GroMoPo Metadata for Puri coastal aquifer model

Puri city is situated on the east coast of India, and groundwater is the only source available to meet city water supply. Due to increase in population and urbanization of the city, groundwater withdrawal is continuously increasing, which may lead to the movement of saline water interface toward the fresh groundwater. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the hydrodynamics of groundwater flow and to predict withdrawal for future water demand of the city without affecting the saltwater intrusion. For this, a groundwater flow model was conceptualized and validated for the present withdrawal coupled with the saltwater intrusion model. To assess the safe yield of groundwater withdrawal, various iterations were carried out with different withdrawal rates and movement of fresh and saltwater interface. This helped in quantifying the future demand of city water supply without affecting the interface between fresh groundwater and saltwater. Based on the simulation results, various measures were suggested to safeguard the groundwater resource against saltwater intrusion.