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Quantifying the United States Groundwater Reserves: Current Conditions, Trends, and Sustainability

Presenter: Kevin Dennehy, U.S. Geological Survey
Kevin Dennehy is the Coordinator for the U.S. Geological Survey's Groundwater Resources Program in Reston, Virginia. The Groundwater Resources Program focuses on national and regional interests in groundwater by conducting multidisciplinary large-scale studies of groundwater availability; developing new field techniques, geophysical methods, and computer models to monitor and analyze groundwater systems; and, monitors changes in groundwater conditions resulting from climate variability and withdrawals. He has more than 30 years experience in the study and analysis of all aspects of hydrology and is the author or co-author of more than 50 publications on topics like surface water and groundwater interactions, unsaturated zone processes, surface water and groundwater simulation, surface water and groundwater quality sampling and analysis, and aquifer test analysis. Kevin received undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of New Hampshire and the University of South Carolina.

Overview: Groundwater is one of the most important natural resources in the United States, and is essential to our health and economic well being. Increasing competition for groundwater to meet the needs of a growing population, agriculture, industry, and the environment all weigh on the sustainability of these reserves. Amplifying these demands are the effects of currently unforeseen factors like climate variability and change. Therefore, it is critical to assess and understand the past, present, and future conditions of our Nation's groundwater reserves. To that end, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Groundwater Resources Program is conducting large-scale multidisciplinary regional studies of groundwater availability. Regional groundwater availability studies quantify current groundwater reserves, evaluate how those reserves have changed through time, and provide tools that decision makers can use to forecast system responses to future development and climate variability and change. The results of these individual groundwater availability studies will be used collectively as building blocks towards a national assessment of groundwater availability.

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Length: 1 hour

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