Groundwater modeling for the estimation of the sustainable yield of Iao aquifer, Maui, Hawaii
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2007
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University of Hawaii at Manoa
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Robust Analytical Model (RAM), originally developed by John Mink in 1981, is a very useful simple analytical model to derive the sustainable-yield roughly for the Basal aquifer. RAM has been applied by the State of Hawaii, Commission on Water Resources Management (CWRM) for sustainable-yield estimation for the State's whole aquifers since 1990. Dr. Clark C. K. Liu modified RAM by introducing a transport sub-model, which simulates the transport process of a transition zone between seawater and freshwater in a basal aquifer. The most important characteristic of the modified RAM is that it can be calibrated based on available deep monitoring well observed data. Iao aquifer, located on the eastern side of west Maui, is the principle sources of domestic water supply for the Island of Maui. A value of 20 MGD as the sustainable-yield was issued by CWRM for the Iao aquifer. Last century 90s, the withdrawal of Iao aquifer reached the sustainable yield; the observation of water table shows that there were dramatic decline of hydraulic head around the pumping wells. This study uses the modified RAM to re-evaluate the sustainable-yield of the Iao aquifer, Maui. By applying the Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) method, an innovative Matlab program was built to estimate the dispersion coefficient which provides the best fitting of the observed deep monitoring well salinity data. A quasi-three-dimensional, finite-difference model SHARP, was used to simulate freshwater and saltwater flow separated by a sharp interface in layered coastal aquifer systems. The results of SHARP model were employed to estimate the traveling time from the upstream boundary to the deep monitoring well through the flow-net. From the fitted salinity profile, the dispersion coefficient can be derived according to the estimated traveling time. After carefully estimating the aquifer parameters such as recharge, effective porosity, mean hydraulic residence time etc, the sustainable-yield of Iao aquifer was determined as 17.85 mgd, which is slightly lower than that was derived from RAM.
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Hawaii
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Theses for the degree of Master of Science (University of Hawaii at Manoa). Civil Engineering; no. 4247
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