Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
bers who, together with the Unidad de Proyecto
del R´o Salado (Ministry of PublicWorks of Buenos
Aires) gave generously of their insights and exper-
tise to the worthy cause of reducing the adverse
social and economic impacts of floods and
droughts in the R
´
o Salado Basin.
manageable. However, it was demonstrated that
using MODFLOW alone to generate FPMs could
generate only a first approximation of the extent of
flooding andwas incapable of correctly simulating
the depth of water on the surface.
The research further revealed that in low-lying
areas groundwater heads predicted byMODFLOW
are strongly influenced by evapotranspiration
from the saturated zone and, to a lesser degree,
the elevationof the ground surface. This is the case
because the fact that horizontal fluxes are negli-
gible makes the modelled groundwater profile
more sensitive to changes in the input hydrolog-
ical stresses and less sensitive to trends in the
elevation of the ground surface.
Local modelling in a test area of the Northwest
Region, using a fully coupled model (iSISMOD),
demonstrated the justification for expending the
additional resources necessary to model the deli-
cate interplay between hydrometeorological stres-
ses, groundwater heads and geomorphic features
that is responsible for extensive and prolonged
flooding associated with GW-SW interaction in
a large, lowland basin.
The overall conclusion to be drawn from appli-
cation of the proposed FCMS is that the modelling
strategies it supports are capable of integrating
key conceptual, technical andmodelling activities
in a way that supports systematic screening of
issues during the early stages of a project, design
of an appropriate modelling strategy during the
middle stages of a project and, hence, efficient
and justifiable deployment of resources to support
the development of an integrated catchment flood
risk management plan at the conclusion of a
project.
References
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Acknowledgements
This work is largely based on the outcomes of R.D.
Aradas's PhD studies, which were performed un-
der the supervision of C.R. Thorne and N.G.
Wright, andwhichbenefitted fromintensive,mul-
tidisciplinary experience gained during execution
of Master Plan studies for the R´o Salado Basin. In
view of this, thanks are due to all the team mem-
