Groundwater modeling to evaluate impact of deep foundations on flow in shallow aquifers (case study: the Holy Mosque area, Makkah City, KSA)

Abstract

Deep foundations of densely distributed buildings in shallow aquifers may modify the overall hydraulic parameters and change the flow of groundwater systems. The purpose of this paper is to present a groundwater model for investigating the changes to groundwater systems in shallow aquifers as a result of buildings foundations. The Holy Mosque area of Makkah City in Saudi Arabia was selected for this study because it contains the Holy Mosque and the Holy Well, which is called the Zamzam Well. Consequently, our groundwater model will be an effective tool to ensure that new building foundations will not cause unacceptable changes to the groundwater system in the study area. Thus, the design of building foundations should be formulated in such a way that its impacts to the groundwater flow are minimized. Based on our study, we concluded that building foundation depths at the north of the Holly Mosque may reduce water levels in the Zamzam Well by 7.6 m when the foundation depth is 12 m. Conversely, building foundation depths at the south of the Holy Mosque may increase groundwater levels in the Zamzam Well by 4.4 m when the foundation depth is 12 m. Our primary recommendation is to continuously update, recalibrate, and rerun the model to increase its effectiveness as a tool for future building foundation design in the study area.