TY - JOUR
T1 - Groundwater modeling in semiarid central Sudan
T2 - Adequacy and long-term abstraction
AU - Abdalla, Osman A.E.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - The present study assesses groundwater resources in the semiarid central Sudan, where 20 deep productive wells were installed to supply a major city in the region, El Obeid. The wells, which has an average 20 L/s discharge each, are taping a deep semiconfined to confined aquifer of fluvial silisiclastics deposited in the Tertiary-Pleistocene. Groundwater modeling was used as a technique to interpret the hydrologic system in arid to semiarid central Sudan and to simulate the future influence of the project on the hydrogeologic system. The simulation confirmed that steady-state flow conditions have been currently reached as indicated by consistency of computed heads. It also calibrated the values of the conductivity and recharge and ensured the sustainability of the El Obeid water supply project. A total of 3.5×107m3/year can be continually extracted from the deep aquifer to supply El Obeid city without endangering the groundwater resources in the region. The decline in water level will not exceed 25 m during the first 10 years, while indefinite continuous pumping will affect only the vicinity of the wells in a circle of 30 km diameter. Therefore, aquifer storage capacity and hydraulic properties encourage further groundwater exploitation. The present use of groundwater is extremely lower than the present demand, and it can potentially cover future demands without introducing significant changes to the system. The increase of pumping cost due to the decline in head subsequent to project operation was found to be minimal and of local effect.
AB - The present study assesses groundwater resources in the semiarid central Sudan, where 20 deep productive wells were installed to supply a major city in the region, El Obeid. The wells, which has an average 20 L/s discharge each, are taping a deep semiconfined to confined aquifer of fluvial silisiclastics deposited in the Tertiary-Pleistocene. Groundwater modeling was used as a technique to interpret the hydrologic system in arid to semiarid central Sudan and to simulate the future influence of the project on the hydrogeologic system. The simulation confirmed that steady-state flow conditions have been currently reached as indicated by consistency of computed heads. It also calibrated the values of the conductivity and recharge and ensured the sustainability of the El Obeid water supply project. A total of 3.5×107m3/year can be continually extracted from the deep aquifer to supply El Obeid city without endangering the groundwater resources in the region. The decline in water level will not exceed 25 m during the first 10 years, while indefinite continuous pumping will affect only the vicinity of the wells in a circle of 30 km diameter. Therefore, aquifer storage capacity and hydraulic properties encourage further groundwater exploitation. The present use of groundwater is extremely lower than the present demand, and it can potentially cover future demands without introducing significant changes to the system. The increase of pumping cost due to the decline in head subsequent to project operation was found to be minimal and of local effect.
KW - El Obeid
KW - Groundwater modeling
KW - MODFLOW
KW - Numerical simulation
KW - Sudan
KW - Water resources
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84893669402&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1007/s12517-009-0042-4
DO - 10.1007/s12517-009-0042-4
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84893669402
SN - 1866-7511
VL - 2
SP - 321
EP - 335
JO - Arabian Journal of Geosciences
JF - Arabian Journal of Geosciences
IS - 4
ER -