AN OPEN SOURCE GROUNDWATER FLOW MODEL GRAPHIC USER INTERFACE: THE SUSTAINABLE USE SCENARIO TOOL FOR ANALYSIS AND INFORMING NEBRASKANS (SUSTAIN)

In Nebraska, groundwater models serve as the foundation for water management plan development, implementation, and adaptation by water managers at the state and local levels by providing access to groundwater depletions, surface water use, groundwater pumping, and irrigated acreage data. However, the traditional method of using groundwater models requires complex data processing and computer programming which hinder the use of groundwater models among regular model users without specific technical background of groundwater modeling. In this study, we developed a groundwater model graphic user interface (GUI) tool entitled Sustainable Use Scenario Tool for Analysis and Informing Nebraskans (SUSTAIN) for the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources. SUSTAIN was developed using open-source Python packages Numpy, Flopy, Pandas, matplotlib and wxPython. SUSTAIN is used to disseminate hydrologic data for use in integrated water management planning with the natural resources districts and other stakeholders in order to balance water supplies and uses and to protect the rights of existing users of surface water and groundwater. It enables the users to 1) make the changes through the SUSTAIN in crops, acres, irrigation types and groundwater pumping and generate the input files for the models based on such changes; 2) develop water management scenarios based on NeDNR needs (tool customization) 3) read, synthesize, and generate visualizations of the land use acres, water budget, groundwater levels of the models and generate other management decision scenarios based on NeDNR’s objectives through the GUI. The source code of SUSTAIN is currently code archived to a web-based version control system (bitBucket) to allow more direct application and interactions of the SUSTAIN by the project partners and other users external to Nebraska. SUSTAIN is highly configurable and can be customized to increase its utility to for other groundwater flow models. In this poster, we will demonstrate the use of each python package, the functions of SUSTAIN and how it can be used with other MODFLOW models.