Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Middle East

Ruwais City, a new and rapidly growing city situated in the western region of the Abu Dhabi Emirate, experienced a remarkable rise in groundwater table levels over recent years, which posed significant risks to the urban subsurface infrastructure and the structural integrity of surrounding properties. To protect the city’s structures and existing infrastructure, Dar undertook groundwater modelling studies and designed a subsurface drainage network to lower and maintain the groundwater table at least two metres below the surface.

Groundwater Management

Water

To solve this critical problem, Dar’s groundwater team took a physically-based approach to defining all sources that may contribute to groundwater table rise in urban areas. We investigated the historical development of the urban area, mapped the landscape zones, and used well logs from previous site investigations, as well as regional geological and hydrogeological data, to develop a 3D geological model of the shallow subsurface in Ruwais City.

To investigate different potential solutions for the high groundwater table in the study area, the project team developed and calibrated two groundwater flow models of different scales. The regional model was used to accurately depict the boundary conditions of the more local-scale model used further in the analysis. The result was a groundwater level contours map calibrated on historical water levels (including water level data collected from 11 piezometers constructed especially for the site investigation purposes of this project), and on flow from the existing subsurface drainage network. The developed model was then used to identify the most effective and economic subsurface drainage network to control this rise in groundwater table.

The recommended subsurface drainage network designed by Dar for the purpose of this project consists of 6,050 metres of perforated pipes placed in trenches beneath several of the major roads in Ruwais City. The significant amounts of water collected will also be treated for reuse and recycling.