The reliability analysis method is integrated with MODFLOW to study the impact of recharge on the groundwater flow system at a study area in New Jersey. The performance function is formulated in terms of head or flow rate at a pumping well, while the recharge sensitivity vector is computed efficiently by implementing the adjoint method in MODFLOW. The developed methodology not only quantifies the reliability of head at the well in terms of uncertainties in the recharge boundary condition, but it also delineates areas of recharge that have the highest impact on the head and flow rate at the well. The results clearly identify the most important land use areas that should be protected in order to maintain the head and hence production at the pumping well. These areas extend far beyond the steady state well capture zone used for land use planning and management within traditional wellhead protection programs.