Impact of Releases from the Kef Eddir Dam on the Recharge of the Oued Damous Aquifer

Abstract

Artificial recharge is a good way to mobilize water in aquifers and recharge groundwater. Dam releaseis one of the techniques used for groundwater recharge.The periodic releases programmed by the Kef Eddir dam make it possible to recharge the Damouswadi aquifer located in the coastal wilaya of Tipaza in Algeria, whose overexploitation lowersthe level of its water and causes a marine intrusion thatpollutes it.In this work, to estimate the impact of these releases onaquifer recharge, we followedthe releases of March 2020and May2021. The piezometric levelsofgroundwaterweremeasured beforethe releases,duringflow caused by them,and afterthem.These measures concern 13wells located along the Damouswadiwatercourse for the first yearand 18wells for the second year. These two years have sevenwells in common. Itallowed us to comparepiezometric levelsand rechargesbetween 2020 and 2021.In theabsence of releases on our return in May and June 2022, we measured the depth of water presenceand took samples from 6wells to measure thewater conductivity. These measurements allowusto evaluate the piezometry of the water table over these three years, and the conductivity will indicate the degree of salinity of its water.