GIS

POSTER A

Quantification of hydrological processes is required for many projects related to potential groundwater recharge. Thus, investigation on various hydrogeologic conditions is paramount. Changes of climate can affect the hydrological cycle by altering groundwater recharge. As a result, an understanding of the hydrological conditions is essential to make sensible predictions of the possible groundwater recharge.

There are various software packages used by hydrogeologists for a variety of purposes ranging from project management, database management, data interpretation, conceptual and numerical modelling and decision making. Software is either commercial (produced for sale) or open source (freely available to anyone and for any purpose).

The objective of this paper is to promote open source software that can be used by the hydrogeological community to reduce expenses, enhance productivity and maximise efficiency.

Groundwater is vulnerable to contamination from various anthropogenic sources. The degree of groundwater vulnerability can be assessed using various methods, which are grouped into three major categories: index-and-overlay methods, process-based computer simulations and statistical analyses. This study attempts to produce a groundwater vulnerability map of the eThekwini Metropolitan District Municipality using the index-and-overlay method of DRASTIC in a GIS environment for the first time.

Assessment of aquifer vulnerability to contamination is receiving renewed attention due to recent extreme events as demand for groundwater as alternative sources of water supply intensifies. In this study, GIS-based modeling of the impact of land-based activities and climate variability is employed to quantify the risk to quality deterioration of groundwater resource, delineate potential areas and highlight degree of vulnerability in the Cape Flats aquifer. The study used Scenariorcp85 CMIP5 AR5 climate change datasets downscaled from GCM using WaterWorld model.