Evaluation of Different Scenarios of Water Resources Management in Talar Plain using Groundwater Modeling and Integrated Water Resources Systems

Groundwater is considered as one of the main sources of drinking water supply and agriculture, especially in the north of Iran.Also, increasing the distance of supply and demand will inevitably pay attention to the principles of optimal water allocation and this make necessary the management of water supply and demand.Therefore, recognizing the important factors of recharge and discharge of groundwater is one of the fundamental factors in the proper management of comprehensive water resources, including agricultural sector. In this research, the simulation model and allocation management model were used in the Talar basin basin, Mazandaran province. At first, the groundwater of study area was simulated using the MODFLOW, and then the information from the groundwater model was transferred to the WEAP model for water allocation in the study area. In order to plan and manage the study area in the modeling environment, different scenarios were applied and its impact was investigated on the supply and demand status and changes in groundwater storage and water table. The results of MODFLOW calibration showed that there is a good correlation between observed and simulated water level so that the RMSE for steady and non-steady flows was 0.336 and 0.49, respectively. Also, the results of the WEAP model based on the drought scenario showed that the area with will face to decrease of 10 million cubic meters in reservoir volume, which water resources condition will be more critical. The results showed that by combining the groundwater model and integrated water resource management model, more reliable results would be obtained in the studied plain.