Assessment of the impacts of climate change, land use change, and abstraction scenarios on groundwater resources in Siem Reap, Cambodia | |
| Author | Bucton, Bredith Grace Buhay |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.WM-21-04 |
| Subject(s) | Climatic changes--Cambodia--Siem Reap Groundwater--Cambodia--Siem Reap Land use--Cambodia--Siem Reap |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Water Engineering and Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Primarily driven by international tourism, Siem Reap of the Kingdom of Cambodia is of very high economic potential. However, along with the change in land use due to urbanization, climate change is also seen to reduce the flow along the Siem Reap River significantly. With the province already experiencing water supply deficit, authorities and private users have turned towards withdrawing groundwater for different uses. In light of sustainable groundwater management, this study seeks to assess the impact of multiple stresses on the groundwater resources of Siem Reap. Climate change impact analysis were conducted under two shared socioeconomic pathways (SSP) - SSP2 as the middle of the road scenario and SSP5 as the fossil-fuel development scenario. Climate data from 7 CMIP6 GCMs were evaluated and among them, CanESM5, EC_Earth3, and MIROC6 captured the observed data best. Bias-corrected data show an average increase in temperature of 0.032°C/year and 0.058°C/year under SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5, respectively. Maximum increase in monthly precipitation of 182.34mm was exhibited by MIROC6 under SSP5-8.5. Land use change analysis using global datasets showed that the urban area increased by 373% (4.95 to 23.4 km2 ) from 2004 to 2019 at the expense of forests and shrublands. Using DynaCLUE model, future land use maps were generated. Groundwater demand from domestic and tourism sectors are projected to be higher under SSP2 than in SSP5 largely due to the difference in the population projected under these narratives. By using SWAT and MODFLOW models for Siem Reap Subbasin, the impacts of climate change, land use change, and groundwater demand change were simulated. It was found that majority of the inflow to the groundwater system comes from surface recharge and boundary heads while outflow primarily goes to streams and wells. Compared to the baseline condition, groundwater recharge and storage from CanESM5 is higher. MIROC6 increased from SSP2 to SSP5 while EC_Earth3 decreased. Furthermore, recharge and storage are found higher when the baseline land use is assumed constant. Groundwater level is seen to decrease near Angkor Wat and near the city center at 0.17 and 0.21 m/decade, respectively. |
| Year | 2021 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology (SET) |
| Department | Department of Civil and Infrastucture Engineering (DCIE) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Water Engineering and Management (WM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Shrestha, Sangam |
| Examination Committee(s) | Shanmugam, Mohana Sundaram;Virdis, Salvatore G.P. |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Kurita Water and Environment Foundation, Japan |
| Degree | Thesis (M. Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2021 |