ABSTRACT
The environmental catastrophe brought by the 1991 Gulf War posed a serious risk to the quality of the already scarce fresh groundwater resources in northern Kuwait. Numerical modeling was used for identification of the source(s) and fate of the hydrocarbon pollutants in an attempt to complement the field investigations and laboratory experiments. This paper presents the modeling activities carried out in areas most contaminated. Specifically, the work involved aimed at (i) developing a conceptual model for the groundwater flow in northern Kuwait, (ii) developing a conceptual model for the transport of hydrocarbons in the study area, (iiij simulating the transport of the hydrocarbon contaminants in the fresh groundwater resources, and (iv) predicting the contamination levels in the groundwater in the future, should contamination levels persist in the soil and groundwater.
