Modelagem do fluxo de águas subterrâneas no aquífero raso Plaine du Nord-Massacre, Haiti

Abstract

To assist in the sustainable management of water resources, a groundwater model of the shallow groundwater in the Plaine du Nord–Massacre transboundary aquifer system was developed. The Plaine du Nord–Massacre Aquifer is one of the largest aquifer systems of Haiti, supposedly bearing a high potential for water supply and irrigation. The shallower part is already tapped by hundreds of domestic wells and hand-pumped public and private boreholes. In the framework of the AVANSE project (Appui à la Valorisation du Potentiel Agricole du Nord, pour la Sécurité Économique et Environnementale), a USAID funded project aiming at developing sustainable agriculture in the region, a groundwater model was built to assist in decision making. The finite-difference-based MARTHE software was used for the model. Due to the lack of monitoring data, the calibration of the model could only be carried out under steady-state hydraulic conditions. It should thus be considered as a first step towards a better characterisation of the aquifer’s potential. However, the model computed a groundwater balance at the scale of the aquifer showing that significant water resources can be easily mobilized if one carefully manages to rule out local operational difficulties. The simulated groundwater drawdowns using transient simulation of irrigation scenarios are pluri-metric, reaching 6–7 m. New irrigation wells must be deeper than the current average depth of wells to support agricultural development projects.

Topical Collection: Advancements in hydrogeological knowledge of Haiti for recovery and development

“…The understanding of temporal recharge dynamics is improved through these papers, which show the importance of larger precipitation events and El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climatic cycles for both the bedrock and alluvial aquifer systems. Groundwater storage, flow dynamics and water quality in the alluvial aquifers have a close relation to the river systems that have carved out and infilled the basins (Adamson et al 2022b;Arnaud et al 2022). The cost-efficient geophysical methods outlined by Miner et al (2022a) The discontinuous carbonate and karst bedrock aquifers absorb most of the country's recharge and feed thousands of springs and hundreds of water systems throughout the country.…”

“…Their coastal setting and hydrogeological characteristics make them vulnerable to diverse impacts that are discussed in the papers. The model of Plaine du Nord presented by Arnaud et al (2022) shows clearly that under drought conditions, as observed in 2016, the risk of saline intrusion inevitably increases in areas where the groundwater is unsustainably exploited. The topical collection emphasizes the critical importance of governance and management with the hope that these articles and future studies will facilitate informed and effective management of Haiti's alluvial aquifers.…”

“…The topical collection emphasizes the critical importance of governance and management with the hope that these articles and future studies will facilitate informed and effective management of Haiti's alluvial aquifers. For example, Arnaud et al (2022) indicates that groundwater withdrawals may have to be managed more intensively under drought conditions to avoid saline intrusion and potential associated longer-term damage to aquifer water quality.…”

“…Many of Haiti's alluvial aquifers do not receive significant quantities of recharge from direct precipitation, in part because of their low elevations and high evapotranspiration (Adamson et al 2022b;Adamson et al 2022a;Arnaud et al 2022). Infiltration of rivers and inflow from mountain bedrock aquifers are interpreted as key sources of recharge for the Plaine du Nord, Plaine du Cul-de-Sac, Plaine de Leogane and Plaine de Gonaïves, and perhaps other alluvial aquifers in Haiti.…”

Anisotropic behavior of the seepage-stress coupling mechanical model of coal pillars of underground reservoirs

“…Sustainable management of groundwater resources has been paid attention to in many countries (Gu et al 2016b;Blake et al 2021;Stephens et al 2021;Arnaud et al 2022;Colyer et al 2022). In China, approximately 8 billion tons of groundwater is being ruined by coal mining every year, but the utilization rate is only approximately 25% (Xie and Wang 2014).…”