USGS Workshop
"Obtaining Useful Answers from Groundwater Models"
Presented during the 2015 Annual Conference Week
Date
Tuesday, January 27th, 2015
Location
Peppermill Resort Spa and Casino
2707 South Virginia Street
Reno, NV 89502
Time
8:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. (Coffee and a mid-morning break will be provided)
About
Groundwater models are developed because questions need to be answered. Regional effects of developing groundwater resources on sensitive ecosystems, existing water rights, and contaminant transport are typical questions, where water managers and society at large expect useful answers. Hydrologists address these questions by developing calibrated groundwater models because problems are often too complex for simple analytical approaches. The lack of alternatives has been noted succinctly by John Bredehoeft, "... if you want to make predictions about how these systems are going to behave, this is the only tool you've got. This is it. You don't have anything else." Predictive utility depends on agreement between actual and estimated hydraulic properties at scales that are defined by posed questions. The “Obtaining Useful Answers from Groundwater Models” seminar will address necessary elements for developing and reporting useful groundwater models. Topics will follow steps for developing a groundwater-flow model. These include developing a conceptual model, numerically approximating observed features, identifying measured quantities for calibration, distributing hydraulic properties, minimizing differences between measured and simulated quantities through calibration, testing alternative models, and answering original and ancillary questions. Effects of distributing recharge with modified Maxey-Eakin, explicitly simulating mountain blocks, MODFLOW packages, and discretization on model development will be discussed specifically. Relative merits of imposing hydrologic wishes on hydraulic property distributions with zones or pilot points and Tikhonov regularization will be demonstrated. Reporting groundwater-model results also will be discussed with an emphasis on clearly presenting simulated hydraulic properties and keeping model results relevant. Presented material will be appropriate for hydrologists, engineers, managers, lawyers, and all parties affected by groundwater-model results.
The cost for this workshop is $25
Registration for this event is open!
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