WWRC 97-05g
Intergrating Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Technology into Groundwater and Surface-Water Modeling Associated with Wyoming's Cumulative Hydrolic Impact Assessment
Abstract
The coal-pennitting process places heavy demands
on both permit applicants and regulatory authorities
with respect to the management and analysis of
hydrologic data. Currently, this correlation is being
addressed for the Powder River Basin, Wyoming
by the ongoing Cumulative Hydrologic Impact
Assessment (CHIA) efforts at the University of
Wyoming. One critical component of the CHIA is
the use of a Geographic Information System (GIS)
for support, management, manipulation, pre-analysis,
and display of data associated with the
chosen groundwater and surface water models. This
paper will discuss the methodology in using of GIS
technology as an integrated tool with the
MODFLOW and HEC-1 hydrologic models. Pre-existing
GIS links associated with these two models
served as a foundation for this effort. However, due
to established standards and site specific factors,
substantial modifications were performed on
existing tools to obtain adequate results. The
groundwater-modeling effort required the use of a
refined grid in which cell sizes varied based on the
relative locations of ongoing mining activities.
Surface water modeling was performed in a semi-arid
region with very limited topographic relief and
predominantly ephemeral stream channels. These
were substantial issues that presented challenges for
effective GIS/model integration.
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