International Journal of Academic Research in Education and Review

Vol. 10(1), pp. 8-23, January 2022

ISSN: 2360-7866

https://doi.org/10.14662/ijarer2022010

 

Full Length Research

 

 

Groundwater Recharge Assessment using WetSpass and MODFLOW Coupling: The Case of Hormat-Golina sub-basin, Northern Ethiopia

 

Seyoum Bezabih1* and Dr. Taye Alemayehu2

 

1Department of Water resource engineering and management, Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Corresponding author 's E-mail: seyoumb18@gmail.com, phone:- 0920028497)  

2Department of Water resource engineering and management, Ethiopian Institute of Water Resource, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. E-mail: altay2121@gmail.com

 

Accepted 24 January 2022

Abstract

Abstract: Water scarcities in northern Ethiopia, as well as its socio-economic relevance in terms of water demand for agriculture and domestic use, are at the root of the search for new groundwater resources and the development of groundwater models that can be used to control and manage the resource. WetSpass-MODFLOW coupling was used to estimate groundwater recharge in the Hormat-Golina sub basin. The goal of this study was to assess the amount of groundwater recharge in the Hormat-Golina sub basin. Following that, the MODFLOW groundwater flow simulation model is utilized to simulate the hydraulic head distribution. The Steady state groundwater flow calibration was determined by comparing measured and simulated hydraulic heads. The mean annual evapotranspiration, surface runoff, and groundwater recharge, according to WetSpass result, were 516.6, 204.9, and 35.6 mm, respectively. Groundwater recharge accounted for 4.7% of precipitation, while actual evapotranspiration and surface runoff accounted for 27%t and 68% of precipitation, respectively. In such seasonal variations, the groundwater head distribution is 11.24 to 31.73 m in winter (dry season), 9.53 to 29.89 m in summer (wet season), and 10.26 to 31.02 m in Annual stress periods (recharges). For all stress periods, the estimated hydraulic heads in steady state fit well with the measured ones, with a correlation coefficient of 0.86 (summer, winter and annual recharge). The balance between groundwater recharge and expected abstraction rates for agriculture and domestic water supply must be considered in future groundwater resource development plans in the valley to ensure the resource long-term sustainability.

 

Keywords: Ethiopia, Groundwater recharge, Hormat-Golina, MODFLOW, WetSpass.

Paper type: research