Simulation of Steady State Groundwater Flow in the Lower Pra Basin, Ghana

Abstract

This study conceptualized the groundwater flow system; estimate the distribution of hydraulic conductivity and groundwater recharge in the lower Pra Basin in Ghana using the Groundwater Modeling System (GMS). It gives a detailed description of the site which consists of the Geographical, Hydrogeological and aquifer Characteristics of the region. The model was built by first developing a conceptual model which describes the hydrogeological framework, distribution of spatial and temporal boundary conditions, groundwater sources and sinks. This conceptual model was further converted to a numerical model for the flow simulation. Model calibration and sensitivity analysis were performed on the numerical model by comparing the observed hydraulic head with the simulated hydraulic head during calibration while model parameters were varied to obtain the most sensitive parameters in the model. The model performance was estimated to give RMSE = 3.32, R² = 0.99 and ME = 0.07. This gives a high model performance for the study area.