[en] An integrated hydrological model (MOHISE) was developed in order to study the impact of climate change on the hydrological cycle in representative water basins in Belgium. This model considers most hydrological processes in a physically consistent way, more particularly groundwater flows which are modelled using a spatially distributed, finite-element approach. Thanks to this accurate numerical tool, after detailed calibration and validation, quantitative interpretations can be drawn from the groundwater model results. Considering IPCC climate change scenarios, the integrated approach was applied to evaluate the impact of climate change on the water cycle in the Geer basin in Belgium. The groundwater model is described in detail, and results are discussed in terms of climate change impact on the evolution of groundwater levels and groundwater reserves. From the modelling application on the Geer basin, it appears that, on a pluriannual basis, most tested scenarios predict a decrease in groundwater levels and reserves in relation to variations in climatic conditions. However, for this aquifer, the tested scenarios show no enhancement of the seasonal changes in groundwater levels.
Research center :
Aquapôle - ULiège
Disciplines :
Geological, petroleum & mining engineering
Author, co-author :
Brouyère, Serge ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département Argenco : Secteur GEO3 > Hydrogéologie & Géologie de l'environnement
Carabin, Guy
Dassargues, Alain ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département Argenco : Secteur GEO3 > Hydrogéologie & Géologie de l'environnement
Language :
English
Title :
Climate change impacts on groundwater resources: modelled deficits in a chalky aquifer, Geer basin, Belgium
Alternative titles :
[fr] Impact des changements climatiques sur les ressources en eau souterraine: modélisation des déficits dans un aquifère crayeux, bassin du Geer, Belgique
Publication date :
April 2004
Journal title :
Hydrogeology Journal
ISSN :
1431-2174
Publisher :
Springer-Verlag, New York, United States - New York
Arnell N (1998) Climate change and water resources in Britain. Climatic Change 39(1):83-110
Arnell N (2002) Hydrology and global environmental change. Prentice Hall, London, 346 p
Beeton AM (2002) Large freshwater lakes: present state, trends, and future. Environ Conserv 29(1):21-38
Brouyère S (2001) Etude et modélisation du transport et du piégeage des solutés en milieu variablement saturé (Study and modelling of transport and retardation of solutes in variably saturated media). PhD Thesis, University of Liège, 572 p
Carabin G, Dassargues A (1999) Modeling groundwater with ocean and river interaction. Water Resources Res 35(8):2347-2358
Carabin G, Dassargues A (2000) Coupling of parallel river and groundwater models to simulate dynamic groundwater boundary conditions. In: Bentley LR, Sykes JF, Brebbia CA, Gray WG, Pinder GF (eds) Proc Computational Methods in Water Resources 2000. Balkema, Rotterdam, vol 2, pp 1107-1113
Dassargues A, Monjoie A (1993) The chalk in Belgium. In: Downing RA, Price M, Jones GP (eds) The hydrogeology of the chalk of north-west Europe. Clarendon Press, Oxford, UK, pp 153-269
Dassargues A, Maréchal JC, Carabin G, Sels O (1999) On the necessity to use three-dimensional groundwater models for describing impact of drought conditions on streamflow regimes. In: Hydrological extremes: understanding, predicting, mitigating. Proc IUGG 99 Symp HSI. July 1999, Birmingham. IAHS Publ 255:165-170
De Wit MJM, Warmerdam PMM, Torfs PJJF, Uijlenhoet R, Roulin E, Cheymol A, van Deursen WPA, van Walsum PEV, Ververs M, Kwadijk JCJ, Buiteveld H (2001) Effect of climate change on the hydrology of the river Meuse. Wageningen University, Environmental Sciences, Water Resources Rep 108, 134 p
Eheart JW, Tornil DW (1999) Low-flow frequency exacerbation by irrigation withdrawal in the agricultural Midwest under various climate change scenarios. Water Resources Res 35(7):2237-2246
Everbecq E, Gosselain V, Viroux L, Descy J-P (2001) POTAMON: a dynamic model for predicting phytoplankton composition and biomass in lowland rivers. Water Res 35(4):901-912
Feddema JJ, Freire S (2001) Soil degradation, global warming and climate impacts. Climate Res 17(2):209-216
Gellens D, Roulin E (1998) Streamflow response of Belgian catchments to IPCC climate change scenarios. J Hydrol 210:242-258
Gogu RC (2000) Advances in groundwater protection strategy using vulnerability mapping and hydrogeological GIS databases. PhD Thesis, University of Liege, Belgium, 152 p
Gogu R. Carabin G, Hallet V. Peters V, Dassargues A (2001) GIS-based hydrogeological databases and groundwater modelling. Hydrogeol J 9:555-569
Hallet V (1999) Etude de la contamination de la nappe aquifère de Hesbaye par les nitrates: hydrogéologie, hydrochimie et modélisation mathématique des écoulements et du transport en milieu saturé (Nitrate contamination of the Hesbaye chalky aquifer in Belgium: hydrogeology, hydrochemistry and transport modelling). PhD Thesis, University of Liège, 361 p
IPCC (2001) Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of the working group II to the third assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), edited by McCarthy JJ, Canziani OF, Leary NA, Dokken DJ, White KS. Cambridge University Press, UK, 1000 p
Loaiciga HA, Valdes JB, Vogel R, Garvey J, Schwarz H (1996) Global warming and the hydrological cycle. J Hydrol 174:83-127
Loaiciga HA, Maidment DR, Valdes JB (2000) Climate-change impacts in a regional karst aquifer, Texas, USA. J Hydrol 227:173-194
Menzel L, Bürger G (2002) Climate change scenarios and runoff response in the Mulde catchment (southern Elbe, Germany). J Hydrol 267:53-64
Monjoie A (1967) Observations nouvelles sur la nappe aquifère de la craie en Hesbaye (Belgique) (New observations about the chalky Hesbaye aquifer in Belgium). Mém Assoc Int Hydrogéol (AIH-IAH), Istanbul
Roulin E, Cheymol A, Gellens D (2000) Impact of climate changes on the water resources in the river Meuse basin. In: Mehrota R, Soni B, Bhatia KKS (eds) Proc Int Conf Integrated Water Resources Management for Sustainable Development, 19-21 December 2000, New Delhi, India. National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, India, pp 1045-1054
Smitz J, Everbecq E, Deliège J-F, Descy J-P, Wollast R, Vanderborght J-P (1997) PEGASE, une méthodologie et un outil de simulation prévisionnelle pour la gestion de la qualité des eaux de surface (PEGASE: a methodology and a forecasting simulation tool for surface water quality management). Tribune Eau 588:73-82
Sudicky EA, Unger AJA, Lacombe S (1995) A noniterative technique for the direct implementation of well bore boundary conditions in three-dimensional heterogeneous formations. Water Resources Res 31(2):411-415
Sun G, Amatya DM, McNulty SG, Skaggs RW, Hughes JH (2000) Climate change impacts on the hydrology and productivity of a pine plantation. J Am Water Resources Assoc 36(2):367-374
Therrien R, Sudicky EA (2000) Well bore boundary conditions for variably saturated flow modeling. Adv Water Resources 24(2):195-201
Van Deursen WPA (2000) MEUSEFLOW 2.1, Laagwaterstudies Maasstroomgebied, RIZA project RI-2988A. RIZA, Arnhem, The Netherlands
Veldhuizen AA, Poelman A, Stuyt LCPM, Querner EP (1998) Software documentation for SIMGRO v. 3.0. Regional Water Management Simulator, Wageningen, DLO-Staring Centrum Rep 104-def.doc, 289 p
Westmacott JR, Burn DH (1997) Climate change effects on the hydrological regime within the Churchill-Nelson River Basin. J Hydrol 202:263-279
Yusoff I, Hiscock KM, Conway D (2002) Simulation of the impacts of climate change on groundwater resources in eastern England. In: Hiscock KM, Rivett MO, Davison RM (eds) Sustainable groundwater development. Geol Surv Lond Spec Publ 193:325-344
