A Simple Semi-distributed Hydrologic Model to Estimate Groundwater Recharge in a Humid Tropical Basin

A semi-distributed groundwater recharge model that can be used to estimate the daily water-table fluctuations on a daily basis is presented. The model is based on the water-balance concept and links atmospheric and hydrogeologic parameters to different water uses. It is calibrated and validated using 10 years of data; data for the first 6 years - from 2000 to 2005 - is used for model calibration, whereas data for the remaining 4 years - from 2006 to 2009 - is used for validation. Goodness-of-fit measures such as the Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (E<Subscript>NS</Subscript>) and the coefficient of determination (R<Superscript>2</Superscript>) were evaluated to assess the performance of the model. This model can serve as a powerful tool to help engineers and decision makers in controlling excessive groundwater usage and preventing drastic depletion of groundwater resources. This is of considerable significance in basins of this type which are densely populated and the draft is reasonably high. This model demonstrated that with a reliable and detailed input database, the accuracy of predictions can be improved considerably. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013