Comparison of Selected Methods for Estimating Groundwater Recharge In Humid Regions

Sorted by Method

Select Methods to Compare	METHOD	CATEGORY	SPATIAL SCALE	TEMPORAL SCALE	TYPICAL QUANTITY ESTIMATED	EASE OF USE	DATA NEEDS	RELATIVE COST
	Chloride	Tracer	Point	Years	Recharge	Easy	Moderate	Moderate
	Chlorofluorocarbons	Tracer	Local	Month to Years	Recharge	Difficult	Moderate	High
	Darcian Unit-Gradient	Unsaturated Zone	Point	Long-Term Average	Potential Recharge	Moderate	Low	High
	Deep Percolation Model	Water Budget	Regional	Day to Years	Potential Recharge	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate
	Groundwater Modeling	Groundwater	Local to Regional	Month to Years	Recharge	Moderate	High	High
	HELP3 Model	Water Budget	Point to Regional	Day to Years	Potential Recharge	Easy	Low to Moderate	Moderate
	Recession-Curve Displacement	Streamflow	Watershed	Event to Years	Net Recharge	Moderate	Low	Low
	Seepage Meters	Streamflow	Point	Event to Months	Potential Recharge	Moderate	Low	Low
	Stream Base-Flow	Streamflow	Watershed	Years	Net Recharge	Easy	Low	Low
	Streamflow Gain/Loss Measurements	Streamflow	Local	Instantaneous	Potential Recharge	Easy	Low	Low
	Temperature	Tracer	Point	Days to Years	Recharge	Moderate	Moderate	High
	Tritium	Tracer	Point	Month to Years	Recharge	Moderate	Moderate	High
	Watershed Models	Streamflow	Watershed to Regional	Days to Years	Recharge	Moderate	High	High
	Water-Table Fluctuations	Groundwater	Local	Day to Years	Recharge	Easy	Low	Low
	Zero-Flux Plane	Unsaturated Zone	Point	Day to Years	Potential Recharge	Difficult	High	High
	Zero-Tension Lysimeters	Unsaturated Zone	Point	Day to Years	Potential Recharge	Difficult	Low	High

U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://water.usgs.gov/ogw/gwrp/methods/compare/index.html
Page Contact Information: Contact the Groundwater Resources Program
Page Last Modified: Tuesday, 12-May-2020 10:21:58 EDT