New & Noteworthy

 Press Release: Deficit in Nation's Aquifers Accelerating

 MODFLOW-USG: An Unstructured Grid Version of MODFLOW

 USGS Threatened and Endangered Stations

 Report to Congress: Progress Toward Establishing a National Assessment of Water Availability and Use

 Fact Sheet: Understanding and Managing the Effects of Groundwater Pumping on Streamflow

  Annotated List of Classic Pre-1980 USGS Groundwater Papers on Quantitative Groundwater-Flow Analysis

  WaterNow: Get current water conditions by text or email

  Circular: Streamflow Depletion By Wells: Understanding and Managing the Effects of Groundwater Pumping on Streamflow

USGS Groundwater Watch

USGS maintains a network of active wells to provide basic statistics about groundwater levels.

USGS in Your State

USGS Water Science Centers are located in each state.

Other USGS Water Science Areas

 Water Resources

 Water Quality

 Water Use

 Surface Water

Surface-Water Routing (SWR) Process for Modeling Surface-Water Flow with the USGS Modular Groundwater Flow Model (MODFLOW)

• Overview of the SWR Process
• History
• Downloads
• Useful Links
• Point of Contact
• Additional USGS Software Resources and Disclaimers

Overview of the SWR Process

The Surface-Water Routing (SWR) Process was developed to accurately simulate stages, surface-water flows, and surface-water/groundwater interactions in areas where surface-water gradients are small and (or) there is significant management of surface water. A simplified form of the Saint-Venant equations was implemented in the SWR Process based on assumption requirement that it will be applied to continuous simulations (hourly to daily time steps) in support of water-resource planning activities. As a result, the SWR Process was not intended as a replacement for hydrodynamic models that solve the full Saint-Venant equations and are applied to event simulations (sub-hourly time steps).

The SWR Process uses a flexible approach for simulating one- and two-dimensional routing of surface-water flow. The SWR Process is implicitly coupled to the Groundwater Flow Process in MODFLOW. Surface-water routing in SWR can be simulated using a diffusive-wave approximation of the vertically-integrated Saint-Venant equations and/or a simplified level-pool approach. SWR can account for surface-water flow controlled by backwater conditions caused by small water-surface gradients or surface-water control structures. A number of typical surface-water control structures (such as culverts, weirs, and pumps, for example) can be represented, and simple operational rules can be specified to manage surface-water stages and streamflow by moving water from one surface-water feature to another. The non-linear surface-water flow equations implemented in the SWR Process are solved using Newton methods and direct or iterative solvers.

The SWR Process uses the familiar structure of MODFLOW-2005 and the MODFLOW concepts of "packages" and "processes" are retained. This permits versions of MODFLOW-NWT and MODFLOW-2005 that include the SWR Process to work with many of the MODFLOW-related software programs, such as MODPATH, ZONEBUDGET, and parameter estimation programs. MODFLOW-NWT and MODFLOW-2005 with the SWR Process are public domain computer programs. The source code and software are distributed free of charge by the USGS.

SWR History

• SWR Release Notes [5KB TXT]
• History Version 1.0, released 09/21/2012: This is the original SWR version as documented in Hughes and others (2012).
• Version 1.01.0, released 10/17/2012: The SWR Process was modified to allow incorporation of SWR derivative terms into the groundwater flow equation solved by MODFLOW-NWT. The SWR Process was also modified to allow downstream discharge from a SFR2 reach to be routed to a SWR reach using an additional type of SWR surface-water control structure. The SWR Process was also modified to allow surface-water control structures discharging from the SWR network to discharge to SFR2 reaches. SWR Version 1.01.0 is also included in the version of MODFLOW-2005 available in the downloads section of this page.

SWR Process users are encouraged to use the version incorporated into MODFLOW-NWT, even if the features of MODFLOW-NWT are not required for a particular application.

Downloads

• MODFLOW-NWT Version 1.0.7 with the SWR Process Version 1.01.0 program, source code, user guides, and example problems
• SWR Process example problems for MODFLOW-NWT [14.6MB EXE] (updated October 17, 2012)
• SWRPre [4.1MB EXE] (updated October 17, 2012): a simple preprocessor for creating SWR Process connectivity from an Esri polyline shapefile and a MODFLOW discretization (DIS) file is also included. SWRPre creates a data file that defines SWR Process reaches, reach groups, and reach connectivity. SWRPre also creates
  1. an Esri polyline shapefile that contains the data contained in the SWR Process data file to validate the SWR Process network, and
  2. an Esri polygon shapefile of the DIS file to validate the coordinate offset and rotation angle provided to the pre-processor.

User Guides and Technical Information

Hughes, J.D., Langevin, C.D., Chartier, K.L., and White, J.T., 2012, Documentation of the Surface-Water Routing (SWR1) Process for modeling surface-water flow with the U.S. Geological Survey Modular Ground-Water Model (MODFLOW-2005): U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and Methods, book 6, chap. A40 (Version 1.0), 113 p. Available online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/tm/6a40/

Superseded Versions

Note: these versions are no longer actively supported or maintained

• MODFLOW-2005 Version 1.9 with the SWR Process Version 1.01.0 program, source code, user guides, and example problems [20MB EXE]. This distribution also includes the preprocessor SWRPre.

Useful Links

• USGS Water Resources Applications Geochemical Software
• USGS Water Resources Applications Software
• MODFLOW and other USGS groundwater software
• MODFLOW-NWT, a Newton Formulation for MODFLOW-2005

Point of Contact

Support is provided for correcting bugs and clarification of how the SWR Process is intended to work. Only limited assistance can be provided for applying the SWR Process to specific problems by contacting the point of contact listed below:

Joseph D. Hughes
USGS Florida Water Science Center
4446 Pet Lane
Suite 108
Lutz, FL 33559

Development of the SWR Process was funded in part by the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department.

Other USGS Groundwater Software

The USGS develops groundwater , water-quality, surface-water, and other water-resources software for use by the USGS in fulfilling its mission. Most of this software is available online for download at no charge.

Disclaimers and Notices

Please refer to the USGS Software User Rights Notice for complete use, copyright, and distribution information. The USGS provides no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the correctness of the furnished software or the suitability for any purpose. The software has been tested, but as with any complex software, there could be undetected errors. Users who find errors are requested to report them to the USGS.

References to non-USGS products, trade names, and (or) services are provided for information purposes only and do not constitute endorsement or warranty, express or implied, by the USGS, U.S. Department of Interior, or U.S. Government, as to their suitability, content, usefulness, functioning, completeness, or accuracy.

Note: Some or all of this information is presented in Portable Document Format (PDF); the latest version of Adobe Reader or similar software is required to view it. Download the latest version of the free Adobe Reader from the Adobe web site.  Visit http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/  for free tools that allow visually impaired users to read PDF files.