Journals Proceedings

Abstract

The aim of this research is to develop decision support tools for identifying optimal location for groundwater development to meet the future demands in the Teeb Area. Teeb Area is located in north and north east of Missan Province, south of Iraq. This area is about 1860 km2. A twodimensional mathematical model is developed to simulate the flow regime of the upper part of Quaternary Deposits. The suggested conceptual model, which is advocated to simulate the flow regime of aquifer is fixed for one layer, i.e. the activity of the deeper aquifer is negligible. The model is calibrated using trial and error procedure in two stages, steady state followed by unsteady state. This model is integrated with an optimization model which is based on the genetic algorithm (GA). Three management cases were undertaken by running the model with adopted calibrated parameters. In the first case found the optimum value of the objective function is (0.32947E+08 m3/year), in other words, the pumping rates could be raised to nine times the current pumping rates, with a highest decline in the hydraulic heads of groundwater compared with initial hydraulic heads reached to 6 cm. In a second case twenty six wells out of thirty five can be operated with "on/off" status associated with each well to obtain the maximum value of pumping rate. In third case is allowed to move a location of well anywhere within a user defined region of the model grid until the optimal location is reached. The optimum value of objective function in third case is (0.35539E+08 m3/year) with 8% increasing of the pumping rates compared with the first case.