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Abstract: Quantifying the spatial and temporal distribution of natural groundwater recharge is essential for effective groundwater modeling and sustainable resource management. This paper presents M-RechargeCal, a user-friendly software tool developed to estimate natural groundwater recharge using two widely adopted approaches: the Water Balance (WB) method and Water Table Fluctuation (WTF) method. In the WB approach, the catchment area is divided into seven land-use categories, each representing distinct recharge characteristics. The tool includes eighteen different reference Evapotranspiration (ET0) estimation methods, accommodating varying levels of climatic input data availability. Additional required inputs include crop coefficients for major crops and Curve Numbers (CN) for specific land-use types. The WTF approach considers up to three aquifer layers with different specific yields (for unconfined aquifer) or storage coefficient (for confined aquifer). It also takes into account groundwater withdrawal (draft) and lateral water movement within or outside the aquifer system. M-RechargeCal is process-based and does not require calibration. Its performance was evaluated using six datasets from humid-subtropical environments, demonstrating reliable results (R2 = 0.867, r = 0.93, RE= 10.6%, PMARE= 9.8, ENS = 0.93). The model can be applied to defined hydrological or hydrogeological units such as watersheds, aquifers, or catchments, and can be used to assess the impacts of land-use/land-cover changes on hydrological components. However, it has not yet been tested in arid regions. M-RechargeCal provides modelers and planners with a practical, accessible tool for recharge estimation to support groundwater modeling and water resource planning. The software is available free of charge and can be downloaded from the author's institutional website or obtained by contacting the author via email.
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Key words:
- Groundwater recharge /
- Modelling /
- Software /
- Water balance /
- Aquifer /
- Specific yield
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Table 1. ET0 methods included in M-RechargeCal and their required climatic input data
Method Reference Climatic data required 1 FAO P-M (full data) FAO 56 (Allen et al. 1998) Tmax, Tmin, RH, WS, Rs 2 FAO P-M (with SH) FAO 56 (Allen et al. 1998) Tmax, Tmin, RH, WS, SH 3 FAO P-M (data-short) FAO 56 (Allen et al. 1998) Tmax, Tmin, RH 4 FAO B-C method FAO 24 (Doorenbos and Pruitt, 1977) Tmean 5 Makkink Makkink (1957) Rs 6 Hargreaves Hargreaves and Samani (1985) Tmax, Tmin 7 Hansen Hansen (1984) Rs 8 Turc Turc (1961) Rs 9 Prestley-Taylor method Prestley & Taylor (1972) Rs 10 Jensen-Haise Jensen and Haise (1963) Rs 11 Abtew Abtew (1996) Rs 12 de Bruin de Bruin (1998) Rs 13 Lobit et al. Lobit et al. (2018) Tmax, Tmin 14 Drooger and Allen Drooger and Allen (2002) Tmax, Tmin 15 Trajkovic Trajkovic (2007) Tmax, Tmin 16 Mintz and Walker Mintz and Walker (1993) Tmean 17 Smith and Stopp Smith and Stopp (1978) Tmean 18 ASCE method Walter et al. (2000) Tmax, Tmin, RH, WS, Rs Table 2. Tested variables, conditions, and their base values for sensitivity analysis
Variable Conditions Base-value for testing sensitivity 1 ET0 P< ETp ET0 = 20 mm P> ETp ET0 = 20 mm 2 P (P= 41 mm, ETp=58 mm) P< ETp P= 41 mm P (P= 84 mm, ETp=58 mm) P> ETp P= 84 mm P(P= 186 mm, ETp= 56.65 mm) P> ETp P= 186 mm 3 CN P> ETp CN = 60 4 Kc P< ETp Kc=0.9 P> ETp Kc=0.9 Table 3. Characteristics of the test sites
Sl. No Test site Latitude
deg.NLongitude
deg.EElevation
(above m.s.l.)
/mYearly
rainfall (2022)
/mmMonthly average temperature
/°C1 Mymensingh 24.73 90.4 16 1,874 18.1–29.8 2 Nachol (ChapaiNawabgonj district) 24.73 88.42 46 1,387 18–36 3 Niamatpur (Naogaon district) 24.80 88.94 27 1,395 17.8–35.9 Table 4. Year-wise location and method of recharge estimation
Sl. No Test site and year Method of recharge determination Reference 1 Nachol, 2018 Tracer technique Ali et al. (2022) 2 Nachol, 2019 Tracer technique Ali et al. (2022) 3 Niamatpur, 2019 Tracer technique Ali et al. (2022) 4 Niamatpur, 2019 Water-table fluctuation Ali et al. (2022) 5 Mymensingh, 2015 Tracer technique Ali (2017) 6 Mymensingh, 2016 Tracer technique Ali (2017) * Note:
a) The data used for No.1-2 were taken from Table 2 and Table 3 of Ali et al. (2022).
b) The data used for No.3 were from Table 5 of Ali et al. (2022).
c) The data used for No.4 were from Table 6 of Ali et al. (2022).
d) The data used for No.5-6 were taken from Table 1 of Ali et al. (2017).Table 5. Performance indicators of the M-RechargeCal model
Sl. Indicators (unit) Typical range Obtained value (for yearly recharge, mm) 1 Mean bias (mm) –∞ to + ∞ (perfect: 0) 19.6 2 Mean absolute bias or error (MAE) (mm) 0 to ∞ (perfect: 0) 21.3 3 RMSE (mm) 0 to ∞ (perfect: 0) 23.0 4 RE (%) –∞ to + ∞ (perfect: 0) 10.6 5 PMARE (Percent Mean Absolute Relative Error) 0 to ∞ (perfect: 0) 9.8 6 Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) –1 to +1 (perfect: 1) 0.93 7 R2 0 to 1 (perfect: 1) 0.867 8 Coefficient of Nash and Sutcliffe efficiency (ENS) –∞ to 1 (perfect: 1) 0.93 Table 6. Summary of tested variables, conditions, and their percent variation under different changes in input parameters
Sl no. Variable Condition Percent change in recharge under the percent change of input by Incremental change in recharge (%) (for 10% change in input) 10% 20% 30% 1 ET0 ETp>P (positive change in ET0) 0 0 0 0 ET0 (P=41 mm) ETp <P (positive change) −14.6 −12.2 −9.6 2–3 ET0 (P=41 mm) ETp <P (negative change) 18.9 20.8 22.7 1–2 ET0 (P=84 mm, ET0=52.75, ETp=58.03) ETp <P (positive change) −18 −40 −66 (ETp close to P) 22–26 ET0 (P=84 mm) ETp <P (positive change) 16 30 42 12–14 ET0 (P=186 mm) ETp <P (positive change) −1.6 −3.3 −5.1 1.7–1.8 2 P P< ETp 0 0 0 0 P (P= 84 mm) P> ETp (positive change) 29.3 33.8 37.8 3–4 P (P= 84 mm) P> ETp (negative change) 17.3 8.9 0 (P=ETp) –9 P (P= 186 mm) P> ETp (positive change) 3.9 7.4 10.2 –3 P (P= 186 mm) P> ETp (negative change) −5.0 −11.1 −19.2 6–8 3 CN (a) P=84 mm, ETp=58 P>ETp (positive change) −7 −16 −27 9–11 P>ETp (negative change) 4.6 7.5 8.3 1–2 CN (b) P=186mm, ETp=58 P>ETp (positive change) −17 −33 −49 16–17 P>ETp (negative change) 18 36 55 18–19 4 Kc P<ETp 0 0 0 0 P>ETp (P=186, ETp=60.25) −1.1 −2.1 −3.2 1–1.1 -
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