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URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022169424003597?via%3Dihub
Vincenzo Piscopo, Chiara Sbarbati, Zoltán Sebestyén, Zoltán Varga, Combining groundwater and game-theoretical models for determining the sustainable yield in a heavily stressed aquifer system, Journal of Hydrology, Volume 633, 2024, 130965, ISSN 0022-1694, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2024.130965. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022169424003597) Abstract: Sustainable groundwater abstraction is nowadays widely debated and the application of criteria available in the literature is not easy depending on site-specific features of the systems. In the Tivoli Plain (Rome, Italy) the same groundwater resource is exploited by an important thermal plant for therapeutic purposes and is subject to dewatering for the extraction of travertine by numerous quarries, thus representing a significant case of conflict among different resources users. The study proposes a new approach in defining the sustainability of groundwater exploitation by matching the results of groundwater flow model with those of a game model. From the conceptual hydrogeological model and the numerical flow simulations, the sustainability conditions for the groundwater withdrawals are obtained and the hydrodynamic interferences between the different users are assessed. The results of numerical simulations were encapsulated in the game-theoretical model in order to find conceptual solutions to maximize the profit related to quarry’s economy and, at the same time, to limit the quantitative and qualitative decline of the thermal waters. Assuming that the sustainability of the groundwater abstraction from the quarry area depends on ensuring residual groundwater flow to the thermal springs and the river, a cooperative game among the different players has been developed. The strategy of a player is bound by the influence of dewatering on the springs and the river and the player’s utility is proportional to the total quantity of travertine extracted. Results indicate that the “price of sustainability” would be around a 23% reduction of the total exploited travertine volume, driven by an overall reduction in dewatering of about 31%, if compared to that necessary to reach the maximum depth of excavation. For the different groups of quarries the reduction of the pumping flow is not homogeneous but varies according to the position of the pumping center in the groundwater flow net and its distance from boundaries to be captured. Therefore, the combination of the flow model with the game model solutions appears to be a valuable tool to achieve sustainable groundwater management in a conflicting situation among different users. In addition, the game model allows to introduce other players and/or to find out other, non-cooperative solutions. Keywords: Sustainable yield; Game-theoretical modeling; Dewatering; Acque Albule springs
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