Technical Studies

Areas that are prone to potential landfall throughout Taiwan found concentrated along the southwestern sea borders, which are largely the result of improper land exploitation and ineffective monitoring and usage of water resources. Not only excessive groundwater pumping has led to stratum sinkage chipping away Taiwan’s eastern coastlines, but the tidal flooding and permanent harm to land and water resources as a result of ground sinkage also present an enormous cost to the society. To curtail the potential hazard of ground sinkage, it is prudent not only to continue with a long-term systematic surveillance work necessary to grapple the magnitude of ground sinkage but a pressing need to further establish potential energy and hazard assessment techniques in areas at risk of severe actual and potential ground sinkage, offering insightful references to protective management to areas prone to ground sinkage.

The study project of Coastline potential landfall energy and hazard assessment techniques is broken down to four study subtopics, covering an optimal estimation model for achieving regional groundwater hydrodynamic equilibrium; computation of stratum sinkage divided by region and area; a geographic information decision-making support system of comprehensive ground sinkage database; an optimal ground sinkage vs. groundwater nutrimental model. While the ultimate objective lies in utilizing the geographic information decision-making system to integrate the three related models for developing an optimized stratum sinkage tendency forecast model, with which methods for determining ground stratum sinkage and forecast on level of sinkage at areas subject to the threat of ground sinkage, and assessment for pinpointing a hazard level of drainage and embankment in costal ground sinkage areas prone to ground sinkage, and water resources utilization and management techniques may be derived from.