MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF THE MAR DEL PLATA AQUIFER AND TRANSFERENCE OF THE WATER MANAGER AUTHORITIUES

HECTOR MASSONE; ORLANDO MAURICIO QUIROZ LONDOÑO; DANIEL EMILIO MARTINEZ; VILLANOVA ESTER

Dubrovnik

Congreso; 44th Annual Congress of the International Association of Hydrogeologist (IAH) - Ground water and Sustainability.; 2017

AIH

The management of the coastal aquifer in Mar del Plata, Argentina, is a difficult issue because of the pressure resulting from the high demand of a 700,000 inhabitants population and the vulnerability of the coastal aquifer to seawater intrusion. An important marine intrusion into the aquifer happened during the 50ies with the consequence of abandoning 53 wells and the need of the displacement of the exploitation zone many kilometers to the north of the city. After that new exploitation zones have being opened, the sustainability of the resource under the climate change constitute a major challenge for the groundwater manager, the Company Obras Sanitarias Mar del Plata-Batán. In the context of the innitative WaterClima-Lac, financed by the European Union through the EUROPEAID program, an important agreement was achieved between WaterClima-Lac, coastal zones and Obras Sanitarias for the development of a mathematical model for simulating new pumping well areas and the effect of the climate change scenarios. The mathematical model was built in a ModelMuse® software platform considering a stationary state initial and dynamic state after. Boundary conditions were defined according to previous hydrogeological works and the historic records of the pumping rate for all the wells were an input for the calculation. In the model has been used temporal series of evapotranspiration and recharged in the different areas included into the model. As a recharge, into the urban zones was considered losses from water distribution lines and wastewater service network of near to 30% of water used to supply service. The model calibration was done by using the recorded piezometric levels (1913-2005 ) against the simulated levels, obtaining a satisfactory adjustment that is a promissory contribution for the aquifer management. In the next future the emissions scenarios RCP2.6 and RCP4.5 will be introduced for a specific predictor model, as well as a new battery well, (West system). and a Present Value Economic Model will be jointed to the mathematical aquifer model for the selection of supply alternatives . It is expected that this mathematical model can be used as a tool in the management and control of groundwater in the Mar del Plata and allow considered different alternatives before taking a decision referred to increased the captation area for water supply.