Modelling urban groundwater

In order to support urban groundwater management a numeric groundwater model was developed for the Municipality of Hillegom, West of Amsterdam.

The model allows the Municipality to assess and evaluate most groundwater related issues themselves. There is no more need to continuously commission small-scale projects to external parties. In addition, the set-up of the model is user friendly. Engineers at the Municipality are enabled to carry out simple updates to the modelling environment. The model provides an insight in the functioning of local and regional groundwater systems, allows for detailed scenario studies and, thus, supports in-depth impact assessments.

Local hydrogeological characteristics and civil infrastructure pose very specific boundary conditions to the development of a numerical groundwater model. For that, special attention was paid to these characterizations during the set-up of the model.