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Groundwater models are computer models of groundwater flow systems, and are used by hydrologists and hydrogeologists. Groundwater models are used to simulate and predict aquifer conditions. An unambiguous definition of "groundwater model" is difficult to give, but there are many common characteristics. A groundwater model may be a scale model or an electric model of a groundwater situation or aquifer. Groundwater models are used to represent the natural groundwater flow in the environment. Some groundwater models include (chemical) quality aspects of the groundwater. Such groundwater models try to predict the fate and movement of the chemical in natural, urban or hypothetical scenario. Groundwater models may be used to predict the effects of hydrological changes (like groundwater pumping or irrigation developments) on the behavior of the aquifer and are often named groundwater simulation models. Groundwater models are used in various water management plans for urban areas. As the computations in mathematical groundwater models are based on groundwater flow equations, which are differential equations that can often be solved only by approximate methods using a numerical analysis, these models are also called mathematical, numerical, or computational groundwater models. The mathematical or the numerical models are usually based on the real physics the groundwater flow follows. These mathematical equations are solved using numerical codes such as MODFLOW, ParFlow, HydroGeoSphere, OpenGeoSys etc. Various types of numerical solutions like the finite difference method and the finite element method are discussed in the article on "Hydrogeology". For the calculations one needs inputs like: hydrological inputs, operational inputs, external conditions: initial and boundary conditions, (hydraulic) parameters. The model may have chemical components like water salinity, soil salinity and other quality indicators of water and soil, for which inputs may also be needed. The primary coupling between groundwater and hydrological inputs is the unsaturated zone or vadose zone.

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Agricultural hydrology is the study of water balance components intervening in agricultural water management, especially in irrigation and drainage. The water balance components can be grouped into components corresponding to zones in a vertical cross-section in the soil forming reservoirs with inflow, outflow and storage of water: the surface reservoir (S) the root zone or unsaturated (vadose zone) (R) with mainly vertical flows the aquifer (Q) with mainly horizontal flows a transition zone (T) in which vertical and horizontal flows are converted The general water balance reads: inflow = outflow + change of storage and it is applicable to each of the reservoirs or a combination thereof.

The law of water balance states that the inflows to any water system or area is equal to its outflows plus change in storage during a time interval. In hydrology, a water balance equation can be used to describe the flow of water in and out of a system. A system can be one of several hydrological or water domains, such as a column of soil, a drainage basin, an irrigation area or a city. The water balance is also referred to as a water budget. Developing water budgets is a fundamental activity in the science of hydrology.

MODFLOW is the U.S. Geological Survey modular finite-difference flow model, which is a computer code that solves the groundwater flow equation. The program is used by hydrogeologists to simulate the flow of groundwater through aquifers. The source code is free public domain software, written primarily in Fortran, and can compile and run on Microsoft Windows or Unix-like operating systems. Since its original development in the early 1980s, the USGS has made six major releases, and is now considered to be the de facto standard code for aquifer simulation.

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