FENS Seminars – Prof. Dr. Nadim Copty

Prof. Dr. Nadim Copty (The Institute of Environmental Sciences, Bogazici University) will be the next guest of the KHAS Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences seminar series with his speech “Coupled Surface-Subsurface Hydrologic Modeling for the Sustainable Use of Groundwater Resources in the Konya Closed Basin” on Friday, November 10 at 2 PM at Cinema-B. The event is open to anyone interested.

Abstract: The accurate estimation of the water budget of a watershed is essential for the sustainable utilization of groundwater resources. This task is particularly challenging for large watersheds where the definition of the surface-subsurface system parameters is associated with a high level of uncertainty. In this study, a regional numerical surface-subsurface water flow model was developed for the Konya Closed Basin, one of the major agricultural regions of Turkey. Groundwater levels in the semiarid basin have experienced a rapid decline in recent years due to excessive over-exploitation. The regional model, covering an area of about 50,000 km2, simulates unsaturated vertical flow through the vadose zone and groundwater flow through the underlying aquifer system. Historical groundwater level data were used for model calibration. The calibrated model was then used to simulate the impact of different groundwater conservation scenarios that consider the transition to less water-demanding crops and the adoption of optimized cropping patterns. The results underline the urgent need to consider significant changes in the use of groundwater resources within the basin. The findings of this modeling study can help policy and decision-makers explore more efficient and sustainable groundwater management practices.

Abput the Speaker: Nadim Copty is a professor at the Institute of Environmental Sciences at Bogazici University. He received his bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering in 1988 from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. His master’s degree (1990) and doctoral degree (1994) are from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. Subsequently, Nadim worked for 5 years at Bechtel Environmental in San Francisco, USA on varied projects with an emphasis on the analysis and modeling of subsurface pollutant transport in support of site characterization, remedial investigations, feasibility studies, and risk assessment analyses. In 2000, Nadim joined the academic staff of the Institute of Environmental Sciences at Bogazici University. His research interests include Sustainable Management of Water Resources, Modeling of Groundwater Flow and Contaminant Transport, Subsurface Characterization, and Groundwater Remediation, He has been the principal investigator of more than 20 funded research projects, both national and international. Nadim is the co-author of more than 60 refereed international journal articles.