Globally Gridded Groundwater Extraction Volumes and Costs under Six Depletion and Ponded Depth Targets

This repository contains simulated outputs from superwell – a hydro-economic tool for long-term assessment of groundwater cost and supply – providing globally gridded groundwater extractable volumes and associated unit costs ($/km³) for accessible groundwater production, based on a variety of user-defined depletion and ponded depth scenarios. Key model documentation: 

Niazi, H., Ferencz, S. B., Graham, N. T., Yoon, J., Wild, T. B., Hejazi, M., Watson, D. J., & Vernon, C. R. (2025). Long-term hydro-economic analysis tool for evaluating global groundwater cost and supply: Superwell v1.1. Geoscientific Model Development, 18(5), 1737-1767. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1737-2025
Find the source code of the superwell model on GitHub: https://github.com/JGCRI/superwell 
Repository Overview

Main output: superwell_outputs.7z contains 6 files (4.5 GB) named as superwell_py_deep_all_0.*PD_0.*DL.csv. These files present superwell outputs of global groundwater extraction volumes and cost estimates on a 0.5° scale for six scenarios with different Ponded Depth (PD; 0.3 and 0.6 m) and Depletion Limit (DL; 5%, 25%, and 40% of available volume) targets over the entire pumping lifetime of a grid cell
superwell_py_deep_all_0.3PD_0.25DL_sample_100.csv contains superwell outputs for 100 data points sampled to match the global inputs' distribution
superwell_py_deep_all_0.3PD_0.25DL_Grid_72548.csv contains superwell output for a single grid cell
concept_v5.png provides an overview of the superwell workflow
Outputs Description

year_number: year of pumping
depletion_limit: set depletion limit (DL) as a volume fraction of total available groundwater
Mappings: continent, country, gcam_basin_id, Basin_long_name, grid_id: geographic identifiers and basin information
Inputs: grid_area (km²): area of the grid cell
whyclass: hydrogeological classification of the aquifer
permeability (m/day), porosity (%), total_thickness (m), depth_to_water (m): aquifer properties.

The geo-processed input data has been published separately: https://doi.org/10.57931/2307831
Model outputs: orig_aqfr_sat_thickness (m), aqfr_sat_thickness (m): original and remaining/instantaneous saturated thickness of the aquifer
hydraulic_conductivity (m/day), transmissivity (m²/day): hydraulic properties of the aquifer
radius_of_influence (m), areal_extent (km²): well radius and area of influence from the center of the well
number_of_wells (-): number of wells in a grid cell determined by a ratio of well area and grid area
max_drawdown (m), drawdown (m), drawdown_interference (m): well and aquifer drawdown during extraction
total_head (m): total lift for the groundwater (depth to water plus drawdown)
total_well_length (m): total depth of wells drilled
well_yield (m³/day): pumping rate or well yield
power (kW), energy (kWh): power and energy required for pumping groundwater
Volume Outputs: 
volume_produced_perwell (m³), cumulative_vol_produced_perwell (m³): production volume metrics per well
volume_produced_allwells (m³), cumulative_vol_produced_allwells (m³): aggregate extraction volumes for all wells in a grid cell
available_volume (m³): available groundwater in storage for the grid cell as determined by aquifer properties
depleted_vol_fraction: fraction of total volume pumped over available volumes in a grid cell (same as depletion limit)
Cost Outputs: 
well_installation_cost ($): well installation cost based on the hydrogeological complexity of the aquifer
annual_capital_cost, maintenance_cost, nonenergy_cost ($): nonenergy costs
energy_cost_rate ($/kWh): electricity rate
energy_cost ($): energy cost of pumping groundwater
total_cost_perwell ($), total_cost_allwells ($): total annual energy and non-energy cost for each and all wells in a grid cell a
unit_cost ($/m³), unit_cost_per_km3 ($/km³), unit_cost_per_acreft ($/acre-ft): total cost of pumping a unit of groundwater, indicated for different spatial units
Key Resources 

Model documentation: Niazi, H., Ferencz, S., Graham, N., Yoon, J., Wild, T., Hejazi, M., Watson, D., & Vernon, C. (2024; In-prep). Long-term Hydro-economic Assessment Tool for Evaluating Global Groundwater Cost and Supply: Superwell v1. Geoscientific Model Development.
Input data: Niazi, H., Watson, D., Hejazi, M., Yonkofski, C., Ferencz, S., Vernon, C., Graham, N., Wild, T., & Yoon, J. (2024). Global Geo-processed Data of Aquifer Properties by 0.5° Grid, Country and Water Basins. MSD-LIVE Data repository. https://doi.org/10.57931/2307831
superwell source code: https://github.com/JGCRI/superwell
Cite as
Niazi, H., Ferencz, S., Yoon, J., Graham, N., Wild, T., Hejazi, M., Watson, D., & Vernon, C. (2024). Globally Gridded Groundwater Extraction Volumes and Costs under Six Depletion and Ponded Depth Targets. MSD-LIVE Data repository. https://doi.org/10.57931/2307832 
Contact 
Reach out to Hassan Niazi or Stephen Ferencz or open an issue in the superwell repository for questions or suggestions.