge estimation of a small karstic aquifer in a semiarid Mediterranean region (southeastern Spain) using a hydrological model

Abstract

Abstract:Mediterranean aquifers are frequently subject to the joint effect of intensive exploitation and low recharge values. Besides, groundwater is the only available water resource in many Mediterranean regions. Groundwater recharge studies are therefore necessary to underpin water management practices. This manuscript presents a methodology to estimate groundwater recharge in a small limestone aquifer of southeastern Spain. The HYDROBAL model is used to calculate daily soil water balances on the basis of hydrological and soil data as well as on vegetation cover. Deep drainage model outputs are converted into water table variations using a lumped model add-on. The adjustment between observed and calculated water table levels is in the order of r 2 = 0.87. This correlation coefficient suggests that HYDROBAL is a useful tool to estimate groundwater recharge in the region. In addition, differences in groundwater recharge rates are observed for dry, average and wet years. Estimated recharge rates range between 0% and 18% of the mean annual rainfall, which corresponds to a net recharge of 0 to 59 mm year À1 . Recharge rates increase proportionally with precipitation (r 2 = 0.90).

Comparative performance of soil water balance models in computing semi-arid aquifer recharge

“…Hydrobal (HB) was originally developed to explore the effect of vegetation in infiltration processes (Bellot et al 1999, 2001, Chirino 2003, Touhami et al 2013. The model performs a soil water balance to estimate daily soil moisture and predicts deep drainage from the unsaturated soil layer into the aquifer (equation (2) (3)), which is a function of a k factor and Et 0 :…”

“…Water flows are constrained by daily rainfall (P), interception (Int) and runoff (R off ) by vegetation cover types and are determined by means of an asymptotic regression [Int = a + (b/P)] and a simple linear regression [R off = a + (b.P)], respectively. Several equations are used to calculate the Int and R off variables for vegetation cover types; these were obtained during a previous study (Chirino 2003 (Touhami et al 2013). …”

“…The first model, Hydrobal (HB), is the most complex. It determines the soil water balance per vegetation cover type and assesses its effects on runoff, evapotranspiration, soil moisture and deep drainage (Bellot et al 1999, 2001, Touhami et al 2013. In turn, Visual Balan 2.0 (VB) presents an intermediate degree of complexity.…”

Groundwater Recharge Assessment in the Karstic Aquifers of North Khorasan, Iran in APLIS Method

“…In the area under study, due to the lack of periodic assessment of the discharge of large springs, such methods produce limitations and problems in calculation of recharge (Guardiola-Albert et al 2015). Recent years showed significant improvements in assessment methods which are in direct relation to GIS software and many researchers have used these methods (Jyrkama & Sykes 2007;Scibek & Allen 2006;Marechal et al 2006;Lee et al 2006;Samper et al 2005;Conrad et al 2004;Tapia Silva & Mora Flores 2004;Peña & Arcos 2004;Bouraoui et al 1998;Burke 1995). These methods make the calculation of groundwater recharge easier through a quicker and more concise analysis (Peña & Arcos 2004).…”

“…The APLIS index has specifically been used in eight aquifers in Spain where the results were consistent with the standard recharge rate . However, this method has been applied in other carbonate aquifers around the world such as Southeast Spain (Touhami et al 2013;Aguilera & Murillo 2009), Greece (Zagana et al 2011), Cuba (Farfán et al 2010), northeastern Oman (Gerner et al 2012), the Mediterranean (Hartmann et al 2014), Southern Spain (Martos-Rosillo et al 2008 and has achieved successful results.…”