what’s new in groundwater at the usgs · presentation outline •groundwater data –national gw...

What’s New in Groundwater at the USGS: Data, Tools, Assessments, and Integrated Modeling

William L. CunninghamSenior Science Advisor for GroundwaterDirector, Earth Systems Processes DivisionU.S. Geological Survey

Ground Water Protection Council

2018 Annual Forum

September 11, 2018

New Orleans, LA

U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological Survey

Presentation Outline• Groundwater Data

– National GW Monitoring Network– Next Generation Observing Systems

• Groundwater Tools– GW Toolbox (baseflow and recharge)– GW Modeling– Using sUAS to Assess GW/SW Exchange

• Groundwater Resource Assessments– Regional Groundwater Availability– National Water Quality Assessment

• Integrated, National-Scale Modeling– National GW Model – National Water Model

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Subcommittee on Ground Waterand the NGWMN

• The Subcommittee on Ground Water (SOGW) is part of the Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI). GWPC plays a leadership role in the SOGW.

• The initial purpose (2007) of the Subcommittee is to develop a collaborative National Ground-Water Monitoring Network (“NGWMN”).

• The Subcommittee developed the ‘Framework Document’ (2009) which contains the network design and requirements

• Approach was tested in 5 pilots (2009), improved (2013), and initiated by Congress/USGS in 2015.

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NGWMN Leadership in Data Sharing

• Approach acknowledged by the Council of Canadian Academies, 2009

• Highlighted by the Aspen Institute’s “Internet of Water”, 2017

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• Principal and major aquifers

• GW levels and quality, w/focus on availability

• Priority on sites with long-term data

• Network, not a Warehouse or Master Database

• Sites classified and selected by local experts/data providers

• Data provider remains the authoritative data source

• Data of known quality (not uniform quality)

NGWMN Design Elements

(ACWI Subcommittee on Ground Water, 2013) Background Data Tools Assessments National Modeling

NGWMN Information Portal

https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

USGS WL State WL USGS WQ State WQ

April 2015 April 2016 April 2017 April 2018

National Groundwater Monitoring Network Growth, 2015-2018

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>35 partners and growing !

Opportunity:2019 Call for NGWMN Proposals• 24 awards issued in

2018 • 2019 opportunity is

open September 4 –November 30, 2018

• Up to $2M available. From 15K-$150K per applicant.

• Candice Hopkins (USGS) NGWMN presentation today in the 1:30 pm session on GW Monitoring, Ballroom A.

• Lauren Schapker(NGWA), SOGW Executive Secretary—Wednesday general session.

https://www.usgs.gov/news/usgs-seeks-national-ground-water-monitoring-network-proposals-2019

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USGS Groundwater Watch

Monthly Bar Chart Drought Hydrograph

244 of 370 climate zones covered

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New Groundwater Watch Tool:“Index” Composite Hydrographs

30-year Composite HydrographCalifornia Coastal Basin Aquifers

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ft

BLS

Water-Level Index (30 years)California Coastal Basin Aquifers

California example, 89 Wells

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ft

BLS

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23 Aquifers

New Borehole Geophysical Log Web Interface:GeoLog Locator

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FY19 Monitoring Initiative: “NextGen” Water Observing System• The next-generation water observing

system will provide high-fidelity, real-time data on water quantity and quality necessary to support modern water prediction and decision support systems for water emergencies and daily water operations.

• Pilot basin is the Delaware River Basin.

• Primarily surface observations. Potential for gage/well pairs; temperature monitoring; soil moisture.

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GW Toolbox: GIS-based GUI for Analysis of Hydrologic Time-Series Data

(Barlow and others, 2014; 2016)

• Hydrograph Analysis– Base-flow separation

(PART, HYSEP, BFI)– Recharge estimation

(RORA, RECESS)– Interactively, Batch File,

Batch Map– Base-flow separation via

digital filtering: Bflowand Eckhardt methods

• Groundwater level analysis– In progress: Recharge

estimation (water-table fluctuation method)

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sUAS (Drones) for Groundwater

• Video Presentation: Efficient characterization of a remote stream corridor

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New in Groundwater Modeling:MODFLOW 6: Major update allows for….

• Unstructured grids

• Simultaneous simulation of multiple flow models

• Coupling with other types of models

A single forward run with parent (regional) and child (local) models. (See: USGS TMs 6A55 and 6A57)

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MODFLOW 6 Example—Simultaneous simulation of multiple aquifer systems

Regional grid for MERAS-CLAS-MAP within a National Hydrogeologic Grid (Clark and

others, USGS data release, 2018)

Mississippi Embayment and Coastal Lowland Regional

Aquifer Systems

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GSFLOW: Coupled Groundwater (MODFLOW) and Surface-water (PRMS) FLOW

• Simulates all major hydrologic processes in watersheds at a daily time step

Markstrom and others, 2008, TM6D1

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Integrated Hydrologic-Operations Modeling: MODSIM-GSFLOW

See Morway and others, 2016: Niswonger and others, 2017

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Online GW Model Data Files

• Input/output from USGS GW Model applications available upon request since 1993.

• Available online since October 2016.

• 55 USGS GW model datasets are archived on data.gov.

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GWWebFlow

Online Viewing of GW Models

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Groundwater Resource Assessments

Principal Aquifers of the US

Selected Priority Aquifers

Regional Groundwater Availability Studies

23Background Data Tools Assessments National Modeling

• Hydraulic characteristics of aquifers• Comprehensive hydrologic budget

Recharge, storage, and discharge

• Numerical model of physical system

Assessing Water Quality:Secondary Hydrogeologic Regions of the Conterminous U.S.

• 69 Secondary Hydrogeologic Regions• Areas in white are Principal Aquifers

Belitz, Watson, Sharpe, and Johnson, 2018

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• Identify contaminants of concern and factors affecting groundwater quality

o Human-health benchmarks provide context

o Proportion of resource with high/moderate/low concentrations used to compare different constituents and different Principal Aquifers

• Emerging contaminants: radionuclides, hormones, PFAS, and others

• 18 Principal Aquifers • 85 % of groundwater

used for public supply• 1,300 public-supply wells

sampled

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National Assessment of Groundwater Quality

• Benchmarks provide context for

magnitude of change

• Change more likely in young, oxic

water; less likely in old, anoxic water

http://nawqatrends.wim.usgs.gov/decadal/

• Decadal sampling, 80 networks of 20 to 30 wells each

• Continuous monitoring to assess short-term change

o 8 networks of 3 wells each

• Age dating in “nested networks” to assess long-term change

o networks of shallow wells and networks of deeper wells

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Assessing Trends in Groundwater Quality

AT LEAST ONE CONTAMINANT OF CONCERN

HIGH concentration > benchmark

MODERATE

LOW < 0.5 of benchmarks for inorganics< 0.1 of benchmarks for organics

14%

20%

66%

0% 2%

98%

INORGANICS

ORGANICS

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National Assessment of Contaminants

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Assessing Factors Affecting GW Quality: Age

Future USGS Goal: Integrated National-Scale Water Prediction

CONUS-scale MODFLOW based model of the shallow groundwater system (in development).

Mean transit time of water from the land surface to the water table

Depth of the water table below land surface

National Groundwater Model

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Integrated National-Scale Water Prediction:Improving GW in the National Water Model

• The NWM simulates observed and forecast streamflow on 2.7 million stream reaches of the USGS NHD+ National Hydrography Dataset

• NWM core is the Weather Research and Forecasting Hydrologic Model (WRF-Hydro)

• Oversight is by the NOAA NWS Office of Water Prediction (OWP)

• Forecasts may be improved by better representing the role of groundwater in the modeling system.

• USGS has joined this multi-agency effort to help improve the NWM.

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For Regular Updates of USGS Products:Monthly Groundwater Newsletter

• Simple newsletter released 1st

of each month via email and website.

• Highlights include– Groundwater news releases

– All USGS GW Publications

– Groundwater software

– Groundwater Flow and Transport Model Data Releases

• Subscribe at: http://water.usgs.gov/ogw/highlights

Thank you!

For more information:Bill CunninghamSenior Science Advisor for GroundwaterDirector, Earth Systems Processes DivisionU.S. Geological SurveyReston, VAwcunning@usgs.gov703-648-5005