Simulation of water quantity exchange between groundwater and the Platte River water, central Nebraska

Abstract

The authors demonstrate the importance of the simulation of the water quantity exchange between river water and groundwater to a better understanding of the hydrologic relations between a river and nearby aquifer where groundwater is pumped extensively but only seasonally. And MODFLOW is used to design the stream-aquifer model in which the pumpage of more than 1000 wells was simulated. The river gaining and river losing processes were analyzed. Simulation results suggest that continuation of over-extraction of groundwater will gradually increase the depletion volume in the river year after year and more depletion will occur in later years. The exchange manner between groundwater and the Platte River differs from place to place. The Platte River loses water to the adjacent aquifer in the west part of the study area, and gains water from the adjacent aquifer in the east part of the study area.

Keywords

water quantity exchange / river-aquifer system / the Platte River / Visual MODFLOW