Calculating of Groundwater Recharge using Meteorological Water Balance and Water level Fluctuation in Khan Al-Baghdadi Area

Abstract

Climate and hydrological conditions in any hydrological basin are multi-combined reflection of natural factors of morphology and soil nature, as well as the changing in climate factors that affect directly on hydrological cycle. Water balance techniques are a means of solution of important theoretical and practical hydrological problems, while estimating the physical properties of water-bearing layers is an essential part of groundwater studies. One of the most effective ways of determining these properties is to conduct and analyze aquifer tests. The aim of this research is to compare groundwater recharge in Khan Al-Baghdadi area which located to northwest of Anbar governorate in the west of Iraq, depending on meteorological water balance and calculated hydraulic parameters of groundwater aquifers in order to predict the suitable methods to determine groundwater recharge. Geographical position, elevations, static water levels, depths, thicknesses and maximum yields were carried out during field work. Meteorological parameters of Hit station during the period (1995-2010) was used to calculate water surplus using Thorntwaite formula, while cooper-Jacob and Theis recovery solutions were used to calculate transmissivity and storage coefficient. The result indicate that water surplus was (16.71) mm. divided into (10.13) mm as runoff and (6.58) mm as groundwater recharge. The average annual of groundwater recharge in the area was (41.38) million cubic meters depending on water balance technique, while annual groundwater recharge calculated based hydraulic parameter was (41.51) million cubic meters.