Underground Dams: a solution to reduce evapotranspiration

The problem of water and its crisis over the past few centuries is one of the most important issues that has engaged the human mind. The problem of the limited surface water and the cost of management solutions related to the extraction and maintenance of these resources has raised the issue of optimal groundwater exploitation solutions. Dams are classified into two general categories of surface and underground dams. Underground dams are among the techniques that can be used to improve the productivity of groundwater resources. Subsurface dams are preferable to surface dams because of lower evaporation, higher functionality, and lower cost of construction, the lessened risk for contamination and the possibility of utilizing land over the dam. Subsurface dam does not lose reserved water by evaporation because water is stored underground and there is very little evaporation. Therefore, in recent years there has been an increasing trend in the construction and exploitation of these type of dams, especially in arid regions. Nevertheless, in order to increase the efficiency of these dams, geological conditions should also be considered.

Keywords:

Water Crisis , Dam , Evaporation , Management , Groundwater , Underground Dam