Precipitation and Runoff Simulations of the Carson Range and Pine Nut Mountains, and Updated Estimates of Ground-Water Inflow and the Ground-Water Budgets for Basin-Fill Aquifers of Carson Valley, Douglas County, Nevada, and Alpine County, California

Water-budgets and recharge-area simulations for the Spring Creek and Nittany Creek Basins and parts of the Spruce Creek Basin, Centre and Huntingdon Counties, Pennsylvania, Water Years 2000–06

“…Note that the MODFLOW-NWT model was calibrated for steady-state conditions (step 1); initial adjustments of aquifer properties were done with a model constructed with a uniform spatial distribution of infiltration, then was recalibrated by using spatially variable estimates of infiltration from the PRMS model output (step 2). The infiltration of water below the root zone simulated by PRMS has been used as input for MODFLOW models in various applications (Bjerklie and others, 2010;Jeton and Maurer, 2007;Lee and Risley, 2001;Steuer and Hunt, 2001;Hunt and Steuer, 2000;Vaccaro, 1992;and Ely and others, 2011). The simulated rate of infiltration below the root zone in PRMS-only can be thought of as potential recharge that will either be added to the saturated zone or be rejected by MODFLOW-NWT.…”

Assessing potential effects of changes in water use with a numerical groundwater-flow model of Carson Valley, Douglas County, Nevada, and Alpine County, California

“…The fourth report presented estimates of water-budget components for Carson Valley and presented preliminary estimates of the potential effects of changes in water use (Maurer and Berger, 2007). The fifth report used the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS; Leavesly, 1983) watershed models of the Carson Range and Pine Nut Mountains to estimate groundwater recharge and ephemeral streamflow from the mountains surrounding the valley (Jeton and Maurer, 2007). The final phase of work included a refinement of the groundwater-flow model for Carson Valley.…”

“…Daily volumes of runoff for the 12 perennial streams draining the Carson Range and Clear Creek were computed or estimated for the period 1990-2002 by Maurer and others (2004) using gage data and miscellaneous streamflow measurements. The estimated daily volumes of runoff provided information for the calibration of watershed models developed by Jeton and Maurer (2007) using the PRMS. The watershed models were based on climate data consisting of daily values of precipitation, minimum and maximum air temperature, and on land-cover and soils maps, and topography.…”

“…Inflows and outflows to Carson Valley can be summarized in a water budget using the following equation: Components of the annual water budget for Carson Valley have been estimated by previous studies (Maurer and Berger, 1997;Maurer and others, 2004;Maurer and Halford, 2004;Maurer and others, 2004;Maurer and Berger, 2007;Jeton and Maurer, 2007). Annual inflows and outflows listed in table 3 and shown in figure 16 are estimates compiled for a 15-year (yr) period (1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005) when precipitation was typically below average ( fig.…”

Analysis of Streamflow Trends, Ground-Water and Surface-Water Interactions, and Water Quality in the Upper Carson River Basin, Nevada and California

“…The estimate for the Pine Nut Mountains was the unit-area rate computed for the combined area and the mean annual flow of Pine Nut and Buckeye Creeks in the Pine Nut Mountains. Jeton and Maurer (2007) used watershed models to simulate streamflow from ephemeral watersheds in Carson Valley. The simulations indicated ephemeral streamflow from the Carson Range to be about 9,900 acre-ft annually for water years 1990-2002; computed unit-area runoff from the several watersheds ranged from 5 to 13 in/yr, or from 23 to 46 percent of annual precipitation.…”