Research Summary — Comparing Streamflow Depletion Estimation Approaches in a Heavily Stressed, Conjunctively Managed Aquifer

This 2020 study, Comparing Streamflow Depletion Estimation Approaches in a Heavily Stressed, Conjunctively Managed Aquifer, offers a comparison of analytical depletion functions (ADFs) against a validated numerical model created for estimating streamflow depletion. This numerical model was developed as part of an interstate compact, and as such had substantially greater effort put into its development and calibration compared to models used for comparison studies elsewhere. Authors Samuel C. Zipper, Tom Gleeson, Qiang Li, and Ben Kerr conducted the study in the highly stressed aquifer of the Republican River (Colorado/Kansas, USA) with funding from NSERC, Kansas Geological Survey, the University of Victoria, and Foundry Spatial. Overall, the ADF produced comparable results to the validated numerical model at a fraction of the cost and time.