Modeling approaches and strategies for data-scarce aquifers: example of the Dar es Salaam aquifer in Tanzania

dc.creatorCamp, Marc Van
dc.creatorMjemah, Ibrahimu Chikira
dc.creatorFarrah, Nawal Al
dc.creatorWalraevens, Kristine
dc.date.accessioned2022-12-17T09:41:39Z
dc.date.accessioned2025-08-05T07:13:08Z
dc.date.available2022-12-17T09:41:39Z
dc.date.created2022-12-17T09:41:39Z
dc.date.issued2013
dc.description.abstractManagement of groundwater resources can be improved by using groundwater models to perform risk analyses and to improve development strategies, but a lack of extensive basic data often limits the implementation of sophisticated models. Dar es Salaam in Tanzania is an example of a city where increasing groundwater use in a Pleistocene aquifer is causing groundwater-related problems such as saline intrusion along the coastline, lowering of water-table levels, and contamination of pumping wells. The lack of a water-level monitoring network introduces a problem for basic data collection and model calibration and validation. As a replacement, local watersupply wells were used for measuring groundwater depth, and well-top heights were estimated from a regional digital elevation model to recalculate water depths to hydraulic heads. These were used to draw a regional piezometric map. Hydraulic parameters were estimated from short-time pumping tests in the local wells, but variation in hydraulic conductivity was attributed to uncertainty in well characteristics (information often unavailable) and not to aquifer heterogeneity. A MODFLOW model was calibrated with a homogeneous hydraulic conductivity field and a sensitivity analysis between the conductivity and aquifer recharge showed that average annual recharge will likely be in the range 80–100mm/year.
dc.identifier1431-2174
dc.identifierhttp://www.suaire.sua.ac.tz/handle/123456789/4863
dc.identifier.urihttp://repository.costech.or.tz/handle/20.500.14732/96309
dc.languageen
dc.publisherSpringer
dc.subjectAfrica
dc.subjectCoastal aquifers
dc.subjectGroundwater flow
dc.subjectOver-abstraction
dc.subjectNumerical modeling
dc.titleModeling approaches and strategies for data-scarce aquifers: example of the Dar es Salaam aquifer in Tanzania
dc.typeArticle

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