Forecasting tool for model-based management of intensively used aquifers in southern Hesse

Due to official requirements (e.g. ‘Groundwater Management Plan Hessisches Ried’) the actively controlled management of the regional aquifer in the Hessian part of the Upper Rhine Trench requires reliable guidelines in the case of extreme groundwater levels such as those that occur during pronounced wet and dry periods. The effects of climate change on both groundwater supply and groundwater levels must increasingly be taken into account in groundwater management. For this purpose, a regional groundwater model was set up and used in long-term continuum simulations of climate projections extending to the year 2100. The focus in the examples of model implementation is on the part of the soil water balance model and the approach implemented therein for estimating groundwater extractions for agricultural irrigation.