ET–The key to balancing the water budget in the Southwest

Abstract

Throughout the Southwest, state and federal water-resource managers are becoming increasingly concerned about the impacts of future groundwater development on the region’s limited water resources, environmentally sensitive ecosystems, and rural lifestyle. To address their concerns, scientists and engineers are deploying physically based mathematical models to assess and predict the potential effects of increased groundwater pumping. The accuracy of these predictions is directly related to how well water budgets are quantified and balanced at basin and regional scales.