Water Balance Estimation Under Wildfire and Restoration Scenarios in Semiarid Areas: Effects on Aquifer Recharge

Abstract

In semiarid areas, water is a crucial and limited resource and its management is a challenge. Hydrological models allow the estimation of water balance under different land cover and climate scenarios which can help improve the management of water resources. In this study, we used the “DISRUM” model (a Distributed Eco Hydrological Model) to estimate the water balance and aquifer recharge according to different scenarios of vegetation cover changes induced by wildfire and restoration during two hydrological years (wet and dry year) and determine the best scenarios that can substitute the current vegetation cover of a small aquifer in the semiarid area of Southeastern Spain. The main results of the preliminary work show that the vegetation cover has a significant impact on aquifer recharge. Furthermore, reducing the vegetation cover or substituting pine by shrub gave positive results for the aquifer recharge.