It's easy to take water for granted. When it comes to groundwater it's a resource we don't even see. But in a desert state like Arizona whose population has increased by nearly 300% since 1970, and could reach 11.7 million by 2040, managing groundwater is a key issue.
Central Arizona relies on three major sources of water: The Salt and Verde rivers from Eastern Arizona, the Colorado river and local groundwater. A drought on the river watersheds would place more demand for groundwater. Hydro-geological processes and climate changes also have a direct bearing on this third invisible resource.
An aquifer is an underground porous layer of sand and gravel that is filled with moving water. The Arizona legislature passed the Groundwater Management Act in 1980 to regulate pumping of groundwater from the aquifer.
The East Valley water Forum (EVWF), a partnership of tribal, public and private water agencies and interested stakeholders was formed to collectively manage ground water in the cities of the East Valley of Maricopa County. It needed a tool to help synthesize groundwater data to make smart water management decisions, such as pumping and recharge on the groundwater aquifer.
The Decision Theater, in collaboration with the High Performance Computing Initiative, developed a water modeling tool called Nimue, designed to view groundwater data. Nimue is a lightweight application using immersive 3D-graphics that water managers can use on their own computers. It is also used by the EVWF to make 3D presentations to their stakeholders in the Decision Theater.
