Simulating the Effect of Optimal Water Allocation on Groundwater in Monthly Stress Periods (Baghmalek Plain, Khuzestan Province)

Optimized water allocation may be considered as a valuable solution to increase the productivity of water resources in arid and semi-arid areas. To achieve this purpose, the main resources of water consumption in Baghmalek plain (Khuzestan province) for duration of October 2013 to September 2014 and also water table heights for nine years (2002 to 2011) were evaluated. In this study, the final model was developed by combining the two cropping pattern multiobjective optimization and groundwater simulation models. Also, groundwater flow was simulated for addressing optimal discharge scenarios based on finite difference numerical approach using Modflow software. Study years were divided into 36 seasonal stress periods and hydraulic conductivity, specific yield and recharge were calibrated in these periods. The results showed that the flow model had an acceptable simulation accuracy by variance error of 3.05 and 3.92 in calibration and verification processes, respectively. Furthermore, the prediction of water table after the optimal discharge scenario indicated that the May and June months were the main periods of groundwater management.