Location: Sustainable Agricultural Water Systems Research
Project Number: 2032-13220-002-009-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2021
End Date: Oct 31, 2025
Objective:
The overall objective of this research is to utilize an existing watershed model to assess groundwater sustainability in the Central Valley of California under changing climatic and management scenarios.
Approach:
An existing watershed model will be utilized to predict the impacts of various climatic conditions and management practices on groundwater sustainability in the Central Valley of California. Watershed simulations will be conducted using the coupled Groundwater and Surface-water FLOW (GSFLOW) model which is based on the integration of the USGS Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS-V) and the USGS Modular Groundwater Flow Model (MODFLOW-2005 and MODFLOW-NWT). Model parameters will be determined from a review of available literature. The USDA Climate Hub will provide climatic scenarios that will be utilized in watershed model simulations. Management practices that will be considered in this simulations include various managed aquifer recharge scenarios (e.g., flooding agricultural lands, use of drywells, and employing reusing non-traditional water resources for agriculture), improvements in irrigation efficiency through remote sensing of crop evapotranspiration, fallowing of agricultural lands, and changing the water demands by modifying crop choice.
