Determining the Optimal Aquifer Exploitation under Artificial Recharge using the Combination of Numerical Models and Particle Swarm Optimization

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

As-Salamu Alaykum Authors;

A nice research and within the aims and scope of Hydrology. The authors have properly organized the manuscript and clearly describe the main contribution of the study. I have just some comments that can improve the scientific merit of the manuscript.

1- Line 23: Please give the full name for MCM.

2- Line 23: MCM per year?

3- Lines 33-45: Iran is known as a country with highest groundwater depletion in the world. I would like to see a better justification for your study in the first paragraph of Introduction.

4- Lines 33-45: Some famous published literatures that highlighted the water crisis in Iran are absent in Introduction. I suggest the authors to increase the readability of the manuscript by adding these papers (e.g., “Anthropogenic depletion of Iran’s aquifers” and “Spatiotemporal changes in Iranian rivers’ discharge”).

5- A study conducted by Noori et al. shows an alarming decline in groundwater recharge across Iran. The authors can compare their results with the numbers given for groundwater recharge in the mentioned study (Noori, R., Maghrebi, M., Jessen, S., Bateni, S.M., Heggy, E., Javadi, S., Nouri, M., Pistre, S., Abolfathi, S. and AghaKouchak, A., 2023. Decline in Iran’s Groundwater Recharge. PREPRINT (Version 1) available at Research Square. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2608948/v1).

Good luck!

Author Response

please see attachment.

Reviewer 2 Report

The paper titled "Determining the optimal aquifer exploitation under artificial recharge using the combination of numerical models and particle swarm optimization" presents a study on determining the optimal exploitation from aquifers under artificial recharge in the Yasouj aquifer in Iran. The study proposes a simulation-optimization model that combines MODFLOW code and gene expression programming (GEP) simulator tool to simulate the aquifer and particle swarm optimization (PSO) to maximize the total exploitation from the aquifer.

The paper provides a clear overview of the problem of determining the optimal exploitation from aquifers, particularly in the face of a drop in their groundwater level. The paper highlights the complexity of determining the optimal exploitation in aquifers with artificial recharge and suggests the need for more complex algorithms.

The study presents a simulation-optimization model that combines MODFLOW code and GEP simulator tool to simulate the aquifer and PSO to maximize the total exploitation from the aquifer. The paper presents the results of the simulation, which showed that the artificial recharge was ineffective in maximizing exploitation from the aquifer. The study suggests that considering several constraints, including the maximum pumping rate from the aquifer and the permissible drop in the groundwater level, the maximum exploitation from the aquifer can be defined as the objective function.

The optimization results showed that the optimal exploitation rate is equal to 8.84 MCM, and only 74% of the water from artificial recharge can be used based on this amount. The paper also suggests the most appropriate locations to exploit this amount of water and recommends banning exploitation from the central and southern parts of the aquifer due to the low groundwater level.

The paper concludes by highlighting the importance of considering various factors in determining the optimal exploitation from aquifers and suggests that the proposed simulation-optimization model can be useful in similar studies.

Overall, the paper provides a detailed study on determining the optimal exploitation from aquifers under artificial recharge, and the proposed simulation-optimization model can be useful in similar studies. However, the paper could be improved by addressing some concerns:

1.The reference style should conform to the MDPI reference style.

2.Breaking the first section into two sections, including an introduction and a literature review, can enhance its readability.

3.The presentation of Figure 1 could be enhanced.

4.There are some blank lines in the paper that need to be removed.

5.Section 3.3 should be presented in a more professional manner. It is recommended that the authors provide a pseudocode for the algorithm.

6.Please ensure that tables 6, 7, and 8 are placed in the correct positions as their content in the current format is not accurate.

7.In Figure 7, it may be better to present all the figures as one figure.

8.The border around Figure 8 is not necessary.

9.The paper could mention the possibility of utilizing other algorithms, such as the “Lion Optimization Algorithm”.

Author Response

Please see attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

accept