ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: During recent years, T.G. Masaryk Water Research Institute in Prague has carried out a number of studies which were focused on the possible impacts of climate change on groundwater resources. For these studies, the Bilan water balance model was used to simulate the water cycle components (including groundwater recharge and base flow), both for conditions unaffected by climate change and also for those modified according to climate change scenarios. The initial studies have shown that groundwater resources in unfavourable hydrogeological settings (e.g. those in crystalline geological formations) are highly sensitive to climate change and can rapidly be exhausted. Subsequent applications of the Bilan model in combination with MODFLOW (modular three-dimensional finite-difference groundwater flow model developed by the United States Geological Survey) however showed that climate change could have dramatic consequences, particularly in basins with good hydrogeological settings (such as those in cretaceous geological formations), mainly with respect to groundwater depletions that will greatly affect the availability of water supply.
Keywords: Bilan, MODFLOW, groundwater, climate change
