Wednesday, December 5, 2007 : 11:40 a.m.
Integrated Watershed Modeling for Surface Water/Ground Water Interaction in a High-Performance Computing Framework
Ground water use has increased rapidly due to irrigation development in the Great Plains. This is especially true in the Republican Basin that intersects the three states of Nebraska , Kansas, and Colorado . The significant increase in ground water utilization for irrigation is suspected of inducing changes to the surface water system due to the highly connected nature of these water resources. Therefore, a greater understanding of the complex interaction of surface-ground water systems is key to better management of water resources. These analyses are usually done after completion of separate surface and subsurface flow simulation, and not in a fully integrated manner. WASH123D is an integrated watershed modeling system capable of simulating subsurface, overland, and stream flow in a fully integrated manner, which considers various hydrogeologic properties of the study area, providing a real picture of hydrologic flow pattern of the region. One of the challenges of employing fully integrated models is the computation demand that stems from the complex systems and numerical schemes. The objective of this research is to study the interaction processes of ground water and surface water flow in an integrated simulation, within a high performance computing framework. Application is focused on the Frenchman watershed, a sub-basin of the Republican Basin that originates in Colorado and terminates in Nebraska with an east-west length of about 247 km. It is a semi-arid region with land surface sloping from west to east; and currently exhibiting impacts of drought with an increase in irrigation wells, leading to stream depletion problems. Discussion will center on analysis of the recharge and discharge zones of the study region from an integrated watershed perspective, along with the interaction of surface and subsurface flow.
Mahesh Pun, University of Nebraska-Lincoln My name is Mahesh Pun. I am from Nepal. I finished my B. Sc. Environmental Science (three years) program from St. Xavier's College, kathmandu, Nepal in Stptember 2002. Then i got admitted as a transfer student and got B. S. Environmental Science degree from Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, Pensylvnania. I am currently pursuing my Graduate studies for M. S. in Environmental Engineering program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nebraska.