A Phased Approach to Simulating Existing and Future Hydrologic Conditions in
Napa County, CA Using Integrated Surface Water and Groundwater Models

J.S. Kobor, M.L. Loinaz, J.D. Hughes, M.B. Anderson, C.J. Borden, Q.M. Cotten

DHI, Inc., jsk@dhi.us, mcl@dhi.us, jdh@dhi.us, mia@dhi.us, jcb@dhi.us, mqc@dhi.us, Portland, OR, USA

ABSTRACT

California’s Napa Valley is recognized world-wide for its scenic beauty and premium wines. Balancing water demands for urban areas, agriculture, and ecosystem preservation while maintaining flood protection and water quality is a challenging task. In order to quantify hydrologic conditions in Napa County, officials are employing the use of integrated numerical hydrologic models at varying levels of complexity using a phased modeling approach. Regional models were constructed and calibrated using MIKE SHE/MIKE 11 for the two major watersheds in the county using a linear reservoir module to simulate the groundwater system along with additional modules to simulate the remaining components of the hydrologic cycle. The linear reservoir approach uses a lumped-parameter conceptualization to represent the groundwater system, has the advantage of less stringent computational requirements compared to finite-difference numerical methods, and is ideally suited to addressing regional surface water problems. For areas where groundwater is the primary water-supply, a traditional fully-distributed finite-difference groundwater model was constructed and calibrated to allow for a detailed analysis of groundwater conditions. Outputs from the models include stream flow and water-table hydrographs, water budgets, and nutrient and pathogens concentrations for 186 surface water sub-basins. Additionally, conditions associated with changes in land- and water-use were simulated at regional and local scales.