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The quantitative determination of the available water resource provides very important information for practical strategies of managing the water resources. However, very little is known about the quantitative representation of the water resource, specially the groundwater resource, in this watershed. Groundwater recharge is the most important parameter to evaluating the availability of groundwater resources. The objective of this study is to estimate the quantitative availability of groundwater recharge using Chloride Mass Balance and Soil and Water Assessment Tool and to understand how much the result from the CMB method accompanied with the result from the SWAT model. To achieve the objectives, chloride concentrations in groundwater and precipitation were determined from samples collected from wells and rain gauges in the study area. Precipitation weighted average chloride concentration in the rainfall and average chloride concentration in the groundwater is then used to calculate the recharge. Fundamental assumptions in using the CMB method are considered. For the SWAT model, meteorological data obtained from Dangila Meteorological Station (1994-2017) has been used. Daily stream flow data for the years (2015-2017) measured from Branti river outlet is used to calibrate and validate the model. A 30m resolution digital elevation model, land use land cover and soil data were used for the watershed delineation and HRU definition.
The mean annual groundwater recharge values calculated using the CMB and SWAT are 432 mm and 517 mm respectively. This represents 23.8% and 31% of the average precipitation received in the watershed respectively. These results indicate that the use of these two methods have potential to estimate groundwater recharge in Dangesheta watershed. Comparison of these results with previous recharge studies shows good agreement. Therefore, further water resource study can be done using these methods and the result can further be used for practical implementation, water resource conservation practices and optimum utilization approaches |
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