Evaluation level underground water in Buin basin (Isfahan Province)

Abstract

The increasing population in recent decades has led to an increased extraction of groundwater resources throughout the country especially in central provinces. This problem has also been increasing in Isfahan province due to reduction of surface water. One of these areas is Buin watershed basin with a space of 1855 km to the north of Zayanderoud dam. This basin includes three aquifers of Chehel Khaneh, Damenedaran and Buin, which have been extended within the alluviums of the Quaternary Period. This research is an attempt to investigate the rate of groundwater decline in these aquifers from 2002 to 2012 and investigate the reasons for the decline related to human and natural factors as well. For this purpose, the rate of the groundwater decline was measured using the interpolation techniques as well as Arc Gis, Excel and SPSS softwares. Results reveal that the average rate of the decline during this 11-year period has been 6 meters and Damenedaran aquifer has had the highest decline of all with an average decline of -8, while Chehel Khaneh has had the lowest decline with an average decline of -1.5. Then, the human and natural reasons for decline were investigated and it was shown that rainfall has had the most effect of all the natural factors, the lowest rainfall has been in 1378, and the groundwater level changes have greatly changed and the decline has increased ever since. Considering human-related factors, the exploitation rate of water resources has greatly increased due to farming reasons, and the number of deep wells has increased from 1140 wells in 2002-2003 to 1304 wells in 2011-2012. © 2014 AENSI Publisher All rights reserved.