Mitigation of the groundwater stresses via surface water harvesting in an arid environment

چکیده مقاله

Groundwater resources are the most important water resources in many arid and semi-arid environments. Also groundwater resource is already under pressure in such area, but groundwater over extraction and climate change should still increase this stress. Aquifer recharge management via surface water harvesting should plays an important role in the mitigation of the groundwater stress. The main aim of this study was to investigate the impacts of the artificially recharge of the aquifer via storm-water reclamation techniques. The potentials role of the application of several water harvesting systems on groundwater level changes in Kashan aquifer was examined using MODFLOW. This study was conducted in two stages: 1) Estimation the amount of harvestable surface runoff via differences water harvesting system and 2) Examination the effect of water harvesting on groundwater level. According to results, Kashan aquifer has a negative budget, as groundwater discharge is about 35MCM more than groundwater recharge and this amount will increase with this condition. Water harvesting operation suggested in this study would increase groundwater recharge. Also this operation could not stop groundwater decline, but it can mitigate it.