Sustainable and resilient management scenarios for groundwater resources of the Red Sea coastal aquifers

Burhan A Niyazi; Mohamed Ahmed; Milad Z Masoud; Mohamed A Rashed; Jalal M Basahi

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.07.081

Sustainable and resilient management scenarios for groundwater resources of the Red Sea coastal aquifers

Sci Total Environ. 2019 Nov 10:690:1310-1320. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.07.081. Epub 2019 Jul 6.

Authors

Burhan A Niyazi¹, Mohamed Ahmed², Milad Z Masoud³, Mohamed A Rashed⁴, Jalal M Basahi⁵

Affiliations

¹ Water Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80200, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Department of Hydrology and Water Resources Management, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment and Arid Land Agriculture, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80208, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, 6300 Ocean Drive, Corpus Christi, TX 78412, USA. Electronic address: mohamed.ahmed@tamucc.edu.
³ Water Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80200, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Hydrology Department, Desert Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt.
⁴ Water Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80200, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Geology Department, Suez Canal University, P.O. Box 41522, Ismailia, Egypt.
⁵ Department of Hydrology and Water Resources Management, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment and Arid Land Agriculture, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80208, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

PMID: 31470493
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.07.081

Abstract

Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data, along with readily available remote sensing datasets and the outputs of land-surface and climate models, are used to monitor spatiotemporal variabilities in the groundwater resources of the Red Sea Coastal Aquifer (RSCA) system in Saudi Arabia; to investigate their responses to climate projections; and to provide sustainable and resilient management scenarios for these resources. Our results indicate that, during the investigated period (April 2002-June 2017), the RSCA received an average annual recharge of 3.16 ± 0.52 km³. Recharge events (~16% of rainfall) are related to the observed increase in rainfall rates. Analysis of climate models' outputs over the RSCA indicates an increase in the median annual rainfall (17-31%) and recharge rates (2.7-4.9%) by the end of the 21st century. To ensure sustainable management and utilization of RSCA's water resources, groundwater extraction should be located in the southern and central parts of the aquifer, and groundwater extraction rates should be kept lower than 2.0 km³/yr. Findings highlight the importance of GRACE data as a unique, cost-effective, and decisive tool in monitoring the health of coastal and inland aquifer systems across the globe.

Keywords: Climate change; Coastal aquifers; GRACE; Recharge; Red Sea; Saudi Arabia; Sustainability.