The impact of climate change on groundwater resources in northwestern Algeria
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ORIGINAL PAPER
The impact of climate change on groundwater resources in northwestern Algeria Sabri Berhail 1 Received: 7 May 2018 / Accepted: 4 September 2019 # Saudi Society for Geosciences 2019
Abstract Algeria lies in one of the most vulnerable regions facing climate change impacts during the twenty-first century. Northwestern Algeria has experienced a persistent decline in annual rainfall associated with the significant increase in temperature during the twentieth century. This variability has been accentuated since the 1980s and has had a significant impact on water resources. The primary motto of the current study is to measure the impact of climate change on groundwater resources using time series of rainfall and runoff data measured in the Tafna Basin (7245 km2) of Algeria. The application of meteorological drought indices and statistical test of Pettitt shows that a rainfall regime modification occurred around the seventies. This modification reveals a decrease of rainfall between 8.21 and 38.85% according to the stations, with an average of 17.85%. The average recession coefficients obtained by Maillet’s exponential model varies between 8.90.10 and 17.06.10−2 day−1 either side of 1987, with an average increase of 45.45% and highlight a much faster drainage of the aquifers supplying the baseflow after 1987. A shortening of 1 to 11 days with an average of 6 days of the duration of the recession after 1987 was highlighted. The average water volumes mobilized by the aquifers fluctuated between 11.38 and 3.62 hm3 before and after 1987, with an average decrease of − 69.06%. These results show a decrease in the water volumes mobilized by the aquifers after 1987 and suggest a considerable decline of groundwater resources under the influence of climate change. Keywords Climate change . Water resources . Statistical tests . Maillet recession model . Tafna basin . Algeria
Introduction Climate change refers to a change in average weather conditions occurring on the long time-scale that may range from decades to thousands of years. There are different factors causing climate change and there have been numerous debates about them in recent decades; however, there is now the unequivocal consensus that its main cause is the increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gases. Climate change has strong impacts on the various components of the hydrological cycle, including runoff and groundwater resources (Mileham et al. 2009; Aizebeokhai 2011; Kumar 2012; Bindra et al. 2013; Hashemi et al. 2015). IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) published a report
Responsible Editor: Abdullah M. Al-Amri * Sabri Berhail [email protected] 1
Department of Science and Technology, Institute of Sciences and Technology, University Center of Mila, 43000 Mila, Algeria
in 2001 in which it was mentioned that African countries are facing the wrath of such environmental changes due to the absence of economic development and institutional capacity. The reports published by IPCC in the years 2001 and 2007 noted down that, in the twenti
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