Course Description

The use of computer modeling tools has become a standard practice in many groundwater investigations. Groundwater resources evaluation, groundwater quality assessment, contamination site assessment and remediation, environmental impact review, and other groundwater related activities increasingly rely on computer models as a means of understanding groundwater flow and the fate of contaminants in the subsurface. This course introduces the conceptual principles and practical aspects of groundwater modeling in an intuitive yet comprehensive manner. The course objective is to demystify the use of groundwater models by providing solid understanding of the principles, methods, assumptions, and limitations of groundwater models, as well as hands-on experience with the planning, preparation, execution, presentation, and review of a modeling project.

Course Topics

• Principles and concepts of groundwater modeling;
• Overview of groundwater modeling software;
• Conceptual model development;
• Data collection and preparation;
• Model grid design;
• Boundary conditions;
• concepts and application;
• Simulating rivers, lakes, recharge, drainage;
• Modeling multiple aquifer systems;
• Sensitivity analysis;
• Model calibration and verification;
• Contaminant transport modeling;
• Capture zone analysis.

Who Should Attend

The short-course is intended for professional consultants, technical personnel in engineering/geology firms and irrigation/water districts, regulatory agency specialists and managers, and those in the legal community specializing in groundwater issues. Participants should have a working knowledge of the principles of groundwater hydrology and be familiar with the PC Windows 95 (or Windows 2000) environment. No formal training in computer programming is necessary.

Course Instructors

Graham E. Fogg, Ph.D., is a professor of hydrogeology with the Hydrology Program of the Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources, University of California, Davis. He received a B.S. in hydrology at the University of New Hampshire, a M.S. in hydrology from the University of Arizona, and a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in groundwater hydrology and groundwater modeling. His research interests include geologic-geostatistical characterization of subsurface heterogeneity, mass transport in heterogeneous porous media, numerical modeling of ground-water systems, and regional hydrogeology. Fogg has 20 years experience characterizing and analyzing groundwater under a diversity of conditions in the southwest and western United States.

Thomas Harter, Ph.D., received a B.S. in hydrology from the University of Freiburg, Germany and a M.S. in hydrology from the University of Stuttgart, Germany. He received his Ph.D. in hydrology (with emphasis on subsurface hydrology) at the University of Arizona, where he became the 1991 Harshbarger fellow for outstanding research in subsurface flow and transport modeling. In 1995, he joined the faculty at the Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources, University of California, Davis. Harter has been instrumental in developing the University of California Cooperative Extension Groundwater Hydrology Program*. His research focuses on nonpoint-source pollution of groundwater, groundwater resources evaluation under uncertainty, groundwater modeling, and contaminant transport. Dr. Harter has done extensive modeling of heterogeneous aquifer/vadose zone systems.

Course Benefits

At the end of the Course, participants should have:

• a well-founded knowledge of the principles of groundwater flow and transport modeling
• familiarity with the major elements of groundwater modeling studies
• hands-on experience in designing simple groundwater flow and transport studies with MODFLOW using popular groundwater modeling software
• a fundamental understanding of the capabilities and limitations of groundwater modeling
• an understanding of the appropriate role of groundwater models in groundwater assessment and management