Prediction of One-Year Trend of Changes in Water Table Using Open Source Code: A Case Study of Birjand Plain, Southern Khorasan Province

Groundwater is considered as one of the main sources of drinking and agricultural water supply particularly in arid and semiarid regions. According to this، prediction of groundwater level fluctuations can contribute to future planning and decisions for water supply. In this study، a groundwater simulation model with access to the programming code has been presented in the MATLAB software. Using the proposed model leads to creating more flexibility in groundwater flow simulation comparing to other methods for groundwater simulation. Above model was used to simulate Birjand aquifer. Modelling was performed for steady conditions in the October 2010 and for unsteady conditions in a period of one year (water year 2010-2011) with the 12 monthly stress periods. The results indicated that the groundwater level declines from East to West and Southwest. Also، by comparing the groundwater level at the beginning and the end of the simulation period we observed that the groundwater level drawdown during the simulation period whose amount was higher in the western zone of the aquifer comparing to other areas. This could be due to no recharge and the natural drains in plain output in this part of the aquifer.