Simulation of groundwater flow and analysis of the effects of water-management options in the North Platte Natural Resources District, Nebraska

Abstract

For more information on the USGS-the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment-visit http://www.usgs.gov or call 1-888-ASK-USGS.For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, visit http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod/.Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public domain, it also may contain copyrighted materials as noted in the text. Permission to reproduce copyrighted items must be secured from the copyright owner. The authors thank James Cannia (formerly USGS) and Dennis Strauch (Pathfinder Irrigation District) for assistance with identifying potential intentional recharge sites. The authors thank M. Fienen (USGS) for assistance with parameter estimation and R. Niswonger (USGS) for assistance with the Newton-Rhapson solver. The authors also thank P. Jones and P. Barlow (USGS) for constructive reviews of earlier versions of this report and P. Barlow for assistance with application of the Groundwater-Management Process. DatumsVertical coordinate information is referenced to North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88).Horizontal coordinate information is referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83).Altitude, as used in this report, refers to distance above the vertical datum, sea level. Simulation of Groundwater Flow and Analysis of the AbstractThe North Platte Natural Resources District (NPNRD) has been actively collecting data and studying groundwater resources because of concerns about the future availability of the highly inter-connected surface-water and ground water resources. This report, prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the North Platte Natural Resources District, describes a groundwater-flow model of the North Platte River valley from Bridgeport, Nebraska, extending west to 6 miles into Wyoming. The model was built to improve the understanding of the interaction of surface-water and groundwater resources, and as an optimization tool, the model is able to analyze the effects of water-management options on the simulated stream base flow of the North Platte River. The groundwater system and related sources and sinks of water were simulated using a newton formulation of the U.S. Geological Survey modular three-dimensional groundwater model, referred to as MODFLOW-NWT, which provided an improved ability to solve nonlinear unconfined aquifer simulations with wetting and drying of cells. Using previously published aquifer-base-altitude contours in conjunction with newer test-hole and geophysical data, a new base-of-aquifer altitude map was generated because of the strong effect of the aquifer-base topography on groundwater-flow direction and magnitude. The largest inflow to groundwater is recharge originating from water leaking from canals, which is much larger than recharge originating from infiltration of pr...

Characterizing groundwater and surface-water interaction using hydrograph-separation techniques and groundwater-level data throughout the Mississippi Delta, USA

“…This study focused on the Mississippi Delta ( Fig. 1a), an area of dense agricultural activity in northwest Mississippi, with known water-level declines in the alluvial aquifer (Boswell et al 1968;Pennington and Stiles 1994;Ackerman 1996;Renken 1998). The Mississippi Delta covers approximately 18,100 km 2 (7,000 mi 2 ) of north-west Mississippi and is an area with substantial industrial-scale agriculture that necessitates large volumes of fresh water for irrigation (Arthur 2001).…”

“…Groundwater withdrawals from the alluvial aquifer have been rising since the 1930s with a noticeable increase in the 1980s when a majority of agricultural producers switched from surface water to groundwater for irrigation following a drought ( Fig. 2; Arthur 2001; Barlow and Clark 2011;Peterson et al 2015). The alluvial aquifer is composed of Quaternary-age sands and gravel deposited after the Wisconsin glaciation, making it an ideal aquifer with well yields ranging from approximately 1,100-9,500 L/min (300-2,500 gal/min; Renken 1998; Arthur 2001; Yazoo Mississippi Delta Joint Water Management District, YMD) 2008).…”

An integrated hydrologic model to support the Central Platte Natural Resources District Groundwater Management Plan, central Nebraska

“…The CPNRD area has been the subject of many hydrologic studies that include investigations of numerical models, recharge, geology and hydrogeology, land use, and crop water use since the late 1890s, as outlined in Peterson (2009). The earliest studies were a comprehensive description of the Great Plains geology and groundwater, including the CPNRD region of Nebraska (Darton, 1898(Darton, , 1905.…”

“…Additionally, the development of groundwater-flow models has been the focus of COHYST since its inception in 1998 (Cooperative Hydrology Study, 2017). The first three COHYST groundwater-flow models were developed for three geographic regions, called model units, within COHYST-the eastern model unit, which contains the CPNRD (Peterson, 2009); the central model unit (Carney, 2008); and the western model unit (Luckey and Cannia, 2006). COHYST-2010 is the latest model developed as a part of COHYST and is a combined soil-water balance, surface water, and groundwater-flow model of the eastern and central model units (Cooperative Hydrology Study, 2017).…”

“…1C). Three overlapping groundwater-flow models were originally developed for the eastern, central, western COHYST regions and are described in Peterson (2009), Carney (2008), and Luckey and Cannia (2006), respectively. Later groundwater-flow model updates combined the eastern and central model units into a single model as described in Cooperative Hydrology Study (2017).…”