Name
Modeling Groundwater-Surface Water Interactions to Inform Sustainable Irrigation Strategies
Date & Time
Wednesday, May 27, 2026, 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM
Description
Irrigated agriculture in many regions relies on both groundwater and surface water; however, irrigation decisions are often made without explicitly accounting for groundwater-surface water (GW-SW) interactions. In the Saskatchewan River Basin (SRB) of southern Alberta, irrigation systems often combine surface water diversions with groundwater pumping from shallow, confined buried valley aquifers, creating hydrologic feedbacks that can affect streamflow depletion and aquifer sustainability. This study develops a coupled hydro-economic modeling framework to evaluate farm-level irrigation decisions under GW-SW connectivity. The hydrologic component simulates aquifer dynamics and streamflow response to groundwater pumping, while the economic component links water availability to crop production and expected profits. A multi-objective optimization approach is applied to quantify trade-offs among agricultural profitability, water use, and streamflow depletion under alternative irrigation strategies. Results show that accounting for GW-SW interactions significantly alters optimal irrigation decisions and reveal trade-offs that are overlooked when the two sources are managed independently. The analysis demonstrates how well location, aquifer properties, and river connectivity jointly influence both economic outcomes and hydrologic impacts. Overall, this work provides a decision-support tool for evaluating sustainable irrigation strategies in coupled groundwater-surface water systems.
Location Name
DSU 303
Full Address
Dalhousie University
Halifax NS
Canada
Session Type
Oral Presentation
Abstract ID
148
Speaker Organization
University of Waterloo
Session Name
H7 (3 of 4)
Co-authors
Andrea Brookfield, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo; Margaret Insley, Department of Economics, University of Waterloo; David Rudolph, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo
Presenting Author
Boyao Tian, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo