Management of stream-aquifer systems

Abstract

The term stream-aquifer system is used to denote a system of an alluvial aquifer which is in hydraulic connection with a stream. The system considered is of a deterministic nature and subject to conditions where a linear groundwater model can be applied. In the management problem of the system, management decisions are mainly concerned with the hydraulics of the system. The main objective is to safely optimize, on intra-annual basis, the yield of the system. Thus, the management problem essentially involves optimization of abstraction in space and time. Mathematical models which solve the management problem of the system and provide the information requested by the decision-making process involved in the operation of such system are developed in this work.

In order to solve the management problem, one must first be able to predict the response of the system to any proposed operational policy. A computer model, which is based on analytical solutions, has been developed to examine stream-aquifer interaction and to assess excitation-response relationships in general. The Boundary Element Method is then employed to solve forecasting problem of the system for steady and transient flow conditions.

The chosen approach to develop the management model is the combined simulation-optimization one. The response function technique is used to establish a link between simulation and optimization. The case study used to demonstrate the application of the model is that of the stream-aquifer system in the new land reclamation areas south-east of the Nile delta in Egypt.

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