diff --git a/doc/ReleaseNotes/develop.tex b/doc/ReleaseNotes/develop.tex
index 141f0f283cb..4e5faf20e1a 100644
--- a/doc/ReleaseNotes/develop.tex
+++ b/doc/ReleaseNotes/develop.tex
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 		\item When using SFT in a model where some of the stream reaches are not connected to an active GWF cell (the cellid parameter is set equal to either 0 or NONE) memory access violations were occurring.  The program was fixed by setting the correct number of reaches connected to GWF cells.  The program was tested using a new example with a DISU grid type and multiple GWF cells deactivated (idomain equals 0) that host SFR reaches.
 		\item Support for temperature observations was missing in the Observation (OBS) utility for a GWE model and has been added.
 		\item UZF was not writing a message to the GWF listing file when it had finished reading the PACKAGEDATA block.  An appropriate message is now written to the GWF listing file.
+		\item Error checking was added to the EST package to ensure that the inputs HEAT\_CAPACITY\_WATER and DENSITY\_WATER are not 0.0.  Values of 0.0 for either parameter result in a divide by zero error.
 
 	%	\item xxx
 	\end{itemize}
diff --git a/src/Model/GroundWaterEnergy/gwe-est.f90 b/src/Model/GroundWaterEnergy/gwe-est.f90
index 3d17c299034..baba67e537d 100644
--- a/src/Model/GroundWaterEnergy/gwe-est.f90
+++ b/src/Model/GroundWaterEnergy/gwe-est.f90
@@ -680,14 +680,30 @@ subroutine read_options(this)
           write (this%iout, fmtidcy2)
         case ('HEAT_CAPACITY_WATER')
           this%cpw = this%parser%GetDouble()
-          write (this%iout, '(4x,a,1pg15.6)') &
-            'Heat capacity of the water has been set to: ', &
-            this%cpw
+          if (this%cpw <= 0.0) then
+            write (errmsg, '(a)') 'SPECIFIED VALUE FOR THE HEAT CAPACITY OF &
+              &WATER MUST BE GREATER THAN 0.0 OR A DIVIDE BY ZERO ERROR &
+              &WILL OCCUR.'
+            call store_error(errmsg)
+            call this%parser%StoreErrorUnit()
+          else
+            write (this%iout, '(4x,a,1pg15.6)') &
+              'Heat capacity of the water has been set to: ', &
+              this%cpw
+          end if
         case ('DENSITY_WATER')
           this%rhow = this%parser%GetDouble()
-          write (this%iout, '(4x,a,1pg15.6)') &
-            'Density of the water has been set to: ', &
-            this%rhow
+          if (this%rhow <= 0.0) then
+            write (errmsg, '(a)') 'SPECIFIED VALUE FOR THE DENSITY OF &
+              &WATER MUST BE GREATER THAN 0.0 OR A DIVIDE BY ZERO ERROR &
+              &WILL OCCUR.'
+            call store_error(errmsg)
+            call this%parser%StoreErrorUnit()
+          else
+            write (this%iout, '(4x,a,1pg15.6)') &
+              'Density of the water has been set to: ', &
+              this%rhow
+          end if
         case ('LATENT_HEAT_VAPORIZATION')
           this%latheatvap = this%parser%GetDouble()
           write (this%iout, '(4x,a,1pg15.6)') &