Eric Morway
Science and Products
Science in the Truckee River Basin
The Truckee River flows for 120 miles from the outlet of Lake Tahoe in California, into Nevada, through the city of Reno, until it terminates at Pyramid Lake and is the only source of surface-water outflow from Lake Tahoe. The majority of the streamflow in the Truckee River comes from the Sierra Nevada snowpack. Contributions to the river in Nevada are small due to the Sierra Nevada’s “rain...
Science in the Carson River Basin
The Carson River begins in the Sierra Nevada as the East Fork and West Fork of the Carson River. These two forks come together in the Carson Valley, not far from Carson City, Nev. The river then flows through the Carson River Basin until its terminus at the Carson Sink. The Carson River is a popular recreation spot with rafters, hikers, and fishermen.
Water for the Seasons
Water for the Seasons (WftS) is a four year study funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. WtfS uses the Truckee-Carson River System (TCRS) as a pilot study to learn how to best link science with decision-making in snow-fed arid-land...
Evaluation of Groundwater Flow in the Middle Carson River Basin, Eagle, Dayton, and Churchill Valleys, Nevada
Demand for water resources in the Carson River basin is increasing due to steady population growth and the resulting development and changes in land and water use throughout the middle part of the basin. Agricultural land is being urbanized while land not previously irrigated may be converted for agricultural use.
Use of the MODFLOW 6 water mover package to represent natural and managed hydrologic connections
The latest release of MODFLOW 6, the current core version of the MODFLOW groundwater modeling software, debuted a new package dubbed the “mover” (MVR). Using a generalized approach, MVR facilitates the transfer of water among any arbitrary combination of simulated features (i.e., pumping wells, stream, drains, lakes, etc.) within a MODFLOW 6...
Morway, Eric D.; Langevin, Christian D.; Hughes, Joseph D.
Trends in nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment concentrations and loads in streams draining to Lake Tahoe, California, Nevada, USA
Lake Tahoe, a large freshwater lake of the eastern Sierra Nevada in California and Nevada, has 63 tributaries that are sources of nutrients and sediment to the lake. The Tahoe watershed is relatively small, and the surface area of the lake occupies about 38% of the watershed area (1313 km2). Only about 6% of the watershed is urbanized or...
Domagalski, Joseph L.; Morway, Eric D.; Alvarez, Nancy L.; Hutchins, Juliet; Rosen, Michael R.; Coats, Robert Managed aquifer recharge in snow-fed river basins: What, why and how?
What does climate change mean for snow-fed river basins?Climate change poses unique challenges in snow-fed river basins across the western United States because the majority of water supply originates as snow (Dettinger, Udall, & Georgakakos, 2015). In the Sierra Nevada, recent observations include changes in snow accumulation and snowmelt,...
Sterle, Kelley; Kitlasten, Wesley; Morway, Eric D.; Niswonger, Richard G.; Singletary, Loretta Simulating selenium and nitrogen fate and transport in coupled stream-aquifer systems of irrigated regions
Elevated levels of selenium (Se) in aqueous environments can harm aquatic life and endanger livestock and human health. Although Se occurs naturally in the rocks and soils of many alluvial aquifers, mining and agricultural activities can increase its rate of mobilization and transport to surface waters. Attention is given here to regions where...
Shultz, Christopher D.; Bailey, Ryan T. ; Gates, Timothy K.; Heesemann, Brent E.; Morway, Eric D. Evaluation of bias associated with capture maps derived from nonlinear groundwater flow models
The impact of groundwater withdrawal on surface water is a concern of water users and water managers, particularly in the arid western United States. Capture maps are useful tools to spatially assess the impact of groundwater pumping on water sources (e.g., streamflow depletion) and are being used more frequently for conjunctive management of...
Nadler, Cara; Allander, Kip K.; Pohll, Greg; Morway, Eric D.; Naranjo, Ramon C.; Huntington, Justin Long-term trends of surface-water mercury and methylmercury concentrations downstream of historic mining within the Carson River watershed
The Carson River is a vital water resource for local municipalities and migratory birds travelling the Pacific Flyway. Historic mining practices that used mercury (Hg) to extract gold from Comstock Lode ore has left much of the river system heavily contaminated with Hg, a practice that continues in many parts of the world today. Between 1998 and...
Morway, Eric D.; Thodal, Carl E.; Marvin-DiPasquale, Mark C. Managed aquifer recharge through off-season irrigation in agricultural regions
Options for increasing reservoir storage in developed regions are limited and prohibitively expensive. Projected increases in demand call for new long-term water storage to help sustain agriculture, municipalities, industry, and ecological services. Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is becoming an integral component of water resources around the...
Niswonger, Richard G.; Morway, Eric D.; Triana, Enrique; Huntington, Justin L.
MT3D-USGS version 1: A U.S. Geological Survey release of MT3DMS updated with new and expanded transport capabilities for use with MODFLOW
MT3D-USGS, a U.S. Geological Survey updated release of the groundwater solute transport code MT3DMS, includes new transport modeling capabilities to accommodate flow terms calculated by MODFLOW packages that were previously unsupported by MT3DMS and to provide greater flexibility in the simulation of solute transport and reactive solute transport...
Bedekar, Vivek; Morway, Eric D.; Langevin, Christian D.; Tonkin, Matthew J. Toward improved simulation of river operations through integration with a hydrologic model
Advanced modeling tools are needed for informed water resources planning and management. Two classes of modeling tools are often used to this end–(1) distributed-parameter hydrologic models for quantifying supply and (2) river-operation models for sorting out demands under rule-based systems such as the prior-appropriation doctrine. Within...
Morway, Eric D.; Niswonger, Richard G.; Triana, Enrique PHT3D-UZF: A reactive transport model for variably-saturated porous media
A modified version of the MODFLOW/MT3DMS-based reactive transport model PHT3D was developed to extend current reactive transport capabilities to the variably-saturated component of the subsurface system and incorporate diffusive reactive transport of gaseous species. Referred to as PHT3D-UZF, this code incorporates flux terms calculated by MODFLOW...
Wu, Ming Zhi; Post, Vincent E. A.; Salmon, S. Ursula; Morway, Eric D.; Prommer, H. Appraising options to reduce shallow groundwater tables and enhance flow conditions over regional scales in an irrigated alluvial aquifer system
Some of the world’s key agricultural production systems face big challenges to both water quantity and quality due to shallow groundwater that results from long-term intensive irrigation, namely waterlogging and salinity, water losses, and environmental problems. This paper focuses on water quantity issues, presenting finite-difference groundwater...
Morway, Eric D.; Gates, Timothy K.; Niswonger, Richard G. Modeling variably saturated multispecies reactive groundwater solute transport with MODFLOW-UZF and RT3D
A numerical model was developed that is capable of simulating multispecies reactive solute transport in variably saturated porous media. This model consists of a modified version of the reactive transport model RT3D (Reactive Transport in 3 Dimensions) that is linked to the Unsaturated-Zone Flow (UZF1) package and MODFLOW. Referred to as UZF-RT3D...
Bailey, Ryan T.; Morway, Eric D.; Niswonger, Richard G.; Gates, Timothy K.
MT3D-USGS: Groundwater Solute Transport Simulator for MODFLOW
MT3D-USGS is a USGS updated release of the groundwater solute transport code MT3DMS. MT3D-USGS includes new transport modeling capabilities to accommodate flow terms calculated by MODFLOW packages that were previously unsupported by MT3DMS and to provide greater flexibility in the simulation of solute transport and reactive solute transport.