Modelling the Effects of Groundwater-Based Urban Supply in Low-Permeability Aquifers: Application to the Madrid Aquifer, Spain

Abstract

The European Union Water Framework Directive establishes the obligation to all Member States to develop and implement catchment-scale management plans. These aim at reaching a good status of all water bodies in Member States by 2015 or, at the latest, by 2027. Numerical models provide a suitable approach to evaluate the possibilities of achieving this goal by enabling users to deal with complex hydrological interrelations in a dynamic manner. This paper presents a modellingbased approach to examine the past and future effects of groundwater-based urban supply in Metropolitan Madrid, Spain. Monthly scale model calibration is based on 32 years of water table observations. Care is taken to address the effect of intensive pumping on groundwater levels and streamflows, as well as the role of groundwater resources in meeting urban demands during dry spells. The paper concludes by reflecting on the implications and probabilities of meeting the aforementioned deadlines, as well as on the sustainability of past and future pumping trends. Policy considerations aside, modelling results suggest that groundwater extractions could be augmented considerably without causing a significant decrease in streamflows.

A quasi-elastic aquifer deformational behavior: Madrid aquifer case study

“…2). These deposits gradually evolve into very low permeability evaporitic deposits towards the southeast (Martínez-Santos et al, 2010). According to Martínez-Bastida et al (2009) and IGME (1981, 1985, TDAM is a heterogeneous and anisotropic aquifer with an average thickness of 1500 m and variable transmissivity (1-852 m 2 day À1 ) (IGME, 1985).…”

“…Natural water supply of the city is provided by reservoirs located in the north mountain ranges (Comunidad de Madrid, 2014). The combination of drought periods and the rapid population growth (Martínez-Santos et al, 2010) has made it necessary to also exploit groundwater. Since 1970, a network of 70 wells provides water during droughts with a capacity between 60 and 80 hm 3 /year.…”

Joint Estimation of Gross Recharge, Groundwater Usage, and Hydraulic Properties within HydroSight

“…When estimates of drawdown are required, numerical groundwater models are often used. However, too often the models are constructed with a priori fixed estimates of usage derived from independent data (e.g., Martínez‐Santos et al ). Recently, this input data uncertainty has been addressed using inverse groundwater modeling approaches that update the usage per model grid cell and time step from the difference between the observed and modeled groundwater head (Martínez‐Santos and Martínez‐Alfaro ; Shao et al ).…”

Modelling discharge through artesian springs based on a high‐resolution piezometric network

“…The model is built in Processing Modflow Pro (Chiang, ). This software provides a graphical user interface for the classic finite‐difference Modflow code (McDonald and Harbaugh, ), whose reliability and robustness have been tested extensively (Anderson and Woessner, ; Castaño‐Castaño et al ., ; Martínez‐Santos et al ., ). It runs under steady‐state conditions, which is considered a pertinent assumption because both the pond stage and the groundwater level in the deep piezometer remained stable across the whole experiment.…”