The recession flow analysis of Brutsaert and Nieber <1977> extended by Troch et al. <1993> to estimate aquifer parameters (saturated hydraulic conductivity and mean aquifer depth) is examined by means of a numerical model. It is found to be reliable for the estimation of the catchment-scale saturated hydraulic conductivity and mean aquifer depth. Increasing the complexity of the synthetic watershed had no impact on the accuracy of the estimated parameters. ¿ 1998 American Geophysical Union