Groundwater evaluation in KeKeYa groundwater source: Comparison of water balance method and numerical simulation method

The water balance method and numerical simulation method are widely used in groundwater evaluation. In this paper, based on the detailed analysis of hydrogeological conditions, both methods were applied to evaluate groundwater resources in KeKeYa groundwater source. The study shows that the difference between the total groundwater recharges and discharges is small, and the errors of the results of both two methods are both acceptable. The study also shows that the waterbalance method which is simple and easy to understand is appropriate for groundwater evaluation of large region, but not suitable for small region because of the poor accuracy. The numerical simulation method which highly depends on the detailed analysis of local hydrogeological conditions and requires mass data is appropriate for both large and micro regions. The study also finds that applying the two methods together can improve the accuracy of groundwater evaluation result greatly.