Numerical models for the management of land and water resources salinisation Original Research Article

This paper will demonstrate the role of surface and groundwater models as design, management, and predictive tools in salinity investigations. Groundwater flow and solute transport models have the ability to simulate a wide range of problems such as: the effects of groundwater extraction, and land-use changes (land clearing, reforestation and change in cropping pattern) on potentiometric heads of aquifers and their potential impacts on salinisation; the estimation of salt load from aquifers to rivers; and the intrusion of seawater in coastal aquifers. Surface-water models can simulate the effect of solute transport in rivers, estimate downstream salinity on the basis of upstream data and quantify saline accessions within a reach of river.