Groundwater Modeling as an Alternative Approach to Limited Data in the Northeastern Part of Mt. Hermon (Syria), to Develop a Preliminary Water Budget

Abstract

In developing countries such as Syria, the lack of hydrological data affects groundwater resource assessment. Groundwater models provide the means to fill the gaps in the available data in order to improve the understanding of groundwater systems. The study area can be considered as the main recharge area of the eastern side of Barada and Awaj basin in the eastern part of Mt. Hermon. The withdrawal for agricultural and domestic purposes removes a considerable amount of water. The steady-state three-dimensional (3D) groundwater model (FEFLOW which is an advanced finite element groundwater flow and transport modeling tool), was used to quantify groundwater budget components by using all available data of hydrological year 2009–2010. The results obtained may be considered as an essential tool for groundwater management options in the study area. The calibrated model demonstrates a good agreement between the observed and simulated hydraulic head. The result of the sensitivity analysis shows that the model is highly sensitive to hydraulic conductivity changes and sensitive to a lesser extent to water recharge amount. Regarding the upper aquifer horizon, the water budget under steady-state condition indicates that the lateral groundwater inflow from the Jurassic aquifer into this horizon is the most important recharge component. The major discharge component from this aquifer horizon occurs at its eastern boundary toward the outside of the model domain. The model was able to produce a satisfying estimation of the preliminary water budget of the upper aquifer horizon which indicates a positive imbalance of 4.6 Mm3·y−1.

Keywords

• groundwater modelling
• FEFLOW
• water resources management
• water budget
• aquifer horizon
• Mt. Hermon
• Syria