A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Master’s of Science in Mathematical and Computer Science and Engineering of the
Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology
The growing human population in Dodoma City has resulted in high demand for water use,
which has led to the overexploitation of groundwater in Makutupora aquifer. Therefore, this
study was carried out to model artificial recharge to replenish groundwater in the Makutupora
aquifer to ensure water supply sustainability in the City. The simulation was done in Modular
finite-difference flow model (MODFLOW) with the support of ModelMuse and the calibration
was done using 21 piezometers. The Geographical Information System (GIS) technique used
in preparing the shapefiles and calculation of groundwater storage capacity. The results
indicated that the total groundwater storage in the Makutupora aquifer was about 247.84
Million Cubic Meters (MCM). After simulation of the steady-state reference period, the other
four stress periods were simulated, considering the projected population and water demand.
The planned injection wells to the model in the first, second, third, and fourth transient state
periods resulted in a safe yield of 168 857 m3
/day, 197 760 m3
/day, 360 000 m3
/day, and 600
430 m3
/day, respectively. The recommended artificial recharge source is water from the
Kinyasungwe river that flows during rainfall time, generally from November to May. One of
the recorded years (2007) indicated a flow of up to 23.646 Million Cubic Meters (MCM). The
recommended artificial recharge is possible due to the aquifer storage capacity of 247.84
(MCM). Therefore, information from this study could be used by engineers when constructing
artificial engineering structures to replenish the water pumped from the Makutupora aquifer.