FUTURE NEEDS FOR REPRESENTING AQUIFER ARCHITECTURE IN HYDROGEOLOGIC MODELING

Future improvements in computational speed and digital storage should make it possible to represent ever more details of aquifer architecture within representations of aquifer systems (conceptual, mathematical, and statistical models). Not all contexts require a high level of detail but many do. As the allowable level of detail increases, so, too, must our understanding of the characteristics of aquifer architecture that need to be represented. In most cases this will require a higher level of quantitative characterization than exists now. If we envision a future in which models represent aquifer architecture with a high degree of definition, we must place a higher priority on funding and publishing field work that provides this definition.