Build Your Local Aquifer.

Pick a real aquifer near you. Turn public data into a living, runnable groundwater model of your own.

✎ Adaptable template🗓 Multi-week project👥 Individual or teams📘 Project (not scored)📈 All levels

The objective

Build and calibrate a working model of a real local aquifer — from public geology, well, and streamflow data.

What you learn

The full modeling workflow on a system you care about: conceptualization, data assembly, boundary conditions, calibration, and honest uncertainty.

How it works

Choose a local aquifer and gather public data — geology, wells, streams, pumping.
Build the conceptual model and set boundary conditions in IGW-NET.
Calibrate to observed water levels and streamflow.
Document your assumptions and the uncertainty that remains.

The deliverable

This one is a project, not a race — the ‘win’ is a defensible, calibrated model of a real place, shared back to the instructor network as a new seed problem.

Deliverable = a calibrated, documented model of your own local aquifer

Constraints

Must use real, citable public data
Regional level of abstraction — don't over-model
Calibration targets stated up front

Deliverable

A runnable IGW-NET model of your aquifer
A short report: conceptual model, calibration, uncertainty
Optional: publish it as a seed problem for others

Make it yours — for instructors

Every number here is a starting point. Change the site, the budget, the deadline, or the scoring rule to fit your course — then publish your version to the instructor network as a new seed problem for others to adopt and adapt.

Before you start

New to this? Watch the Regional Vertical Circulation concept lesson first.

Launch IGW-NET — start the challenge →Watch the concept lesson