--- title: "Where the Water Goes Next: Modeling Infiltration and Percolation with StormWise™" description: Explore how StormWise models infiltration, percolation links, groundwater mounding, and stormwater system recovery for more informed hydrologic and hydraulic (H&H) analysis. image: https://streamline.tech/hubfs/1200x630_SL_WSL_Where%20the%20Water%20Goes%20Next.jpg --- [![Streamline Technologies](https://streamline.tech/hs-fs/hubfs/205_Streamline%20Horz%20K.png?width=205&height=35&name=205_Streamline%20Horz%20K.png)](https://streamline.tech) - Solutions - [For Government & Municipalities](https://streamline.tech/government) - [For Engineering Firms](https://streamline.tech/engineering) - Products - [StormWise™](https://streamline.tech/stormwise) - [FloodWise™](https://streamline.tech/floodwise) - [Support](https://streamline.tech/support) - [Support Ticket](https://streamline.tech/support-ticket) - [About Us](https://streamline.tech/about) - [Career Opportunities](https://streamline-tech.icims.com/jobs/intro) - [Resources](https://streamline.tech/resources) - [Upcoming Events](https://streamline.tech/upcoming-events) [Attend a Workshop](https://streamline.tech/available-workshops) [Contact Us](https://streamline.tech/contact-us) - Solutions - [For Government & Municipalities](https://streamline.tech/government) - [For Engineering Firms](https://streamline.tech/engineering) - Products - [StormWise™](https://streamline.tech/stormwise) - [FloodWise™](https://streamline.tech/floodwise) - [Support](https://streamline.tech/support) - [Support Ticket](https://streamline.tech/support-ticket) - [About Us](https://streamline.tech/about) - [Career Opportunities](https://streamline-tech.icims.com/jobs/intro) - [Resources](https://streamline.tech/resources) - [Upcoming Events](https://streamline.tech/upcoming-events) [Attend a Workshop](https://streamline.tech/available-workshops) [Contact Us](https://streamline.tech/contact-us) [![](https://streamline.tech/hubfs/Icons/Icon-Oct-24-2023-10-06-05-3678-PM.svg) Back to all Resources](https://streamline.tech/resources) [Blogs](https://streamline.tech/resources/topic/blogs) . September 29, 2026 # Where the Water Goes Next: Modeling Infiltration and Percolation with StormWise™ ![](https://streamline.tech/hubfs/1200x630_SL_WSL_Where%20the%20Water%20Goes%20Next.jpg) #### *Explore how StormWiseTM models infiltration, percolation links, groundwater mounding, and stormwater system recovery for more informed hydrologic and hydraulic (H&H) analysis.*   When rain reaches the ground, the story of stormwater has only just begun. Some water becomes runoff, moving across streets, landscapes, and drainage systems. Some collect in ponds and other stormwater infrastructure. And some move in a different direction entirely downward, into the soil and eventually through the subsurface environment. For engineers and water resources professionals, understanding that transition matters. How quickly can a retention system recover after a storm? What happens when the groundwater table begins to rise? How does infiltration change as soils become saturated? And when does water stop moving vertically and begin spreading horizontally through the surrounding aquifer? These questions sit at the intersection of surface water and groundwater, and [StormWiseTM](https://streamline.tech/stormwise) provides tools to help model that interaction. Through integrated infiltration capabilities, specialized one-dimensional percolation links, and advanced groundwater modeling, StormWiseTM helps professionals move beyond simply understanding where stormwater collects to evaluate what happens as that water enters and moves throughout the subsurface.   #### Infiltration Is More Than a Loss At its simplest, infiltration is the process by which water at the ground surface enters the soil. Its rate depends on the soil's ability to absorb water; when rainfall exceeds that capacity, the excess can become surface runoff. But in an actual stormwater system, infiltration is not necessarily a static process. Soil conditions can vary spatially. Water tables can rise. Storage within the soil can change. And the movement of water beneath a retention pond or other stormwater facility can shift considerably as conditions evolve. StormWiseTM addresses infiltration across multiple parts of its hydrologic and hydraulic (H&H) modeling framework. During 2D rain-on-grid simulations, precipitation can be applied across a customizable, flexible computational mesh, while spatially varying characteristics such as soil, land use, and compaction can be represented through thematic mapping. StormWiseTM supports established hydrologic approaches, including Green-Ampt and the SCS Curve Number method, to determine how precipitation is divided between infiltration and surface runoff. For localized infrastructure where subsurface movement becomes especially important, StormWiseTM can take the analysis even further.   #### Following Water Below the Surface StormWiseTM percolation links are physically based, one-dimensional hydraulic connections designed to represent subsurface infiltration and groundwater mounding. Consider a dry retention pond after a storm. Initially, as water enters the pond, it can move vertically downward through the unsaturated soil beneath it. But that condition does not necessarily continue indefinitely. As the underlying soil becomes saturated, groundwater can begin to mound beneath the pond. When that mound rises to the pond bottom, the mechanics change. Vertical infiltration effectively stops, and water must begin moving horizontally outward through the surficial aquifer. StormWiseTM percolation links are designed to represent this transition. Using a built-in horizontal-flow algorithm, the model accounts for both vertical and horizontal soil conductivity, allowing the changing behavior of the subsurface system to be represented dynamically rather than approximated through a single static drawdown relationship. That distinction is particularly important in areas with shallow groundwater tables, where assuming that water can simply continue to infiltrate downward may not adequately represent actual system behavior.   #### Soil and Groundwater Conditions A percolation link typically connects a Storage Node, representing infrastructure such as a pond or underground stormwater chamber, to a Time-Stage Node representing the surrounding groundwater boundary condition. From there, the model can incorporate the physical characteristics controlling subsurface movement, including aquifer base and water-table elevations, horizontal and vertical hydraulic conductivity, fillable porosity, unsaturated layer thickness, and perimeter rings used to calculate the lateral extent of groundwater mounding. Together, these inputs allow the system to answer a practical engineering question: After stormwater enters storage, how, and how quickly, can that water move into the surrounding subsurface environment? That answer can have significant implications for stormwater design.   #### Understanding the Recovery Between Storms One of the most important applications of percolation modeling is drawdown analysis. Stormwater facilities may be required to recover their available treatment or storage volume within a defined period. StormWiseTM percolation links can simulate this recovery period by evaluating how water moves from the storage system into the soil after rainfall ends. Modelers can also evaluate different starting conditions. A scenario may begin with a dry soil column, or the unsaturated layer thickness can be adjusted to represent a saturated condition, in which drawdown depends immediately on horizontal groundwater movement. Percolation links can also be paired with French drain links to evaluate underground exfiltration systems. The result is a more connected view of storage recovery, one that considers not simply the volume of water within a facility, but the subsurface conditions governing where that water can go next.   #### Connecting Surface Water and Groundwater Percolation links are part of a broader StormWiseTM modeling environment focused on interactions between surface water and groundwater. StormWiseTM Pro supports 1D H&H modeling, including quasi-2D groundwater analysis using percolation links. StormWiseTM Expert extends those capabilities with integrated 2D overland and groundwater modeling. Its 2D groundwater engine uses the finite element method to compute groundwater heads, horizontal flow, seepage, and leakage while supporting interaction with surface-water systems. This becomes especially valuable when groundwater itself begins influencing surface conditions. As infiltrated water raises the groundwater table, available subsurface storage can decrease. Under fully coupled groundwater conditions, StormWiseTM can represent groundwater mounding and the resulting limitations on continued surface infiltration, helping modelers examine the two-way relationship between the systems rather than treating each independently. It’s an approach aligned with an essential reality of water resources engineering: surface water and groundwater are part of the same connected system.   #### Looking Beneath the Next Storm As communities contend with shifting development patterns, increasingly complex drainage systems, resilience objectives, and stringent stormwater requirements, understanding what happens beneath the ground will remain an important part of understanding what happens above it. Retention ponds, infiltration systems, permeable surfaces, underground storage, and other stormwater practices depend, in some way, on water's ability to enter, move through, and interact with the subsurface environment. StormWiseTM provides engineering professionals with a platform to examine those processes within the same broader H&H modeling environment used to evaluate runoff, drainage networks, surface-water movement, groundwater, and flood risk. Because effective stormwater modeling should not end when water reaches the soil… With StormWiseTM, the model can continue to track where the water goes next!   *[Contact our team](https://streamline.tech/contact-us) to learn how StormWiseTM can help you model infiltration, groundwater interactions, and stormwater system performance with greater confidence. * TAGS [Blogs](https://streamline.tech/resources/topic/blogs) SHARE - [![](https://streamline.tech/hubfs/Icons/Icon-Oct-24-2023-10-25-00-0628-PM.svg)](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://streamline.tech/resources/where-the-water-goes-next) - [![](https://streamline.tech/hubfs/Icons/Icon-Oct-24-2023-10-25-21-0611-PM.svg)](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=https://streamline.tech/resources/where-the-water-goes-next&url=https://streamline.tech/resources/where-the-water-goes-next) - [![](https://streamline.tech/hubfs/Icons/Icon-Oct-24-2023-10-25-35-7994-PM.svg)](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://streamline.tech/resources/where-the-water-goes-next) ## Reduce Vulnerability and Increase Resiliency See how Streamline Technologies can help your organization with resiliency, sustainability, and complex stormwater management and water resource problems. 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