Reevaluation of the Groundwater Resources of Cyprus
Mapping the Availability of Groundwater by GIS-Supported Water Balance Modeling

Advanced computation facilities have enabled the evolution and operational application of distributed hydrological models that process multiparameter maps with high temporal resolution. Recent hydrological mapping projects indicate a convergence of process-oriented modeling and of hydrogeological and hydrological cartography. Modern GIS concepts include digital components enabling data access at different scales. Carrying this idea even further, distributed models may be seen as dynamic mapping systems providing maps of hydrogeological and hydrological variables for any chosen time interval. This concept has been followed and implemented on an ArcView platform in a reevaluation of groundwater resources in Cyprus.

A physically based water balance model is used, describing basic hydrological processes that drive groundwater recharge on a daily basis. The major advantage of the proposed method is that the dynamics of runoff generation and groundwater recharge can also be studied under changing environmental and climatic conditions and for hypothetical land-use scenarios.