Groundwater & Aquifer Simulator
Watch the water table rise and fall with rainfall and pumping, place a well, and see a contamination plume spread toward it through a permeable aquifer.
How to use: adjust rainfall, pumping, soil permeability and aquifer thickness, and click anywhere in the ground to move the well. Add a contamination source to see how pumping draws a plume toward the well, then try the Challenge tab.
Challenge 1: sustainable yield
Set pumping to at least 50 while keeping the water table at 40% full or higher — that means recharge is keeping pace with withdrawal.
Challenge 2: protect the well
Add a contamination source, then tune pumping and permeability so the contaminant reaching the well stays below 20%.
About the Groundwater & Aquifer Simulator
Free groundwater & aquifer simulator. Watch the water table rise and fall with rainfall and pumping, place a well, and see a contamination plume spread toward it through a permeable aquifer. Drag, change the sliders and see the result live. No sign-up, works on phone and computer. Built for geology, the groundwater & aquifer simulator runs instantly in your browser: change a setting or drag an object and the result updates at once, so you learn by trying things out rather than only reading about them.
Watch the water table rise and fall with rainfall and pumping, place a well, and see a contamination plume spread toward it through a permeable aquifer. Use it to explore geology ideas at your own pace, then check what you found against the key ideas further down this page.
How to use the Groundwater & Aquifer Simulator
- Use the controls to change Rainfall (recharge), Pumping rate, Soil permeability, Aquifer thickness. The simulation reacts instantly.
- Press "Add contamination source", "Remove contamination", "Reset aquifer", "Reset to defaults" to start, reset or change what is happening.
- Where you see a glowing handle, object, weight or atom, drag it with your mouse or finger. Everything responds in real time.
- Watch the readouts and graphs update as you experiment, and compare what you see with the key ideas below.
Things to try
- Add a contamination source and increase pumping to see the plume reach the well faster.
- Raise permeability and compare how fast the plume spreads.
- Balance rainfall and pumping to keep the water table steady.
- Move the well closer to the contamination source and see the effect.
Key ideas you can learn
- The water table rises with recharge (rainfall soaking in) and falls with pumping.
- Higher soil permeability lets water (and contaminants) move faster underground.
- Pumping creates a cone of depression that can pull a contaminant plume toward a well.
- Aquifer thickness affects how much water can be stored and withdrawn.
Where this is used in the real world
Hydrogeologists model exactly this recharge-pumping-contamination balance to protect municipal wells from pollution and to avoid over-pumping aquifers dry.
Who is this simulation for?
Students, teachers and curious learners of all ages.
For teachers: project it on the board, let students predict what will happen, then run it together. For students: change one thing at a time and write down what changes.
Frequently asked questions
Why does pumping pull contamination toward a well?
Pumping lowers the water table locally, creating a pressure gradient (cone of depression) that draws surrounding groundwater, and anything dissolved in it, toward the well.
What makes an aquifer good for water supply?
High permeability and good thickness let water flow to a well quickly and in large volume.
Is the Groundwater & Aquifer Simulator free to use?
Yes. It is completely free, with no signup, no download and no ads inside the simulation. It runs in your web browser.
Does the Groundwater & Aquifer Simulator work on a phone or tablet?
Yes. It uses touch as well as the mouse, so you can drag objects with your finger. A larger screen makes the controls easier to see.