The exponential growth of the population and the changing climatic factors have led to qualitative and quantitative deterioration of freshwater resources. Groundwater is one of the primary sustainable water resources, especially during the high demand seasons, due to its lower susceptibility towards sudden changes. Groundwater monitoring thus plays a significant role in water resources management and is fundamental to understanding system dynamics, trends in storage, and the long-term sustainability of an aquifer. However, estimating the amount of ground water has been a challenging issue due to the complexity of ground water movement. Simplified numerical simulation models have been used to represent the ground water system; these models however only provide the average approximation of the entire system and may not capture the local variations. Several other efforts such as coupling groundwater models with hydrological models and using geo-statistical methods are being practiced to accurately predict the groundwater levels. 

In this study, Kriging method was applied on the residuals of the numerical model (MODFLOW) generated by the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) for the Edwards-Trinity (Plateau) aquifer. The study was done for the years 1995 through 2000 where 90% of the observation data was used for calibration followed by validation with remaining 10% of the observations. The Kriging method reduced the average error by approximately 70% thereby improving the prediction of water levels in the observation points. The results from this research is expected to provide crucial information for sustainable use of groundwater resources and efficient and effective conjunctive management of surface and groundwater resources.

Application of Kriging Technique in Residuals of the Groundwater Model (MODFLOW) Within the Edwards-Trinity Aquifer

Created in 1999, the Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI) is the recognized leader within ASCE for the integration of technical expertise and public policy in the planning, design, construction, and operation of environmentally sound and sustainable infrastructure impacting air, land and water resources.

[Paper Proceedings](https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784483466)

Conference DOI: https://doi.org/10.26226/m.6329c39b68fb0e00131f77d2