Aquifer

The basin below

Half of the basin you can't see. Groundwater moves in decades, not days — a slow, invisible river under the one we chart. Basin maps it too, because surface and subsurface are one system.

How we model it

wells      water-table depth, thousands of logs
recharge   where rain actually gets in
drawdown   what pumping does to the neighbors
springs    where the aquifer returns to the light

Why it matters

When the stream dries in August, it's usually the aquifer that stopped feeding it. You can't manage one without the other.