Author(s)

Behailu Berehanu^1*, Tenalem Ayenew², Tilahun Azagegn²

¹School of Erath Sciences and Engineering, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
²Department of Earth Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

In this work, most important problems related to model calibration have been assessed using MODFLOW. Particular emphasis is given to the Upper Awash river basin where many boreholes have been drilled for municipal and industrial uses compared with other regions in Ethiopia. Static Water Level (SWL) records from water supply wells drilled for about 32 years in the Upper Awash basin is considered to illustrate the commonly used groundwater flow model calibration procedures and associated problems. The assumptions made in the modeling procedures to use SWL data collected over many years from water supply boreholes to calibrate steady state models is too much of an assumption. Alternatives on steady and pseudo transient model calibration approaches in data scarce areas based on logical assumptions and reasonable representation of groundwater systems has been suggested. Hence, numerical groundwater flow models may play the expected key role for the sustainable groundwater resource management of the country, which is solving practical ground-water related problems.

Model Calibration, Groundwater Modeling, MODFLOW, Upper Awash

Berehanu, B. , Ayenew, T. and Azagegn, T. (2017) Challenges of Groundwater Flow Model Calibration Using MODFLOW in Ethiopia: With Particular Emphasis to the Upper Awash River Basin. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 5, 50-66. doi: 10.4236/gep.2017.53005.