An integrated GIS-based tool for aquifer test analysis

The quantification of the hydraulic parameters is important to support decision making in environmental impact assessment, water resources evaluation or groundwater contamination remediation, among others. These kind of parameters derived from aquifer tests usually encompasses a vast amount of data (spatial and non-spatial) for management and analysis. To achieve this in a clear and understandable manner, the GIS environment is a useful instrument. Development of innovative software to analyze pumping tests in a GIS platform environment to support the hydraulic parameterization of groundwater flow and transport models is presented in this paper. This new platform provides three interconnected modules to improve (a) pumping test interpretation code through a user-friendly interface, (b) pumping test data visualization supported by a set of tools that perform spatiotemporal queries in a GIS environment and (c) the storage and management of hydrogeological information. Additionally, within the GIS platform, it is possible to process the hydraulic parameters obtained from the pumping test and to create spatial distribution maps, perform geostatistical analysis and export the information to an external software platform. Finally, a real-world application in the area of Barcelona (Spain) has shown the usefulness of the tools developed in support of hydrogeological analysis.