Putting the GIScience in Groundwater

David Steward

Kansas State University, steward@ksu.edu, Manhattan, KS, USA

ABSTRACT


GIScience (Geographic Information Science) utilizes geospatially referenced data that are available from a variety of sources. The data typically utilized in groundwater models includes that related to wells, aquifers, surface water, etc. A geodatabase organizes geospatially referenced data as sets of related objects. In the groundwater world this relates, for example, wells to the geologic media in which they reside. A richer understanding of water resources results when groundwater geodatabase structures are related to other facets of a water resources system, such as those associated with socio-economics. This presentation overviews some of the existing repositories of groundwater data and geodatabase structures, with examples being presented for portion of the High Plains Aquifer in western Kansas. Groundwater models are constructed and the results are related to geospatially referenced socioeconomic data.