Mitigation Plan and Water Harvesting of Flashflood in Arid Rural Communities Using Modelling Approach: A Case Study in Afouna Village, Egypt

oleh: Omar M. Abdeldayem, Omar Eldaghar, Mohamed K. Mostafa, Mahmoud M. Habashy, Ahmed A. Hassan, Hossam Mahmoud, Karim M. Morsy, Ahmed Abdelrady, Robert W. Peters

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2020-09-01

Deskripsi

This paper aims to propose methods to mitigate the risks of flash flood events in arid rural communities with poor infrastructure. A flash flood management case study was conducted at Afouna Village in Egypt, which is characterized by an arid climate and faced a devasting flash flood in 2015. First, the flash flood was modelled and it was found that it corresponds to a 100 year return period flood that led to an almost 13 million m<sup>3</sup> total runoff volume. A structural protection approach, using an artificial infiltration pond, was applied to mitigate the flooding risks through water harvesting and recharging the groundwater of the Moghra aquifer. In this study, a novel approach was proposed, which is substituting the low permeability silty sand (2.0 × 10<sup>−4</sup> m/s) in the pond area with a high permeability one (9.6 × 10<sup>−3</sup> m/s), which will enhance water harvesting and reduce direct evaporation. Modern techniques of hydrological modelling were utilized in order to achieve the optimal use, and harvesting, of flash flood water.