Project: Grand River Basin Regional Groundwater Model

Client: Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA)

Objectives: 

• Develop an integrated groundwater/surface water model of the Grand River watershed. 
• Evaluate the interaction between the Grand River and the various aquifer systems in the basin.

Outcomes:

• A detailed understanding of the interaction between the river and the aquifer.
• A useful management tool that allows GRCA staff to perform additional simulations.

Key Aspects:

• A well database that is fully integrated with the hydrogeologic model simulations.
• An extensive aquifer-mapping project that was completed and published in 2001.
• Extensive groundwater/surface water interaction.
• Integration of multiple smaller-scale groundwater models.

Project Description:

EarthFX developed a regional-scale groundwater model for the GRCA.  The model is based on a comprehensive groundwater database and resource mapping compilation performed in the VIEWLOG software system and supported by EarthFX.  The map compilation stage resulted in a comprehensive geologic database, plus a 300-page interactive atlas that contains over 200 full-colour maps.  The model incorporates the GRCA's extensive surface-water GIS information, which contains 153 catchments, with 31,000 classified streams and river segments.

A key aspect of the project is the integration of multiple smaller-scale models that have been completed in the GRCA.  These include the Regional Municipality of Waterloo (RMOW) River Wells model, the Waterloo Moraine model, Cambridge and Guelph water-supply models, along with a number of smaller watershed-scale models.  All of these models have been efficiently integrated into the GRCA regional VIEWLOG project.

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