SWATGenXAll water lessonsTap the scene to drop rain where you like · Space releases a dropModel split vs. your 0 released drops (0 finished). Of streamflow, 94% is baseflow here.
The Water Journey
Follow a raindrop from the sky to the estuary — above and below ground. Every branch the drop takes uses the real annual water balance of a SWAT+ model built by this platform. Release twenty drops and the tally converges on the basin’s water balance.
Shell Creek — Florida sand: almost everything soaks in
Silver River — Karst springs country: rain becomes groundwater
Lansing Ditch — Urban pavement: half the rain runs straight off
Flat, sandy citrus-and-range country in the Peace River basin. The curve number is so low that almost no rain runs off directly — the stream is fed underground.
Shell Creek, Peace River basin, Florida
1,440 mm/yr of rain · basin-average CN 43.3 · water table ~10.5 m down. Release a drop to begin the journey.
Shell Creek, Peace River basin, Florida
1,440 mm/yr of rain · basin-average CN 43.3 · water table ~10.5 m down. Release a drop to begin the journey.
Where the water goes
Back to the sky
55%
To the stream & estuary
43%
Deep aquifer
2%
How long each leg takes
Surface runoff to the channelhours – days (typical)
Water in the root zoneweeks – months (typical)
Vadose zone to the water tablemonths – years (typical)
Aquifer to the stream~5.4 yr mean (model storage ÷ outflow)
River to the estuarydays – weeks (typical)
Real numbers: partitions are the annual-average water balance of the SWATGenX-built SWAT+ model for USGS 02297600 (Shell Creek at Circle K Groves near Ft. Ogden, FL, 198 km²), simulated 2019–2024, 3-yr warm-up (averages 2022–2024); SWAT+ rev. 61 outputs
basin_wb_aa + basin_aqu_aa, initial platform parameterization (not hand-calibrated). Precip 1,440 mm → canopy evaporation 63 mm, surface runoff 39 mm, lateral flow 0.4 mm, plant + soil ET 699 mm, percolation 634 mm; aquifer recharge 666 mm → baseflow 578 mm, revap 31 mm, deep seepage 32 mm. Transit times are typical ranges, except the aquifer residence time, which is derived from the model (storage ÷ baseflow). Cross-section is schematic, not to scale.