1 | INTRODUCTION
The fast growth in the population nowadays has made increasing in
freshwater demand globally. The population growth has impacted on the
land-use changes and consequently influenced the availability of
freshwater resources more than the impact of climate change (Okello et
al., 2015). From ancient times until today, groundwater is still a vital
resource (Fitts 2012).
Saudi Arabia lies in the arid region with low precipitation and no
permanent rivers or natural lakes. Therefore, groundwater is a critical
resource in the arid region, especially in Saudi Arabia (SA), since it
lies in the desert region and the recharge of the groundwater is mostly
depending on the rainfall. The average annual rainfall in Saudi Arabia
in 2014 was only 59 mm/year (World Bank Group, 2019).
Increasing water demand in Saudi Arabia requires proper management and
understanding of groundwater dynamics. It is necessary to derive a
better understanding of water table fluctuations, based on coupling both
spatial and temporal analyses. Geostatistics is the best method to study
the variability in water resources (Rouhani,1989). Delhomme (1978) used
a Kriging technique to analyze precipitation data. Spatial-temporal
Kriging was applied to groundwater quantity in South Georgia with low
estimation variances (Rouhani & Hall, 1989). Geostatistical methods are
beneficial for water resources management studies (Kumar et al., 2005).
The strong dependence of the Kriging technique was shown in spatial and
temporal distribution analysis of 12 years water table decreased in Iran
(Ahmadi & Sedghamiz, 2007). Strong dependence was shown in spatial
analysis of water quality from several parameters
Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl−,
NO3−, and salinity (Kuswantoro et al., 2014). Kriging
technique has the advantage of getting the variance of the estimation
error at any point without having measurement on the field (Ahmed &
Devi, 2008). Based on all information above, it is confirmed that
Kriging technique on geostatistical analysis is suitable to evaluate the
spatial and temporal correlation structures in hydrological parameters.
Utilization of geographic information system (GIS) software (e.g.,
ArcGIS) in analyzing the spatial distribution of groundwater has been
studied by many researchers such as Mehrjardi et al. (2008) and
Kuswantoro et al. (2013). In GIS, geostatistical analysis can easily
create continuous surface or map, such as elevation, depth and water
table, or levels of pollution. (ESRI, 2010).
The objective of this study is to analyze and map the spatial
distribution of water table, the temporal water table fluctuation, and
groundwater flow direction in Experimental Station at Hadat As-Sham,
Wadi Al-Lusub, Saudi Arabia. Water table data from 11 wells were
observed in Hadat As-Sham every week for 16 months since November 2018.
Analysis of the results from this study is required to evaluate the
groundwater conditions for the best groundwater resources management in
the farm.