Groundwater Flow Modeling: Considering Water use in Tay Island, Dong Thap Province, Southwest Vietnam

This paper aims to clarify the groundwater flow system in Tay Island, southwest Vietnam using 3-D groundwater simulation, together with a consideration of the subsurface hydrogeological setting, location of rivers/canals, and the rate of groundwater pumping. Groundwater simulation results show that the groundwater flow system is strongly affected by seasonal changes in the Mekong River water levels, especially by flood water during the rainy season. Moreover, groundwater pumping with a rate of 83600 m3 per day in the dry season is considered one of the main factors which affects changes in the groundwater table through the dry and rainy seasons, at various locales on the Island. The simulation indicates that the groundwater table in the eastern area is higher than in the western area of the Island during the dry season, and groundwater in the north, where it is mostly pumped up for irrigation, is lower than the other regions.