Evaluation of Groundwater Management Techniques for the City of Mashhad

In recent years the rise of groundwater level in some regions of Mashhad, attributed to the water transfer from the surrounding dams has caused complications in many projects. Groundwater in Mashhad is mainly charged from Binalood Mountain in addition to absorbing wells traditionally used as an effluent disposal method. However, the balance of groundwater has been further tipped by decommissioning of upstream suburban water wells, having been replaced by the water transferred from Dousti dam. Obviously, inbound groundwater diversion methods and/or regional drainage projects are needed to compensate the extra inflow. One of the successful methods for groundwater diversion is appropriately positioned grout curtains in aquifers, acting as a subsurface dam. River and canal engineering projects aimed at prevention of surface mnoff infiltration, as well as re-commissioning of wells, would also positively affect the problem. In this study, the effectiveness of the aforementioned methods for groundwater management is studied and based on the available data tentative proposals are made as to the most effective methods.