PhiGO seasonal groundwater forecasting system

This report provides an overview of the seasonal (90-day) groundwater level forecasting system for the Philippines that was developed as part of the NERC-Newton fund Philippines Groundwater Outlook (PhiGO) project (NE/S003118/1). The system builds on other operational groundwater level forecasting systems developed at the BGS, such as the UK Hydrological Outlook (Prudhomme et al., 2017). Forecasts are made at the borehole scale across a network of observation boreholes using the BGS AquiMod groundwater model (Mackay et al., 2014a) driven by numerical weather prediction forecasts. However, this system has been customised with the Philippine case study in mind. More specifically, it has been developed to work alongside a telemetered network of boreholes operated by Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) and owned by the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) under the Groundwater Management Plan (GMP) project. Groundwater level data have only been collected since 2019 and the network is continually expanding. Accordingly, a number of additional features have been included, such as automated recalibration of the AquiMod models as more observation data become available; and the ability to automatically generate new AquiMod groundwater models as the telemetered network expands. Climate observation data are also relatively sparse and, therefore, the system makes use of freely-available global gridded datasets. This report outlines the scientific background and methodology of the forecasting system. It also summarises the principal outputs, which are published online via a free-to-view web-delivery platform (https://mapapps.bgs.ac.uk/phigo/). The report begins with an overview of the process-based BGS AquiMod groundwater model which underpins the groundwater level forecasts as well as the model calibration and evaluation approach used in the forecasting system. Section 3 provides more details of the input data used to drive the forecasts before Section 4 gives an overview of the underlying processes in the forecasting system. Finally, a description of the main system outputs is given in Section 5

Hydrological modelling for Panay and Pampanga, Philippines 1979 - 2089

This report describes an investigation of the impact of climate change on the hydrological cycle in Panay Island and Pampanga Province, Philippines. We developed an integrated surface water-groundwater model using a version of the widely applied VIC hydrological model that includes a 2D groundwater model: VIC-AMBHAS. The model simulates components of the hydrological cycle, such as soil moisture, evapotranspiration, surface runoff, groundwater recharge, and river baseflow. The model can be used to simulate the hydrological cycle over historical and future time periods. We used data available at a global scale to parameterise the models, which were constructed on a ~1km grid. The meteorological driving data is downscaled to this resolution. Both historical climatology (1979-2018) and future climate projections up to 2089 are used to drive the model to study the impact of climate change on the hydrological cycle. Over the historical period, Pampanga receives marginally more rainfall (181 mm/month) than Panay (174 mm/month). However, the partitioning of precipitation into the different water fluxes varies for the two regions. In Panay, 72% of the precipitation is partitioned into evapotranspiration whereas in Pampanga this is only 60% of the precipitation. This results in higher surface runoff and groundwater recharge in Pampanga (runoff: 44 mm/month, recharge: 36 mm/month) than Panay (runoff: 33 mm/month, recharge: 18 mm/month). Consequently, on an annual basis, Panay receives half the groundwater recharge compared to Pampanga. We apply projections of future climate derived from global climate simulations undertaken by the UK Meteorological Office’s Hadley Centre – the UKCP18 projections. We also apply two sets of UKCP18 projections that consider different greenhouse gas concentration pathways: RCP2.6 and RCP8.5. In RCP 2.6 carbon dioxide emissions start declining by 2020 and go to zero by 2100. In RCP 8.5 emissions continue to rise throughout the 21st century. Simulated hydrological changes produced using the RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 projections for the 2050s (Table 1) are relatively similar for each location and indicate the following: • Panay: o Reduction in precipitation of 5% o Reduction in groundwater recharge of 11-12% o Reduction in surface runoff of 6% o Reduction in river baseflow of 12-13% • Pampanga o No change in precipitation o Reduction in groundwater recharge of 2-4% o No clear change in surface runoff o Reduction in river baseflow of 1-3% Simulated hydrological changes for 2080s (Table 2) are in less agreement between the RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 than the 2050s: • Panay: o Reduction in precipitation of 6-15% o Reduction in groundwater recharge 13-29% o Reduction in surface runoff 6-17% o Reduction in river baseflow 15-33% • Pampanga o Reduction in precipitation of 2-4% o Reduction in groundwater recharge 4-12% o Reduction in surface runoff 3-4% o Reduction in river baseflow 3-9% The model simulations highlight regional differences in the groundwater and surface water availability for Panay and Pampanga for both the historical and future climate periods. Panay receives less groundwater recharge and is projected to be more affected by impacts of climate change than Pampanga. The effects of climate change will result in a larger reduction in precipitation, groundwater, and surface water for periods later in the century. Whilst the VIC-AMBHAS model has been applied to Pampanga and Panay, an associated modelling framework has been developed which supports the application of the model to other Philippine islands or to the whole of the Philippines. For example, this framework facilitates the processing and downscaling of global climate datasets to create the related input files required by the model. Following on from this project, the British Geological Survey are extending this work by developing a national-scale hydrological model for the whole of the Philippines. This national model will seek to inform the water resource sector and policy makers about regional differences in water availability and predicted response to climate change to help with decision making and policy development

Design of a Remote Real-time Groundwater Level and Water Quality Monitoring System for the Philippine Groundwater Management Plan Project

Recent technological advances allow us to utilize remote monitoring systems or real-time access of data. While the use of remote monitoring systems is not new, there are still numerous applications that can be explored and improved on, one such is groundwater level and quality monitoring. In the Philippines, the extraction of groundwater for both domestic use and industrial use are manually monitored by the government’s concerned agency and is done at least once per year. With this current setup, the real and significant state of the groundwater is not reflected in a way that is most valuable to the government and to the community. This project aims to design and develop a remote real-time groundwater level and quality monitoring system. It is intended to provide quantitative data for policy makers in addressing recurrent water shortages in the Philippines. This paper discusses the designed system composed of three modules: power module, sensors and control, and data visualization. These three modules provide real-time data from far-flung locations while being energy-sustainable. Dry runs of the system in a controlled environment yielded excellent results — average data accuracy of 96.63% for all six (6) groundwater quantity and quality parameters namely: pH, temperature, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, salinity, and static water level (SWL), and 90.63% data transmission reliability. Initial deployment of the system on one of the groundwater monitoring well in Metro Manila, Philippines returned a 91.16% data transmission reliability. The system is currently installed in 20 groundwater monitoring sites all-over the Philippines and is scheduled for more installations

Software and Data Visualization Platform for Groundwater Level and Quality Monitoring System

Rapid urbanization and increasing population come with the increased extraction and use of groundwater resources. To track the effect of these activities on groundwater level and quantity; a system for real-time monitoring is devised. In this paper; we present a software system design that enables a locally-developed groundwater level and water quality monitoring hardware setup to gather water quality parameter data; send it to a cloud server; and present organized data for better visualization. The hardware setup consists of an Arduino microcontroller. Upon deployment; the hardware setup is linked to an Android application that connects to the web-based platform

Remote and Real-time Sensor System for Groundwater Level and Quality

The increasing demand for freshwater supply in the Philippines forces unsustainable extraction and unintentional contamination of the groundwater reservoirs. It is thus imperative that the groundwater sources be monitored for water level and quality. The Philippines has groundwater monitoring wells strategically installed in locations identified as critical areas. Accessibility of location and high cost of provisions and logistics prevent proper maintenance and continuous monitoring of these groundwater wells. This project addresses these by deploying a remote real-time groundwater level and quality sensor system. The groundwater wells initially monitored are located over three sites in Metro Manila, namely, Malabon, Marikina, and Alabang. Each site has a sensor system that collects and transmits seven parameters related to static water level and water quality and the deployed module\u27s power status. With a solar charging component, the deployed module can power itself for at least 6 months with minimal maintenance. The system delivers the maximum transmission reliability of 92% in the field with hourly sending rates and more than satisfies the required one data set per day minimum by the funding agency

Comparative Study of the Ecotoxicological and Histopathological Impacts of Effluent, Sludge Water, and Commonly Used Inorganic Fertilizers on Juvenile Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Wastewater treatment systems, designed to treat domestic wastes, produce effluents and sludge that are high in organic matter and nutrient content. These effluents and sludge are now being used as organic fertilizers because such nutrients and organic matter are vital to plant growth. However, without proper treatment, these substances may eventually find their way into bodies of water through run off and/or infiltration with potentially dangerous consequences. This study, therefore, investigated the potential toxic effects of effluents and sludge produced from wastewater treatment facilities against commonly used inorganic fertilizers to an aquatic species. Toxicity tests (expressed as mean 96-hr LC50 in mg/L) and histopathological examinations of the liver were conducted using juvenile Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758) exposed to varying concentrations of effluent, sludge, and inorganic fertilizers (i.e., urea and complete fertilizer) to assess both acute and sublethal effects. The results of the acute toxicity tests show concentrations (expressed as mean 96-hr LC50 in mg/L or ppm) arranged in decreasing order of toxicity to tilapia: complete fertilizer 14-14-14 (1,396 ppm) \u3e urea (16,152 ppm) \u3e sludge (145,900 ppm) \u3e effluent (465,000 ppm). Histopathological examinations of liver tissues showed that exposure to the two inorganic fertilizers resulted to blood congestion and degeneration in comparison to those exposed to the sludge. Furthermore, results for fishes exposed to the lowest concentrations of the effluent also showed alterations in the liver tissue. These results demonstrate that the sludge and effluent are less toxic by several orders of magnitude than the inorganic fertilizers. It is suggested that further chronic toxicity and histopathological studies be done to determine their long-term impacts to receiving aquatic organisms to establish their potential for agricultural applications

Creative interpretation of global flooding - experiences from the Philippines, Vietnam and the United Kingdom

https://indd.adobe.com/view/dfa08c6f-9fa6-4fee-87c9-b8b5559081a