At Woodard & Curran, we have a team of hydrologic modelers who work with clients to understand how surface water and groundwater interact across watersheds. It’s a critical aspect of sustainable water management, especially for our California clients who are required to develop and implement groundwater sustainability plans under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). As we have worked with clients on these plans, our experts saw a need for a more user-friendly approach to understanding how various factors impact groundwater levels and a better way to manage all the data involved in sustainable groundwater management initiatives.
Groundwater Modeling Supports Sustainable Recharge Strategies
Many groundwater basins in California are experiencing overdraft and face difficult, often costly decisions as they work toward sustainable groundwater management. Augmentation of supplies through groundwater recharge is a preferred method to achieve sustainability without the drastic impacts of demand reduction programs. Implementing recharge at the scale required to fully or partially eliminate overdraft is challenging from both a technical and policy level. The expertise needed to incorporate surface water conditions, groundwater conditions, conveyance availability, presence of willing landowners, agronomic considerations, and more, are typically spread across consultant and agency staff. Bringing this information together often requires considerable technical analysis, modeling, outreach, and coordination, which increases costs and timelines, both of which are in short supply with sustainability targets in 2040.
Our modeling and data management experts recognized this challenge and identified opportunities to reduce costs, shorten timelines, and streamline identification and evaluation of groundwater recharge opportunities. To help address these needs, we developed a user-friendly decision-support tool for groundwater model visualization that brings together complex water management data in a single, interactive dashboard. We also automated the model-run workflow so users can initiate scenarios more efficiently, with modeling results automatically uploaded into the tool for visualization and comparison. Rather than relying on specialized modeling expertise, water managers can explore different scenarios, compare potential outcomes, and better understand how management decisions may affect groundwater conditions over time.
By making complex information easier to access and visualize, this tool helps clients make more informed decisions about long-term groundwater resource management. The result is a clearer path toward achieving sustainability goals while making the best use of available water supplies.
Data-informed decision making
Groundwater modeling is a key step for agencies to understand future scenarios, but having reliable, current information about groundwater conditions is even more important. Many organizations collect data from multiple sources, including groundwater level monitoring, water quality monitoring, regulatory reporting systems, and local databases. Managing that information across separate platforms creates challenges for both day-to-day operations and long-term planning. Successfully navigating those challenges provides the foundation for ongoing work, including technical analyses, modeling, and other advanced decision-support tools.
To facilitate plan execution, we have developed groundwater data management systems that consolidate pertinent information into a single platform. The data management dashboard helps our clients visualize groundwater conditions, simplify regulatory reporting, and support informed decision making. Our custom solutions also provide opportunities for agencies to improve transparency. If our client chooses to provide public-facing access to groundwater information, the user-friendly dashboard gives stakeholders greater visibility into monitoring efforts and long-term groundwater management activities, building public trust around managing groundwater resources.
A stronger foundation for groundwater resilience
One of the most valuable outcomes of combining groundwater modeling and data management is the ability to connect planning, implementation, and performance tracking. Models help agencies understand how management actions may influence future conditions. Data management systems help track whether those outcomes are occurring as expected. Together, they provide a continuous feedback loop that supports adaptive management and informed decision-making.
As groundwater agencies continue implementing sustainability plans, access to timely information and reliable forecasting tools will become increasingly important. Groundwater modeling and data management bring together technical analysis, accessible information, and efficient workflows, helping our clients make informed decisions that support long-term groundwater resilience and stronger outcomes for the communities they serve.
