TITLE:
Simulation of Regional Karst Aquifer System and Assessment of Groundwater Resources in Manatí-Vega Baja, Puerto Rico
AUTHORS:
Balati Maihemuti, Reza Ghasemizadeh, Xue Yu, Ingrid Padilla, Akram N. Alshawabkeh
KEYWORDS:
Karst Aquifer, Groundwater Modeling, Seawater Intrusion, MODFLOW, Puerto Rico
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Water Resource and Protection,
Vol.7 No.12,
August
20,
2015
ABSTRACT: The North Coast karst aquifer system of Puerto Rico, the most productive aquifer of the island, is a vital water source for drinking water and local ecosystems. High freshwater demands alter the coastal groundwater system that impacts both human populations and coastal ecosystems of the island. To predict how this system might respond to rainfall events and high pumping demands, we used the equivalent porous medium (EPM) technique to develop a three-dimensional groundwater flow model to estimate hydrogeological parameters and assess groundwater resources in the Manatí-Vega Baja karst aquifer. The approach is based on the hypothesis that the simplified EPM approach will reproduce groundwater hydrodynamics in this complex karst environment. The steady-state model was calibrated with trial and error and parameter estimation methods using an observed groundwater table of 1995 (r = 0.86, p