The Colorado River and its tributaries supply water to more than 35 million people in the United States and 3 million people in Mexico (Bureau of Reclamation, 2011), irrigating more than 4.5 million acres of farmland, and generating about 12 billion kilowatt hours of hydroelectric power annually (Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum, 2011). Planning for the sustainable management of the Colorado River in future climates requires an understanding of the Lower Colorado River Basin groundwater system. This data release contains summarized output from Soil-Water Balance groundwater infiltration model simulations for the Lower Colorado River Basin. Model output available in this release includes groundwater infiltration, potential evapotranspiration (PET), actual evapotranspiration (AET), precipitation, and temperature.

The Colorado River and its tributaries supply water to more than 35 million people in the United States and 3 million people in Mexico (Bureau of Reclamation, 2011), irrigating more than 4.5 million acres of farmland, and generating about 12 billion kilowatt hours of hydroelectric power annually (Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum, 2011). Planning for the sustainable management of the Colorado River in future climates requires an understanding of the Lower Colorado River Basin groundwater system. This data release contains summarized output from Soil-Water Balance groundwater infiltration model simulations for the Lower Colorado River Basin. Model output available in this release includes groundwater infiltration, potential evapotranspiration (PET), actual evapotranspiration (AET), precipitation, and temperature.

The Colorado River and its tributaries supply water to more than 35 million people in the United States and 3 million people in Mexico (Bureau of Reclamation, 2011), irrigating more than 4.5 million acres of farmland, and generating about 12 billion kilowatt hours of hydroelectric power annually (Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum, 2011). Planning for the sustainable management of the Colorado River in future climates requires an understanding of the Lower Colorado River Basin groundwater system. This data release contains summarized output from Soil-Water Balance groundwater infiltration model simulations for the Lower Colorado River Basin. Model output available in this release includes groundwater infiltration, potential evapotranspiration (PET), actual evapotranspiration (AET), precipitation, and temperature.

The Colorado River and its tributaries supply water to more than 35 million people in the United States and 3 million people in Mexico, irrigating more than 4.5 million acres of farmland, and generating about 12 billion kilowatt hours of hydroelectric power annually. Planning for the sustainable management of the Colorado River in future climates requires an understanding of the Lower Colorado River Basin groundwater system. This data release contains summarized output from Soil-Water Balance groundwater infiltration model simulations for the Lower Colorado River Basin. Model output available in this release includes groundwater infiltration, potential evapotranspiration (PET), actual evapotranspiration (AET), precipitation, and temperature.

The Colorado River and its tributaries supply water to more than 35 million people in the United States and 3 million people in Mexico, irrigating more than 4.5 million acres of farmland, and generating about 12 billion kilowatt hours of hydroelectric power annually. Planning for the sustainable management of the Colorado River in future climates requires an understanding of the Lower Colorado River Basin groundwater system. This data release contains summarized output from Soil-Water Balance groundwater infiltration model simulations for the Lower Colorado River Basin. Model output available in this release includes groundwater infiltration, potential evapotranspiration (PET), actual evapotranspiration (AET), precipitation, and temperature.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Air Force Civil Engineering Center, created a numerical groundwater-flow model for the Fountain Creek alluvial aquifer using the finite-difference MODFLOW code with the Newton formulation solver. This numerical groundwater-flow model simulates water-budget components, groundwater-flow directions, and groundwater-flow paths of the Fountain Creek alluvial aquifer. The numerical model was spatially discretized into a single layer with 291 rows and 254 columns of 200 by 200 feet size, and a total of 17,610 active cell. The numerical model was temporally discretized into 1 initial steady-state stress period representing the average conditions of the 240 monthly transient stress periods from 2000 to 2019. This USGS data release includes all the necessary files to simulate the Fountain Creek alluvial aquifer and potential flow paths within it as described in the associated USGS Scientific Investigations Report (https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20235119).

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Air Force Civil Engineering Center, created a numerical groundwater-flow model for the Fountain Creek alluvial aquifer using the finite-difference MODFLOW code with the Newton formulation solver. This numerical groundwater-flow model simulates water-budget components, groundwater-flow directions, and groundwater-flow paths of the Fountain Creek alluvial aquifer. The numerical model was spatially discretized into a single layer with 291 rows and 254 columns of 200 by 200 feet size, and a total of 17,610 active cell. The numerical model was temporally discretized into 1 initial steady-state stress period representing the average conditions of the 240 monthly transient stress periods from 2000 to 2019. This USGS data release includes all the necessary files to simulate the Fountain Creek alluvial aquifer and potential flow paths within it as described in the associated USGS Scientific Investigations Report (https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20235119).

The Colorado River and its tributaries supply water to more than 35 million people in the United States and 3 million people in Mexico, irrigating more than 4.5 million acres of farmland, and generating about 12 billion kilowatt hours of hydroelectric power annually. Planning for the sustainable management of the Colorado River in future climates requires an understanding of the Upper Colorado River Basin groundwater system. The Upper Colorado River Basin, encompassing more than 110,000 square miles (mi2), contains the headwaters of the Colorado River and is an important source of snowmelt runoff to the River. Groundwater discharge also is an important source of water in the River and its tributaries, with estimates ranging from 21 to 58 percent of streamflow in the upper basin. A study by Castle and others (2014) using remotely sensed gravity observations from the NASA Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission found that UCRB groundwater was depleted by more than 17 million acre-feet (ft) from December 2004 to November 2013. Understanding groundwater-budget components, including groundwater recharge, is important to sustainably manage both groundwater and surface-water supplies in the Colorado River Basin.

The Colorado River and its tributaries supply water to more than 35 million people in the United States and 3 million people in Mexico, irrigating more than 4.5 million acres of farmland, and generating about 12 billion kilowatt hours of hydroelectric power annually. Planning for the sustainable management of the Colorado River in future climates requires an understanding of the Upper Colorado River Basin groundwater system. The Upper Colorado River Basin, encompassing more than 110,000 square miles (mi2), contains the headwaters of the Colorado River and is an important source of snowmelt runoff to the River. Groundwater discharge also is an important source of water in the River and its tributaries, with estimates ranging from 21 to 58 percent of streamflow in the upper basin. A study by Castle and others (2014) using remotely sensed gravity observations from the NASA Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission found that UCRB groundwater was depleted by more than 17 million acre-feet (ft) from December 2004 to November 2013. Understanding groundwater-budget components, including groundwater recharge, is important to sustainably manage both groundwater and surface-water supplies in the Colorado River Basin.

This USGS Data Release represents Soil-Water Balance (SWB) groundwater infiltration modeling results for the Lower Colorado River Basin (LCRB). The data release was produced in compliance with 'open data' requirements as a way to make the scientific data associated with USGS research efforts and publications available to the public. There are 3 separate groups of datasets associated with this Data Release: 1. SWB model results from simulations run using projected climate data, summarized by month from 1950 through 2099, for the LCRB within the United States 2. SWB model results from simulations run using projected climate data, summarized by month from 1950 through 2099, for the Grand Canyon region 3. SWB model results from simulations run using projected climate data, summarized by month from 1950 through 2099, for the alluvial basins of Arizona.