Rock River Basin Ground Water
Project Number: 9KH67
Project Chief: Charles P. Dunning
Project Topics: ground-water planning
Cooperators: Rock River Coalition
Period of Project: October 2006 - Ongoing
An analytic element (AE) ground-water-flow model of the 3,800-square-mile Rock River Basin is being developed by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Rock River Coalition and many of the communities within the basin.
Problem
Communities in the Rock River Basin, particularly those with municipal water supply systems, make decisions that affect their ground-water resources every day. To assist with resource management an analytic element (AE) ground-water-flow model of the 3,800-square-mile Rock River Basin is being developed by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with The Rock River Coalition and many of the communities within the basin.
Read an update on the Rock River Basin study »
The initial development of this model leverages existing data and ground-water flow models in Dane County, Rock County, and the South East Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission region. These existing models are of different types (analytic element and finite difference), vintage, and scales, and were constructed with various different objectives. However, through a step-wise approach, in which previous simulation results are used to guide contemporary model design and data collection, the information supporting these existing models is incorporated to develop a unified hydrogeologic framework for the Rock River Basin.
The basin-scale model will provide water suppliers and users with an important tool to understand the regional flow of ground water in the basin, its interaction with rivers, lakes, and wetlands, and its sensitivity to historical and future land-use. In addition, the hydrogeologic logic framework developed through this step-wise approach will provide a foundation for future simulations of detailed local-scale ground-water issues in the Rock River Basin
The Rock River Coalition, our cooperator, has raised over $56,000 in funding through contributions from 38 partners (cities, counties, associations, citizens, companies).
Objectives
Objectives for Quarter 2 2007:
1. Improve the overall understanding of the hydrology of the Rock River Basin by testing alternative conceptual models of the system.
2. Highlight areas where more data and what types of data are needed.
3. Evaluate surface-water/ground-water interactions and baseflow contribution to the Rock River from its sub-basins
4. Estimate amounts and rates of ground-water flow and travel times 5.Provide information that can be used to characterize contaminant movement in the Basin
Approach
Data collection for the development of water and phosp
Progress
*Water use and WL targets will be processed to eliminate those below the MAQU
*Results on flow into the deep aquifer based on the SEWI model will be entered into the GFLOW model with greater detail.
*The last step will be to calibrate the model using PEST w/ zones. Most data has been entered.
*Aim to start report writing in spring/early summer. Report due 12/31/08.
Plans
Data collection for the development of water and phosp
Publications and Reports
Read an update on the Rock River Basin study »
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