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Powerful data collection for better Integrated Groundwater Solution

Conference Paper · April 2016

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2 authors:

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

ModeflowMap: a new GIS solution for simulating and predicting groundwater conditions and surface-water interactions in UAE View project

Characterization of the Mediterranean Coastal Aquifers in Morocco and Spain View project

Abdelkader Larabi

Mohammadia School of Engineers

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Lala el Hoummaidi

Mohammadia School of Engineers

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Powerful data collection for better Integrated

Groundwater Solution

Paper based on the PHD Research: Design, Development & Implementation of a GIS Solution for

Simulating and Predicting Groundwater Conditions & Groundwater/Surface-Water Interactions in

Abu Dhabi Coastal Lines.

Reviewed by: Prof. Abdelkader LARABI, PhD, MSc, Eng. Director of Laboratory LIMEN Water Resources & Information Technology, EMI

Prepared by: Lala El Hoummaidi, MSc, Eng. Sr. GIS & Applications Analyst Statistics Center Abu Dhabi, UAE

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Title of the session

Powerful data collection for better integrated groundwater solution.

Justification for the session This Paper showcases the power of governmental collaboration to implement an integrated solution for

simulating and predicting groundwater conditions and groundwater/surface-water interactions in Abu Dhabi

Emirate. In fact, the ease of access to administrative data collected from governmental organizations such as

Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi, Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi, Department of Municipal Affairs, Abu Dhabi

Distribution Company, and Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority had been crucial for the success of this research.

Author Biography

Lala Elhoummaidi is currently working as a Senior GIS and Applications Analyst for Statistics Center Abu Dhabi,

she accumulated more than 9 years’ experience in the field of GIS while she graduated as specialized engineer

in GeoSciences with an international executive MBA degree; she started her career as a GIS Developer with the

French Utilities company Lyonnaise des Eaux de Casablanca (LYDEC) where she was specialized in designing,

developing and implementing .NET web based GIS Solutions for Utilities and Facility Management before to

join the world leader mining company OCP Group as a GIS Project Manager. She worked also for the exclusive

distributor of Esri Products in the UAE as a GIS Product Specialist then joined the Abu Dhabi Government as

Senior GIS and Applications Analyst at Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi.

She is also a PHD student completing her 3rd year of research and an ESRI authorized instructor for 20 + GIS

courses such as Working with Spatial Analyst for GeoSpatial Intelligence, Creating and Analyzing Surfaces

using Spatial Analyst, Performing Analysis using ArcGIS Desktop, Creating and Publishing Maps, Introduction

to ArcGIS Server…etc.

Chair of the research Prof. Abdelkader LARABI, PhD, MSc, Eng.

Director of Laboratory LIMEN

Water Resources & Information Technology, Ecole Mohammadia d'Ingénieurs

BP 765 Agdal

Rabat - Morocco

Tel: + 212 5 37 68 71 50

Tel: + 212 6 61 20 40 41

Fax: + 212 5 37 77 88 53

E-mail: larabi@emi.ac.ma

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Abstract Water is taken up by the plants’ roots through the process of osmosis, which includes the flow of water from

areas of low salt concentration (such as the soil) to areas of high salt concentration (such as the inside of root

cells). Whenever the salt concentrations in the soil reach high levels, the flow of water from the soil to the root

becomes slow. However, whenever the salt concentrations in the soil are much higher than inside the root cells,

the soil will draw water from the root, and the plant will shrink and die. This is the basic way in which salinization

influences plant production.

The damaging effects of salt on plants are caused by osmotic forces, as well as by poisonous levels of chloride

and sodium. Organic product yields are particularly sensitive to elevated amounts of these elements. Likewise,

the high pH value (acid/alkaline balance) originated by excess of sodium could lead to micronutrient

deficiencies.

The PHD research as the main reference of this paper has an ultimate goal of studying the effects described

earlier of salts on plants using the latest GIS technology and the administrative records collected from

governmental organizations. Hence, the final output of the research is a web mapping solution enabling the

simulation and dissemination of results on maps, graphs and charts along with coupled groundwater/surface-

water modules, variable-density flow (including saltwater), aquifer-system compaction and land subsidence,

parameter estimation, and groundwater management.

Such approach is carried out through the automation of the MODFLOW processes published into web services

that are supported by a mobile application fed by field survey entered data. Accordingly, a thematic maps tool

is disseminating the results on maps and graphs accessible by multiple users who could be environmental

agencies, Water Resources experts / specialists, Students /researchers, agricultural agencies …etc.

As a result, this web mapping application can process historical wells data to predict and simulate pressures,

temperatures, sodium and other water related conditions in order to prevent non-controlled and harmful

drilling procedures.

Given, the significance of the coordinated effort between Abu Dhabi Governments to collect and share data

related to water resources in the Emirate, the task of establishing an integrated solution for simulating and

predicting groundwater conditions and groundwater/surface-water interactions is quite interesting and

important. In fact, Abu Dhabi government has established a clear agenda for the implementation of necessary

framework of policies, partnerships, standards, data, procedures, technology and institutional capabilities that

collectively comprise the Abu Dhabi Spatial Data Infrastructure which is actually the main data source for this

research enabling access to more than 600 spatial data layers supporting the research results. Indeed, the data

used during this research had been collected from Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi, Environment Agency of Abu

Dhabi, Department of Municipal Affairs, Abu Dhabi Distribution Company, and Abu Dhabi Food Control

Authority.

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Solution Components

The figure underneath demonstrates how the data sources, data layers, solution users, and the applications channels of communication:

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Execution Stages

The figure below demonstrates the approach embraced, which begins with the Identification of technical and functional prerequisites reported as a System Requirement

Study Document, such archive helped in the preparation for the following steps including the data modeling and database design, data collection and analysis, processing

and study of existing MODFLOW models, development of the proposed applications, deployment, testing then tuning while documenting the applications/solutions. An

assessment procedure is a standout amongst the most vital steps where QA/QC checks had been produced and compared to different results.

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The figures below demonstrate some of the modules implemented as part of the project:

The analytics outputs of the implemented solution consolidate different datasets and are shown as time

series graphs, thematic maps, or motion charts.

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For example, the wells and farms data are collected from Abu Dhabi Food control authority and verified against the wells and farms data with additional information provided by Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi:

The solution can generate new schemas to host new

uploaded datasets from different sources, these

schemas should respect predefined models to serve

groundwater conditions prediction and analysis.

Using the solution, the users could generate time

series charts based on a pre-defined setup mashing

up different data resources as shown below:

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There are also specific statistics that could be generated based on the end user preferences, here is the

example of wells time series statistics setup:

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