Groundwater Tools

The Nonpoint Source Assessment Toolbox (NPSAT) is a groundwater modeling framework designed to evaluate the fate and transport of nonpoint source (NPS) contaminants such as nitrate and salts leaching to groundwater from agricultural, urban, and natural land uses. Its primary application is to assess groundwater quality in irrigation, public, and domestic supply wells.

The NPSAT framework – in contrast to other groundwater flow and transport models -  is designed specifically (a) for high-resolution nonpoint source contaminant transport across entire groundwater (sub)basins and (b) to facilitate “on-the-fly” evaluation of dozens, hundreds, or thousands of different user-designed nonpoint source contaminant leaching future scenarios. These scenarios represent user-selected application of alternative source management practices associated with user-selected specific land uses and/or crops.

Scientists and engineers in academia, consulting, and in agencies use a wide range of groundwater modeling software to simulate, understand, and predict the behavior of groundwater and of contaminants traveling in groundwater.  Much of our research, outreach, and Cooperative Extension work at UC Davis is focused on the nexus between groundwater and agriculture - both, with respect to water quality, to water supply, and to groundwater-dependent ecosystems.  We develop and use a multitude of computational tools and often detailed, real world monitoring and reconnaissance data. Our tools build on sophisticated open-source software and we take pride in being transparent and "open" with respect to our own software and the data we use.

Our goal is to research, learn, and inform about the groundwater-agriculture nexus. As part of or mission, we here provide our data, software, as well as our intuitive online learning tools to be empoyed by other scientists and engineers, by  water managers, by stakeholders at the agriculture-groundwater nexus, and by the interested public.