Groundwater recharge assessment in the Urmia aquifer using WetSpass-M model

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Range and Watershed Management, Faculty of Natural Resources, Urmia University

2 Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Tabriz University

3 Department of Range and Watershed Management, Faculty of Natural Resources, Lorestan University

Abstract

Accurate estimating recharge from precipitation and its assessment in the aquifers of Iran is crucial. This study employs the WetSpass-M model to estimate annual recharge in the Urmia aquifer plain. Utilizing available data, the model calculates recharge values in a distributed manner, assessing water balance components monthly, seasonally, and annually. After calibration, monthly values for runoff, recharge, evapotranspiration and deep percolation were estimated for 2006–2020. The western basin exhibited the highest runoff, while the northern, western, and southern regions showed the highest recharge rates. The western and central parts had higher evapotranspiration, whereas the northern areas had the lowest. The water balance results indicated that approximately 47.54% of annual precipitation is converted to recharge, 14.24% to evapotranspiration, 26.3% to runoff, and 2% to interception. In the validation stage, estimated values from WetSpass-M were compared against observed data from the Scanlon method using observational well data from 2009 and 2019. Evaluation criteria included KGE, PBIAS, RSR, MAE, R, and Dr. The results showed that the estimated annual recharge values closely matched the observed values, demonstrating satisfactory model performance. The model's performance, assessed using the KGE and Dr criteria—which are deemed the most appropriate metrics—revealed that the WetSpass recharge values closely align with those obtained through the Scanlon method.

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References

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History

  • Receive Date: 22 November 2024
  • Revise Date: 24 March 2024
  • Accept Date: 05 April 2024

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