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Powerful data collection for better Integrated
Groundwater Solution
Paper based on the PHD Research: Design, Development & Implementation of a GIS Solution for
Simulating and Predicting Groundwater Conditions & Groundwater/Surface-Water Interactions in
Abu Dhabi Coastal Lines.
Reviewed by: Prof. Abdelkader LARABI, PhD, MSc, Eng.
Director of Laboratory LIMEN
Water Resources & Information Technology, EMI
Prepared by: Lala El Hoummaidi, MSc, Eng.
Sr. GIS & Applications Analyst
Statistics Center Abu Dhabi, UAE
Powerful data collection for better integrated groundwater solution
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Title of the session
Powerful data collection for better integrated groundwater solution.
Justification for the session
This Paper showcases the power of governmental collaboration to implement an integrated solution for
simulating and predicting groundwater conditions and groundwater/surface-water interactions in Abu Dhabi
Emirate. In fact, the ease of access to administrative data collected from governmental organizations such as
Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi, Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi, Department of Municipal Affairs, Abu Dhabi
Distribution Company, and Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority had been crucial for the success of this research.
Author Biography
Lala Elhoummaidi is currently working as a Senior GIS and Applications Analyst for Statistics Center Abu Dhabi,
she accumulated more than 9 years’ experience in the field of GIS while she graduated as specialized engineer
in GeoSciences with an international executive MBA degree; she started her career as a GIS Developer with the
French Utilities company Lyonnaise des Eaux de Casablanca (LYDEC) where she was specialized in designing,
developing and implementing .NET web based GIS Solutions for Utilities and Facility Management before to
join the world leader mining company OCP Group as a GIS Project Manager. She worked also for the exclusive
distributor of Esri Products in the UAE as a GIS Product Specialist then joined the Abu Dhabi Government as
Senior GIS and Applications Analyst at Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi.
She is also a PHD student completing her 3rd year of research and an ESRI authorized instructor for 20 + GIS
courses such as Working with Spatial Analyst for GeoSpatial Intelligence, Creating and Analyzing Surfaces
using Spatial Analyst, Performing Analysis using ArcGIS Desktop, Creating and Publishing Maps, Introduction
to ArcGIS Server…etc.
Chair of the research
Prof. Abdelkader LARABI, PhD, MSc, Eng.
Director of Laboratory LIMEN
Water Resources & Information Technology, Ecole Mohammadia d'Ingénieurs
BP 765 Agdal
Rabat - Morocco
Tel: + 212 5 37 68 71 50
Tel: + 212 6 61 20 40 41
Fax: + 212 5 37 77 88 53
E-mail: larabi@emi.ac.ma
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Abstract
Water is taken up by the plants’ roots through the process of osmosis, which includes the flow of water from
areas of low salt concentration (such as the soil) to areas of high salt concentration (such as the inside of root
cells). Whenever the salt concentrations in the soil reach high levels, the flow of water from the soil to the root
becomes slow. However, whenever the salt concentrations in the soil are much higher than inside the root cells,
the soil will draw water from the root, and the plant will shrink and die. This is the basic way in which salinization
influences plant production.
The damaging effects of salt on plants are caused by osmotic forces, as well as by poisonous levels of chloride
and sodium. Organic product yields are particularly sensitive to elevated amounts of these elements. Likewise,
the high pH value (acid/alkaline balance) originated by excess of sodium could lead to micronutrient
deficiencies.
The PHD research as the main reference of this paper has an ultimate goal of studying the effects described
earlier of salts on plants using the latest GIS technology and the administrative records collected from
governmental organizations. Hence, the final output of the research is a web mapping solution enabling the
simulation and dissemination of results on maps, graphs and charts along with coupled groundwater/surface-
water modules, variable-density flow (including saltwater), aquifer-system compaction and land subsidence,
parameter estimation, and groundwater management.
Such approach is carried out through the automation of the MODFLOW processes published into web services
that are supported by a mobile application fed by field survey entered data. Accordingly, a thematic maps tool
is disseminating the results on maps and graphs accessible by multiple users who could be environmental
agencies, Water Resources experts / specialists, Students /researchers, agricultural agencies …etc.
As a result, this web mapping application can process historical wells data to predict and simulate pressures,
temperatures, sodium and other water related conditions in order to prevent non-controlled and harmful
drilling procedures.
Given, the significance of the coordinated effort between Abu Dhabi Governments to collect and share data
related to water resources in the Emirate, the task of establishing an integrated solution for simulating and
predicting groundwater conditions and groundwater/surface-water interactions is quite interesting and
important. In fact, Abu Dhabi government has established a clear agenda for the implementation of necessary
framework of policies, partnerships, standards, data, procedures, technology and institutional capabilities that
collectively comprise the Abu Dhabi Spatial Data Infrastructure which is actually the main data source for this
research enabling access to more than 600 spatial data layers supporting the research results. Indeed, the data
used during this research had been collected from Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi, Environment Agency of Abu
Dhabi, Department of Municipal Affairs, Abu Dhabi Distribution Company, and Abu Dhabi Food Control
Authority.
Powerful data collection for better integrated groundwater solution
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Solution Components
The figure underneath demonstrates how the data sources, data layers, solution users, and the applications channels of communication:
Powerful data collection for better integrated groundwater solution
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Execution Stages
The figure below demonstrates the approach embraced, which begins with the Identification of technical and functional prerequisites reported as a System Requirement
Study Document, such archive helped in the preparation for the following steps including the data modeling and database design, data collection and analysis, processing
and study of existing MODFLOW models, development of the proposed applications, deployment, testing then tuning while documenting the applications/solutions. An
assessment procedure is a standout amongst the most vital steps where QA/QC checks had been produced and compared to different results.
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The figures below demonstrate some of the modules implemented as part of the project:
The analytics outputs of the implemented solution consolidate different datasets and are shown as time
series graphs, thematic maps, or motion charts.
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For example, the wells and farms data are collected from Abu Dhabi Food control authority and verified against
the wells and farms data with additional information provided by Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi:
The solution can generate new schemas to host new
uploaded datasets from different sources, these
schemas should respect predefined models to serve
groundwater conditions prediction and analysis.
Using the solution, the users could generate time
series charts based on a pre-defined setup mashing
up different data resources as shown below:
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There are also specific statistics that could be generated based on the end user preferences, here is the
example of wells time series statistics setup: