Simulation-Optimization Approach for Evaluating the Feasibility of Managed Aquifer Recharge in the Samail Lower Catchment, Oman

Ebrahim, Girma Yimer; Jonoski, Andréja; Al‐Maktoumi, Ali; Ahmed, Mushtaque; Mynett, Arthur E.

doi:10.1061/(asce)wr.1943-5452.0000588

Cited by 40 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…• Figure S2 Correspondence to: M. Ghasemizade, mghasemizade@ucdavis.com; mghasemizade@geiconsultants.com; mehdighasemizade@ymail.com recharging, and storing surplus surface water in wet periods and storing in the aquifer for extraction and use during dry periods. MAR can be accomplished through a variety of approaches such as using storm water via dry wells to recharge aquifers (Edwards et al, 2016), employing aquifer storage and recovery (Ebrahim et al, 2016;Hanson et al, 2014), using infiltration basins (Teatini et al, 2015), and flooding lands (Scherberg et al, 2014). Dry wells and aquifer storage and recovery require less land but require more design expertise, can be technically demanding to design, and may have high energy, construction, and maintenance requirements for the conveyance and pumping systems (Bouwer, 2002).…”

Section: 1029/2018wr024069mentioning

confidence: 99%

An Integrated Approach Toward Sustainability via Groundwater Banking in the Southern Central Valley, California

Ghasemizade

Asante

Petersen

et al. 2019

Water Resources Research

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Intensive groundwater withdrawals in California have resulted in depletion of streams and aquifers in some regions. Agricultural managed aquifer recharge (Ag‐MAR) initiatives have recently been piloted in California to mitigate the effects of unsustainable groundwater withdrawals. These initiatives rely on capturing wet‐year water and spreading it on large areas of irrigated agricultural lands to enhance recharge to aquifers. While recharge studies typically consider local effects on aquifer storage, few studies have investigated Ag‐MAR benefits and challenges at a regional scale. Here we used the Integrated Water Flow Model, to evaluate how Ag‐MAR projects can affect streamflows, diversions, pumping, and unsaturated zone flows in the southern Central Valley, California. We further tested the sensitivity of three different spatial patterns of Ag‐MAR, each chosen based on different thresholds of soil suitability, on the hydrologic system. This study investigates how the distribution of Ag‐MAR lands benefit the regional groundwater system and other water balance components. The results suggest that Ag‐MAR benefits vary as a function of the location of Ag‐MAR lands. Stream‐aquifer interactions play a crucial factor in determining the ability to increase groundwater storage in overdrafted basins. The results also indicate that Ag‐MAR projects conducted during the November–April recharge season have implications for water rights outside of the Ag‐MAR season. If not properly monitored, Ag‐MAR can cause a rise of groundwater table into the root zone, negatively impacting sensitive crops. Our work also highlights the benefits of using an integrated hydrologic and management model to evaluate Ag‐MAR at a regional scale.

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Section: 1029/2018wr024069mentioning

confidence: 99%

An Integrated Approach Toward Sustainability via Groundwater Banking in the Southern Central Valley, California

Ghasemizade

Asante

Petersen

et al. 2019

Water Resources Research

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“…However, the major portion of recharge is due to surface runoff and subsurface flow from the upper part of the catchment (Abdalla and Al-Rawahi 2013). Some other valuable information are available, for example, in Ebrahim (2013) and Ebrahim et al (2015). Figure 2 shows also the location of the public urban water wells and the private irrigation wells.…”

Section: Monte-carlo Simulationmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…However, estimating the amount of recharge from the wadis is very challenging and often carries a lot of uncertainty (Ebrahim et al 2015). For incorporating the uncertainty in aquifer recharging the MCS is used for developing the possible 12 years recharging scenarios.…”

Section: Monte-carlo Simulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus the objective is to maximize the daily abstraction rate keeping in mind the sustainability of the aquifer and the reliability of the urban water system. The calibrated and verified numerical groundwater simulation MODFLOW model developed by Ebrahim et al 2015) is used with some modifications to simulate the water table fluctuations. The aquifer is an unconfined hydro-geological layer (quaternary to tertiary alluvium aquifer) with a hydraulic conductivity ranging from 10 to 34 m/day.…”

Section: Monte-carlo Simulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Optimization-Simulation Approach for Groundwater Abstraction under Recharge Uncertainty

Zekri

Triki

Al‐Maktoumi

et al. 2015

Water Resour Manage

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Droughts and climate variability cause uncertainties on water supply especially in arid regions and coastal aquifers' over-exploitation causes seawater intrusion. Since the rate and extent of aquifer recharge is often very uncertain, determining the optimal groundwater abstraction is a challenging task. In this paper a framework is proposed for estimating the optimal abstraction of groundwater for urban supply under uncertainty and under complex conditions of water table fluctuations and seawater intrusion. It is based on a combination of several models: (i) a Monte-Carlo Simulation (MCS) to incorporate the uncertainties in groundwater recharge, (ii) a numerical groundwater flow model, MODFLOW to simulate the effects of abstractions on the water table fluctuations and seawater intrusion and (iii) a multi-objective optimization model to generate the set of Pareto optimal solutions for each recharging scenario. Maximizing the benefit to the water utility, minimizing the average groundwater table level fluctuations and minimizing the seawater intrusion are the objectives of the model. A fast multi-objective evolutionary algorithm is used to obtain the Pareto efficient solutions for each recharging scenario. Compromise programming (CP) is then used to select the closest solutions to the ideal. Finally, the amount of optimal reliable groundwater abstraction is estimated using a cumulative distribution function. The proposed methodology is applied to a coastal aquifer in the western part of Muscat metropolitan area, Oman. The results have Water Resour Manage shown that annual groundwater abstraction volume may range from 12.7 to 18.8 Mm 3 compared to 6.8 Mm 3 currently pumped. This would result in an economic benefit of $10.5 million to $15.4 million/year. On the other hand the aquifer's maximum annual mean drawdown would range from 0.7 to 0.9 m.

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“…Several optimisation and sampling algorithms have been developed, for example: the Shuffled Complex Evolution algorithm (Thyer et al 1999;Vrugt et al 2003), the three-phase simulated annealing algorithm SA-SX (Thyer et al 1999), a genetic algorithm (Ebrahim et al 2016;Fang & Ball 2007), Monte Carlo (Martin & Ayesa 2010), Markov Chain Monte Carlo (Blasone et al 2008;Cheng et al 2014;McMillan & Clark 2009;Vrugt et al 2013), Bayesian technique (Hutton et al 2014;Muleta et al 2013;Smith et al 2015). These search algorithms, in general, require the generation of a large number of parameter sets from the feasible parameter space to perform the search for parameter values that result in the best simulation of the catchment response.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parameter estimation for a large catchment

Ball

2017

Australasian Journal of Water Resources

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Estimation of parameter values is an essential step in the application of catchment modelling systems. This step is time-consuming and requires considerable effort. While a variety of approaches have been developed to accelerate the process, the selection of an approach depends on the problem requiring catchment modelling, the dominant processes influencing the catchment response to storm events and, moreover, the number of parameters that need consideration. This paper will propose a method to reduce significantly the number of parameters for a large catchment when a semi-distributed catchment modelling system is applied. Past studies have reported on the use of a scaling parameter to adjust parameter values from their initial values, introduced herein is the use of a scaling parameter together with a variation coefficient. This enables the spatial variation of changes in parameter values across the catchment to be considered. A case study was conducted for a 14,000 km 2 catchment to assess the validity of this approach where the focus of the catchment modelling was the prediction of a design flood statistic. This catchment was divided into 155 subcatchments with 5 sensitive parameters per subcatchment. Hence, a total of 775 parameters needed to be considered. Using the proposed approach, the number of parameters considered during the calibration was reduced to 8 coefficients which was reasonable for a calibration and validation process that also enabled an estimate of the parameter variability.

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Simulation-Optimization Approach for Evaluating the Feasibility of Managed Aquifer Recharge in the Samail Lower Catchment, Oman

Cited by 40 publications

References 35 publications

An Integrated Approach Toward Sustainability via Groundwater Banking in the Southern Central Valley, California

An Integrated Approach Toward Sustainability via Groundwater Banking in the Southern Central Valley, California

An Optimization-Simulation Approach for Groundwater Abstraction under Recharge Uncertainty

Parameter estimation for a large catchment

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