Modifying the water table fluctuation method for calculating recharge in sloping aquifers

Study region: Robit Bata and Dengeshita watersheds, Upper Blue Nile basin, Ethiopia Study focus: Sustainable development of groundwater in the Ethiopian Highlands requires recharge measurements. The Water Table Fluctuation (WTF) method has been used to measure recharge. Lateral flow in sloping hillside aquifers violates the assumptions on which the original WTF method is based. We modified the original WTF method to include lateral flow controlled by gravity. New hydrological insights: Previously it was shown that the sum of recharge over the travel time in a sloping aquifer is equal to the base flow. Since recharge cannot be measured directly, the recharge calculated with the modified WTF method was tested using baseflow measurement in two contrasting highland watersheds, Robit Bata and Dengeshita, where groundwater depth and streamflow data were monitored from 2015 to 2018. Baseflow was determined with the one-parameter digital filter technique. Predicted and observed monthly baseflow agreed well with R2 > 0.9 and RMSE < 20 mm during calibration and validation. Recharge in Robit Bata, in which the aquifer underlays 55% of the watershed, was 293 mm a−1 of 1378 mm a−1 precipitation. In Dengeshita, where the entire watershed has an aquifer, the average annual recharge was 525 mm a−1 of 1550 mm a−1. Our findings indicate that the modified WTF method is simple and practical for determining aquifer recharge for highlands and other sloping aquifers.