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Assessments of the infiltration recharge of groundwater are performed using various methods and on different scales. Infiltration is dependent of climatic factors, aspects of water circulation, as well as on quasi-stationary and variable environmental features of a specific area, which are frequently difficult to determine on the basis of direct measurements or observations. The objective of the present study was to identify factors conditioning recharge of shallow groundwater in selected catchment areas of the Poznań Upland using the WetSpass simulation water balance model with spatially distributed parameters. Our analysis has indicated favourable and unfavourable conditions for recharge of groundwater in the annual period and in both half-year periods, which are the result of mutual relationships between the physical qualities of these catchment areas and their climatic and hydrological characteristics. The results obtained also confirmed the impact of surface runoff and actual evapotranspiration on the spatial distribution of effective infiltration. With soil types and groundwater depth distributions being similar in the catchment areas, changes in relationships between components of water balance are caused by differences in the type of land usage. Application of the WetSpass model has made it possible to arrive at a more accurate assessment of groundwater recharge. The results obtained may be used for erification of recharge areas and values of effective infiltration, set as a boundary condition in groundwater flow models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a spatially distributed water balance model WetSpass was used to simulate long-term average annual and seasonal recharge of groundwater, surface runoff and actual evapotranspiration in the Mogilnica catchment, the Wielkopolska Lowland (western Poland). It is a region with the lowest precipitation and runoff in Poland. The simulated hydrological variables in the Mogilnica catchment are made on raster model (xy = 0.0625 km²). A GIS based, WetSpass is a model: Water and Energy Transfer between Soil, Plants and Atmosphere under quasi-Steady State. For water balance components estimations should be carried out concerning the meteorological conditions (precitipation, air temperature, wind speed, potential evapotranspiration), groundwater level and distributed topography, soil texture and land-use. In the Mogilnica catchment the long-term temporal and spatial average annual precipitation of 538 mm was distributed as: recharge of groundwater of 84 mm (15%), surface runoff of 31 mm (6%) and actual evapotranspiration of 425 mm (79%). Sustainable groundwater management and protection requires knowledge of spatial variation in water balance elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]