GROUND WATER MODELING OF NELLORE COASTAL ZONE

M. MOHAN BABU
1
, G. K. VISWANADH
2
& V. VARALAKSHMI
3

1
Department of Civil Engineering, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering & Technology(Autonomous)
(SVCET), Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, India
2
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, JNTUH College of Engineering Hyderabad (Autonomous),
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
3
Associate Professor & HOD, Department of Civil Engineering, Marri Laxman Reddy Institute of Technology &
Management, Dundigal Village, Quthbullapur, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India

ABSTRACT
Groundwater model is regarded as the best tool to conceptualise the hydro geological situation in the groundwater
basin and to predict the potential environment and socioeconomic impacts of the groundwater abstractions. Rise in sea
level due to the climate change accelerates the saltwater intrusion into the aquifer and maintain the same depth to water
level consequently reducing the quality of water. This phenomenon is observed in the sea coast of Nellore district which
situated between the 14
0
10 to 14
0
50 of North latitude and 80
0
00 to 78
0
10 of East longitude covering an area of 1530
km
2
from the ground water flow model it is observed that the annual recharge of the study area is 435.04 MCM and river
leakage is 7.22 MCM. From the total input, 12% (i.e, 52.20MCM) is gone through evaporation loses from surface and
ground water bodies and 50% of water is extracted from ground in the form of pumping (i.e,194.85 MCM) and the
remaining 28% (i.e, 131.18 MCM) is due to the river leakage and saltwater intrusion in the study area.
KEYWORDS: Groundwater Model, Visual MODFLOW, Pumping
INTRODUCTION
Groundwater is one of the earths most broadly distributed and most imperative natural resources for municipal,
agricultural, industrial development and environmental aspects. In analysing groundwater system, consideration must be
given to the effective groundwater withdrawals on fluctuation of water levels in the nearby wells or in a wetland.
Groundwater model is regarded as the best tool to conceptualise the hydro geological situation in the groundwater basin
and to predict the potential environment and socioeconomic impacts of the groundwater abstractions. Rise in sea level due
to the climate change accelerates the saltwater intrusion into the aquifer which reduces the fresh groundwater resources.
With the impact of sea level rise and over pumping combined together the problem becomes even more serious and
requires fast solutions. It is estimated that the mean sea level will rise in the range of 20 to 88 cm during the current century
(IPCC 2001). The rise in sea level will shift the saltwater interface further landwards. As a result, the extraction wells that
were originally in fresh groundwater may then be located in brackish water or saline water and up coning may occur.
Consequently, the abstraction rates of these wells may have to be reduced or the wells abandoned. This is considered one
of the most serious effects of sea level rise. The objective of the present work is to find the aquifer parameters by
developing a transient groundwater flow model in Visual MODFLOW and to predict the groundwater head for future years
in the five mandals of Nellore district situated at sea coast.
The area chosen for aquifer modeling consist of five mandals of Nellore district lies in the 14
0
10 to 14
0
50 of
North latitude and 80
0
00 to 78
0
10 of East longitude covering an area of 1530 km
2
Figure 1. The drainage pattern is
International Journal of Civil, Structural,
Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering
Research and Development (IJCSEIERD)
ISSN(P): 2249-6866; ISSN(E): 2249-7978
Vol. 4, Issue 1, Feb 2014, 101-110
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102 M. Mohan Babu, G. K. Viswanadh & V. Varalakshmi
dentric to sub-dentric and trellis. The terrain is flat to gently undulating except for few. The study area consist the
command area. Major part of study area mainly underlain by dharwar super group, peninsular gneissic complex that
includes a variety of granite gneisses, schists intruded by basic dykes. The alluvium of fluvial origin comprises sand, silt
and clay in various proportions occur along the banks of pennar extending Allur to Muthukur mandals. The thickness of
alluvium varies from 50-150m. The ground water occurs in consolidated to unconsolidated formations. In consolidated
formation ground water occur in weathered (4-6m) and fractured zones (6-18m) with limited yields (1-2lps).

Figure 1: Location Map of the Study Area
LITERATURE REVIEW
MODFLOW (Modular Three Dimensional Finite-Difference Ground water Flow Model) is the name that has
been given to the United State Geological Survey (USGS) Modular Three-Dimensional ground water flow model which
assumes that aquifers consist of porous media only [McDonald and Harbaugh, 1988]. Because of its ability to simulate a
wide variety of systems, its extensive publicity, available documentation, and its rigorous USGS peer review, MODFLOW
has became the worldwide standard ground water flow model. MODFLOW is used to simulate systems for water supply,
containment remediation and mine dewatering. When properly applied, MODFLOW is the recognized standard ground
water model (Kumar, 1992; Pollock, 1994; Anderman and Hill, 1997; Restrepo et al., 1998; Hill et al., 2000; Konikow,
2001; Merritt and Konikow, 2000; Kumar, 2001 and Jyrkama et al., 2002).
Now a days the modflow is also used to estimate the climate change effect on groundwater and sea level rise in
aquifers. The impacts of climate change on groundwater has been investigated by many researchers (Loaiciga et al., 2000;
Varanou et al., 2002; Brouy`ere et al., 2004; Allen et al., 2004; Krysanova et al., 2005; Scibek and Allen, 2006; Andersen
et al., 2006; Jyrkama and Sykes, 2007, Venot, 2009; Garg et al., 2011a, Pavelic et al., 2012).The sensitivity of an aquifer to
changes in recharge and river stage, consistent with projected climate-change scenarios for the Grand Forks aquifer,
located in Canada was done by D. M. Allen et al (2004). Scibek and Allen (2005) used Visual MODFLOW to study the
impact of climate change on two small aquifers, in western Canada and in the United States. The results of the study
indicated only a minor impact from climate change on recharge and groundwater levels at both study areas. F. El Yaouti et
al (2008) modelled a three-dimensional finite-difference groundwater flow model to investigate the variety of hydro
geological conditions and to simulate the behaviour of the flow system under different stresses in the unconfined aquifer of
Ground Water Modeling of Nellore Coastal Zone 103
Bou-Areg. The modeling package MODFLOW, employed in the Groundwater Modelling System (GMS), was applied for
this purpose.
METHODOLOGY
Groundwater modelling begins with a conceptual understanding of the physical problem. The next step in
modelling is translating the physical system into mathematical terms. In general, the results are the familiar groundwater
flow equation and transport equations. The governing flow equation for three-dimensional saturated flow in saturated
porous media is:

t
h
S W
z
h
K
z y
h
K
y x
h
K
x
s zz yy xx
c
c
=
(

c
c
c
c
+
(

c
c
c
c
+
(

c
c
c
c

Where
K
xx
, K
yy
& K
zz
are values of hydraulic conductivity along the x, y & z co-ordinate axes which are assumed to be
parallel to the major axes of hydraulic conductivity
H is piezometric head.
W is a volumetric flux per unit volume and represents sources and/or sinks of water.
S
s
is the specific storage of the porous material.
t is time.
The governing equation for groundwater systems are usually solved either analytically or numerically.
Analytical models contain analytical solution of the field equations, continuously in space and time. In numerical models, a
discrete solution is obtained in both the space and time domains by using numerical approximations of the governing
partial differential equation. Various numerical solution techniques are used in groundwater models. Among the most used
approaches in groundwater modelling, three techniques can be distinguished: Finite Difference Method, Finite Element
Method, and Analytical Element Method. All techniques have their own advantages and disadvantages with respect to
availability, costs, user friendliness, applicability, and required knowledge of the user. In the present study, steady state
aquifer ground water flow modeling is achieved under steady state condition using VISUAL MODFLOW software with
Finite Difference method.
Data Used
Differential levelling was carried out in the study area to find out the ground elevation and elevation of water table
of the observation wells with respect to mean sea level. To study the effect of pumping in the area, water level fluctuations
in nine observation wells were collected. Pumping test data of rate of five pumping wells and number of pumps exist in the
study area was collected from state Ground water Board, Nellore. The model is initially tested with steady state calibration
using may 2012 and then converted to transient during the period May 2012 to November 2012.
Model Set Up of the Study Area
The basic assumptions made regarding the aquifer modeling are The Penna river is ephemeral river and may
become affluent and influent depending on the flows and surrounding groundwater conditions and are thus simulated by
River Package. The specified head at the sea coast is zero and there will be continuous leakage to the Fracture zone from
104 M. Mohan Babu, G. K. Viswanadh & V. Varalakshmi
the overlying weathered zone.
The entire study area was divided into a rectangular grid pattern of 30 columns and 30 rows as shown in Figure 2.
The each block in the grid was chosen as a square of 1000 m side. The conceptual model consists of 2 layers covering an
area of 1530 km
2
.

Figure 2: Model Grid Domain
The stratiographic units are represented by two layers, merging soil cover and weathered zone in first layer depth
varying between 6-8m and partially weathered, jointed and fractured in second layer with varying depth 12-16m
respectively from the top. Therefore the top spatial domain represents the ground surface while the bottom boundary of the
domain is set bottom levels of the jointed and fractured zone shown in figure 3 and 4.

Figure 3: Horizontal Cross-section of Aquifer Layers (Row 12)

Figure 4: Vertical Cross-Section of Aquifer Layers (Column 16)
Boundary Conditions
Hydrological features adjacent to and within the model domain must be represented in the model by mathematical
boundary conditions. The main inputs of freshwater come across lateral boundaries of the system and these boundaries are
modelled as a general head condition. Specified head of 0m was applied to the sea (Figure 5). Spatial extents of rivers,
tanks, canals and drains would accommodated through river package, drain package and head boundary available in
MODFLOW (Figure 5).
Ground Water Modeling of Nellore Coastal Zone 105

Figure 5: Boundary Distribution in the Study Area
The main source of recharge in the study area is rainfall, streams and rivers. Areal recharge to the flow system is
spatially variable due to lakes, streams and drains contribute to the groundwater system based on the gradient between the
surface water body and groundwater regime, soil type and geological structures (Venkateswara Rao, 2006). The delay in
recharge to aquifer is inappreciable and the hydro geological parameters do not change during the period for which the
aquifer is simulated. (Thangarajan, 1981). The heterogeneity is incorporated into the model by varying the recharge values
represented in Figure 6. The permeability values are adopted based on geology and soils of the study area and varying from
4 to 4.80 m/day

Figure 6: Recharge Distribution in the Study Area
106 M. Mohan Babu, G. K. Viswanadh & V. Varalakshmi
The groundwater draft has been assigned through well package. The Study area is mainly dependant on rainwater,
canal water and groundwater for its irrigation. Based on stage of ground water development in Indukurpet mandal is
categorized as over exploited (more than 100%), T.P.Gudur mandal is categorized as semi critical (70-90%) and allure,
Muthukur, Vidavalur mandals are categorised as safe. (less 70% of available resource), the groundwater utilisation is
estimated based on the land cover and residential flat pattern and the data collected from APSGWD (Table 2).
The groundwater withdrawal in the study areas was simulated appropriately through well package with groundwater
pumping rates varying from 100m
3
/day to 500m
3
/day per grid, considering the urbanization, land use etc. (Figure 8)
Table 1: Mandal Wise Groundwater Utilization of the Study Area
Mandal
Name
Ground Water
Utilisation in MCM
Allur 9.07
Vidavalur 30.96
Indukurpet 86.29
T.P.Gudur 51.84
Muthukur 18.31
Total 196.47
Source: Report of APSGWD (2004-2005) and CGWB Report, 2007
The groundwater head in the aquifer model was computed by using visual MODFLOW (Guiger and Franz,
1996).WHI Solver package of MODFLOW has been used the solver checked for the maximum change in the solution at
every cell after completion of every iteration. If the maximum change in the solution was below a set convergence
tolerance then the solution had converged and the solver stops, otherwise new iteration was started (McDonald and
Harbaugh, 1988). The flow model was calibrated by adjusting several parameters within a narrow range of values until a
best fit was obtained between observed data and simulated results. The accuracy of the computed water levels was judged
by a mean error, mean absolute error and root mean squared error. Figure 7 shows the comparison of water level altitudes
as measured in the field and those observed in the simulation of the model. The minimum and maximum deviation between
the observed values of water levels in the field and those observed in the simulated model are -0.45m to+10m (Figure 7).

Figure 7: Calibration Results in Steady State (Postmonsoon2012)
Ground Water Modeling of Nellore Coastal Zone 107

Figure 8: Variation of Observed and Calculated Ground Water Levels
Values in the Study Area during November 2012

Figure 9: Variation of Observed and Calculated Ground Water Levels
Values in the Study Area during November 2012

From mass balance of the ground water flow model, we observed that the annual recharge of the study area is
435.04 MCM and river leakage is 7.22 MCM. From the total input, 12% (i.e, 52.20MCM) is gone through evaporation
loses from surface and ground water bodies and 50% of water is extracted from ground in the form of puming (i.e,194.85
MCM) and the remaining 28% (i.e, 131.18 MCM) is the river leakage and saltwater intrusion in the study area (Figure 10).

Figure 10: Zone Budget
108 M. Mohan Babu, G. K. Viswanadh & V. Varalakshmi
CONCLUSIONS
Groundwater flow model was developed using Visual MODFLOW and the aquifer parameters for the area were
estimated. Groundwater head for the area was obtained from the model run. From mass balance of the ground water flow
model, we observed that the annual recharge of the study area is 435.04 MCM and river leakage is 7.22 MCM. From the
total input, 12% (i.e, 52.20MCM) is gone through evaporation loses from surface and ground water bodies and 50% of
water is extracted from ground in the form of pumping (i.e,194.85 MCM) and the remaining 28% (i.e, 131.18 MCM) is the
river leakage and saltwater intrusion in the study area.
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