The salination problem of the Guzelyurt aquifer, Cyprus

Abstract

Contamination of coastal aquifers by seawater is either due to the excess amount of pumping above their safe yield capacity or due to local causes like overpumping near the shores (even without the excess amount of pumping at the scale of the whole aquifer) or both. This problem is faced frequently if these aquifers are mainly in use for irrigation. The amount of water that is utilised continuously within the aquifer is calculated through volumetric (3-D) approaches of both the water balance and the salt balance equations where the space and time components are integrated. This inverse methodology is used for the determination of poorly known terms in time and space. The variation of contours showing the water table levels and concentrations of NaCl have been drawn for the last 20 years. The unknown component of the water balance equation, that is the extraction of water from the aquifer by the South, is calculated as 8.5 MCM/year. Then the average amount of water that is pumped above the safe yield capacity, thus causing the depletion of the saturated volume of the aquifer, is estimated as 17.4 MCM/year. The total amount of remaining freshwater available within the aquifer is found to be 1565 MCM; hence, the remaining lifetime of the aquifer is expected to be no more than 90 years.