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Ahmed Awad

Yangzhou University, College of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering, Graduate Student

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I am interested in doing research in “Water Resources Engineering and Agricultural Water Management”. This includes, but not limited to, (Irrigation and drainage, Crop water requirements, Farmlands’ water balance, and Nutrients fate). Besides, I am interested in climate change and its adverse impacts on farmlands’ water balance and crop yield alongside how to adapt with such projected climatic changes. I am also interested in hydrology simulations of surface and groundwater cycle and quality and the interaction between them. I love programing and always try to use it to improve the process of hydrology simulations that is the backbone in the water resources management process.

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Papers by Ahmed Awad

Assessment of Surface and Groundwater Interaction Using Field Measurements: A Case Study of Dairut City, Assuit, Egypt

Egypt’s current water security situation is weak, having a deficit of about 30 billion cubic metr... more Egypt’s current water security situation is weak, having a deficit of about 30 billion cubic metres of water. Many alternatives have been introduced to face water scarcity. Developing water control structures is an important solution to manage water resources. Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation intended to replace the existing regulators at Dairut city with a new one. A design requirement for the new barrage is that water levels in front of the existing barrages will be approximately 0.60 m higher than the present one. This may cause a rise in groundwater levels, which lead to an increase in the seepage flow from the canals surrounding the new project. The main goal of this study is to assess the surface and groundwater interaction using field measurements and water quality for the area around the project of New Dairut Group Regulators (NDGRs). Furthermore, thirteen piezometers have been installed in the study area to measure groundwater levels and quality. Results ...

Evaluation of the DRAINMOD Model’s Performance Using Different Time Steps in Evapotranspiration Computations

Hydrology

The DRAINMOD model is a superior tool used to predict the changes in farmland water balance under... more The DRAINMOD model is a superior tool used to predict the changes in farmland water balance under different agricultural drainage layouts, fields, weather conditions, and management practices. In the present study, we assessed the sensitivity of the DRAINMOD predictions in farmland water balance to the time step (hourly or daily) in daily evapotranspiration (ET₀) computations for 12-hectares of farmland located at the lower reaches of the Yangtze River basin. The model was calibrated and validated and then was applied twice under two sets of daily ET₀ values, computed using the standardized ASCE Penman–Monteith model (one using the hourly time step (HTS) and the other using the daily time step (DTS)). Regarding daily computed ET₀ values, results show that abrupt diurnal changes in the weather always result in significant differences between daily ET₀ values when computed based on DTS and HTS. DRAINMOD simulations show that such differences between daily computed ET₀ values affected ...

Farmers’ Awareness in the Context of Climate Change: An Underutilized Way for Ensuring Sustainable Farmland Adaptation and Surface Water Quality

Sustainability

Simulations using the Crop Water and Irrigation Requirements model (CROPWAT), show that the proje... more Simulations using the Crop Water and Irrigation Requirements model (CROPWAT), show that the projected climatic changes over the period from 2026 to 2050 in the Yanyun irrigation district, Yangzhou, China, will cause the paddy lands there to lose about 12.4% to 37.4%, and 1.6% to 45.6%, of their future seasonal rainwater in runoff under the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP45 and RCP85), respectively. This may increase future irrigation requirements (IRs), alongside threatening the quality of adjacent water bodies. The CROPWAT simulations were re-run after increasing the Surface Storage Capacity (SSC) of the land by 50% and 100% of its baseline value. The results state that future rainwater runoff will be reduced by up to 76% and 100%, and 53% and 100% when the SSC is increased by 50% and 100%, under RCP45 and RCP85, respectively. This mitigates the future increase in IRs (e.g., under RCP45, up to about 11% and 16% of future IRs will be saved when increasing the SSC by 50% a...

ASSESSMENT OF SURFACE AND GROUNDWATER INTERACTION USING FIELD MEASUREMENTS: A CASE STUDY OF DAIRUT CITY, ASSUIT, EGYPT

Journal of Engineering Science and Technology, 2020

Egypt's current water security situation is weak, having a deficit of about 30 billion cubic metr... more Egypt's current water security situation is weak, having a deficit of about 30 billion cubic metres of water. Many alternatives have been introduced to face water scarcity. Developing water control structures is an important solution to manage water resources. Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation intended to replace the existing regulators at Dairut city with a new one. A design requirement for the new barrage is that water levels in front of the existing barrages will be approximately 0.60 m higher than the present one. This may cause a rise in groundwater levels, which lead to an increase in the seepage flow from the canals surrounding the new project. The main goal of this study is to assess the surface and groundwater interaction using field measurements and water quality for the area around the project of New Dairut Group Regulators (NDGRs). Furthermore, thirteen piezometers have been installed in the study area to measure groundwater levels and quality. Results showed that a confined aquifer is underlying the study area and there is a hydraulic connection between surface water and groundwater. The results showed that there is a decline in water level at wells W2 and W10 during the winter closure by 2.2 m and 2.0 m respectively when the water level of Ibrahimia canal at the upstream of DGRs decreased by 3.7 m, which indicated that the aquifer was connected hydraulically with canals. Water quality results indicated that about 61.5% of the groundwater samples are slightly saline (TDS > 1000 mg/l), while 38.5% of the samples are freshwater with TDS < 1000 mg/l. The factor analysis produced three factors, which described 93.69% of the total variance. The results show that the concentrations of pH do not donate to all other parameters. This study recommended that a sewerage system is needed to protect groundwater from contamination in the study area.

DRAINMOD simulation of paddy field drainage strategies and adaptation to future climate change in lower reaches of the Yangtze river basin

Irrigation and Drainage, 2021

The DRAINMOD model was used to simulate the current and future water balance in the Yanyun Irriga... more The DRAINMOD model was used to simulate the current and future water balance in the Yanyun Irrigation District, China. Projections of future climate in the district (2021:2050) show that annual maximum and minimum temperatures will increase by [1.09 and 1.15 C] under the representative concentration pathway RCP4.5 and [1.34 and 1.39 C] under RCP8.5, besides more frequency of one-day peak precipitation events. DRAINMOD simulations revealed that future annual runoff will increase by 33.3% (RCP4.5) and 36.9% (RCP8.5), while groundwater tables will drop by 6% (RCP4.5) and 14.5% (RCP8.5). Future hydrology has been resimulated, but with increasing the capacity of surface depressions in an attempt to minimize adverse impacts of climate change, and results have been checked twice: under proper and improper subsurface drainage practices. Under proper subsurface drainage practices, it was revealed that future runoff will decrease by 25.3% (RCP4.5) and 23.6% (RCP8.5), which will cause a rise in groundwater tables to desired levels, while in contrast, improper subsurface drainage practices will increase future runoff by 13.7% (RCP4.5) and 2.8% (RCP8.5), all compared to future values before adaptation. Therefore, proper drainage strategies are a vital tool that helps to cope with climate change in agricultural lands and mitigate future runoff rates.

Proper predictions of the water fate in agricultural lands: Indispensable condition for better crop water requirements estimates

Proper predictions of the water fate in agricultural lands: Indispensable condition for better crop water requirements estimates, 2021

This study proposes a new approach to employ the hydrology-based predictions of the water fate, r... more This study proposes a new approach to employ the hydrology-based predictions of the water fate, rather than empirical ones, to estimate crop water requirements (CWRs) in artificially-drained agricultural lands. The study area comprises a 12 ha-wheat-land that locates in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China, for the growing season of 2018-2019. Despite there was almost no need for irrigation in the study area due to the amble rainfall; the empirical prediction of the water fate caused overestimations in CWRs (30840 m 3). Under the same data of evapotranspiration and precipitation, the new approach enhanced CWRs estimates (12750 m 3), and this is due to the well-known accuracy of hydrology-based approaches in predicting the water fate. In addition, the water fate in the study area was hydrological simulated and predicted under some scenarios of field conditions and management practices, and the new approach was applied to estimate CWRs under these scenarios. It was revealed that changes in the water fate affected much CWRs and caused an increase (up to 80%), compared to the estimated value under baseline conditions. Therefore, the accurate prediction of the water fate is indispensable for better CWRs estimates along with better utilization of available water resources. In addition, the new approach presented in this study can be applied to estimate future CWRs in artificially drained lands, along with the assessment of various impacts of many field conditions and management practices on CWRs.

Farmers' Awareness in the Context of Climate Change: An Underutilized Way for Ensuring Sustainable Farmland Adaptation and Surface Water Quality

Farmers’ Awareness in the Context of Climate Change: An Underutilized Way for Ensuring Sustainable Farmland Adaptation and Surface Water Quality, 2021

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more

Assessment of Surface and Groundwater Interaction Using Field Measurements: A Case Study of Dairut City, Assuit, Egypt

Egypt’s current water security situation is weak, having a deficit of about 30 billion cubic metr... more Egypt’s current water security situation is weak, having a deficit of about 30 billion cubic metres of water. Many alternatives have been introduced to face water scarcity. Developing water control structures is an important solution to manage water resources. Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation intended to replace the existing regulators at Dairut city with a new one. A design requirement for the new barrage is that water levels in front of the existing barrages will be approximately 0.60 m higher than the present one. This may cause a rise in groundwater levels, which lead to an increase in the seepage flow from the canals surrounding the new project. The main goal of this study is to assess the surface and groundwater interaction using field measurements and water quality for the area around the project of New Dairut Group Regulators (NDGRs). Furthermore, thirteen piezometers have been installed in the study area to measure groundwater levels and quality. Results ...

Evaluation of the DRAINMOD Model’s Performance Using Different Time Steps in Evapotranspiration Computations

Hydrology

The DRAINMOD model is a superior tool used to predict the changes in farmland water balance under... more The DRAINMOD model is a superior tool used to predict the changes in farmland water balance under different agricultural drainage layouts, fields, weather conditions, and management practices. In the present study, we assessed the sensitivity of the DRAINMOD predictions in farmland water balance to the time step (hourly or daily) in daily evapotranspiration (ET₀) computations for 12-hectares of farmland located at the lower reaches of the Yangtze River basin. The model was calibrated and validated and then was applied twice under two sets of daily ET₀ values, computed using the standardized ASCE Penman–Monteith model (one using the hourly time step (HTS) and the other using the daily time step (DTS)). Regarding daily computed ET₀ values, results show that abrupt diurnal changes in the weather always result in significant differences between daily ET₀ values when computed based on DTS and HTS. DRAINMOD simulations show that such differences between daily computed ET₀ values affected ...

Farmers’ Awareness in the Context of Climate Change: An Underutilized Way for Ensuring Sustainable Farmland Adaptation and Surface Water Quality

Sustainability

Simulations using the Crop Water and Irrigation Requirements model (CROPWAT), show that the proje... more Simulations using the Crop Water and Irrigation Requirements model (CROPWAT), show that the projected climatic changes over the period from 2026 to 2050 in the Yanyun irrigation district, Yangzhou, China, will cause the paddy lands there to lose about 12.4% to 37.4%, and 1.6% to 45.6%, of their future seasonal rainwater in runoff under the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP45 and RCP85), respectively. This may increase future irrigation requirements (IRs), alongside threatening the quality of adjacent water bodies. The CROPWAT simulations were re-run after increasing the Surface Storage Capacity (SSC) of the land by 50% and 100% of its baseline value. The results state that future rainwater runoff will be reduced by up to 76% and 100%, and 53% and 100% when the SSC is increased by 50% and 100%, under RCP45 and RCP85, respectively. This mitigates the future increase in IRs (e.g., under RCP45, up to about 11% and 16% of future IRs will be saved when increasing the SSC by 50% a...

ASSESSMENT OF SURFACE AND GROUNDWATER INTERACTION USING FIELD MEASUREMENTS: A CASE STUDY OF DAIRUT CITY, ASSUIT, EGYPT

Journal of Engineering Science and Technology, 2020

Egypt's current water security situation is weak, having a deficit of about 30 billion cubic metr... more Egypt's current water security situation is weak, having a deficit of about 30 billion cubic metres of water. Many alternatives have been introduced to face water scarcity. Developing water control structures is an important solution to manage water resources. Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation intended to replace the existing regulators at Dairut city with a new one. A design requirement for the new barrage is that water levels in front of the existing barrages will be approximately 0.60 m higher than the present one. This may cause a rise in groundwater levels, which lead to an increase in the seepage flow from the canals surrounding the new project. The main goal of this study is to assess the surface and groundwater interaction using field measurements and water quality for the area around the project of New Dairut Group Regulators (NDGRs). Furthermore, thirteen piezometers have been installed in the study area to measure groundwater levels and quality. Results showed that a confined aquifer is underlying the study area and there is a hydraulic connection between surface water and groundwater. The results showed that there is a decline in water level at wells W2 and W10 during the winter closure by 2.2 m and 2.0 m respectively when the water level of Ibrahimia canal at the upstream of DGRs decreased by 3.7 m, which indicated that the aquifer was connected hydraulically with canals. Water quality results indicated that about 61.5% of the groundwater samples are slightly saline (TDS > 1000 mg/l), while 38.5% of the samples are freshwater with TDS < 1000 mg/l. The factor analysis produced three factors, which described 93.69% of the total variance. The results show that the concentrations of pH do not donate to all other parameters. This study recommended that a sewerage system is needed to protect groundwater from contamination in the study area.

DRAINMOD simulation of paddy field drainage strategies and adaptation to future climate change in lower reaches of the Yangtze river basin

Irrigation and Drainage, 2021

The DRAINMOD model was used to simulate the current and future water balance in the Yanyun Irriga... more The DRAINMOD model was used to simulate the current and future water balance in the Yanyun Irrigation District, China. Projections of future climate in the district (2021:2050) show that annual maximum and minimum temperatures will increase by [1.09 and 1.15 C] under the representative concentration pathway RCP4.5 and [1.34 and 1.39 C] under RCP8.5, besides more frequency of one-day peak precipitation events. DRAINMOD simulations revealed that future annual runoff will increase by 33.3% (RCP4.5) and 36.9% (RCP8.5), while groundwater tables will drop by 6% (RCP4.5) and 14.5% (RCP8.5). Future hydrology has been resimulated, but with increasing the capacity of surface depressions in an attempt to minimize adverse impacts of climate change, and results have been checked twice: under proper and improper subsurface drainage practices. Under proper subsurface drainage practices, it was revealed that future runoff will decrease by 25.3% (RCP4.5) and 23.6% (RCP8.5), which will cause a rise in groundwater tables to desired levels, while in contrast, improper subsurface drainage practices will increase future runoff by 13.7% (RCP4.5) and 2.8% (RCP8.5), all compared to future values before adaptation. Therefore, proper drainage strategies are a vital tool that helps to cope with climate change in agricultural lands and mitigate future runoff rates.

Proper predictions of the water fate in agricultural lands: Indispensable condition for better crop water requirements estimates

Proper predictions of the water fate in agricultural lands: Indispensable condition for better crop water requirements estimates, 2021

This study proposes a new approach to employ the hydrology-based predictions of the water fate, r... more This study proposes a new approach to employ the hydrology-based predictions of the water fate, rather than empirical ones, to estimate crop water requirements (CWRs) in artificially-drained agricultural lands. The study area comprises a 12 ha-wheat-land that locates in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China, for the growing season of 2018-2019. Despite there was almost no need for irrigation in the study area due to the amble rainfall; the empirical prediction of the water fate caused overestimations in CWRs (30840 m 3). Under the same data of evapotranspiration and precipitation, the new approach enhanced CWRs estimates (12750 m 3), and this is due to the well-known accuracy of hydrology-based approaches in predicting the water fate. In addition, the water fate in the study area was hydrological simulated and predicted under some scenarios of field conditions and management practices, and the new approach was applied to estimate CWRs under these scenarios. It was revealed that changes in the water fate affected much CWRs and caused an increase (up to 80%), compared to the estimated value under baseline conditions. Therefore, the accurate prediction of the water fate is indispensable for better CWRs estimates along with better utilization of available water resources. In addition, the new approach presented in this study can be applied to estimate future CWRs in artificially drained lands, along with the assessment of various impacts of many field conditions and management practices on CWRs.

Farmers' Awareness in the Context of Climate Change: An Underutilized Way for Ensuring Sustainable Farmland Adaptation and Surface Water Quality

Farmers’ Awareness in the Context of Climate Change: An Underutilized Way for Ensuring Sustainable Farmland Adaptation and Surface Water Quality, 2021

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more