WorldWideScience

Sample records for river basins water-data

  1. Klamath River Basin water-quality data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Cassandra D.; Rounds, Stewart A.; Orzol, Leonard L.; Sobieszczyk, Steven

    2018-05-29

    The Klamath River Basin stretches from the mountains and inland basins of south-central Oregon and northern California to the Pacific Ocean, spanning multiple climatic regions and encompassing a variety of ecosystems. Water quantity and water quality are important topics in the basin, because water is a critical resource for farming and municipal use, power generation, and for the support of wildlife, aquatic ecosystems, and endangered species. Upper Klamath Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Oregon (112 square miles) and is known for its seasonal algal blooms. The Klamath River has dams for hydropower and the upper basin requires irrigation water to support agriculture and grazing. Multiple species of endangered fish inhabit the rivers and lakes, and the marshes are key stops on the Pacific flyway for migrating birds. For these and other reasons, the water resources in this basin have been studied and monitored to support their management distribution.

  2. Near real time water resources data for river basin management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paulson, R. W. (Principal Investigator)

    1973-01-01

    The author has identified the following significant results. Twenty Data Collection Platforms (DCP) are being field installed on USGS water resources stations in the Delaware River Basin. DCP's have been successfully installed and are operating well on five stream gaging stations, three observation wells, and one water quality monitor in the basin. DCP's have been installed at nine additional water quality monitors, and work is progressing on interfacing the platforms to the monitors. ERTS-related water resources data from the platforms are being provided in near real time, by the Goddard Space Flight Center to the Pennsylvania district, Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey. On a daily basis, the data are computer processed by the Survey and provided to the Delaware River Basin Commission. Each daily summary contains data that were relayed during 4 or 5 of the 15 orbits made by ERTS-1 during the previous day. Water resources parameters relays by the platforms include dissolved oxygen concentrations, temperature, pH, specific conductance, well level, and stream gage height, which is used to compute stream flow for the daily summary.

  3. Comparison of 2002 Water Year and Historical Water-Quality Data, Upper Gunnison River Basin, Colorado

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spahr, N.E.

    2003-01-01

    Introduction: Population growth and changes in land-use practices have the potential to affect water quality and quantity in the upper Gunnison River basin. In 1995, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with local sponsors, City of Gunnison, Colorado River Water Conservation District, Crested Butte South Metropolitan District, Gunnison County, Mount Crested Butte Water and Sanitation District, National Park Service, Town of Crested Butte, and Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District, established a water-quality monitoring program in the upper Gunnison River basin to characterize current water-quality conditions and to assess the effects of increased urban development and other land-use changes on water quality. The monitoring network has evolved into two groups of stations, stations that are considered as long term and stations that are rotational. The long-term stations are monitored to assist in defining temporal changes in water quality (how conditions have changed over time). The rotational stations are monitored to assist in the spatial definition of water-quality conditions (how conditions differ throughout the basin) and to address local and short term concerns. Another group of stations (rotational group 2) will be chosen and sampled beginning in water year 2004. Annual summaries of the water-quality data from the monitoring network provide a point of reference for discussions regarding water-quality sampling in the upper Gunnison River basin. This summary includes data collected during water year 2002. The introduction provides a map of the sampling locations, definitions of terms, and a one-page summary of selected water-quality conditions at the network stations. The remainder of the summary is organized around the data collected at individual stations. Data collected during water year 2002 are compared to historical data (data collected for this network since 1995), state water-quality standards, and federal water-quality guidelines

  4. Comparison of Water Years 2004-05 and Historical Water-Quality Data, Upper Gunnison River Basin, Colorado

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spahr, Norman E.; Hartle, David M.; Diaz, Paul

    2008-01-01

    Population growth and changes in land use have the potential to affect water quality and quantity in the upper Gunnison River Basin. In 1995, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, City of Gunnison, Colorado River Water Conservation District, Crested Butte South Metropolitan District, Gunnison County, Hinsdale County, Mount Crested Butte Water and Sanitation District, National Park Service, Town of Crested Butte, Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District, and Western State College, established a water-quality monitoring program in the upper Gunnison River Basin to characterize current water-quality conditions and to assess the effects of increased urban development and other land-use changes on water quality. The monitoring network has evolved into two groups of stations - stations that are considered long term and stations that are considered rotational. The long-term stations are monitored to assist in defining temporal changes in water quality (how conditions may change over time). The rotational stations are monitored to assist in the spatial definition of water-quality conditions (how conditions differ throughout the basin) and to address local and short-term concerns. Some stations in the rotational group were changed beginning in water year 2007. Annual summaries of the water-quality data from the monitoring network provide a point of reference for discussions regarding water-quality monitoring in the upper Gunnison River Basin. This summary includes data collected during water years 2004 and 2005. The introduction provides a map of the sampling sites, definitions of terms, and a one-page summary of selected water-quality conditions at the network stations. The remainder of the summary is organized around the data collected at individual stations. Data collected during water years 2004 and 2005 are compared to historical data, State water-quality standards, and Federal water-quality guidelines. Data were

  5. Comparison of 2008-2009 water years and historical water-quality data, upper Gunnison River Basin, Colorado

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solberg, Patricia A.; Moore, Bryan; Blacklock, Ty D.

    2012-01-01

    Population growth and changes in land use have the potential to affect water quality and quantity in the upper Gunnison River Basin. In 1995, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, City of Gunnison, Colorado River Water Conservation District, Crested Butte South Metropolitan District, Gunnison County, Hinsdale County, Mount Crested Butte Water and Sanitation District, National Park Service, Town of Crested Butte, U.S. Forest Service, Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District, and Western State College, established a water-quality monitoring program in the upper Gunnison River Basin to characterize current water-quality conditions and to assess the effects of increased urban development and other land-use changes on water quality. The monitoring network has evolved into two groups of sites: (1) sites that are considered long term and (2) sites that are considered rotational. Data from the long-term sites assist in defining temporal changes in water quality (how conditions may change over time). The rotational sites assist in the spatial definition of water-quality conditions (how conditions differ throughout the basin) and address local and short-term concerns. Biannual summaries of the water-quality data from the monitoring network provide a point of reference for stakeholder discussions regarding the location and purpose of water-quality monitoring sites in the upper Gunnison River Basin. This report compares and summarizes the data collected during water years 2008 and 2009 to the historical data available at these sites. The introduction provides a map of the sampling sites, definitions of terms, and a one-page summary of selected water-quality conditions at the network sites. The remainder of the report is organized around the data collected at individual sites. Data collected during water years 2008 and 2009 are compared to historical data, State water-quality standards, and Federal water-quality guidelines

  6. Comparison of 2006-2007 Water Years and Historical Water-Quality Data, Upper Gunnison River Basin, Colorado

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solberg, P.A.; Moore, Bryan; Smits, Dennis

    2009-01-01

    Population growth and changes in land use have the potential to affect water quality and quantity in the upper Gunnison River basin. In 1995, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, City of Gunnison, Colorado River Water Conservation District, Crested Butte South Metropolitan District, Gunnison County, Hinsdale County, Mount Crested Butte Water and Sanitation District, National Park Service, Town of Crested Butte, Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District, and Western State College established a water-quality monitoring program in the upper Gunnison River basin to characterize current water-quality conditions and to assess the effects of increased urban development and other land-use changes on water quality. The monitoring network has evolved into two groups of stations - stations that are considered long term and stations that are considered rotational. The long-term stations are monitored to assist in defining temporal changes in water quality (how conditions may change over time). The rotational stations are monitored to assist in the spatial definition of water-quality conditions (how conditions differ throughout the basin) and to address local and short-term concerns. Some stations in the rotational group were changed beginning in water year 2007. Annual summaries of the water-quality data from the monitoring network provide a point of reference for discussions regarding water-quality monitoring in the upper Gunnison River basin. This summary includes data collected during water years 2006 and 2007. The introduction provides a map of the sampling sites, definitions of terms, and a one-page summary of selected water-quality conditions at the network stations. The remainder of the summary is organized around the data collected at individual stations. Data collected during water years 2006 and 2007 are compared to historical data, State water-quality standards, and Federal water-quality guidelines. Data were

  7. Water security evaluation in Yellow River basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Guiqin; He, Liyuan; Jing, Juan

    2018-03-01

    Water security is an important basis for making water security protection strategy, which concerns regional economic and social sustainable development. In this paper, watershed water security evaluation index system including 3 levels of 5 criterion layers (water resources security, water ecological security and water environment security, water disasters prevention and control security and social economic security) and 24 indicators were constructed. The entropy weight method was used to determine the weights of the indexes in the system. The water security index of 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015 in Yellow River basin were calculated by linear weighting method based on the relative data. Results show that the water security conditions continue to improve in Yellow River basin but still in a basic security state. There is still a long way to enhance the water security in Yellow River basin, especially the water prevention and control security, the water ecological security and water environment security need to be promoted vigorously.

  8. Water Budget Closure Based on GRACE Measurements and Reconstructed Evapotranspiration Using GLDAS and Water Use Data over the Yellow River and Changjiang River Basins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lv, M.; Ma, Z.; Yuan, X.

    2017-12-01

    It is important to evaluate the water budget closure on the basis of the currently available data including precipitation, evapotranspiration (ET), runoff, and GRACE-derived terrestrial water storage change (TWSC) before using them to resolve water-related issues. However, it remains challenging to achieve the balance without the consideration of human water use (e.g., inter-basin water diversion and irrigation) for the estimation of other water budget terms such as the ET. In this study, the terrestrial water budget closure is tested over the Yellow River Basin (YRB) and Changjiang River Basin (CJB, Yangtze River Basin) of China. First, the actual ET is reconstructed by using the GLDAS-1 land surface models, the high quality observation-based precipitation, naturalized streamflow, and the irrigation water (hereafter, ETrecon). The ETrecon, evaluated using the mean annual water-balance equation, is of good quality with the absolute relative errors less than 1.9% over the two studied basins. The total basin discharge (Rtotal) is calculated as the residual of the water budget among the observation-based precipitation, ETrecon, and the GRACE-TWSC. The value of the Rtotal minus the observed total basin discharge is used to evaluate the budget closure, with the consideration of inter-basin water diversion. After the ET reconstruction, the mean absolute imbalance value reduced from 3.31 cm/year to 1.69 cm/year and from 15.40 cm/year to 1.96 cm/year over the YRB and CJB, respectively. The estimation-to-observation ratios of total basin discharge improved from 180.8% to 86.8% over the YRB, and from 67.0% to 101.1% over the CJB. The proposed ET reconstruction method is applicable to other human-managed river basins to provide an alternative estimation.

  9. Water Resources Data. Ohio - Water Year 1992. Volume 1. Ohio River Basin excluding project data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    H.L. Shindel; J.H. Klingler; J.P. Mangus; L.E. Trimble

    1993-03-01

    Water-resources data for the 1992 water year for Ohio consist of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; stage and contents of lakes and reservoirs; and water levels and water quality of ground-water wells. This report, in two volumes, contains records for water discharge at 121 gaging stations, 336 wells, and 72 partial-record sites; and water levels at 312 observation wells. Also included are data from miscellaneous sites. Additional water data were collected at various sites not involved in the systematic data-collection program and are published as miscellaneous measurements and analyses. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System collected by the US Geological Survey and cooperating State and Federal agencies in Ohio. Volume 1 covers the central and southern parts of Ohio, emphasizing the Ohio River Basin. (See Order Number DE95010451 for Volume 2 covering the northern part of Ohio.)

  10. Water quality modelling in the San Antonio River Basin driven by radar rainfall data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Almoutaz Elhassan

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Continuous monitoring of stream water quality is needed as it has significant impacts on human and ecological health and well-being. Estimating water quality between sampling dates requires model simulation based on the available geospatial and water quality data for a given watershed. Models such as the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT can be used to estimate the missing water quality data. In this study, SWAT was used to estimate water quality at a monitoring station near the outlet of the San Antonio River. Precipitation data from both rain gauges and weather radar were used to force the SWAT simulations. Virtual rain gauges which were based on weather radar data were created in the approximate centres of the 163 sub-watersheds of the San Antonio River Basin for SWAT simulations. This method was first tested in a smaller watershed in the middle of the Guadalupe River Basin resulting in increased model efficiency in simulating surface run-off. The method was then applied to the San Antonio River watershed and yielded good simulations for surface run-off (R2 = 0.7, nitrate (R2 = 0.6 and phosphate (R2 = 0.5 at the watershed outlet (Goliad, TX – USGS (United States Geological Survey gauge as compared to observed data. The study showed that the proper use of weather radar precipitation in SWAT model simulations improves the estimation of missing water quality data.

  11. Dynamic water accounting in heavily committed river basins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tilmant, Amaury; Marques, Guilherme

    2014-05-01

    Many river basins throughout the world are increasingly under pressure as water demands keep rising due to population growth, industrialization, urbanization and rising living standards. In the past, the typical answer to meet those demands focused on the supply-side and involved the construction of hydraulic infrastructures to capture more water from surface water bodies and from aquifers. As river basins were being more and more developed, downstream water users and ecosystems have become increasingly dependant on the management actions taken by upstream users. The increased interconnectedness between water users, aquatic ecosystems and the built environment is further compounded by climate change and its impact on the water cycle. Those pressures mean that it has become increasingly important to measure and account for changes in water fluxes and their corresponding economic value as they progress throughout the river system. Such basin water accounting should provide policy makers with important information regarding the relative contribution of each water user, infrastructure and management decision to the overall economic value of the river basin. This paper presents a dynamic water accounting approach whereby the entire river basin is considered as a value chain with multiple services including production and storage. Water users and reservoirs operators are considered as economic agents who can exchange water with their hydraulic neighbors at a price corresponding to the marginal value of water. Effective water accounting is made possible by keeping track of all water fluxes and their corresponding transactions using the results of a hydro-economic model. The proposed approach is illustrated with the Eastern Nile River basin in Africa.

  12. Water and Benefit Sharing in Transboundary River Basins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arjoon, D.; Tilmant, A.; Herrmann, M.

    2015-12-01

    Growing water scarcity underlies the importance of cooperation for the effective management of river basins, particularly in the context of international rivers in which unidirectional externalities can lead to asymmetric relationships between riparian countries. Studies have shown that significant economic benefits can be expected through basin-wide cooperation, however, the equitable partitioning of these benefits over the basin is less well studied and tends to overlook the importance of stakeholder input in the definition of equitability. In this study, an institutional arrangement to maximize welfare and then share the scarcity cost in a river basin is proposed. A river basin authority plays the role of a bulk water market operator, efficiently allocating bulk water to the users and collecting bulk water charges which are then equitably redistributed among water users. This highly regulated market restrains the behaviour of water users to control externalities and to ensure basin-wide coordination, enhanced efficiency, and the equitable redistribution of the scarcity cost. The institutional arrangement is implemented using the Eastern Nile River basin as a case study. The importance of this arrangement is that it can be adopted for application in negotiations to cooperate in trans-boundary river basins. The benefit sharing solution proposed is more likely to be perceived as equitable because water users help define the sharing rule. As a result, the definition of the sharing rule is not in question, as it would be if existing rules, such as bankruptcy rules or cooperative game theory solutions, are applied, with their inherent definitions of fairness. Results of the case study show that the sharing rule is predictable. Water users can expect to receive between 93.5% and 95% of their uncontested benefits (benefits that they expect to receive if water was not rationed), depending on the hydrologic scenario.

  13. Water equivalent of snow survey of the Red River Basin and Heart/Cannonball River Basin, March 1978

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feimster, E.L.

    1979-10-01

    The water equivalent of accumulated snow was estimated in the Red River and Heart/Cannonball River basins and surrounding areas in North Dakota during the period 8 to 17 March 1978. A total of 570 km were flown, covering a 274 km section of the Red River Basin watershed. These lines had been surveyed in March 1974. Twelve flight lines were flown over the North Dakota side of the Red River from a point 23 km south of the Canadian border southward to the city of Fargo, North Dakota. The eight flight lines flown over the Minnesota side of the Red River extended from 23 km south of the Canadian border southward to Breckenridge, Minnesota. Using six flight lines, a total of 120 km were flown in the Heart/Cannonball River Basin, an area southwest of the city of Bismark, North Dakota. This was the first such flight in the Heart/Cannonball River Basin area. Computed weighted average water equivalents on each flight line in the Red River Basin ranged from 4.8 cm to 12.7 cm of water, averaging 7.6 cm for all lines. In the Heart/Cannonball River Basin, the weighted water equivalent ranged from 8.9 cm to 19.1 cm of water, averaging 12.7 cm for all lines. The method used employs the measurement of the natural gamma rays both before and after snow covers the ground

  14. Framework for Assessing Water Resource Sustainability in River Basins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borden, J.; Goodwin, P.; Swanson, D.

    2013-12-01

    indicators to use in the analytical evaluation. A software template guides users through this process. For demonstration, the RBAF-C template has been applied to address competing irrigation demand-anadromous fish flow requirements in the Lemhi Basin, Idaho, and the increase in municipal and industrial demand in the Upper Bhima River Basin, India, which affects water supply to downstream irrigation command areas. The RBAF-A is for quantitatively evaluating the current conditions of water resources in a river basin and testing potential scenarios with respect to the sustainability criterion. The primary foundation for quantifying water movement is a river basin model. Upon this, the RBAF-A Interface organizes input data, collects output data from each discipline, and reports the HWB. Within the RBAF-A Interface, the EGS-HWB Calculator collects output time series data, processes the data with respect to space and time, and computes the ecologic, economic, and social well-being. The Reporting Tool presents the scenario output as values and trends in well-being. To demonstrate the technology, the RBAF-A was applied to the Lemhi Basin, Idaho. The RBAF supports the IWRM process by providing a structured and transparent means to understand the water related issues, analyses to conduct, and indicators to select in assessing the sustainability of water programs and policies in river basins.

  15. Water Quality Evaluation of the Yellow River Basin Based on Gray Clustering Method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, X. Q.; Zou, Z. H.

    2018-03-01

    Evaluating the water quality of 12 monitoring sections in the Yellow River Basin comprehensively by grey clustering method based on the water quality monitoring data from the Ministry of environmental protection of China in May 2016 and the environmental quality standard of surface water. The results can reflect the water quality of the Yellow River Basin objectively. Furthermore, the evaluation results are basically the same when compared with the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. The results also show that the overall water quality of the Yellow River Basin is good and coincident with the actual situation of the Yellow River basin. Overall, gray clustering method for water quality evaluation is reasonable and feasible and it is also convenient to calculate.

  16. Parameter and input data uncertainty estimation for the assessment of water resources in two sub-basins of the Limpopo River Basin

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Oosthuizen, Nadia

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available frica Parameter and input data uncertainty estimation for the assessment of water resources in two sub-basins of the Limpopo River Basin Nadia Oosthuizen1,2, Denis A. Hughes2, Evison Kapangaziwiri1, Jean-Marc Mwenge Kahinda1, and Vuyelwa Mvandaba1,2 1...

  17. Water allocation assessment in low flow river under data scarce conditions: a study of hydrological simulation in Mediterranean basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bangash, Rubab F; Passuello, Ana; Hammond, Michael; Schuhmacher, Marta

    2012-12-01

    River Francolí is a small river in Catalonia (northeastern Spain) with an average annual low flow (~2 m(3)/s). The purpose of the River Francolí watershed assessments is to support and inform region-wide planning efforts from the perspective of water protection, climate change and water allocation. In this study, a hydrological model of the Francolí River watershed was developed for use as a tool for watershed planning, water resource assessment, and ultimately, water allocation purposes using hydrological data from 2002 to 2006 inclusive. The modeling package selected for this application is DHI's MIKE BASIN. This model is a strategic scale water resource management simulation model, which includes modeling of both land surface and subsurface hydrological processes. Topographic, land use, hydrological, rainfall, and meteorological data were used to develop the model segmentation and input. Due to the unavailability of required catchment runoff data, the NAM rainfall-runoff model was used to calculate runoff of all the sub-watersheds. The results reveal a potential pressure on the availability of groundwater and surface water in the lower part of River Francolí as was expected by the IPCC for Mediterranean river basins. The study also revealed that due to the complex hydrological regime existing in the study area and data scarcity, a comprehensive physically based method was required to better represent the interaction between groundwater and surface water. The combined ArcGIS/MIKE BASIN models appear as a useful tool to assess the hydrological cycle and to better understand water allocation to different sectors in the Francolí River watershed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. 77 FR 45653 - Yakima River Basin Conservation Advisory Group; Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-01

    ... Basin Conservation Advisory Group, Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project, established by the... Water Conservation Program. DATES: The meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 21, 2012, from 1 p.m. to... the implementation of the Water Conservation Program, including the applicable water conservation...

  19. Comparative Research on River Basin Management in the Sagami River Basin (Japan and the Muda River Basin (Malaysia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lay Mei Sim

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available In the world, river basins often interwoven into two or more states or prefectures and because of that, disputes over water are common. Nevertheless, not all shared river basins are associated with water conflicts. Rivers in Japan and Malaysia play a significant role in regional economic development. They also play a significant role as water sources for industrial, domestic, agricultural, aquaculture, hydroelectric power generation, and the environment. The research aim is to determine the similarities and differences between the Sagami and Muda River Basins in order to have a better understanding of the governance needed for effectively implementing the lessons drawn from the Sagami River Basin for improving the management of the Muda River Basin in Malaysia. This research adopts qualitative and quantitative approaches. Semi-structured interviews were held with the key stakeholders from both basins and show that Japan has endeavored to present policy efforts to accommodate the innovative approaches in the management of their water resources, including the establishment of a river basin council. In Malaysia, there is little or no stakeholder involvement in the Muda River Basin, and the water resource management is not holistic and is not integrated as it should be. Besides that, there is little or no Integrated Resources Water Management, a pre-requisite for sustainable water resources. The results from this comparative study concluded that full support and participation from public stakeholders (meaning the non-government and non-private sector stakeholders is vital for achieving sustainable water use in the Muda River Basin. Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM approaches such as the introduction of payments for ecosystems services and the development of river basin organization in the Muda River Basin should take place in the spirit of political willingness.

  20. Identification of long-term trends and seasonality in high-frequency water quality data from the Yangtze River basin, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duan, Weili; He, Bin; Chen, Yaning; Zou, Shan; Wang, Yi; Nover, Daniel; Chen, Wen; Yang, Guishan

    2018-01-01

    Comprehensive understanding of the long-term trends and seasonality of water quality is important for controlling water pollution. This study focuses on spatio-temporal distributions, long-term trends, and seasonality of water quality in the Yangtze River basin using a combination of the seasonal Mann-Kendall test and time-series decomposition. The used weekly water quality data were from 17 environmental stations for the period January 2004 to December 2015. Results show gradual improvement in water quality during this period in the Yangtze River basin and greater improvement in the Uppermost Yangtze River basin. The larger cities, with high GDP and population density, experienced relatively higher pollution levels due to discharge of industrial and household wastewater. There are higher pollution levels in Xiang and Gan River basins, as indicated by higher NH4-N and CODMn concentrations measured at the stations within these basins. Significant trends in water quality were identified for the 2004-2015 period. Operations of the three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) enhanced pH fluctuations and possibly attenuated CODMn, and NH4-N transportation. Finally, seasonal cycles of varying strength were detected for time-series of pollutants in river discharge. Seasonal patterns in pH indicate that maxima appear in winter, and minima in summer, with the opposite true for CODMn. Accurate understanding of long-term trends and seasonality are necessary goals of water quality monitoring system efforts and the analysis methods described here provide essential information for effectively controlling water pollution.

  1. Identification of long-term trends and seasonality in high-frequency water quality data from the Yangtze River basin, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Bin; Chen, Yaning; Zou, Shan; Wang, Yi; Nover, Daniel; Chen, Wen; Yang, Guishan

    2018-01-01

    Comprehensive understanding of the long-term trends and seasonality of water quality is important for controlling water pollution. This study focuses on spatio-temporal distributions, long-term trends, and seasonality of water quality in the Yangtze River basin using a combination of the seasonal Mann-Kendall test and time-series decomposition. The used weekly water quality data were from 17 environmental stations for the period January 2004 to December 2015. Results show gradual improvement in water quality during this period in the Yangtze River basin and greater improvement in the Uppermost Yangtze River basin. The larger cities, with high GDP and population density, experienced relatively higher pollution levels due to discharge of industrial and household wastewater. There are higher pollution levels in Xiang and Gan River basins, as indicated by higher NH4-N and CODMn concentrations measured at the stations within these basins. Significant trends in water quality were identified for the 2004–2015 period. Operations of the three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) enhanced pH fluctuations and possibly attenuated CODMn, and NH4-N transportation. Finally, seasonal cycles of varying strength were detected for time-series of pollutants in river discharge. Seasonal patterns in pH indicate that maxima appear in winter, and minima in summer, with the opposite true for CODMn. Accurate understanding of long-term trends and seasonality are necessary goals of water quality monitoring system efforts and the analysis methods described here provide essential information for effectively controlling water pollution. PMID:29466354

  2. Quality of surface waters in the lower Columbia River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santos, John F.

    1965-01-01

    This report, made during 1959-60, provides reconnaissance data on the quality of waters in the lower Columbia River basin ; information on present and future water problems in the basin; and data that can be employed both in water-use studies and in planning future industrial, municipal, and agricultural expansion within this area. The lower Columbia River basin consists of approximately 46,000 square miles downstream from the confluence of the Snake and Columbia Rivers The region can be divided into three geographic areas. The first is the heavily forested, sparsely populated mountain regions in which quality of water in general is related to geologic and climatological factors. The second is a semiarid plateau east of the Cascade Mountains; there differences in geology and precipitation, together with more intensive use of available water for irrigation, bring about marked differences in water quality. The third is the Willamette-Puget trough area in which are concentrated most of the industry and population and in which water quality is influenced by sewage and industrial waste disposal. The majority of the streams in the lower Columbia River basin are calcium magnesium bicarbonate waters. In general, the rivers rising in the. Coast Range and on the west slope of the Cascade Range contain less than 100 parts per million of dissolved solids, and hardness of the water is less than 50 parts per million. Headwater reaches of the streams on the east slope of the Cascade Range are similar to those on the west slope; but, downstream, irrigation return flows cause the dissolved-solids content and hardness to increase. Most of the waters, however, remain calcium magnesium bicarbonate in type. The highest observed dissolved-solids concentrations and also some changes in chemical composition occur in the streams draining the more arid parts of the area. In these parts, irrigation is chiefly responsible for increasing the dissolved-solids concentration and altering the

  3. Human activities and its Responses to Glacier Melt Water Over Tarim River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Hai; Zhou, Shenbei; Bai, Minghao

    2017-04-01

    Tarim River Basin lies in the south area of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the north-west area of China. It is the longest inland river of China. Being far away from ocean and embraced by high mountains, Tarim River Basin is the typical arid region in the world. The intensity of human activities increased rapidly in Tarim River Basin since 1980's and water resources lacking is the major issue restricting the development of social economy. The glacier melt water plays an important role for the regional social and economic development, and it accounts for 40% of mountain-pass runoff. It is a fragile mutual-dependent relationship between local sustainable development and runoff. Under the background of global change glacier melt water process has also changed especially in the arid and semi-arid region. Due to climate change, glacier in Tarim River Basin has melted in an observed way since 1980s, together with increasing trend of annual rainfall and virgin flow in mountain basins. Correspondingly, human activity gets more frequent since 1970s, resulting into the obvious fragile mutual-dependent relationship between basin runoff and water use amount. Through an analysis of meteorological, hydrological and geographical observation data from 1985 to 2015, this thesis make a multi-factor variance analysis of population, cultivation area, industrial development and runoff in upstream and mid-stream of Tarim River under changing conditions. Furthermore, the regulation function of natural factors and water demand management factors on relationship between runoff and water using amount are discussed, including temperature, rainfall, and evaporation, water conservation technology and soil-water exploitation administrative institutions. It concludes that: first, increase in glacier runoff, rainfall amount, and virgin flow haven't notably relieved ecological issue in Tarim River Basin, and even has promoted water use behaviour in different flowing areas and noticeably reduced

  4. Sharing water and benefits in transboundary river basins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arjoon, Diane; Tilmant, Amaury; Herrmann, Markus

    2016-06-01

    The equitable sharing of benefits in transboundary river basins is necessary to solve disputes among riparian countries and to reach a consensus on basin-wide development and management activities. Benefit-sharing arrangements must be collaboratively developed to be perceived not only as efficient, but also as equitable in order to be considered acceptable to all riparian countries. The current literature mainly describes what is meant by the term benefit sharing in the context of transboundary river basins and discusses this from a conceptual point of view, but falls short of providing practical, institutional arrangements that ensure maximum economic welfare as well as collaboratively developed methods for encouraging the equitable sharing of benefits. In this study, we define an institutional arrangement that distributes welfare in a river basin by maximizing the economic benefits of water use and then sharing these benefits in an equitable manner using a method developed through stakeholder involvement. We describe a methodology in which (i) a hydrological model is used to allocate scarce water resources, in an economically efficient manner, to water users in a transboundary basin, (ii) water users are obliged to pay for water, and (iii) the total of these water charges is equitably redistributed as monetary compensation to users in an amount determined through the application of a sharing method developed by stakeholder input, thus based on a stakeholder vision of fairness, using an axiomatic approach. With the proposed benefit-sharing mechanism, the efficiency-equity trade-off still exists, but the extent of the imbalance is reduced because benefits are maximized and redistributed according to a key that has been collectively agreed upon by the participants. The whole system is overseen by a river basin authority. The methodology is applied to the Eastern Nile River basin as a case study. The described technique not only ensures economic efficiency, but may

  5. Transboundary water issues: The Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna River Basin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roy, Debasri; Goswami, A.B.; Bose, Balaram

    2004-01-01

    Sharing of water of transboundary rivers among riparian nations has become a cause of major concern in different parts of the globe for quite sometime. The issue in the recent decades has been transformed into a source of international tensions and disputes resulting in strained relationships between riparian nations. Conflicts over sharing of water of the international rivers, like the Tigris, Euphrates and Jordan in the Middle East, the Nile in Northern Africa, the Mekong in South-East Asia, the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna in the Indian subcontinent are widely known. The present paper discusses the water sharing -issue in the Ganga- Brahmaputra-Meghna basin located in the Indian sub continent covering five sovereign countries (namely India, Nepal, China, Bhutan and Bangladesh). Rapidly growing population, expanding agricultural and industrial activities besides the impacts of climate change have resulted in stressed condition in the arena of fresh water availability in the basin. Again occurrence of arsenic in sub-surface water in the lower reaches of the basin in India and Bangladesh has also added a new dimension to the problem. All the rivers of the GBM system exhibit wide variations between peak and lean flows as major part of the basin belongs to the monsoon region, where 80%-90 % of annual rainfall is concentrated in 4-5 months of South -West monsoon in the subcontinent. Over and above, the rivers in GBM system carry huge loads of sediments along with the floodwater and receive huge quantum of different kinds of wastes contaminating the water of the rivers. Again high rate of sedimentation of the major rivers and their tributaries have been affecting not only the carrying capacity of the rivers but also drastically reduced their retention capacity. Almost every year during monsoon about 27% and nearly 60% of the GBM basin lying in India and Bangladesh respectively experience flood. The year round navigation in many rivers has also been affected. All these have

  6. Beyond water, beyond boundaries: spaces of water management in the Krishna river basin, South India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Venot, Jean-Philippe; Bharati, Luna; Giordano, Mark; Molle, François

    2011-01-01

    As demand and competition for water resources increase, the river basin has become the primary unit for water management and planning. While appealing in principle, practical implementation of river basin management and allocation has often been problematic. This paper examines the case of the Krishna basin in South India. It highlights that conflicts over basin water are embedded in a broad reality of planning and development where multiple scales of decisionmaking and non-water issues are at play. While this defines the river basin as a disputed "space of dependence", the river basin has yet to acquire a social reality. It is not yet a "space of engagement" in and for which multiple actors take actions. This explains the endurance of an interstate dispute over the sharing of the Krishna waters and sets limits to what can be achieved through further basin water allocation and adjudication mechanisms – tribunals – that are too narrowly defined. There is a need to extend the domain of negotiation from that of a single river basin to multiple scales and to non-water sectors. Institutional arrangements for basin management need to internalise the political spaces of the Indian polity: the states and the panchayats. This re-scaling process is more likely to shape the river basin as a space of engagement in which partial agreements can be iteratively renegotiated, and constitute a promising alternative to the current interstate stalemate.

  7. Statistical summaries of water-quality data for selected streamflow-gaging stations in the Red River of the North basin, North Dakota, Minnesota, and South Dakota

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macek-Rowland, Kathleen M.; Dressler, Valerie M.

    2002-01-01

    The quantity and quality of current and future water resources in the Red River of the North Basin in North Dakota, Minnesota, and South Dakota are concerns of people who reside within the basin. Additional water resources are needed because of recent growth in population, industry, and agriculture. How the management of current and future water-resources will impact water quality within the basin is a critical issue. Water-quality data, particularly for surface-water sources, will help water-resources managers make decisions about current and future water resources in the Red River of the North Basin. Statistical summaries of water-quality data for 43 streamflow-gaging stations in the Red River of the North Basin in North Dakota, Minnesota, and South Dakota are presented in this report. Statistical summaries include sample size, maximum, minimum, mean, and values for the 95th, 75th, 50th, 25th, and 5th percentiles.

  8. Water-energy-food nexus in Large Asian River Basins

    OpenAIRE

    Keskinen, Marko; Varis, Olli

    2016-01-01

    The water-energy-food nexus ("nexus") is promoted as an approach to look at the linkages between water, energy and food. The articles of Water's Special Issue "Water-Energy-Food Nexus in Large Asian River Basins" look at the applicability of the nexus approach in different regions and rivers basins in Asia. The articles provide practical examples of the various roles and importance of water-energy-food linkages, but also discuss the theoretical aspects related to the nexus. While it is eviden...

  9. Water Stress in Global Transboundary River Basins: Significance of Upstream Water Use on Downstream Stress

    Science.gov (United States)

    Munia, H.; Guillaume, J. H. A.; Mirumachi, N.; Porkka,M.; Wada, Yoshihide; Kummu, M.

    2016-01-01

    Growing population and water demand have increased pressure on water resources in various parts of the globe, including many transboundary river basins. While the impacts of upstream water use on downstream water availability have been analyzed in many of these international river basins, this has not been systematically done at the global scale using coherent and comparable datasets. In this study, we aim to assess the change in downstream water stress due to upstream water use in the world's transboundary river basins. Water stress was first calculated considering only local water use of each sub-basin based on country-basin mesh, then compared with the situation when upstream water use was subtracted from downstream water availability. Wefound that water stress was generally already high when considering only local water use, affecting 0.95-1.44 billion people or 33%-51% of the population in transboundary river basins. After accounting for upstream water use, stress level increased by at least 1 percentage-point for 30-65 sub-basins, affecting 0.29-1.13 billion people. Altogether 288 out of 298 middle-stream and downstream sub-basin areas experienced some change in stress level. Further, we assessed whether there is a link between increased water stress due to upstream water use and the number of conflictive and cooperative events in the transboundary river basins, as captured by two prominent databases. No direct relationship was found. This supports the argument that conflicts and cooperation events originate from a combination of different drivers, among which upstream-induced water stress may play a role. Our findings contribute to better understanding of upstream-downstream dynamics in water stress to help address water allocation problems.

  10. Long-Term Ground-Water Levels and Transmissivity in the Blackstone River Basin, Northern Rhode Island

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eggleston, Jack R.; Church, Peter E.; Barbaro, Jeffrey R.

    2007-01-01

    Ground water provides about 7.7 million gallons per day, or 28 percent of total water use in the Rhode Island part of the Blackstone River Basin. Primary aquifers in the basin are stratified glacial deposits, composed mostly of sand and gravel along valley bottoms. The ground-water and surface-water system in the Blackstone River Basin is under stress due to population growth, out-of-basin water transfers, industrialization, and changing land-use patterns. Streamflow periodically drops below the Aquatic Base Flow standard, and ground-water withdrawals add to stress on aquatic habitat during low-flow periods. Existing hydrogeologic data were reviewed to examine historical water-level trends and to generate contour maps of water-table altitudes and transmissivity of the sand and gravel aquifer in the Blackstone River Basin in Rhode Island. On the basis of data from four long-term observation wells, water levels appear to have risen slightly in the study area during the past 55 years. Analysis of available data indicates that increased rainfall during the same period is a likely contributor to the water-level rise. Spatial patterns of transmissivity are shown over larger areas and have been refined on the basis of more detailed data coverage as compared to previous mapping studies.

  11. Arsenic occurrence in water bodies in Kharaa river basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Azzaya T

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Distribution of arsenic (As and its compound and related toxicology are serious concerns nowadays. Gold mining activity is one of the anthropogenic sources of environmental contamination regarding As and other heavy metals. In Mongolia, the most productive gold mining sites are placed in the Kharaa river basin. A hundred water samples were collected from river, spring and deep wells in this river basin. Along with total As and its species-As(III and As(V, examination of concentration levels of other key parameters, 21 heavy metals with pH, total hardness, electric conductivity, anion and cations, was also carried out. In respect to the permissible limit formulated by the Mongolian National Drinking water quality standard (MNS 0900:2005, As10 µg/l, the present study showed that most of samples were found no contamination. In Kharaa river basin, an average concentration of total As in surface water was 4.04 µg/l with wide range in 0.07−30.30 µg/l whereas it was 2.24 µg/l in groundwater. As analysis in surface water in licensed area of Gatsuurt gold mining showed a mean concentration with 24.90 µg/l presenting higher value than that of value in river basin by 6 orders of magnitude and it was 2 times higher than permissible level as well. In Boroo river nearby Boroo gold mining area, As concentration in water was ranged in 6.05−6.25 µg/l. Ammonia pollution may have present at estuary of Zuunmod river in Mandal sum with above the permissible level described in national water quality standard. Geological formation of the rocks and minerals affected to change of heavy metal concentration, especially As and uranium (U at spring water nearby Gatsuurt-Boroo improved road.

  12. Agricultural Water Use Sustainability Assessment in the Tarim River Basin under Climatic Risks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun Zhang

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Proper agricultural water management in arid regions is the key to tackling climatic risks. However, an effective assessment of the current response to climate change in agricultural water use is the precondition for a group adaptation strategy. The paper, taking the Tarim River basin (TRB as an example, aims to examine the agricultural water use sustainability of water resource increase caused by climatic variability. In order to describe the response result, groundwater change has been estimated based on the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE and the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS–Noah land surface model (NOAH data. In order to better understand the relationship between water resource increase and agricultural water consumption, an agricultural water stress index has been established. Agricultural water stress has been in a severe state during the whole period, although it alleviated somewhat in the mid–late period. This paper illustrates that an increase in water supply could not satisfy agricultural production expansion. Thus, seasonal groundwater loss and a regional water shortage occurred. Particularly in 2008 and 2009, the sharp shortage of water supply in the Tarim River basin directly led to a serious groundwater drop by nearly 20 mm from the end of 2009 to early 2010. At the same time, a regional water shortage led to water scarcity for the whole basin, because the water consumption, which was mainly distributed around Source Rivers, resulted in break-off discharge in the mainstream. Therefore, current agricultural development in the Tarim River basin is unsustainable in the context of water supply under climatic risks. Under the control of irrigation, spatial and temporal water allocation optimization is the key to the sustainable management of the basin.

  13. Mapping Water Resources, Allocation and Consumption in the Mills River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hodes, J.; Jeuland, M. A.; Barros, A. P.

    2014-12-01

    Mountain basins and the headwaters of river basins along the foothills of major mountain ranges are undergoing rapid environmental change due to urban development, land acquisition by investors, population increase, and climate change. Classical water infrastructure in these regions is primarily designed to meet human water demand associated with agriculture, tourism, and economic development. Often overlooked and ignored is the fundamental interdependence of human water demand, ecosystem water demand, water rights and allocation, and water supply. A truly sustainable system for water resources takes into account ecosystem demand along with human infrastructure and economic demand, as well as the feedbacks that exist between them. Allocation policies need to take into account basin resilience that is the amount of stress the system can handle under varying future scenarios. Changes in stress on the system can be anthropogenic in the form of population increase, land use change, economic development, or may be natural in the form of climate change and decrease in water supply due to changes in precipitation. Mapping the water rights, supply, and demands within the basin can help determine the resiliency and sustainability of the basin. Here, we present a coupled natural human system project based in the French Broad River Basin, in the Southern Appalachians. In the first phase of the project, we are developing and implementing a coupled hydro-economics modeling framework in the Mills River Basin (MRB), a tributary of the French Broad. The Mills River Basin was selected as the core basin for implementing a sustainable system of water allocation that is adaptive and reflects the interdependence of water dependent sectors. The headwaters of the Mills River are in the foothills of the Appalachians, and are currently under substantial land use land cover (LULC) change pressure for agricultural purposes. In this regard, the MRB is representative of similar headwater

  14. Water stress in global transboundary river basins : Significance of upstream water use on downstream stress

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Munia, H.; Guillaume, J. H A; Mirumachi, N.; Porkka, M.; Wada, Y.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/341387819; Kummu, M.

    2016-01-01

    Growing population and water demand have increased pressure on water resources in various parts of the globe, including many transboundary river basins. While the impacts of upstream water use on downstream water availability have been analysed in many of these international river basins, this has

  15. The water footprint of agricultural products in European river basins

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vanham, D; Bidoglio, G

    2014-01-01

    This work quantifies the agricultural water footprint (WF) of production (WF prod, agr ) and consumption (WF cons, agr ) and the resulting net virtual water import (netVW i, agr ) of 365 European river basins for a reference period (REF, 1996–2005) and two diet scenarios (a healthy diet based upon food-based dietary guidelines (HEALTHY) and a vegetarian (VEG) diet). In addition to total (tot) amounts, a differentiation is also made between the green (gn), blue (bl) and grey (gy) components. River basins where the REF WF cons, agr, tot exceeds the WF prod, agr, tot (resulting in positive netVW i, agr, tot values), are found along the London–Milan axis. These include the Thames, Scheldt, Meuse, Seine, Rhine and Po basins. River basins where the WF prod, agr, tot exceeds the WF cons, agr, tot are found in Western France, the Iberian Peninsula and the Baltic region. These include the Loire, Ebro and Nemunas basins. Under the HEALTHY diet scenario, the WF cons, agr, tot of most river basins decreases (max −32%), although it was found to increase in some basins in northern and eastern Europe. This results in 22 river basins, including the Danube, shifting from being net VW importers to being net VW exporters. A reduction (max −46%) in WF cons, agr, tot is observed for all but one river basin under the VEG diet scenario. In total, 50 river basins shift from being net VW importers to being net exporters, including the Danube, Seine, Rhone and Elbe basins. Similar observations are made when only the gn + bl and gn components are assessed. When analysing only the bl component, a different river basin pattern is observed. (letters)

  16. Ground-water availability from surficial aquifers in the Red River of the North Basin, Minnesota

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reppe, Thomas H.C.

    2005-01-01

    Population growth and commercial and industrial development in the Red River of the North Basin in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota have prompted the Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Department of the Interior, to evaluate sources of water to sustain this growth. Nine surficial-glacial (surficial) aquifers (Buffalo, Middle River, Two Rivers, Beach Ridges, Pelican River, Otter Tail, Wadena, Pineland Sands, and Bemidji-Bagley) within the Minnesota part of the basin were identified and evaluated for their ground-water resources. Information was compiled and summarized from published studies to evaluate the availability of ground water. Published information reviewed for each of the aquifers included location and extent, physical characteristics, hydraulic properties, ground-water and surface-water interactions, estimates of water budgets (sources of recharge and discharge) and aquifer storage, theoretical well yields and actual ground-water pumping data, recent (2003) ground-water use data, and baseline ground-water-quality data.

  17. River basin administration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Management of international rivers and their basins is the focus of the Centre for Comparative Studies on (International) River Basin Administration, recently established at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Water pollution, sludge, and conflicting interests in the use of water in upstream and downstream parts of a river basin will be addressed by studying groundwater and consumption of water in the whole catchment area of a river.Important aspects of river management are administrative and policy aspects. The Centre will focus on policy, law, planning, and organization, including transboundary cooperation, posing standards, integrated environmental planning on regional scale and environmental impact assessments.

  18. Assessing Vulnerability under Uncertainty in the Colorado River Basin: The Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jerla, C.; Adams, P.; Butler, A.; Nowak, K.; Prairie, J. R.

    2013-12-01

    Spanning parts of the seven states, of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming, the Colorado River is one of the most critical sources of water in the western United States. Colorado River allocations exceed the long-term supply and since the 1950s, there have been a number of years when the annual water use in the Colorado River Basin exceeded the yield. The Basin is entering its second decade of drought conditions which brings challenges that will only be compounded if projections of climate change are realized. It was against this backdrop that the Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study was conducted. The Study's objectives are to define current and future imbalances in the Basin over the next 50 years and to develop and analyze adaptation and mitigation strategies to resolve those imbalances. Long-term planning in the Basin involves the integration of uncertainty with respect to a changing climate and other uncertainties such as future demand and how policies may be modified to adapt to changing reliability. The Study adopted a scenario planning approach to address this uncertainty in which thousands of scenarios were developed to encompass a wide range of plausible future water supply and demand conditions. Using Reclamation's long-term planning model, the Colorado River Simulation System, the reliability of the system to meet Basin resource needs under these future conditions was projected both with and without additional future adaptation strategies in place. System reliability metrics were developed in order to define system vulnerabilities, the conditions that lead to those vulnerabilities, and sign posts to indicate if the system is approaching a vulnerable state. Options and strategies that reduce these vulnerabilities and improve system reliability were explored through the development of portfolios. Four portfolios, each with different management strategies, were analyzed to assess their effectiveness at

  19. River water quality assessment using environmentric techniques: case study of Jakara River Basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mustapha, Adamu; Aris, Ahmad Zaharin; Juahir, Hafizan; Ramli, Mohammad Firuz; Kura, Nura Umar

    2013-08-01

    Jakara River Basin has been extensively studied to assess the overall water quality and to identify the major variables responsible for water quality variations in the basin. A total of 27 sampling points were selected in the riverine network of the Upper Jakara River Basin. Water samples were collected in triplicate and analyzed for physicochemical variables. Pearson product-moment correlation analysis was conducted to evaluate the relationship of water quality parameters and revealed a significant relationship between salinity, conductivity with dissolved solids (DS) and 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and nitrogen in form of ammonia (NH4). Partial correlation analysis (r p) results showed that there is a strong relationship between salinity and turbidity (r p=0.930, p=0.001) and BOD5 and COD (r p=0.839, p=0.001) controlling for the linear effects of conductivity and NH4, respectively. Principal component analysis and or factor analysis was used to investigate the origin of each water quality parameter in the Jakara Basin and identified three major factors explaining 68.11 % of the total variance in water quality. The major variations are related to anthropogenic activities (irrigation agricultural, construction activities, clearing of land, and domestic waste disposal) and natural processes (erosion of river bank and runoff). Discriminant analysis (DA) was applied on the dataset to maximize the similarities between group relative to within-group variance of the parameters. DA provided better results with great discriminatory ability using eight variables (DO, BOD5, COD, SS, NH4, conductivity, salinity, and DS) as the most statistically significantly responsible for surface water quality variation in the area. The present study, however, makes several noteworthy contributions to the existing knowledge on the spatial variations of surface water quality and is believed to serve as a baseline data for further studies. Future

  20. GRACE-based estimates of water discharge over the Yellow River basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qiong Li

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available As critical component of hydrologic cycle, basin discharge is a key issue for understanding the hydrological and climatologic related to water and energy cycles. Combining GRACE gravity field models with ET from GLDAS models and precipitation from GPCP, discharge of the Yellow River basin are estimated from the water balance equation. While comparing the results with discharge from GLDAS model and in situ measurements, the results reveal that discharge from Mosaic and CLM GLDAS model can partially represent the river discharge and the discharge estimation from water balance equation could reflect the discharge from precipitation over the Yellow River basin.

  1. Parameter and input data uncertainty estimation for the assessment of water resources in two sub-basins of the Limpopo River Basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. Oosthuizen

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The demand for water resources is rapidly growing, placing more strain on access to water and its management. In order to appropriately manage water resources, there is a need to accurately quantify available water resources. Unfortunately, the data required for such assessment are frequently far from sufficient in terms of availability and quality, especially in southern Africa. In this study, the uncertainty related to the estimation of water resources of two sub-basins of the Limpopo River Basin – the Mogalakwena in South Africa and the Shashe shared between Botswana and Zimbabwe – is assessed. Input data (and model parameters are significant sources of uncertainty that should be quantified. In southern Africa water use data are among the most unreliable sources of model input data because available databases generally consist of only licensed information and actual use is generally unknown. The study assesses how these uncertainties impact the estimation of surface water resources of the sub-basins. Data on farm reservoirs and irrigated areas from various sources were collected and used to run the model. Many farm dams and large irrigation areas are located in the upper parts of the Mogalakwena sub-basin. Results indicate that water use uncertainty is small. Nevertheless, the medium to low flows are clearly impacted. The simulated mean monthly flows at the outlet of the Mogalakwena sub-basin were between 22.62 and 24.68 Mm3 per month when incorporating only the uncertainty related to the main physical runoff generating parameters. The range of total predictive uncertainty of the model increased to between 22.15 and 24.99 Mm3 when water use data such as small farm and large reservoirs and irrigation were included. For the Shashe sub-basin incorporating only uncertainty related to the main runoff parameters resulted in mean monthly flows between 11.66 and 14.54 Mm3. The range of predictive uncertainty changed to between 11.66 and 17

  2. Water-Quality Characteristics for Sites in the Tongue, Powder, Cheyenne, and Belle Fourche River Drainage Basins, Wyoming and Montana, Water Years 2001-05, with Temporal Patterns of Selected Long-Term Water-Quality Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Melanie L.; Mason, Jon P.

    2007-01-01

    Water-quality sampling was conducted regularly at stream sites within or near the Powder River structural basin in northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana during water years 2001-05 (October 1, 2000, to September 30, 2005) to characterize water quality in an area of coalbed natural gas development. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, characterized the water quality at 22 sampling sites in the Tongue, Powder, Cheyenne, and Belle Fourche River drainage basins. Data for general hydrology, field measurements, major-ion chemistry, and selected trace elements were summarized, and specific conductance and sodium-adsorption ratios were evaluated for relations with streamflow and seasonal variability. Trend analysis for water years 1991-2005 was conducted for selected sites and constituents to assess change through time. Average annual runoff was highly variable among the stream sites. Generally, streams that have headwaters in the Bighorn Mountains had more runoff as a result of higher average annual precipitation than streams that have headwaters in the plains. The Powder River at Moorhead, Mont., had the largest average annual runoff (319,000 acre-feet) of all the sites; however, streams in the Tongue River drainage basin had the highest runoff per unit area of the four major drainage basins. Annual runoff in all major drainage basins was less than average during 2001-05 because of drought conditions. Consequently, water-quality samples collected during the study period may not represent long-term water-quality con-ditions for all sites. Water-quality characteristics were highly variable generally because of streamflow variability, geologic controls, and potential land-use effects. The range of median specific-conductance values among sites was smallest in the Tongue River drainage basin. Median values in that basin ranged from 643 microsiemens per centimeter at 25 degrees Celsius (?S/cm at 25?C) on the

  3. Water resource management model for a river basin

    OpenAIRE

    Jelisejevienė, Emilija

    2005-01-01

    The objective is to develop river basin management model that ensures integrated analysis of existing water resource problems and promotes implementation of sustainable development principles in water resources management.

  4. Water Quality and Algal Data for the North Umpqua River Basin, Oregon, 2005

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanner, Dwight Q.; Arnsberg, Andrew J.; Anderson, Chauncey W.; Carpenter, Kurt D.

    2006-01-01

    The upper North Umpqua River Basin has experienced a variety of water-quality problems since at least the early 1990's. Several reaches of the North Umpqua River are listed as water-quality limited under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act. Diamond Lake, a eutrophic lake that is an important source of water and nutrients to the upper North Umpqua River, is also listed as a water-quality limited waterbody (pH, nuisance algae). A draft Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) was proposed for various parameters and is expected to be adopted in full in 2006. Diamond Lake has supported potentially toxic blue-green algae blooms since 2001 that have resulted in closures to recreational water contact and impacts to the local economy. Increased populations of the invasive tui chub fish are reportedly responsible, because they feed on zooplankton that would otherwise control the algal blooms. The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Diamond Lake Restoration Project advocates reduced fish biomass in Diamond Lake in 2006 as the preferred alternative. A restoration project scheduled to reduce fish biomass for the lake includes a significant water-level drawdown that began in January 2006. After the drawdown of Diamond Lake, the fish toxicant rotenone was applied to eradicate the tui chub. The lake will be refilled and restocked with game fish in 2007. Winter exports of nutrients from Diamond Lake during the restoration project could affect the summer trophic status of the North Umpqua River if retention and recycling in Lemolo Lake are significant. The FEIS includes comprehensive monitoring to assess the water quality of the restored Diamond Lake and the effects of that restoration downstream. One component of the monitoring is the collection of baseline data, in order to observe changes in the river's water quality and algal conditions resulting from the restoration of Diamond Lake. During July 2005, the USGS, in cooperation with Douglas County, performed a synoptic

  5. Integrated river basin management of Južna Morava River

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Borisavljević Ana

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available In the last decade in particular, Serbia encountered the problems of drinking water supply, which influenced the perception of professional public about the water crisis but also started more intensive work on water resource perseverance as well as the implementation of European Water Directive. One of the main demands of the Directive focuses on integrated river basin management (IRBM, which is a complex and a large task. The need to collect data on water quality and quantity, specific and key issues of water management in Južna Morava river basin, pressures on river ecosystem, flood risks and erosion problems, cross-border issues, socioeconomic processes, agricultural development as well as protected areas, and also to give the measures for solving problems and pressures recognized in the basin, is undisputable. This paper focuses on detailed analysis of specific pressures on river ecosystem and composition of recommendations for integrated management of Južna Morava river basin as cross-border river basin, taking into the account European experiences in IRBM. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 43007: Istraživanje klimatskih promena na životnu sredinu - praćenje uticaja, adaptacija i ublažavanje, podprojekat br. 9: Učestalost bujičnih poplava, degradacija zemljišta i voda kao posledica globalnih promena

  6. Precipitation and stream water stable isotope data from the Marys River, Oregon in water year 2015.

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Water stable isotope data collected from a range of streams throughout the Marys River basin in water year 2015, and precipitation data collected within the basin at...

  7. Systematic impact assessment on inter-basin water transfer projects of the Hanjiang River Basin in China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Yanlai; Guo, Shenglian; Hong, Xingjun; Chang, Fi-John

    2017-10-01

    China's inter-basin water transfer projects have gained increasing attention in recent years. This study proposes an intelligent water allocation methodology for establishing optimal inter-basin water allocation schemes and assessing the impacts of water transfer projects on water-demanding sectors in the Hanjiang River Basin of China. We first analyze water demands for water allocation purpose, and then search optimal water allocation strategies for maximizing the water supply to water-demanding sectors and mitigating the negative impacts by using the Standard Genetic Algorithm (SGA) and Adaptive Genetic Algorithm (AGA), respectively. Lastly, the performance indexes of the water supply system are evaluated under different scenarios of inter-basin water transfer projects. The results indicate that: the AGA with adaptive crossover and mutation operators could increase the average annual water transfer from the Hanjiang River by 0.79 billion m3 (8.8%), the average annual water transfer from the Changjiang River by 0.18 billion m3 (6.5%), and the average annual hydropower generation by 0.49 billion kW h (5.4%) as well as reduce the average annual unmet water demand by 0.40 billion m3 (9.7%), as compared with the those of the SGA. We demonstrate that the proposed intelligent water allocation schemes can significantly mitigate the negative impacts of inter-basin water transfer projects on the reliability, vulnerability and resilience of water supply to the demanding sectors in water-supplying basins. This study has a direct bearing on more intelligent and effectual water allocation management under various scenarios of inter-basin water transfer projects.

  8. Relation between ground water and surface water in the Hillsborough River basin, west-central Florida

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolansky, R.M.; Thompson, T.H.

    1987-01-01

    The relation between groundwater and surface water in the Hillsborough River basin was defined through the use of: seismic-reflection profiling along selected reaches of the Hillsborough River, and evaluation of streamflow, rainfall, groundwater levels, water quality, and geologic data. Major municipal well fields in the basin are Morris Bridge and Cypress Creek where an averages of 15.3 and 30.0 million gal/day (mgd), respectively, were pumped in 1980. Mean annual rainfall for the study area is 53.7 inches. Average rainfall for 1980, determined from eight rainfall stations, was 49.7 inches. Evapotranspiration, corrected for the 5% of the basin that is standing water, was 35.7 in/year. The principal geohydrologic units in the basin are the surficial aquifer, the intermediate aquifer and confining beds, the Upper Floridan aquifer, the middle confining unit, and the Lower Floridan aquifer. Total pumpage of groundwater in 1980 was 98.18 mgd. The surficial aquifer and the intermediate aquifer are not used for major groundwater supply in the basin. Continuous marine seismic-reflection data collected along selected reaches of the Hillsborough River were interpreted to define the riverbed profile, the thickness of surficial deposits, and the top of persistent limestone. Major areas of groundwater discharge near the Hillsborough River and its tributaries are the wetlands adjacent to the river between the Zephyrhills gaging stations and Fletcher Avenue and the wetlands adjacent to Cypress Creek. An estimated 20 mgd seeps upward from the Upper Floridan aquifer within those wetland areas. The runoff/sq mi is greater at the Zephyrhills station than at Morris Bridge. However, results of groundwater flow models and potentiometric-surface maps indicate that groundwater is flowing upward along the Hillsborough River between the Zephyrhills gage and the Morris Bridge gage. This upward leakage is lost to evapotranspiration. An aquifer test conducted in 1978 at the Morris Bridge well

  9. The main factors of water pollution in Danube River basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carmen Gasparotti

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available The paper proposed herewith aims to give an overview on the pollution along the Danube River. Water quality in Danube River basin (DRB is under a great pressure due to the diverse range of the human activities including large urban center, industrial, agriculture, transport and mining activities. The most important aspects of the water pollution are: organic, nutrient and microbial pollution, , hazardous substances, and hydro-morphological alteration. Analysis of the pressures on the Danube River showed that a large part of the Danube River is subject to multiple pressures and there are important risks for not reaching good ecological status and good chemical status of the water in the foreseeable future. In 2009, the evaluation based on the results of the Trans National Monitoring Network showed for the length of water bodies from the Danube River basin that 22% achieved good ecological status or ecological potential and 45% river water bodies achieved good chemical status. Another important issue is related to the policy of water pollution.

  10. Water Quality in the Tanana River Basin, Alaska, Water Years 2004-06

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moran, Edward H.

    2007-01-01

    OVERVIEW This report contains water-quality data collected from 84 sites in Tanana River basin during water years 2004 through 2006 (October 2003 through September 2006) as part of a cooperative study between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) Alaska Monitoring and Assessment Program (AKMAP), supported in part through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Office of Water, Cooperative Assistance Agreement X7-97078801. A broad range of chemical analyses are presented for 93 sets of samples collected at 59 tributaries to the Tanana River and at 25 locations along the mainstem. These data are to provide a means to assess baseline characteristics and establish indicators that are ecologically important, affordable, and relevant to society.

  11. Characterization of water quality for streams in the southern Yampa River basin, northwestern Colorado. Water Resources Investigation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Parker, R.S.

    1991-01-01

    Historically, the Yampa River basin in northwestern Colorado has been an area of coal-mining development. Coal mining generally has been developed in the southern part of the basin and at lower elevations. The purpose of the report is to characterize the stream water quality by summarizing selected major dissolved constituents for the streams that drain the southern part of the Yampa River basin. Characterization is done initially by providing a statistical summary of the constituents for individual water-quality sites in the study area. These statistical summaries can be used to help assess water-quality within specified stream reaches. Water-quality data are available for sites on most perennial streams in the study area, and these data provide the best information about the immediate stream reach. Water-quality data from all sites are combined into regions, and linear-regression equations between dissolved constituents and specific conductance are calculated. Such equations provide an estimate of the water-quality relations within these regions. The equations also indicate an increase in error as individual sites are combined

  12. A framework model for water-sharing among co-basin states of a river basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garg, N. K.; Azad, Shambhu

    2018-05-01

    A new framework model is presented in this study for sharing of water in a river basin using certain governing variables, in an effort to enhance the objectivity for a reasonable and equitable allocation of water among co-basin states. The governing variables were normalised to reduce the governing variables of different co-basin states of a river basin on same scale. In the absence of objective methods for evaluating the weights to be assigned to co-basin states for water allocation, a framework was conceptualised and formulated to determine the normalised weighting factors of different co-basin states as a function of the governing variables. The water allocation to any co-basin state had been assumed to be proportional to its struggle for equity, which in turn was assumed to be a function of the normalised discontent, satisfaction, and weighting factors of each co-basin state. System dynamics was used effectively to represent and solve the proposed model formulation. The proposed model was successfully applied to the Vamsadhara river basin located in the South-Eastern part of India, and a sensitivity analysis of the proposed model parameters was carried out to prove its robustness in terms of the proposed model convergence and validity over the broad spectrum values of the proposed model parameters. The solution converged quickly to a final allocation of 1444 million cubic metre (MCM) in the case of the Odisha co-basin state, and to 1067 MCM for the Andhra Pradesh co-basin state. The sensitivity analysis showed that the proposed model's allocation varied from 1584 MCM to 1336 MCM for Odisha state and from 927 to 1175 MCM for Andhra, depending upon the importance weights given to the governing variables for the calculation of the weighting factors. Thus, the proposed model was found to be very flexible to explore various policy options to arrive at a decision in a water sharing problem. It can therefore be effectively applied to any trans-boundary problem where

  13. Summary of Surface-Water Quality Data from the Illinois River Basin in Northeast Oklahoma, 1970-2007

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrews, William J.; Becker, Mark F.; Smith, S. Jerrod; Tortorelli, Robert L.

    2009-01-01

    The quality of streams in the Illinois River Basin of northeastern Oklahoma is potentially threatened by increased quantities of wastes discharged from increasing human populations, grazing of about 160,000 cattle, and confined animal feeding operations raising about 20 million chickens. Increasing numbers of humans and livestock in the basin contribute nutrients and bacteria to surface water and groundwater, causing greater than the typical concentrations of those constituents for this region. Consequences of increasing contributions of these substances can include increased algal growth (eutrophication) in streams and lakes; impairment of habitat for native aquatic animals, including desirable game fish species; impairment of drinking-water quality by sediments, turbidity, taste-and-odor causing chemicals, toxic algal compounds, and bacteria; and reduction in the aesthetic quality of the streams. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission, prepared this report to summarize the surface-water-quality data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey at five long-term surface-water-quality monitoring sites. The data summarized include major ions, nutrients, sediment, and fecal-indicator bacteria from the Illinois River Basin in Oklahoma for 1970 through 2007. General water chemistry, concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds, chlorophyll-a (an indicator of algal biomass), fecal-indicator bacteria counts, and sediment concentrations were similar among the five long-term monitoring sites in the Illinois River Basin in northeast Oklahoma. Most water samples were phosphorus-limited, meaning that they contained a smaller proportion of phosphorus, relative to nitrogen, than typically occurs in algal tissues. Greater degrees of nitrogen limitation occurred at three of the five sites which were sampled back to the 1970s, probably due to use of detergents containing greater concentrations of phosphorus than in subsequent

  14. Managing water quality under drought conditions in the Llobregat River Basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Momblanch, Andrea; Paredes-Arquiola, Javier; Munné, Antoni; Manzano, Andreu; Arnau, Javier; Andreu, Joaquín

    2015-01-15

    The primary effects of droughts on river basins include both depleted quantity and quality of the available water resources, which can render water resources useless for human needs and simultaneously damage the environment. Isolated water quality analyses limit the action measures that can be proposed. Thus, an integrated evaluation of water management and quality is warranted. In this study, a methodology consisting of two coordinated models is used to combine aspects of water resource allocation and water quality assessment. Water management addresses water allocation issues by considering the storage, transport and consumption elements. Moreover, the water quality model generates time series of concentrations for several pollutants according to the water quality of the runoff and the demand discharges. These two modules are part of the AQUATOOL decision support system shell for water resource management. This tool facilitates the analysis of the effects of water management and quality alternatives and scenarios on the relevant variables in a river basin. This paper illustrates the development of an integrated model for the Llobregat River Basin. The analysis examines the drought from 2004 to 2008, which is an example of a period when the water system was quantitative and qualitatively stressed. The performed simulations encompass a wide variety of water management and water quality measures; the results provide data for making informed decisions. Moreover, the results demonstrated the importance of combining these measures depending on the evolution of a drought event and the state of the water resources system. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Water resources of the Blackstone River basin, Massachusetts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Izbicki, John A.

    2000-01-01

    By 2020, demand for water in the Blackstone River Basin is expected to be 52 million gallons per day, one-third greater than the demand of 39 million gallons per day in 1980. Most of this increase is expected to be supplied by increased withdrawals of ground water from stratified-drift aquifers in the eastern and northern parts of the basin. Increased withdrawals from stratified-drift aquifers along the Blackstone River and in the western part of the basin also are expected.The eastern and northern parts of the Blackstone River Basin contain numerous small, discontinuous aquifers which, as a group, comprise the largest ground-water resource of the study area. Fifteen aquifers, ranging in areal extent from 0.57 to 4.3 square miles, were identified. These aquifers have maximum saturated thicknesses ranging from less than 10 feet to 105 feet and maximum transmissivities ranging from less than 1,000 to more than 20,000 feet squared per day. Yields of nine study aquifers were estimated by use of digital ground-water-flow models. Yields depend on the hydraulic properties of the aquifer and the amount of streamflow available for depletion by wells. If streamflow is maintained at 98-percent duration, long-term yields from the aquifers that would be expected to be equaled or exceeded 50 percent of the time range from 0.22 to 11 million gallons per day, and long-term yields equaled or exceeded 95 percent of the time range from 0.06 to 1.0 million gallons per day. If streamflow is maintained at 99.5-percent duration, long-term yields equaled or exceeded 50 percent of the time range from 0.22 to 11 million gallons per day, long-term yields equaled or exceeded 95 percent of the time range from 0.04 to 1.4 million gallons per day, and longterm yields equaled or exceeded 98 percent of the time range from 0.02 to 0.39 million gallons per day. Maintaining streamflow at 98-percent duration is a more restrictive criterion than maintaining streamflow at 99.5-percent duration. The

  16. Water resources inventory of Connecticut Part 2: Shetucket River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Mendall P.; Bednar, Gene A.; Thomas, Chester E.; Wilson, William E.

    1967-01-01

    The Shetucket River basin has a relatively abundant supply of water of generally good quality which is derived from precipitation that has fallen on the basin. Annual precipitation has ranged from about 30 inches to 75 inches and has averaged about 45 inches over a 35-year period. Approximately 20 inches of water are returned to the atmosphere each year by evaporation and transpiration; the remainder of the annual precipitation either flows overland to streams or percolates downward to the water table and ultimately flows out of the basin in the Shetucket River or as underflow through the deposits beneath. During the autumn and winter months precipitation normally is sufficient to cause a substantial increase in the amount of water stored underground and in surface reservoirs within the basins whereas in the summer most of the precipitation is lost through evaporation and transpiration, resulting in sharply reduced streamflow and lowered groundwater levels. The mean monthly storage of water in the basin on an average is 3.5 inches higher in November than it is in June.

  17. River Basin Water Assessment and Balance in fast developing areas in Viet Nam

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le, Van Chin; Ranzi, Roberto

    2010-05-01

    Uneven precipitation in space and time together with mismanagement and lack of knowledge about quantity and quality of water resources, have caused water shortages for water supply to large cities and irrigation areas in many regions of Viet Nam in the dry season. The rainy season (from June to October) counts for 80% of the total annual rainfall, while the water volume of dry season (from November to May of the following year) accounts for 20% only. Lack of sufficient water volumes occurs in some areas where the pressure of a fast increasing population (1.3% per year on average in the last decade in Viet Nam), intensive agricultural and industrial uses is one of the major problems facing sustainable development. For those areas an accurate water assessment and balance at the riverbasin scale is needed to manage the exploitation and appropriate use of water resources and plan future development. The paper describes the preliminary phase of the pilot development of the river basin water balance for the Day River Basin in the Red River delta in Viet Nam. The Day river basin includes a 7,897 km² area in the south-western part of the Red River in Viet Nam. The total population in the Day river basin exceeds 8 millions inhabitants, including the Hanoi capital, Nam Dinh and other large towns. Agricultural land covered 390,294 ha in 2000 and this area is going to be increased by 14,000 ha in 2010 due to land reclamation and expansion toward the sea. Agricultural uses exploit about 90% of surface water resources in the Day river basin but have to compete with industrial and civil needs in the recent years. At the background of the brief characterization of the Day River Basin, we concentrate on the application of a water balance model integrated by an assessment of water quality after consumptive uses for civil, agricultural and industrial needs to assist water management in the basin. In addition, future development scenarios are taken into account, considering less

  18. Ecosystem based river basin management planning in critical water catchment in Mongolia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tugjamba, Navchaa; Sereeter, Erdenetuul; Gonchigjav, Sarantuya

    2014-05-01

    Developing the ecosystem based adaptation strategies to maintain water security in critical water catchments in Mongolia would be very significant. It will be base by reducing the vulnerability. "Ecosystem Based adaptation" is quite a new term in Mongolia and the ecosystem approach is a strategy for the integrated management of land, water and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way. To strengthen equitable economic development, food security, climate resilience and protection of the environment, the implementation of sustainable river basin management in critical water catchments is challenging in Mongolia. The Ulz river basin is considered one of the critical water catchments due to the temperature has increased by in average 1.30Ñ over the period 1976 to 2011. It is more intense than the global warming rate (0.740C/100 years) and a bit higher than the warming rate over whole Mongolia as well. From long-term observations and measurements it is clear that Ulz River has low water in a period of 1970-1980 and since the end of 1980s and middle of 1990s there were dominated years of the flood. However, under the influence of the global warming, climate changes of Mongolia and continuation of drought years with low water since the end of 1990s until today river water was sharply fallen and dried up. For the last ten years rivers are dried up and annual mean run-off is less by 3-5 times from long term mean value. The Ulz is the transboundary river basin and taking its origin from Ikh and Baga Burd springs on territory of Norovlin soum of Khentii province that flows through Khentii and Dornod provinces to the northeast, crossing the state border it flows in Baruun Tari located in Tari Lake concavity in Russia. Based on the integrative baseline study on the 'The Ulz River Basin Environmental and Socioeconomic condition', ecosystem based river basin management was planned. 'Water demand Calculator 3' (WDC) software was used to

  19. Simulating Water Resource Disputes of Transboundary River: A Case Study of the Zhanghe River Basin, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuan, Liang; He, Weijun; Liao, Zaiyi; Mulugeta Degefu, Dagmawi; An, Min; Zhang, Zhaofang

    2018-01-01

    Water resource disputes within transboundary river basin has been hindering the sustainable use of water resources and efficient management of environment. The problem is characterized by a complex information feedback loop that involves socio-economic and environmental systems. This paper presents a system dynamics based model that can simulate the dynamics of water demand, water supply, water adequacy and water allocation instability within a river basin. It was used for a case study in the Zhanghe River basin of China. The base scenario has been investigated for the time period between 2000 and 2050. The result shows that the Chinese national government should change the water allocation scheme of downstream Zhanghe River established in 1989, more water need to be allocated to the downstream cities and the actual allocation should be adjusted to reflect the need associated with the socio-economic and environmental changes within the region, and system dynamics improves the understanding of concepts and system interactions by offering a comprehensive and integrated view of the physical, social, economic, environmental, and political systems.

  20. Investigating water budget dynamics in 18 river basins across the Tibetan Plateau through multiple datasets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Wenbin; Sun, Fubao; Li, Yanzhong; Zhang, Guoqing; Sang, Yan-Fang; Lim, Wee Ho; Liu, Jiahong; Wang, Hong; Bai, Peng

    2018-01-01

    The dynamics of basin-scale water budgets over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are not well understood nowadays due to the lack of in situ hydro-climatic observations. In this study, we investigate the seasonal cycles and trends of water budget components (e.g. precipitation P, evapotranspiration ET and runoff Q) in 18 TP river basins during the period 1982-2011 through the use of multi-source datasets (e.g. in situ observations, satellite retrievals, reanalysis outputs and land surface model simulations). A water balance-based two-step procedure, which considers the changes in basin-scale water storage on the annual scale, is also adopted to calculate actual ET. The results indicated that precipitation (mainly snowfall from mid-autumn to next spring), which are mainly concentrated during June-October (varied among different monsoons-impacted basins), was the major contributor to the runoff in TP basins. The P, ET and Q were found to marginally increase in most TP basins during the past 30 years except for the upper Yellow River basin and some sub-basins of Yalong River, which were mainly affected by the weakening east Asian monsoon. Moreover, the aridity index (PET/P) and runoff coefficient (Q/P) decreased slightly in most basins, which were in agreement with the warming and moistening climate in the Tibetan Plateau. The results obtained demonstrated the usefulness of integrating multi-source datasets to hydrological applications in the data-sparse regions. More generally, such an approach might offer helpful insights into understanding the water and energy budgets and sustainability of water resource management practices of data-sparse regions in a changing environment.

  1. Eco-hydrological Responses to Soil and Water Conservation in the Jinghe River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, H.; Jia, Y.; Qiu, Y.

    2011-12-01

    The Jinghe River Basin is one of the most serious soil erosion areas in the Loess Plateau. Many measures of soil and water conservation were applied in the basin. Terrestrial ecosystem model BIOME-BGC and distributed hydrological model WEP-L were used to build eco-hydrological model and verified by field observation and literature values. The model was applied in the Jinghe River Basin to analyze eco-hydrological responses under the scenarios of vegetation type change due to soil and water conservation polices. Four scenarios were set under the measures of conversion of cropland to forest, forestation on bare land, forestation on slope wasteland and planting grass on bare land. Analysis results show that the soil and water conservation has significant effects on runoff and the carbon cycle in the Jinghe River Basin: the average annual runoff would decrease and the average annual NPP and carbon storage would increase. Key words: soil and water conservation; conversion of cropland to forest; eco-hydrology response; the Jinghe River Basin

  2. Hydrological inferences through morphometric analysis of lower Kosi river basin of India for water resource management based on remote sensing data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rai, Praveen Kumar; Chandel, Rajeev Singh; Mishra, Varun Narayan; Singh, Prafull

    2018-03-01

    Satellite based remote sensing technology has proven to be an effectual tool in analysis of drainage networks, study of surface morphological features and their correlation with groundwater management prospect at basin level. The present study highlights the effectiveness and advantage of remote sensing and GIS-based analysis for quantitative and qualitative assessment of flood plain region of lower Kosi river basin based on morphometric analysis. In this study, ASTER DEM is used to extract the vital hydrological parameters of lower Kosi river basin in ARC GIS software. Morphometric parameters, e.g., stream order, stream length, bifurcation ratio, drainage density, drainage frequency, drainage texture, form factor, circularity ratio, elongation ratio, etc., have been calculated for the Kosi basin and their hydrological inferences were discussed. Most of the morphometric parameters such as bifurcation ratio, drainage density, drainage frequency, drainage texture concluded that basin has good prospect for water management program for various purposes and also generated data base that can provide scientific information for site selection of water-harvesting structures and flood management activities in the basin. Land use land cover (LULC) of the basin were also prepared from Landsat data of 2005, 2010 and 2015 to assess the change in dynamic of the basin and these layers are very noteworthy for further watershed prioritization.

  3. Quantifying Changes in Accessible Water in the Colorado River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castle, S.; Thomas, B.; Reager, J. T.; Swenson, S. C.; Famiglietti, J. S.

    2013-12-01

    The Colorado River Basin (CRB) in the western United States is heavily managed yet remains one of the most over-allocated rivers in the world providing water across seven US states and Mexico. Future water management strategies in the CRB have employed land surface models to forecast discharges; such approaches have focused on discharge estimates to meet allocation requirements yet ignore groundwater abstractions to meet water demands. In this analysis, we illustrate the impact of changes in accessible water, which we define as the conjunctive use of both surface water reservoir storage and groundwater storage, using remote sensing observations to explore sustainable water management strategies in the CRB. We employ high resolution Landsat Thematic Mapper satellite data to detect changes in reservoir storage in the two largest reservoirs within the CRB, Lakes Mead and Powell, and the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) terrestrial water storage anomalies to isolate changes in basin-wide groundwater storage in the Upper and Lower CRB from October 2003 to December 2012. Our approach quantifies reservoir and groundwater storage within the CRB using remote sensing to provide new information to water managers to sustainably and conjunctively manage accessible water.

  4. Water Accounting Plus for Water Resources Reporting and River Basin Planning

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Karimi, P.

    2014-01-01

    This thesis introduces Water Accounting Plus (WA+), which is a new framework designed to provide explicit spatial information on water depletion and net withdrawal processes in complex river basins. WA+ is a simple, yet comprehensive and understandable water accounting framework that provides a

  5. Assessing Climate Change Impacts on Water Allocation in Karkheh River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davtalabsabet, R.; Madani, K.; Massah, A.; Farajzadeh, M.

    2013-12-01

    Rahman Davtalab1, 2, Kaveh Madani2, Alireza Massah3, Manouchehr Farajzadeh1 1Department of Geography, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran 2Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA 3Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, College of Abureyhan , University of Tehran, Iran Abstract Karkheh river basin, with an area of 50,000 km2 is located, in southwest Iran. This basin supplies water for major agricultural activities and large hydropower production in five Iranian provinces with the total population of four million people. Due to development and population growth, this large trans-boundary basin is incapable of meeting the water demands of the five riparian provinces, causing water allocation conflicts in the region. The situation has been exacerbated by the frequent droughts and is expected to worsen further by climate change. This study evaluates the impacts of climate change on water supply reliability and allocation in this basin. First, outputs of several General Circulation Models (GCMs) under different emission scenarios for different future time horizons are statistically downscaled. Then multiple river flow time series (RFTS) are generated by feeding GCM outputs into a HEC-HMS model, using the Soil Moisture Accounting (SMA). Given a wide range of variations in GCM outputs and the resulting RFTS, the Ward's method is used to identity different RFTS clusters. Clustering helps with increasing the ability of the modeler to test a range of possible future conditions while reducing the redundancies in input data. Karkheh river basin's ability to meet the growing demand under decreasing flows is evaluated for each RFTS cluster representative. Results indicate that Karkheh river flow might decrease by 50% toward the end of the century. This would decrease the reliability of agricultural water deliveries from 78-95% to less than 50%. While currently hydropower dams can only

  6. A Water Resources Planning Tool for the Jordan River Basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christopher Bonzi

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available The Jordan River basin is subject to extreme and increasing water scarcity. Management of transboundary water resources in the basin is closely intertwined with political conflicts in the region. We have jointly developed with stakeholders and experts from the riparian countries, a new dynamic consensus database and—supported by hydro-climatological model simulations and participatory scenario exercises in the GLOWA (Global Change and the Hydrological Cycle Jordan River project—a basin-wide Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP tool, which will allow testing of various unilateral and multilateral adaptation options under climate and socio-economic change. We present its validation and initial (climate and socio-economic scenario analyses with this budget and allocation tool, and invite further adaptation and application of the tool for specific Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM problems.

  7. Source Apportionment of Annual Water Pollution Loads in River Basins by Remote-Sensed Land Cover Classification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yi Wang

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available In this study, in order to determine the efficiency of estimating annual water pollution loads from remote-sensed land cover classification and ground-observed hydrological data, an empirical model was investigated. Remote sensing data imagery from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer were applied to an 11 year (1994–2004 water quality dataset for 30 different rivers in Japan. Six water quality indicators—total nitrogen (TN, total phosphorus (TP, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD, chemical oxygen demand (COD, and dissolved oxygen (DO—were examined by using the observed river water quality data and generated land cover map. The TN, TP, BOD, COD, and DO loads were estimated for the 30 river basins using the empirical model. Calibration (1994–1999 and validation (2000–2004 results showed that the proposed simulation technique was useful for predicting water pollution loads in the river basins. We found that vegetation land cover had a larger impact on TP export into all rivers. Urban areas had a very small impact on DO export into rivers, but a relatively large impact on BOD and TN export. The results indicate that the application of land cover data generated from the remote-sensed imagery could give a useful interpretation about the river water quality.

  8. The Spatial Distributions and Variations of Water Environmental Risk in Yinma River Basin, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di, Hui; Liu, Xingpeng; Zhang, Jiquan; Tong, Zhijun; Ji, Meichen

    2018-03-15

    Water environmental risk is the probability of the occurrence of events caused by human activities or the interaction of human activities and natural processes that will damage a water environment. This study proposed a water environmental risk index (WERI) model to assess the water environmental risk in the Yinma River Basin based on hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and regional management ability indicators in a water environment. The data for each indicator were gathered from 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015 to assess the spatial and temporal variations in water environmental risk using particle swarm optimization and the analytic hierarchy process (PSO-AHP) method. The results showed that the water environmental risk in the Yinma River Basin decreased from 2000 to 2015. The risk level of the water environment was high in Changchun, while the risk levels in Yitong and Yongji were low. The research methods provide information to support future decision making by the risk managers in the Yinma River Basin, which is in a high-risk water environment. Moreover, water environment managers could reduce the risks by adjusting the indicators that affect water environmental risks.

  9. Hydrological forecast of maximal water level in Lepenica river basin and flood control measures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milanović Ana

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Lepenica river basin territory has became axis of economic and urban development of Šumadija district. However, considering Lepenica River with its tributaries, and their disordered river regime, there is insufficient of water for water supply and irrigation, while on the other hand, this area is suffering big flood and torrent damages (especially Kragujevac basin. The paper presents flood problems in the river basin, maximum water level forecasts, and flood control measures carried out until now. Some of the potential solutions, aiming to achieve the effective flood control, are suggested as well.

  10. Quantification of water resources uncertainties in the Luvuvhu sub-basin of the Limpopo river basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oosthuizen, N.; Hughes, D.; Kapangaziwiri, E.; Mwenge Kahinda, J.; Mvandaba, V.

    2018-06-01

    In the absence of historical observed data, models are generally used to describe the different hydrological processes and generate data and information that will inform management and policy decision making. Ideally, any hydrological model should be based on a sound conceptual understanding of the processes in the basin and be backed by quantitative information for the parameterization of the model. However, these data are often inadequate in many sub-basins, necessitating the incorporation of the uncertainty related to the estimation process. This paper reports on the impact of the uncertainty related to the parameterization of the Pitman monthly model and water use data on the estimates of the water resources of the Luvuvhu, a sub-basin of the Limpopo river basin. The study reviews existing information sources associated with the quantification of water balance components and gives an update of water resources of the sub-basin. The flows generated by the model at the outlet of the basin were between 44.03 Mm3 and 45.48 Mm3 per month when incorporating +20% uncertainty to the main physical runoff generating parameters. The total predictive uncertainty of the model increased when water use data such as small farm and large reservoirs and irrigation were included. The dam capacity data was considered at an average of 62% uncertainty mainly as a result of the large differences between the available information in the national water resources database and that digitised from satellite imagery. Water used by irrigated crops was estimated with an average of about 50% uncertainty. The mean simulated monthly flows were between 38.57 Mm3 and 54.83 Mm3 after the water use uncertainty was added. However, it is expected that the uncertainty could be reduced by using higher resolution remote sensing imagery.

  11. Constraining the dynamics of the water budget at high spatial resolution in the world's water towers using models and remote sensing data; Snake River Basin, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watson, K. A.; Masarik, M. T.; Flores, A. N.

    2016-12-01

    Mountainous, snow-dominated basins are often referred to as the water towers of the world because they store precipitation in seasonal snowpacks, which gradually melt and provide water supplies to downstream communities. Yet significant uncertainties remain in terms of quantifying the stores and fluxes of water in these regions as well as the associated energy exchanges. Constraining these stores and fluxes is crucial for advancing process understanding and managing these water resources in a changing climate. Remote sensing data are particularly important to these efforts due to the remoteness of these landscapes and high spatial variability in water budget components. We have developed a high resolution regional climate dataset extending from 1986 to the present for the Snake River Basin in the northwestern USA. The Snake River Basin is the largest tributary of the Columbia River by volume and a critically important basin for regional economies and communities. The core of the dataset was developed using a regional climate model, forced by reanalysis data. Specifically the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model was used to dynamically downscale the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) over the region at 3 km horizontal resolution for the period of interest. A suite of satellite remote sensing products provide independent, albeit uncertain, constraint on a number of components of the water and energy budgets for the region across a range of spatial and temporal scales. For example, GRACE data are used to constrain basinwide terrestrial water storage and MODIS products are used to constrain the spatial and temporal evolution of evapotranspiration and snow cover. The joint use of both models and remote sensing products allows for both better understanding of water cycle dynamics and associated hydrometeorologic processes, and identification of limitations in both the remote sensing products and regional climate simulations.

  12. Optimally managing water resources in large river basins for an uncertain future

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edwin A. Roehl, Jr.; Conrads, Paul

    2014-01-01

    Managers of large river basins face conflicting needs for water resources such as wildlife habitat, water supply, wastewater assimilative capacity, flood control, hydroelectricity, and recreation. The Savannah River Basin for example, has experienced three major droughts since 2000 that resulted in record low water levels in its reservoirs, impacting local economies for years. The Savannah River Basin’s coastal area contains municipal water intakes and the ecologically sensitive freshwater tidal marshes of the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. The Port of Savannah is the fourth busiest in the United States, and modifications to the harbor have caused saltwater to migrate upstream, reducing the freshwater marsh’s acreage more than 50 percent since the 1970s. There is a planned deepening of the harbor that includes flow-alteration features to minimize further migration of salinity. The effectiveness of the flow-alteration features will only be known after they are constructed. One of the challenges of basin management is the optimization of water use through ongoing development, droughts, and climate change. This paper describes a model of the Savannah River Basin designed to continuously optimize regulated flow to meet prioritized objectives set by resource managers and stakeholders. The model was developed from historical data by using machine learning, making it more accurate and adaptable to changing conditions than traditional models. The model is coupled to an optimization routine that computes the daily flow needed to most efficiently meet the water-resource management objectives. The model and optimization routine are packaged in a decision support system that makes it easy for managers and stakeholders to use. Simulation results show that flow can be regulated to significantly reduce salinity intrusions in the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge while conserving more water in the reservoirs. A method for using the model to assess the effectiveness of the

  13. Research on monitoring system of water resources in Shiyang River Basin based on Multi-agent

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, T. H.; Yin, Z.; Song, Y. Z.

    2012-11-01

    The Shiyang River Basin is the most populous, economy relatively develop, the highest degree of development and utilization of water resources, water conflicts the most prominent, ecological environment problems of the worst hit areas in Hexi inland river basin in Gansu province. the contradiction between people and water is aggravated constantly in the basin. This text combines multi-Agent technology with monitoring system of water resource, the establishment of a management center, telemetry Agent Federation, as well as the communication network between the composition of the Shiyang River Basin water resources monitoring system. By taking advantage of multi-agent system intelligence and communications coordination to improve the timeliness of the basin water resources monitoring.

  14. Research on monitoring system of water resources in Shiyang River Basin based on Multi-agent

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhao, T h; Yin, Z; Song, Y Z

    2012-01-01

    The Shiyang River Basin is the most populous, economy relatively develop, the highest degree of development and utilization of water resources, water conflicts the most prominent, ecological environment problems of the worst hit areas in Hexi inland river basin in Gansu province. the contradiction between people and water is aggravated constantly in the basin. This text combines multi-Agent technology with monitoring system of water resource, the establishment of a management center, telemetry Agent Federation, as well as the communication network between the composition of the Shiyang River Basin water resources monitoring system. By taking advantage of multi-agent system intelligence and communications coordination to improve the timeliness of the basin water resources monitoring.

  15. Impact of Water Scarcity on the Fenhe River Basin and Mitigation Strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weiwei Shao

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This study produced a drought map for the Fenhe River basin covering the period from 150 BC to 2012 using regional historical drought records. Based on meteorological and hydrological features, the characteristics and causes of water scarcity in the Fenhe River basin were examined, along with their impact on the national economy and ecological environment. The effects of water scarcity in the basin on the national economy were determined from agricultural, industrial, and domestic perspectives. The impact on aquatic ecosystems was ascertained through an evolution trend analysis of surface water systems, including rivers, wetlands, and slope ecosystems, and subterranean water systems, including groundwater and karst springs. As a result of these analyses, strategies are presented for coping with water scarcity in this basin, including engineering countermeasures, such as the construction of a water network in Shanxi, and the non-engineering approach of groundwater resource preservation. These comprehensive coping strategies are proposed with the aim of assisting the prevention and control of water scarcity in the arid and semi-arid areas of China.

  16. Impact of Climate Change on Water Resources in the Guadalquivir River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeste Donaire, P.; García-Valdecasas-Ojeda, M.; Góngora García, T. M.; Gámiz-Fortis, S. R.; Castro-Diez, Y.; Esteban-Parra, M. J.

    2017-12-01

    Climate change has lead to a decrease of precipitation and an increase of temperature in the Mediterranean Basin during the last fifty years. These changes will be more intense over the course of the 21thcentury according to global climate projections. As a consequence, water resources are expected to decrease, particularly in the Guadalquivir River Basin. This study focuses on the hydrological response of the Guadalquivir River Basin to the climate change. For this end, firstly, the implementation of the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model in the Basin was carried out. The VIC model was calibrated with a dataset of daily precipitation, temperature and streamflow for the period 1990-2000. Precipitation and temperature data were extracted from SPAIN02, a dataset that covers the Peninsular Spain at 0.11º of spatial resolution. Streamflow data were gathered for a representative subset of gauging stations in the basin. These data were provided by the Spanish Center for Public Work Experimentation and Study (CEDEX). Subsequently, the VIC model was validated for the period 2000-2005 in order to verify that the model outputs fit well with the observational data. After the validation of the VIC model for present climate, secondly, the effect of climate change on the Guadalquivir River Basin will be analyzed by developing several simulations of the streamflow for future climate. Precipitation and temperature data will be obtained in this case from future projections coming from high resolution (at 0.088º) simulations carried out with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model for the Iberian Peninsula. These last simulations will be driven under two different Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios, RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 for the periods 2021-50 and 2071-2100. The first results of this work show that the VIC model outputs are in good agreement with the observed streamflow for both the calibration and validation periods. In the context of climate

  17. seasonal variation in water quality of orle river basin, sw nigeria.

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    LUCY

    The seasonal variation of water quality of Orle River and its tributatries in S.W. Nigeria was investigated forthnightly or two ... KEYWORD: water quality, river basin, wet and dry seasons; pollution. ..... Environmental Modeling and Software,.

  18. Modeling discharge and water quality in a temporary river basin using SWAT model: A case-study on the Ardila river

    OpenAIRE

    Durão, Anabela; Serafim, António; Brito, David; Morais, Manuela

    2012-01-01

    Temporary rivers have a hydrologic variability, which are characterized by long drought periods and short floods events, that influences water quality. Analysis of river flow generated in the Ardila river basin (temporary regime) using precipitation data (from 1931 to 2003) from a weather station, located within the basin, at the Portuguese side (which represents only 22% of the study area) showed a discrepancy between the modeled and observed runoff since 1981. It was also revealed a satisfa...

  19. Probabilistic evaluation of the water footprint of a river basin: Accounting method and case study in the Segura River Basin, Spain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pellicer-Martínez, Francisco; Martínez-Paz, José Miguel

    2018-06-15

    In the current study a method for the probabilistic accounting of the water footprint (WF) at the river basin level has been proposed and developed. It is based upon the simulation of the anthropised water cycle and combines a hydrological model and a decision support system. The methodology was carried out in the Segura River Basin (SRB) in South-eastern Spain, and four historical scenarios were evaluated (1998-2010-2015-2027). The results indicate that the WF of the river basin reached 5581 Mm 3 /year on average in the base scenario, with a high variability. The green component (3231 Mm 3 /year), mainly generated by rainfed crops (62%), was responsible for the great variability of the WF. The blue WF (1201 Mm 3 /year) was broken down into surface water (56%), renewable groundwater (20%) and non-renewable groundwater (24%), and it showed the generalized overexploitation of aquifers. Regarding the grey component (1150 Mm 3 /year), the study reveals that wastewater, especially phosphates (90%), was the main culprit producing water pollution in surface water bodies. The temporal evolution of the four scenarios highlighted the successfulness of the water treatment plans developed in the river basin, with a sharp decrease in the grey WF, as well as the stability of the WF and its three components in the future. So, the accounting of the three components of the WF in a basin was integrated into the management of water resources, it being possible to predict their evolution, their spatial characterisation and even their assessment in probabilistic terms. Then, the WF was incorporated into the set of indicators that usually is used in water resources management and hydrological planning. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. A market-based approach to share water and benefits in transboundary river basins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arjoon, Diane; Tilmant, Amaury; Herrmann, Markus

    2016-04-01

    The equitable sharing of benefits in transboundary river basins is necessary to reach a consensus on basin-wide development and management activities. Benefit sharing arrangements must be collaboratively developed to be perceived as efficient, as well as equitable, in order to be considered acceptable to all riparian countries. The current literature falls short of providing practical, institutional arrangements that ensure maximum economic welfare as well as collaboratively developed methods for encouraging the equitable sharing of benefits. In this study we define an institutional arrangement that distributes welfare in a river basin by maximizing the economic benefits of water use and then sharing these benefits in an equitable manner using a method developed through stakeholder involvement. In this methodology (i) a hydro-economic model is used to efficiently allocate scarce water resources to water users in a transboundary basin, (ii) water users are obliged to pay for water, and (iii) the total of these water charges are equitably redistributed as monetary compensation to users. The amount of monetary compensation, for each water user, is determined through the application of a sharing method developed by stakeholder input, based on a stakeholder vision of fairness, using an axiomatic approach. The whole system is overseen by a river basin authority. The methodology is applied to the Eastern Nile River basin as a case study. The technique ensures economic efficiency and may lead to more equitable solutions in the sharing of benefits in transboundary river basins because the definition of the sharing rule is not in question, as would be the case if existing methods, such as game theory, were applied, with their inherent definitions of fairness.

  1. Water pollution control in river basin by interactive fuzzy interval multiobjective programming

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chang, N.B.; Chen, H.W. [National Cheng-Kung Univ., Tainan (Taiwan, Province of China). Dept. of Environmental Engineering; Shaw, D.G.; Yang, C.H. [Academia Sinica, Taipei (Taiwan, Province of China). Inst. of Economics

    1997-12-01

    The potential conflict between protection of water quality and economic development by different uses of land within river basins is a common problem in regional planning. Many studies have applied multiobjective decision analysis under uncertainty to problems of this kind. This paper presents the interactive fuzzy interval multiobjective mixed integer programming (IFIMOMIP) model to evaluate optimal strategies of wastewater treatment levels within a river system by considering the uncertainties in decision analysis. The interactive fuzzy interval multiobjective mixed integer programming approach is illustrated in a case study for the evaluation of optimal wastewater treatment strategies for water pollution control in a river basin. In particular, it demonstrates how different types of uncertainty in a water pollution control system can be quantified and combined through the use of interval numbers and membership functions. The results indicate that such an approach is useful for handling system complexity and generating more flexible policies for water quality management in river basins.

  2. River levels derived with CryoSat-2 SAR data classification - A case study in the Mekong River Basin

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Boergens, Eva; Nielsen, Karina; Andersen, Ole Baltazar

    2017-01-01

    becomes smaller. Therefore, we developed a classification approach to divide the observations into water and land returns based solely on the data. The classification is done with an unsupervised classification algorithm, and it is based on features derived from the SAR and range-integrated power (RIP......) waveforms. After the classification, classes representing water and land are identified. Better results are obtained when the Mekong River Basin is divided into different geographical regions: upstream, middle stream, and downstream. The measurements classified as water are used in a next step to estimate...... water levels for each crossing over a river in the Mekong River network. The resulting water levels are validated and compared to gauge data, Envisat data, and CryoSat-2 water levels derived with a land-water mask. The CryoSat-2 water levels derived with the classification lead to more valid...

  3. Water utilization in the Snake River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoyt, William Glenn; Stabler, Herman

    1935-01-01

    The purpose of this report is to describe the present utilization of the water in the Snake River Basin with special reference to irrigation and power and to present essential facts concerning possible future utilization. No detailed plan of development is suggested. An attempt has been made, however, to discuss features that should be taken into account in the formulation of a definite plan of development. On account of the size of the area involved, which is practically as large as the New England States and New York combined, and the magnitude of present development and future possibilities, considerable details have of necessity been omitted. The records of stream flow in the basin are contained in the reports on surface water supply published annually by the Geological Survey. These records are of the greatest value in connection with the present and future regulation and utilization of the basin's largest asset water.

  4. Forecasting domestic water demand in the Haihe river basin under changing environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xiao-Jun; Zhang, Jian-Yun; Shahid, Shamsuddin; Xie, Yu-Xuan; Zhang, Xu

    2018-02-01

    A statistical model has been developed for forecasting domestic water demand in Haihe river basin of China due to population growth, technological advances and climate change. Historical records of domestic water use, climate, population and urbanization are used for the development of model. An ensemble of seven general circulation models (GCMs) namely, BCC-CSM1-1, BNU-ESM, CNRM-CM5, GISS-E2-R, MIROC-ESM, PI-ESM-LR, MRI-CGCM3 were used for the projection of climate and the changes in water demand in the Haihe River basin under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5. The results showed that domestic water demand in different sub-basins of the Haihe river basin will gradually increase due to continuous increase of population and rise in temperature. It is projected to increase maximum 136.22 × 108 m3 by GCM BNU-ESM and the minimum 107.25 × 108 m3 by CNRM-CM5 in 2030. In spite of uncertainty in projection, it can be remarked that climate change and population growth would cause increase in water demand and consequently, reduce the gap between water supply and demand, which eventually aggravate the condition of existing water stress in the basin. Water demand management should be emphasized for adaptation to ever increasing water demand and mitigation of the impacts of environmental changes.

  5. The Influence of Water Conservancy Projects on River Network Connectivity, A Case of Luanhe River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Z.; Li, C.

    2017-12-01

    Connectivity is one of the most important characteristics of a river, which is derived from the natural water cycle and determine the renewability of river water. The water conservancy project can change the connectivity of natural river networks, and directly threaten the health and stability of the river ecosystem. Based on the method of Dendritic Connectivity Index (DCI), the impacts from sluices and dams on the connectivity of river network are deeply discussed herein. DCI quantitatively evaluate the connectivity of river networks based on the number of water conservancy facilities, the connectivity of fish and geographical location. The results show that the number of water conservancy facilities and their location in the river basin have a great influence on the connectivity of the river network. With the increase of the number of sluices and dams, DCI is decreasing gradually, but its decreasing range is becoming smaller and smaller. The dam located in the middle of the river network cuts the upper and lower parts of the whole river network, and destroys the connectivity of the river network more seriously. Therefore, this method can be widely applied to the comparison of different alternatives during planning of river basins and then provide a reference for the site selection and design of the water conservancy project and facility concerned.

  6. Simulation of blue and green water resources in the Wei River basin, China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Z. Xu

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The Wei River is the largest tributary of the Yellow River in China and it is suffering from water scarcity and water pollution. In order to quantify the amount of water resources in the study area, a hydrological modelling approach was applied by using SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool, calibrated and validated with SUFI-2 (Sequential Uncertainty Fitting program based on river discharge in the Wei River basin (WRB. Sensitivity and uncertainty analyses were also performed to improve the model performance. Water resources components of blue water flow, green water flow and green water storage were estimated at the HRU (Hydrological Response Unit scales. Water resources in HRUs were also aggregated to sub-basins, river catchments, and then city/region scales for further analysis. The results showed that most parts of the WRB experienced a decrease in blue water resources between the 1960s and 2000s, with a minimum value in the 1990s. The decrease is particularly significant in the most southern part of the WRB (Guanzhong Plain, one of the most important grain production basements in China. Variations of green water flow and green water storage were relatively small on the spatial and temporal dimensions. This study provides strategic information for optimal utilization of water resources and planning of cultivating seasons in the Wei River basin.

  7. Developing a Science-based River Basin Management Plan for the Kharaa River Basin, Mongolia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karthe, Daniel

    2013-04-01

    management. In the past, shared and unclear responsibilities, a spatial mismatch between administrative and river basin boundaries, the lack of relevant information, financial resources and implementation capacity resulted in an uncoordinated and partially uncontrolled exploitation of water resources (Livingstone et al. 2009; Horlemann et al. 2012). The recent decision of the Mongolian government to develop river basin management plans and to provide for their implementation through river basin councils and administrations, and the comparatively good data availability resulting from the R&D project, resulted in the decision to jointly develop a science-based river basin management plan for the KRB as a model region for other river basins of the country. References: Hartwig, M.; Theuring, P.; Rode, M. & Borchardt, D. (2012): Suspended sediments in the Kharaa River catchment (Mongolia) and its impact on hyporheic zone functions. Environmental Earth Sciences 65(5):1535-1546. Hofmann, J.; Venohr, M.; Behrendt, H. & Opitz, D. (2010): Integrated Water Resources Management in Central Asia: Nutrient and heavy metal emissions and their relevance for the Kharaa River Basin, Mongolia. Water Science and Technology 62(2):353-363. Horlemann, L. & Dombrowsky, I. (2012): Institutionalising IWRM in developing and transition countries: the case of Mongolia. Environmental Earth Sciences 65(5):1547-1559. Karthe, D.; Borchardt, D. & Hufert, F. (2012a): Implementing IWRM: Experiences from a Central Asian Model Region. In: Pandya, A.B. (Ed.) (2012): India Water Week 2012. Water, Energy and Food Security: Call for Solutions, Part A3, pp. 1-15. Delhi: Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India. Karthe, D.; Sigel, K.; Scharaw, B. et al. (2012b): Towards an integrated concept for monitoring and improvements in water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in urban Mongolia. Water & Risk 20:1-5. Karthe, D.; Malsy, M.; Kopp, B. & Minderlein, S. (2013): Assessing Water Availibility and its Drivers in

  8. [Health assessment of river ecosystem in Haihe River Basin, China].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hao, Li-Xia; Sun, Ran-Hao; Chen, Li-Ding

    2014-10-01

    With the development of economy, the health of river ecosystem is severely threatened because of the increasing effects of human activities on river ecosystem. In this paper, the authors assessed the river ecosystem health in aspects of chemical integrity and biological integrity, using the criterion in water quality, nutrient, and benthic macroinvertebrates of 73 samples in Haihe River Basin. The research showed that the health condition of river ecosystem in Haihe River Basin was bad overall since the health situation of 72. 6% of the samples was "extremely bad". At the same time, the health situation in Haihe River Basin exhibited obvious regional gathering effect. We also found that the river water quality was closely related to human activities, and the eutrophication trend of water body was evident in Haihe River Basin. The biodiversity of the benthic animal was low and lack of clean species in the basin. The indicators such as ammonia nitrogen, total nitrogen and total phosphorus were the key factors that affected the river ecosystem health in Haihe River Basin, so the government should start to curb the deterioration of river ecosystem health by controlling these nutrients indicators. For river ecosystem health assessment, the multi-factors comprehensive evaluation method was superior to single-factor method.

  9. Water-quality assessment of the lower Illinois River Basin; environmental setting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warner, Kelly L.

    1998-01-01

    The lower Illinois River Basin (LIRB) encompasses 18,000 square miles of central and western Illinois. Historical and recent information from Federal, State, and local agencies describing the physiography, population, land use, soils, climate, geology, streamflow, habitat, ground water, water use, and aquatic biology is summarized to describe the environmental setting of the LIRB. The LIRB is in the Till Plains Section of the Central Lowland physiographic province. The basin is characterized by flat topography, which is dissected by the Illinois River. The drainage pattern of the LIRB has been shaped by many bedrock and glacial geologic processes. Erosion prior to and during Pleistocene time created wide and deep bedrock valleys. The thickest deposits and most major aquifers are in buried bedrock valleys. The Wisconsinan glaciation, which bisects the northern half of the LIRB, affects the distribution and characteristics of glacial deposits in the basin. Agriculture is the largest land use and forested land is the second largest land use in the LIRB. The major urban areas are near Peoria, Springfield, Decatur, and Bloomington-Normal. Soil type and distribution affect the amount of soil erosion, which results in sedimentation of lakes and reservoirs in the basin. Rates of soil erosion of up to 2 percent per year of farmland soil have been measured. Many of the 300 reservoirs, lakes, and wetlands are disappearing because of sedimentation resulting from agriculture activities, levee building, and urbanization. Sedimentation and the destruction of habitat appreciably affect the ecosystem. The Illinois River is a large river-floodplain ecosystem where biological productivity is enhanced by annual flood pulses that advance and retreat over the flood plain and temporarily expand backwater and flood-plain lakes. Ground-water discharge to streams affects the flow and water quality of the streams. The water budget of several subbasins show variability in ground-water

  10. Hotspots within the Transboundary Selenga River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kasimov, Nikolay; Lychagin, Mikhail; Chalov, Sergey

    2013-04-01

    Gathering the efficient information on water pollution of transboundary river systems remains the crucial task in international water management, environmental pollution control and prevention health problems. Countries, located in the low parts of the river basins, depend on the water strategy and water use in the adjacent countries, located upstream. Surface water pollution is considered to be the most serious problem, facing the above-mentioned countries. Large efforts in terms of field measurement campaigns and (numerical) transport modeling are then typically needed for relevant pollution prediction and prevention. Russian rivers take inflow from 8 neighboring countries. Among them there are 2 developing economies - People Republic of China and Mongolia, which are located in water-scarce areas and thus solve their water-related problems through the consumption of international water. Negative change of water runoff and water quality in the foreign part of transboundary river is appeared inside Russian territory with more or less delay. The transboundary river system of Selenga is particularly challenging, being the biggest tributary of Lake Baikal which is the largest freshwater reservoir in the world. Selenga River contributes about 50 % of the total inflow into Baikal. It originates in the mountainous part of Mongolia and then drains into Russia. There are numerous industries and agricultural activities within the Selenga drainage basin that affect the water quality of the river system. Absence of the single monitoring system and predictive tools for pollutants transport in river system requires large efforts in understanding sources of water pollution and implemented data on the relevant numerical systems for the pollution prediction and prevention. Special investigations in the Selenga river basin (Mongolia and Russia) were done to assess hot spots and understand state-of-the art in sediment load, water chemistry and hydrobiology of transboundary systems

  11. Hydrologic data for the Walker River Basin, Nevada and California, water years 2010–14

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pavelko, Michael T.; Orozco, Erin L.

    2015-12-10

    Walker Lake is a threatened and federally protected desert terminal lake in western Nevada. To help protect the desert terminal lake and the surrounding watershed, the Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Geological Survey have been studying the hydrology of the Walker River Basin in Nevada and California since 2004. Hydrologic data collected for this study during water years 2010 through 2014 included groundwater levels, surface-water discharge, water chemistry, and meteorological data. Groundwater levels were measured in wells, and surface-water discharge was measured in streams, canals, and ditches. Water samples for chemical analyses were collected from wells, streams, springs, and Walker Lake. Chemical analyses included determining physical properties; the concentrations of major ions, nutrients, trace metals, dissolved gases, and radionuclides; and ratios of the stable isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen. Walker Lake water properties and meteorological parameters were monitored from a floating platform on the lake. Data collection methods followed established U.S. Geological Survey guidelines, and all data are stored in the National Water Information System database. All of the data are presented in this report and accessible on the internet, except multiple-depth Walker Lake water-chemistry data, which are available only in this report.

  12. Climate Change Impacts on Water Availability and Use in the Limpopo River Basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tingju Zhu

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyzes the effects of climate change on water availability and use in the Limpopo River Basin of Southern Africa, using a linked modeling system consisting of a semi-distributed global hydrological model and the Water Simulation Module (WSM of the International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT. Although the WSM simulates all major water use sectors, the focus of this study is to evaluate the implications of climate change on irrigation water supply in the catchments of the Limpopo River Basin within the four riparian countries: Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. The analysis found that water resources of the Limpopo River Basin are already stressed under today’s climate conditions. Projected water infrastructure and management interventions are expected to improve the situation by 2050 if current climate conditions continue into the future. However, under the climate change scenarios studied here, water supply availability is expected to worsen considerably by 2050. Assessing hydrological impacts of climate change is crucial given that expansion of irrigated areas has been postulated as a key adaptation strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa. Such expansion will need to take into account future changes in water availability in African river basins.

  13. Santa Lucia River basin. Development of water resources

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1970-01-01

    The main objective of this study was to orient the development of water resources of the Santa Lucia River basin to maximum benefit in accordance with the priorities established by Government in relation to the National Development Plans

  14. Summary of Hydrologic Data for the Tuscarawas River Basin, Ohio, with an Annotated Bibliography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haefner, Ralph J.; Simonson, Laura A.

    2010-01-01

    The Tuscarawas River Basin drains approximately 2,600 square miles in eastern Ohio and is home to 600,000 residents that rely on the water resources of the basin. This report summarizes the hydrologic conditions in the basin, describes over 400 publications related to the many factors that affect the groundwater and surface-water resources, and presents new water-quality information and a new water-level map designed to provide decisionmakers with information to assist in future data-collection efforts and land-use decisions. The Tuscarawas River is 130 miles long, and the drainage basin includes four major tributary basins and seven man-made reservoirs designed primarily for flood control. The basin lies within two physiographic provinces-the Glaciated Appalachian Plateaus to the north and the unglaciated Allegheny Plateaus to the south. Topography, soil types, surficial geology, and the overall hydrology of the basin were strongly affected by glaciation, which covered the northern one-third of the basin over 10,000 years ago. Within the glaciated region, unconsolidated glacial deposits, which are predominantly clay-rich till, overlie gently sloping Pennsylvanian-age sandstone, limestone, coal, and shale bedrock. Stream valleys throughout the basin are filled with sands and gravels derived from glacial outwash and alluvial processes. The southern two-thirds of the basin is characterized by similar bedrock units; however, till is absent and topographic relief is greater. The primary aquifers are sand- and gravel-filled valleys and sandstone bedrock. These sands and gravels are part of a complex system of aquifers that may exceed 400 feet in thickness and fill glacially incised valleys. Sand and gravel aquifers in this basin are capable of supporting sustained well yields exceeding 1,000 gallons per minute. Underlying sandstones within 300 feet of the surface also provide substantial quantities of water, with typical well yields of up to 100 gallons per minute

  15. Assessment of spatial and temporal patterns of green and blue water flows under natural conditions in inland river basins in Northwest China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. F. Zang

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available In arid and semi-arid regions freshwater resources have become scarcer with increasing demands from socio-economic development and population growth. Until recently, water research and management has mainly focused on blue water but ignored green water. Furthermore, in data poor regions hydrological flows under natural conditions are poorly characterised but are a prerequisite to inform future water resources management. Here we report on spatial and temporal patterns of both blue and green water flows that can be expected under natural conditions as simulated by the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT for the Heihe river basin, the second largest inland river basin in Northwest China. Calibration and validation at two hydrological stations show good performance of the SWAT model in modelling hydrological processes. The total green and blue water flows were 22.05–25.51 billion m3 in the 2000s for the Heihe river basin. Blue water flows are larger in upstream sub-basins than in downstream sub-basins mainly due to high precipitation and a large amount of snow and melting water in upstream. Green water flows are distributed more homogeneously among different sub-basins. The green water coefficient was 87%–89% in the 2000s for the entire river basin, varying from around 80%–90% in up- and mid-stream sub-basins to above 90% in downstream sub-basins. This is much higher than reported green water coefficients in many other river basins. The spatial patterns of green water coefficients were closely linked to dominant land covers (e.g. snow cover upstream and desert downstream and climate conditions (e.g. high precipitation upstream and low precipitation downstream. There are no clear consistent historical trends of change in green and blue water flows and the green water coefficient at both the river basin and sub-basin levels. This study provides insights into green and blue water endowments under natural conditions for the entire

  16. Forecasting domestic water demand in the Haihe river basin under changing environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    X.-J. Wang

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available A statistical model has been developed for forecasting domestic water demand in Haihe river basin of China due to population growth, technological advances and climate change. Historical records of domestic water use, climate, population and urbanization are used for the development of model. An ensemble of seven general circulation models (GCMs namely, BCC-CSM1-1, BNU-ESM, CNRM-CM5, GISS-E2-R, MIROC-ESM, PI-ESM-LR, MRI-CGCM3 were used for the projection of climate and the changes in water demand in the Haihe River basin under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs 4.5. The results showed that domestic water demand in different sub-basins of the Haihe river basin will gradually increase due to continuous increase of population and rise in temperature. It is projected to increase maximum 136.22  ×  108 m3 by GCM BNU-ESM and the minimum 107.25  ×  108 m3 by CNRM-CM5 in 2030. In spite of uncertainty in projection, it can be remarked that climate change and population growth would cause increase in water demand and consequently, reduce the gap between water supply and demand, which eventually aggravate the condition of existing water stress in the basin. Water demand management should be emphasized for adaptation to ever increasing water demand and mitigation of the impacts of environmental changes.

  17. Water reuse in river basins with multiple users: A literature review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simons, G. W. H. (Gijs); Bastiaanssen, W. G. M. (Wim); Immerzeel, W. W. (Walter)

    2015-03-01

    Unraveling the interaction between water users in a river basin is essential for sound water resources management, particularly in a context of increasing water scarcity and the need to save water. While most attention from managers and decision makers goes to allocation and withdrawals of surface water resources, reuse of non-consumed water gets only marginal attention despite the potentially significant volumes. As a consequence, claims of water saving are often grossly exaggerated. It is the purpose of this paper to explore the processes associated with water reuse in a river basin among users of varying nature and review existing methods for directly or indirectly describing non-consumed water, recoverable flow and/or water reuse. First a conceptual representation of processes surrounding water withdrawals and associated definitions is discussed, followed by a section on connectivity between individual withdrawals and the complex dynamics arising from dependencies and tradeoffs within a river basin. The current state-of-the-art in categorizing basin hydrological flows is summarized and its applicability to a water system where reuse occurs is explored. The core of the paper focuses on a selection and demonstration of existing indicators developed for assessing water reuse and its impacts. It is concluded that although several methods for analyses of water reuse and recoverable flows have been developed, a number of essential aspects of water reuse are left out of existing indicators. Moreover, a proven methodology for obtaining crucial quantitative information on recoverable flows is currently lacking. Future studies should aim at spatiotemporal tracking of the recoverable portion of water withdrawals and showing the dependency of multiple water users on such flows to water policy makers.

  18. Exploring Future Water Shortage for Large River Basins under Different Water Allocation Strategies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Yan, Dan; Yao, Mingtian; Ludwig, Fulco; Kabat, Pavel; Huang, He Qing; Hutjes, Ronald W.A.; Werners, Saskia E.

    2018-01-01

    Climate change and socio-economic development increase variations in water availability and water use in the Pearl River Basin (PRB), China. This can potentially result in conflicts over water resources between water users, and cause water shortage in the dry season. To assess and manage water

  19. Surface-water-quality assessment of the upper Illinois River basin in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin; project description

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mades, D.M.

    1987-01-01

    recent water-quality conditions and trends--is currently underway. The second activity--fixed-station water-quality sampling at eight stations--began in April 1987 and will last at least 3 years. Water-quality data collected at these stations will be used to determine the frequency of occurrence of constituent concentrations, their annual and seasonal loads, and time trends in concentrations for a selected number of constituents. The third activity will be synoptic water-quality studies. Each study will involve sampling many sites at specific flow conditions and for selected water-quality constituents. Information gained from these studies will supplement informa tion gained from fixed-station sampling. A synoptic study of streambed sediments is tentatively planned for the summer of 1987 to describe the occurrence and distribution of trace elements in the basin. The fourth activity will consist of one or more topical subbasin or river-reach studies. The purpose of such studies is to better define certain water-quality conditions in specific areas and gain an understanding of the processes affecting the observed conditions. The fifth activity is the preparation of reports that will describe results from each of the first four activities. Quality assurance and coordination are being provided at both the national and pilot-project levels. A technical quality-assurance plan that addresses all aspects of sample collection, analysis, and reporting is being prepared at the national level. This plan will be appended as needed at the pilot-project level. A National Coordinating Work Group that functions under the auspices of the Interagency Advisory Committee on Water Data and the Advisory Committee on Water Data for Public Use has been established at the national level. A local liaison committee consisting of representatives from Federal, State, and local agencies has been established to enhance communication and to ensure that the scientific information produced by the

  20. Water resources in the Big Lost River Basin, south-central Idaho

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crosthwaite, E.G.; Thomas, C.A.; Dyer, K.L.

    1970-01-01

    The Big Lost River basin occupies about 1,400 square miles in south-central Idaho and drains to the Snake River Plain. The economy in the area is based on irrigation agriculture and stockraising. The basin is underlain by a diverse-assemblage of rocks which range, in age from Precambrian to Holocene. The assemblage is divided into five groups on the basis of their hydrologic characteristics. Carbonate rocks, noncarbonate rocks, cemented alluvial deposits, unconsolidated alluvial deposits, and basalt. The principal aquifer is unconsolidated alluvial fill that is several thousand feet thick in the main valley. The carbonate rocks are the major bedrock aquifer. They absorb a significant amount of precipitation and, in places, are very permeable as evidenced by large springs discharging from or near exposures of carbonate rocks. Only the alluvium, carbonate rock and locally the basalt yield significant amounts of water. A total of about 67,000 acres is irrigated with water diverted from the Big Lost River. The annual flow of the river is highly variable and water-supply deficiencies are common. About 1 out of every 2 years is considered a drought year. In the period 1955-68, about 175 irrigation wells were drilled to provide a supplemental water supply to land irrigated from the canal system and to irrigate an additional 8,500 acres of new land. Average. annual precipitation ranged from 8 inches on the valley floor to about 50 inches at some higher elevations during the base period 1944-68. The estimated water yield of the Big Lost River basin averaged 650 cfs (cubic feet per second) for the base period. Of this amount, 150 cfs was transpired by crops, 75 cfs left the basin as streamflow, and 425 cfs left as ground-water flow. A map of precipitation and estimated values of evapotranspiration were used to construct a water-yield map. A distinctive feature of the Big Lost River basin, is the large interchange of water from surface streams into the ground and from the

  1. Maintaining healthy rivers and lakes through water diversion from Yangtze River to Taihu Lake in Taihu Basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wu Haoyun

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available On the basis of the Taihu water resources assessment, an analysis of the importance and rationality of the water diversion from the Yangtze River to Taihu Lake in solving the water problem and establishing a harmonious eco-environment in the Taihu Basin is performed. The water quantity and water quality conjunctive dispatching decision-making support system, which ensures flood control, water supply and eco-aimed dispatching, is built by combining the water diversion with flood control dispatching and strengthening water resources monitoring and forecasting. With the practice and effect assessment, measures such as setting the integrated basin management format, further developing water diversion and improving the hydraulic engineering projects system and water monitoring system are proposed in order to maintain healthy rivers and guarantee the development of the economy and society in the Taihu Basin.

  2. Water quality trends in the Delaware River Basin (USA) from 1980 to 2005.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kauffman, Gerald J; Homsey, Andrew R; Belden, Andrew C; Sanchez, Jessica Rittler

    2011-06-01

    In 1940, the tidal Delaware River was "one of the most grossly polluted areas in the United States." During the 1950s, water quality was so poor along the river at Philadelphia that zero oxygen levels prevented migration of American shad leading to near extirpation of the species. Since then, water quality in the Delaware Basin has improved with implementation of the 1961 Delaware River Basin Compact and 1970s Federal Clean Water Act Amendments. At 15 gages along the Delaware River and major tributaries between 1980 and 2005, water quality for dissolved oxygen, phosphorus, nitrogen, and sediment improved at 39%, remained constant at 51%, and degraded at 10% of the stations. Since 1980, improved water-quality stations outnumbered degraded stations by a 4 to 1 margin. Water quality remains good in the nontidal river above Trenton and, while improved, remains fair to poor for phosphorus and nitrogen in the tidal estuary near Philadelphia and in the Lehigh and Schuylkill tributaries. Water quality is good in heavily forested watersheds (>50%) and poor in highly cultivated watersheds. Water quality recovery in the Delaware Basin is coincident with implementation of environmental laws enacted in the 1960s and 1970s and is congruent with return of striped bass, shad, blue crab, and bald eagle populations.

  3. Simulated and observed 2010 flood-water elevations in selected river reaches in the Moshassuck and Woonasquatucket River Basins, Rhode Island

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zarriello, Phillip J.; Straub, David E.; Westenbroek, Stephen M.

    2014-01-01

    Heavy persistent rains from late February through March 2010 caused severe flooding and set, or nearly set, peaks of record for streamflows and water levels at many long-term U.S. Geological Survey streamgages in Rhode Island. In response to this flood, hydraulic models were updated for selected reaches covering about 33 river miles in Moshassuck and Woonasquatucket River Basins from the most recent approved Federal Emergency Management Agency flood insurance study (FIS) to simulate water-surface elevations (WSEs) from specified flows and boundary conditions. Reaches modeled include the main stem of the Moshassuck River and its main tributary, the West River, and three tributaries to the West River—Upper Canada Brook, Lincoln Downs Brook, and East Branch West River; and the main stem of the Woonasquatucket River. All the hydraulic models were updated to Hydrologic Engineering Center-River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) version 4.1.0 and incorporate new field-survey data at structures, high-resolution land-surface elevation data, and flood flows from a related study. The models were used to simulate steady-state WSEs at the 1- and 2-percent annual exceedance probability (AEP) flows, which is the estimated AEP of the 2010 flood in the Moshassuck River Basin and the Woonasquatucket River, respectively. The simulated WSEs were compared to the high-water mark (HWM) elevation data obtained in these basins in a related study following the March–April 2010 flood, which included 18 HWMs along the Moshassuck River and 45 HWMs along the Woonasquatucket River. Differences between the 2010 HWMs and the simulated 2- and 1-percent AEP WSEs from the FISs and the updated models developed in this study varied along the reach. Most differences could be attributed to the magnitude of the 2- and 1-percent AEP flows used in the FIS and updated model flows. Overall, the updated model and the FIS WSEs were not appreciably different when compared to the observed 2010 HWMs along the

  4. Surface water quality and deforestation of the Purus river basin, Brazilian Amazon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eduardo Antonio Ríos-Villamizar

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract In the last years, deforestation constitutes a threat for the aquatic ecosystems. This paper aims to characterize the water quality of the Purus river in the Brazilian Amazon, and investigate the relations between water quality and deforestation of the Purus river basin over a 9-year period, as well as to quantify the Purus river basin’s land cover changes (% in a 5-year period. Sampling data from upstream to downstream show a decrease in pH-value, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, and total suspended solids. Correlation analysis revealed a significant negative correlation of the accumulated total deforestation values (km2 with the pH-value (in all the study sites, and a significant positive correlation with temperature (only in two sites. However, the deforestation rates (km2/year did not present, in none of the study stations, any significant correlation with water quality parameters. It seems that the effects of deforestation on water quality are related not with the rate but with the total area deforested. It was estimated that the basin’s forested area decreased by 5.17%. Since similar attributes are common in other basins of the whitewater systems of the Brazilian Amazon, this results may be seen as a warning on the effects of deforestation on water quality (reduction in pH and increment in temperature values, in larger areas than those of our study sites. To maintain the conservation and preservation status of the Purus river basin, it is necessary, the implementation of a transboundary watershed management program that could serve as a conservation model for Brazil and other countries of the Amazonian region.

  5. Energy development and water options in the Yellowstone River Basin

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Narayanan, R.; MacIntyre, D.D.; Torpy, M.F.

    1980-08-01

    Using a mixed-integer programming model, the impacts of institutional constraints on the marginal capacity for energy development in the Yellowstone River Basin and consequent hydrologic changes were examined. Under average annual flow conditions, energy outputs in the Yellowstone Basin can increase roughly nine times by 1985 and 12 to 18 times by 2000. In contrast, water availability is limiting energy development in the Tongue and Powder River Basins in Wyoming. Variability in hydrologic regime causes model solutions to change drastically. If flows decrease to 80 and 60% of average annual levels, the energy production is decreased by 17 and 95%, respectively. If development strategies in the basin are followed on the basis of 80% average annual flows, the Buffalo Bill enlargement (271,300 acre-ft), Tongue River Modification (58,000 acre-ft), and the two reservoirs at Sweetgrass Creek (each 27,000 acre-ft) will be necessary, in addition to several small storage facilities, to best meet the instream flow needs in Montana and to deliver the waters apportioned by compact between Wyoming and Montana. Furthermore, the results indicate that relaxing the instream flow requirements from recommended levels by 10% could increase regional energy output by 19% in 1985 and 35% in 2000. This model illustrates that modifications in institutional restrictions to achieve greater water mobility between users in a given state, as well as flexible practices for transferring water between states, can assist economic growth. Thus, the probability for restricted energy development at this juncture appears to be affected to a greater degree by institutional constraints than by water availability constraints.

  6. Mapping the Soil Texture in the Heihe River Basin Based on Fuzzy Logic and Data Fusion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ling Lu

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Mapping soil texture in a river basin is critically important for eco-hydrological studies and water resource management at the watershed scale. However, due to the scarcity of in situ observation of soil texture, it is very difficult to map the soil texture in high resolution using traditional methods. Here, we used an integrated method based on fuzzy logic theory and data fusion to map the soil texture in the Heihe River basin in an arid region of Northwest China, by combining in situ soil texture measurement data, environmental factors, a previous soil texture map, and other thematic maps. Considering the different landscape characteristics over the whole Heihe River basin, different mapping schemes have been used to extract the soil texture in the upstream, middle, and downstream areas of the Heihe River basin, respectively. The validation results indicate that the soil texture map achieved an accuracy of 69% for test data from the midstream area of the Heihe River basin, which represents a much higher accuracy than that of another existing soil map in the Heihe River basin. In addition, compared with the time-consuming and expensive traditional soil mapping method, this new method could ensure greater efficiency and a better representation of the explicitly spatial distribution of soil texture and can, therefore, satisfy the requirements of regional modeling.

  7. Impact of river basin management on coastal water quality and ecosystem services: A southern Baltic estuary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schernewski, Gerald; Hürdler, Jens; Neumann, Thomas; Stybel, Nardine; Venohr, Markus

    2010-05-01

    Eutrophication management is still a major challenge in the Baltic Sea region. Estuaries or coastal waters linked to large rivers cannot be managed independently. Nutrient loads into these coastal ecosystems depend on processes, utilisation, structure and management in the river basin. In practise this means that we need a large scale approach and integrated models and tools to analyse, assess and evaluate the effects of nutrient loads on coastal water quality as well as the efficiency of river basin management measures on surface waters and especially lagoons and estuaries. The Odra river basin, the Szczecin Lagoon and its coastal waters cover an area of about 150,000 km² and are an eutrophication hot-spot in the Baltic region. To be able to carry out large scale, spatially integrative analyses, we linked the river basin nutrient flux model MONERIS to the coastal 3D-hydrodynamic and ecosystem model ERGOM. Objectives were a) to analyse the eutrophication history in the river basin and the resulting functional changes in the coastal waters between early 1960's and today and b) to analyse the effects of an optimal nitrogen and phosphorus management scenario in the Oder/Odra river basin on coastal water quality. The models show that an optimal river basin management with reduced nutrient loads (e.g. N-load reduction of 35 %) would have positive effects on coastal water quality and algae biomass. The availability of nutrients, N/P ratios and processes like denitrification and nitrogen-fixation would show spatial and temporal changes. It would have positive consequences for ecosystems functions, like the nutrient retention capacity, as well. However, this optimal scenario is by far not sufficient to ensure a good coastal water quality according to the European Water Framework Directive. A "good" water quality in the river will not be sufficient to ensure a "good" water quality in the coastal waters. Further, nitrogen load reductions bear the risk of increased

  8. Summary statistics and trend analysis of water-quality data at sites in the Gila River basin, New Mexico and Arizona

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baldys, Stanley; Ham, L.K.; Fossum, K.D.

    1995-01-01

    Summary statistics and temporal trends for 19 water-chemistry constituents and for turbidity were computed for 13 study sites in the Gila River basin, Arizona and New Mexico. A nonparametric technique, the seasonal Kendall tau test for flow-adjusted data, was used to analyze temporal changes in water-chemistry data. For the 19 selected constituents and turbidity, decreasing trends in concentrations outnumbered increasing trends by more than two to one. Decreasing trends in concentrations of constituents were found for 49 data sets at the 13 study sites. Gila River at Calva and Gila River above diversions, at Gillespie Dam (eight each) had the most decreasing trends for individual sites. The largest number of decreasing trends measured for a constituent was six for dissolved lead. The next largest number of decreasing trends for a constituent was for dissolved solids and total manganese (five each). Hardness, dissolved sodium, and dissolved chloride had decreasing trends at four of the study sites. Increasing trends in concen- trations of constituents were found for 24 data sets at the 13 study sites. The largest number of increasing trends measured for a single constituent was for pH (four), dissolved sulfate (three), dissolved chromium (three) and total manganese (three). Increased concentrations of constituents generally were found in three areas in the basin-at Pinal Creek above Inspiration Dam, at sites above reservoirs, and at sites on the main stem of the Gila River from Gillespie Dam to the mouth.

  9. Assessing Climate Change Impacts on Water Resources in the Songhua River Basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fengping Li

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The Songhua River Basin (SRB in Northeast China is one of the areas most sensitive to global climate change because of its high-latitude location. In this study, we conducted a modeling assessment on the potential change of water resources in this region for the coming three decades using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT. First, we calibrated and validated the model with historical streamflow records in this basin. Then, we applied the calibrated model for the period from 2020 to 2049 with the projected and downscaled climatic data under two emission scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5. The study results show: (1 The SWAT model performed very well for both the calibration and validation periods in the SRB; (2 The projected temperatures showed a steady, significant increase across the SRB under both scenarios, especially in two sub-basins, the Nenjiang River Basin (NRB and the Lower SRB (LSRB. With regard to precipitation, both scenarios showed a decreasing trend in the NRB and LSRB but an increasing trend in the Upper Songhua River Basin (USRB; and (3, generally, the hydrologic modeling suggested a decreasing trend of streamflow for 2020–2049. Compared to baseline conditions (1980–2009, the streamflow in the NRB and LSRB would decrease by 20.3%–37.8%, while streamflow in the USRB would experience an increase of 9.68%–17.7%. These findings provide relevant insights into future surface water resources, and such information can be helpful for resource managers and policymakers to develop effective eco-environment management plans and strategies in the face of climate change.

  10. Multisource Data-Based Integrated Agricultural Drought Monitoring in the Huai River Basin, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Peng; Zhang, Qiang; Wen, Qingzhi; Singh, Vijay P.; Shi, Peijun

    2017-10-01

    Drought monitoring is critical for early warning of drought hazard. This study attempted to develop an integrated remote sensing drought monitoring index (IRSDI), based on meteorological data for 2003-2013 from 40 meteorological stations and soil moisture data from 16 observatory stations, as well as Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer data using a linear trend detection method, and standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index. The objective was to investigate drought conditions across the Huai River basin in both space and time. Results indicate that (1) the proposed IRSDI monitors and describes drought conditions across the Huai River basin reasonably well in both space and time; (2) frequency of drought and severe drought are observed during April-May and July-September. The northeastern and eastern parts of Huai River basin are dominated by frequent droughts and intensified drought events. These regions are dominated by dry croplands, grasslands, and highly dense population and are hence more sensitive to drought hazards; (3) intensified droughts are detected during almost all months except January, August, October, and December. Besides, significant intensification of droughts is discerned mainly in eastern and western Huai River basin. The duration and regions dominated by intensified drought events would be a challenge for water resources management in view of agricultural and other activities in these regions in a changing climate.

  11. Environmental Setting and Implications on Water Quality, Upper Colorado River Basin, Colorado and Utah

    Science.gov (United States)

    Apodaca, Lori E.; Driver, Nancy E.; Stephens, Verlin C.; Spahr, Norman E.

    1995-01-01

    The Upper Colorado River Basin in Colorado and Utah is 1 of 60 study units selected for water-quality assessment as part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment program, which began full implementation in 1991. Understanding the environmental setting of the Upper Colorado River Basin study unit is important in evaluating water-quality issues in the basin. Natural and human factors that affect water quality in the basin are presented, including an overview of the physiography, climatic conditions, general geology and soils, ecoregions, population, land use, water management and use, hydrologic characteristics, and to the extent possible aquatic biology. These factors have substantial implications on water-quality conditions in the basin. For example, high concentrations of dissolved solids and selenium are present in the natural background water conditions of surface and ground water in parts ofthe basin. In addition, mining, urban, and agricultural land and water uses result in the presence of certain constituents in the surface and ground water of the basin that can detrimentally affect water quality. The environmental setting of the study unit provides a framework of the basin characteristics, which is important in the design of integrated studies of surface water, ground water, and biology.

  12. Water Accounting Plus (WA+) - a water accounting procedure for complex river basins based on satellite measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karimi, P.; Bastiaanssen, W. G. M.; Molden, D.

    2012-11-01

    Coping with the issue of water scarcity and growing competition for water among different sectors requires proper water management strategies and decision processes. A pre-requisite is a clear understanding of the basin hydrological processes, manageable and unmanageable water flows, the interaction with land use and opportunities to mitigate the negative effects and increase the benefits of water depletion on society. Currently, water professionals do not have a common framework that links hydrological flows to user groups of water and their benefits. The absence of a standard hydrological and water management summary is causing confusion and wrong decisions. The non-availability of water flow data is one of the underpinning reasons for not having operational water accounting systems for river basins in place. In this paper we introduce Water Accounting Plus (WA+), which is a new framework designed to provide explicit spatial information on water depletion and net withdrawal processes in complex river basins. The influence of land use on the water cycle is described explicitly by defining land use groups with common characteristics. Analogous to financial accounting, WA+ presents four sheets including (i) a resource base sheet, (ii) a consumption sheet, (iii) a productivity sheet, and (iv) a withdrawal sheet. Every sheet encompasses a set of indicators that summarize the overall water resources situation. The impact of external (e.g. climate change) and internal influences (e.g. infrastructure building) can be estimated by studying the changes in these WA+ indicators. Satellite measurements can be used for 3 out of the 4 sheets, but is not a precondition for implementing WA+ framework. Data from hydrological models and water allocation models can also be used as inputs to WA+.

  13. River and Reservoir Operations Model, Truckee River basin, California and Nevada, 1998

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berris, Steven N.; Hess, Glen W.; Bohman, Larry R.

    2001-01-01

    The demand for all uses of water in the Truckee River Basin, California and Nevada, commonly is greater than can be supplied. Storage reservoirs in the system have a maximum effective total capacity equivalent to less than two years of average river flows, so longer-term droughts can result in substantial water-supply shortages for irrigation and municipal users and may stress fish and wildlife ecosystems. Title II of Public Law (P.L.) 101-618, the Truckee?Carson?Pyramid Lake Water Rights Settlement Act of 1990, provides a foundation for negotiating and developing operating criteria, known as the Truckee River Operating Agreement (TROA), to balance interstate and interbasin allocation of water rights among the many interests competing for water from the Truckee River. In addition to TROA, the Truckee River Water Quality Settlement Agreement (WQSA), signed in 1996, provides for acquisition of water rights to resolve water-quality problems during low flows along the Truckee River in Nevada. Efficient execution of many of the planning, management, or environmental assessment requirements of TROA and WQSA will require detailed water-resources data coupled with sound analytical tools. Analytical modeling tools constructed and evaluated with such data could help assess effects of alternative operational scenarios related to reservoir and river operations, water-rights transfers, and changes in irrigation practices. The Truckee?Carson Program of the U.S. Geological Survey, to support U.S. Department of the Interior implementation of P.L. 101-618, is developing a modeling system to support efficient water-resources planning, management, and allocation. The daily operations model documented herein is a part of the modeling system that includes a database management program, a graphical user interface program, and a program with modules that simulate river/reservoir operations and a variety of hydrologic processes. The operations module is capable of simulating lake

  14. Water resources of the Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin, North Carolina

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fish, Robert Eugene; LeGrand, H.E.; Billingsley, G.A.

    1957-01-01

    Sufficient water is available in the basin of the Yadkin and Pee Dee Rivers to meet present requirements and those for many years to come if water use increases at about the present rate. Data presented in this report show that the average annual streamflow from approximately 82 percent of the basin area during the 25-year period, 1929-53, was about 6,200 mgd, representing essentially the total available water supply. Comparison of the available water supply to the estimated withdrawal use (excluding water power) of both surface and ground water of 600 mgd indicates the relative utilization of the water resources of the basin at present. If proper pollution controls are observed and practiced so that water in the various streams may be reused several times, the potential water available is even greater than indicated by the above comparison. Preliminary studies indicate that the quantity of water now being withdrawn from ground-water reservoirs in the basin is only a fraction of the total that may be obtained from this source. Twenty-eight of the 64 municipalities having public water-supply systems use surface water; however, as the largest cities in the area use surface supplies, about 85 percent of the water used for public supplies is from surface sources. Of the 20 complete-record stream-gaging stations now in operation in this area 7 have been in operation for 24 years or longer. Periodic measurements of the rate of flow have been made at 31 additional sites on streams scattered widely over the basin. All available streamflow data including those for 1953 are summarized in either graphic or tabular form, or both. Because of the critically low flows occurring during the drought of 1954, several illustrations include data for 1954 and the early months of 1955 for comparison with the minima of previous years. Adequate water for domestic use is available from wells throughout the basin. The consolidated rocks of the Piedmont furnish water for small industries and

  15. Water Accounting Plus (WA+ – a water accounting procedure for complex river basins based on satellite measurements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Karimi

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Coping with water scarcity and growing competition for water among different sectors requires proper water management strategies and decision processes. A pre-requisite is a clear understanding of the basin hydrological processes, manageable and unmanageable water flows, the interaction with land use and opportunities to mitigate the negative effects and increase the benefits of water depletion on society. Currently, water professionals do not have a common framework that links depletion to user groups of water and their benefits. The absence of a standard hydrological and water management summary is causing confusion and wrong decisions. The non-availability of water flow data is one of the underpinning reasons for not having operational water accounting systems for river basins in place. In this paper, we introduce Water Accounting Plus (WA+, which is a new framework designed to provide explicit spatial information on water depletion and net withdrawal processes in complex river basins. The influence of land use and landscape evapotranspiration on the water cycle is described explicitly by defining land use groups with common characteristics. WA+ presents four sheets including (i a resource base sheet, (ii an evapotranspiration sheet, (iii a productivity sheet, and (iv a withdrawal sheet. Every sheet encompasses a set of indicators that summarise the overall water resources situation. The impact of external (e.g., climate change and internal influences (e.g., infrastructure building can be estimated by studying the changes in these WA+ indicators. Satellite measurements can be used to acquire a vast amount of required data but is not a precondition for implementing WA+ framework. Data from hydrological models and water allocation models can also be used as inputs to WA+.

  16. A Basin Approach to a Hydrological Service Delivery System in the Amur River Basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergei Borsch

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the basin approach to the design, development, and operation of a hydrological forecasting and early warning system in a large transboundary river basin of high flood potential, where accurate, reliable, and timely available daily water-level and reservoir-inflow forecasts are essential for water-related economic and social activities (the Amur River basin case study. Key aspects of basin-scale system planning and implementation are considered, from choosing efficient forecast models and techniques, to developing and operating data-management procedures, to disseminating operational forecasts using web-GIS. The latter, making the relevant forecast data available in real time (via Internet, visual, and well interpretable, serves as a good tool for raising awareness of possible floods in a large region with transport and industrial hubs located alongside the Amur River (Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

  17. Studying groundwater and surface water interactions using airborne remote sensing in Heihe River basin, northwest China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, C.; Liu, J.; Hu, Y.; Zheng, C.

    2015-05-01

    Managing surface water and groundwater as a unified system is important for water resource exploitation and aquatic ecosystem conservation. The unified approach to water management needs accurate characterization of surface water and groundwater interactions. Temperature is a natural tracer for identifying surface water and groundwater interactions, and the use of remote sensing techniques facilitates basin-scale temperature measurement. This study focuses on the Heihe River basin, the second largest inland river basin in the arid and semi-arid northwest of China where surface water and groundwater undergoes dynamic exchanges. The spatially continuous river-surface temperature of the midstream section of the Heihe River was obtained by using an airborne pushbroom hyperspectral thermal sensor system. By using the hot spot analysis toolkit in the ArcGIS software, abnormally cold water zones were identified as indicators of the spatial pattern of groundwater discharge to the river.

  18. Studying groundwater and surface water interactions using airborne remote sensing in Heihe River basin, northwest China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. Liu

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Managing surface water and groundwater as a unified system is important for water resource exploitation and aquatic ecosystem conservation. The unified approach to water management needs accurate characterization of surface water and groundwater interactions. Temperature is a natural tracer for identifying surface water and groundwater interactions, and the use of remote sensing techniques facilitates basin-scale temperature measurement. This study focuses on the Heihe River basin, the second largest inland river basin in the arid and semi-arid northwest of China where surface water and groundwater undergoes dynamic exchanges. The spatially continuous river-surface temperature of the midstream section of the Heihe River was obtained by using an airborne pushbroom hyperspectral thermal sensor system. By using the hot spot analysis toolkit in the ArcGIS software, abnormally cold water zones were identified as indicators of the spatial pattern of groundwater discharge to the river.

  19. Evaluation of water resources monitoring networks: study applied to surface waters in the Macaé River Basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carolina Cloris Lopes Benassuly

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Knowledge of hydrological phenomena is required in water resources monitoring, in order to structure the water management, focusing on ensuring its multiple uses while allowing that resource´s control and conservation. The effectiveness of monitoring depends on adequate information systems design and proper operation conditions. Data acquisition, treatment and analysis are vital for establishing management strategies, thus monitoring systems and networks shall be conceived according to their main objectives, and be optimized in terms of location of data stations. The generated data shall also model hydrological behavior of the studied basin, so that data interpolation can be applied to the whole basin. The present work aimed to join concepts and methods that guide the structuring of hydrologic monitoring networks of surface waters. For evaluating historical series characteristics as well as work stations redundancy, the entropy method was used. The Macaé River Basin’s importance is related to the public and industrial uses of water in the region that is responsible for more than 80% of Brazilian oil and gas production, what justifies the relevance of the research made. This study concluded that despite of its relatively short extension, the Macaé River Basin should have higher monitoring network density, in order to provide more reliable management data. It also depicted the high relevancy of stations located in its upper course.

  20. Water withdrawals, wastewater discharge, and water consumption in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin, 2005, and water-use trends, 1970-2005

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marella, Richard L.; Fanning, Julia L.

    2011-01-01

    The Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin covers about 20,500 square miles that drains parts of Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. The basin extends from its headwaters northern Georgia to the Gulf of Mexico. Population in the basin was estimated to be 3.7 million in 2005, an increase of about 41 percent from the 1990 population of 2.6 million. In 2005, slightly more than 721,000 acres of crops were irrigated within the basin. In 2005, the total amount of water withdrawn in the ACF River Basin was about 1,990 million gallons per day (Mgal/d). Of this, surface water accounted for 1,591 Mgal/d (80 percent) and groundwater accounted for 399 Mgal/d (20 percent). Surface water was the primary water source of withdrawals in the northern and central parts of the basin, and groundwater was the primary source in the southern part. The largest surface-water withdrawals was from Cobb County, Georgia (410 Mgal/d, mostly from the Chattahoochee River and Lake Alatoona), and the largest groundwater withdrawals was from Dougherty County, Georgia (38 Mgal/d, mostly from the Upper Floridan aquifer system).

  1. Temporal and Spatial Variation of Water Yield Modulus in the Yangtze River Basin in Recent 60 Years

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Xiaoqing; Weng, Baisha; Qin, Tianling

    2018-01-01

    The Yangtze River Basin is the largest river basin of Asia and the third largest river basin of the world, the gross water resources amount ranks first in the river basins of the country, and it occupies an important position in the national water resources strategic layout. Under the influence of climate change and human activities, the water cycle has changed. The temporal and spatial distribution of precipitation in the basin is more uneven and the floods are frequent. In order to explore the water yield condition in the Yangtze River Basin, we selected the Water Yield Modulus (WYM) as the evaluation index, then analyzed the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of the WYM in the Yangtze River Basin by using the climate tendency method and the M-K trend test method. The results showed that the average WYM of the Yangtze River Basin in 1956-2015 are between 103,600 and 1,262,900 m3/km2, with an average value of 562,300 m3/km2, which is greater than the national average value of 295,000 m3/km2. The minimum value appeared in the northwestern part of the Tongtian River district, the maximum value appeared in the northeastern of Dongting Lake district. The rate of change in 1956-2015 is between -0.68/a and 0.79/a, it showed a downward trend in the western part but not significantly, an upward trend in the eastern part reached a significance level of α=0.01. The minimum value appeared in the Tongtian River district, the largest value appeared in the Hangjia Lake district, and the average tendency rate is 0.04/a in the whole basin.

  2. Regional water table (2016) in the Mojave River and Morongo groundwater basins, southwestern Mojave Desert, California

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dick, Meghan; Kjos, Adam

    2017-12-07

    From January to April 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Mojave Water Agency, and other local water districts made approximately 1,200 water-level measurements in about 645 wells located within 15 separate groundwater basins, collectively referred to as the Mojave River and Morongo groundwater basins. These data document recent conditions and, when compared with older data, changes in groundwater levels. A water-level contour map was drawn using data measured in 2016 that shows the elevation of the water table and general direction of groundwater movement for most of the groundwater basins. Historical water-level data stored in the USGS National Water Information System (https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/) database were used in conjunction with data collected for this study to construct 37 hydrographs to show long-term (1930–2016) and short-term (1990–2016) water-level changes in the study area.

  3. Key issues for determining the exploitable water resources in a Mediterranean river basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pedro-Monzonís, María; Ferrer, Javier; Solera, Abel; Estrela, Teodoro; Paredes-Arquiola, Javier

    2015-01-15

    One of the major difficulties in water planning is to determine the water availability in a water resource system in order to distribute water sustainably. In this paper, we analyze the key issues for determining the exploitable water resources as an indicator of water availability in a Mediterranean river basin. Historically, these territories are characterized by heavily regulated water resources and the extensive use of unconventional resources (desalination and wastewater reuse); hence, emulating the hydrological cycle is not enough. This analysis considers the Jucar River Basin as a case study. We have analyzed the different possible combinations between the streamflow time series, the length of the simulation period and the reliability criteria. As expected, the results show a wide dispersion, proving the great influence of the reliability criteria used for the quantification and localization of the exploitable water resources in the system. Therefore, it is considered risky to provide a single value to represent the water availability in the Jucar water resource system. In this sense, it is necessary that policymakers and stakeholders make a decision about the methodology used to determine the exploitable water resources in a river basin. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Powder River Basin Coalbed Methane Development and Produced Water Management Study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-01-01

    Coalbed methane resources throughout the entire Powder River Basin were reviewed in this analysis. The study was conducted at the township level, and as with all assessments conducted at such a broad level, readers must recognize and understand the limitations and appropriate use of the results. Raw and derived data provided in this report will not generally apply to any specific location. The coal geology in the basin is complex, which makes correlation with individual seams difficult at times. Although more than 12,000 wells have been drilled to date, large areas of the Powder River Basin remain relatively undeveloped. The lack of data obviously introduces uncertainty and increases variability. Proxies and analogs were used in the analysis out of necessity, though these were always based on sound reasoning. Future development in the basin will make new data and interpretations available, which will lead to a more complete description of the coals and their fluid flow properties, and refined estimates of natural gas and water production rates and cumulative recoveries. Throughout the course of the study, critical data assumptions and relationships regarding gas content, methane adsorption isotherms, and reservoir pressure were the topics of much discussion with reviewers. A summary of these discussion topics is provided as an appendix. Water influx was not modeled although it is acknowledged that this phenomenon may occur in some settings. As with any resource assessment, technical and economic results are the product of the assumptions and methodology used. In this study, key assumptions as well as cost and price data, and economic parameters are presented to fully inform readers. Note that many quantities shown in various tables have been subject to rounding; therefore, aggregation of basic and intermediate quantities may differ from the values shown

  5. [Major ion chemistry of surface water in the Xilin River Basin and the possible controls].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Xi-Wen; Wu, Jin-Kui

    2014-01-01

    Under the increasing pressure of water shortage and steppe degradation, information on the hydrological cycle in the steppe region in Inner Mongolia is urgently needed. Major ions are widely used to identify the hydrological processes in a river basin. Based on the analysis results of 239 river water samples collected in 13 sections along the Xilin River system during 2006 to 2008, combined with data from groundwater and precipitation samples collected in the same period and the meteorological and hydrological data in the Xilin River Basin, hydrochemical characteristics and the chemistry of major ions of the Xilin River water have been studied by means of Piper triangle plots and Gibbs diagrams. The results showed that: (1) the total dissolved solid (TDS) in river water mainly ranged between 136.7 mg x L(-1) and 376.5 mg x L(-1), and (2) it had an increasing trend along the river flow path. (3) The major cations and anions of river water were Ca2+ and HCO3-, respectively, and the chemical type of the river water varied from HCO3- -Ca2+ in the headwater area to HCO(3-)-Ca2+ Mg2+ in the lower part. (4) The variation in the concentration of major irons in surface water was not significant at the temporal scale. Usually, the concentration values of major irons were much higher in May than those in other months during the runoff season, while the values were a bit lower in 2007 than those in 2006 and 2008. Except for SO4(2-), the concentrations of other ions such as Ca2+, Na+, Mg2+, K+, Cl- and HCO3- showed a upward trend along the river flow path. Comparing major ion concentrations of the river water with those of local groundwater and precipitation, the concentration in river water was between those of precipitation and groundwater but was much closer to the concentration of groundwater. This indicated that the surface water was recharged by a mixture of precipitation and groundwater, and groundwater showed a larger impact. The Gibbs plot revealed that the chemical

  6. Water use in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, 2010, and water-use trends, 1985-2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawrence, Stephen J.

    2016-02-25

    The Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin encompasses about 20,230 square miles in parts of Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. Increasing population growth and agricultural production from the 1970s to 2010 has prompted increases in water-resources development and substantially increased water demand in the basin. Since the 1980s, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are parties to litigation concerning water management in the ACF River Basin.

  7. Spatial patterns of water quality in Xingu River Basin (Amazonia prior to the Belo Monte dam impoundment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    JL. Rodrigues-Filho

    Full Text Available Abstract The Xingu River, one of the most important of the Amazon Basin, is characterized by clear and transparent waters that drain a 509.685 km2 watershed with distinct hydrological and ecological conditions and anthropogenic pressures along its course. As in other basins of the Amazon system, studies in the Xingu are scarce. Furthermore, the eminent construction of the Belo Monte for hydropower production, which will alter the environmental conditions in the basin in its lower middle portion, denotes high importance of studies that generate relevant information that may subsidize a more balanced and equitable development in the Amazon region. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze the water quality in the Xingu River and its tributaries focusing on spatial patterns by the use of multivariate statistical techniques, identifying which water quality parameters were more important for the environmental changes in the watershed. Data sampling were carried out during two complete hydrological cycles in twenty-five sampling stations. The data of twenty seven variables were analyzed by Spearman's correlation coefficients, cluster analysis (CA, and principal component analysis (PCA. The results showed a high auto-correlation between variables (> 0.7. These variables were removed from multivariate analyzes because they provided redundant information about the environment. The CA resulted in the formation of six clusters, which were clearly observed in the PCA and were characterized by different water quality. The statistical results allowed to identify a high spatial variation in the water quality, which were related to specific features of the environment, different uses, influences of anthropogenic activities and geochemical characteristics of the drained basins. It was also demonstrated that most of the sampling stations in the Xingu River basin showed good water quality, due to the absence of local impacts and high power of depuration of the

  8. Spatial patterns of water quality in Xingu River Basin (Amazonia) prior to the Belo Monte dam impoundment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodrigues-Filho, J L; Abe, D S; Gatti-Junior, P; Medeiros, G R; Degani, R M; Blanco, F P; Faria, C R L; Campanelli, L; Soares, F S; Sidagis-Galli, C V; Teixeira-Silva, V; Tundisi, J E M; Matsmura-Tundisi, T; Tundisi, J G

    2015-08-01

    The Xingu River, one of the most important of the Amazon Basin, is characterized by clear and transparent waters that drain a 509.685 km2 watershed with distinct hydrological and ecological conditions and anthropogenic pressures along its course. As in other basins of the Amazon system, studies in the Xingu are scarce. Furthermore, the eminent construction of the Belo Monte for hydropower production, which will alter the environmental conditions in the basin in its lower middle portion, denotes high importance of studies that generate relevant information that may subsidize a more balanced and equitable development in the Amazon region. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze the water quality in the Xingu River and its tributaries focusing on spatial patterns by the use of multivariate statistical techniques, identifying which water quality parameters were more important for the environmental changes in the watershed. Data sampling were carried out during two complete hydrological cycles in twenty-five sampling stations. The data of twenty seven variables were analyzed by Spearman's correlation coefficients, cluster analysis (CA), and principal component analysis (PCA). The results showed a high auto-correlation between variables (> 0.7). These variables were removed from multivariate analyzes because they provided redundant information about the environment. The CA resulted in the formation of six clusters, which were clearly observed in the PCA and were characterized by different water quality. The statistical results allowed to identify a high spatial variation in the water quality, which were related to specific features of the environment, different uses, influences of anthropogenic activities and geochemical characteristics of the drained basins. It was also demonstrated that most of the sampling stations in the Xingu River basin showed good water quality, due to the absence of local impacts and high power of depuration of the river itself.

  9. The politics of water payments and stakeholder participation in the Limpopo River Basin, Mozambique

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Alba, Rossella; Bolding, Alex; Ducrot, Raphaëlle

    2017-01-01

    Drawing from the experience of the Limpopo River Basin in Mozambique, the chapter analyses the articulation of a water rights framework in the context of decentralised river basin governance and IWRM-inspired reforms. The nexus between financial autonomy, service provision, stakeholder participation

  10. The politics of water payments and stakeholder participation in the Limpopo River Basin, Mozambique

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Alba, R.; Bolding, J.A.; Ducrot, R.

    2016-01-01

    Drawing from the experience of the Limpopo River Basin in Mozambique, the paper analyses the articulation of a water rights framework in the context of decentralised river basin governance and IWRM-inspired reforms. The nexus between financial autonomy, service provision, stakeholder participation

  11. The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Monocentric and Polycentric River Basin Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bruce Lankford

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available Two contemporary theories of river basin management are compared. One is centralised 'regulatory river basin management' with an apex authority that seeks hydrometric data and nationally agreed standards and procedures in decisions over water quality and allocation. This model is commonplace and can be identified in many water training curricula and derivatives of basin management policy. The other, 'polycentric river basin management', is institutionally, organisationally and geographically more decentralised, emphasising local, collective ownership and reference to locally agreed standards. The polycentric model is constructed from the creation of appropriate managerial subunits within river basins. This model emphasises the deployment of hydrologists, scientists and other service providers as mediating agents of environmental and institutional transformation, tackling issues arising within and between the basin subunits such as water allocation and distribution, productivity improvement and conflict resolution. Significantly, it considers water allocation between subunits rather than between sectors and to do this promulgates an experimental, step-wise pragmatic approach, building on local ideas to make tangible progress in basins where data monitoring is limited, basin office resources are constrained and regulatory planning has stalled. To explore these issues, the paper employs the 'Cathedral and Bazaar' metaphor of Eric Raymond. The discussion is informed by observations from Tanzania, Nigeria and the UK.

  12. Modeling Flood & Drought Scenario for Water Management in Porali River Basin, Balochistan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shoaib Ahmed

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Recent history shows that floods have become a frequently occurring disaster in Balochistan, especially during monsoon season. Two rivers, river Porali and river Kud overflows, inundating its banks and causing destruction to cultivated land and property. This study is an attempt to identify flood prone areas of Porali river basin for future flood scenario and propose possible reservoir locations for excess flood water storage. Computer-based models Hydrological Simulation Program-FORTRAN (HSPF and HEC-river analysis system (HEC-RAS are used as tools to simulate existing and future flood and drought scenarios. Models are calibrated and validated using data from 3 weather stations, namely Wadh, Bela, and Uthal and stream flow data from two gauging stations. The highest and the lowest 10 years of precipitation data are extracted, from historic dataset of all stations, to attain future flooding and drought scenarios, respectively. Flood inundation map is generated highlighting agricultural prone land and settlements of the watershed. Using Digital Elevation Model (DEM and volume of water calculated from the flood scenario, possible locations for reservoirs are marked that can store excess water for the use in drought years. Flow and volume of water has also been simulated for drought scenario. Analyses show that 3 × 109 m3 of water available due to immense flooding that is sufficient for the survival for one drought year, as the volume of water for latter scenario is 2.9 × 108m3.

  13. Using snow data assimilation to improve ensemble streamflow forecasting for the Upper Colorado River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Micheletty, P. D.; Perrot, D.; Day, G. N.; Lhotak, J.; Quebbeman, J.; Park, G. H.; Carney, S.

    2017-12-01

    Water supply forecasting in the western United States is inextricably linked to snowmelt processes, as approximately 70-85% of total annual runoff comes from water stored in seasonal mountain snowpacks. Snowmelt-generated streamflow is vital to a variety of downstream uses; the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB) alone provides water supply for 25 million people, irrigation water for 3.5 million acres, and drives hydropower generation at Lake Powell. April-July water supply forecasts produced by the National Weather Service (NWS) Colorado Basin River Forecast Center (CBRFC) are critical to basin water management. The primary objective of this project as part of the NASA Water Resources Applied Science Program, is to improve water supply forecasting for the UCRB by assimilating satellite and ground snowpack observations into a distributed hydrologic model at various times during the snow accumulation and melt seasons. To do this, we have built a framework that uses an Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) to update modeled snow water equivalent (SWE) states in the Hydrology Laboratory-Research Distributed Hydrologic Model (HL-RDHM) with spatially interpolated SNOTEL snow water equivalent (SWE) observations and products from the MODIS Snow Covered-Area and Grain size retrieval algorithm (when available). We have generated April-July water supply reforecasts for a 20-year period (1991-2010) for several headwater catchments in the UCRB using HL-RDHM and snow data assimilation in the Ensemble Streamflow Prediction (ESP) framework. The existing CBRFC ESP reforecasts will provide a baseline for comparison to determine whether the data assimilation process adds skill to the water supply forecasts. Preliminary results from one headwater basin show improved skill in water supply forecasting when HL-RDHM is run with the data assimilation step compared to HL-RDHM run without the data assimilation step, particularly in years when MODSCAG data were available (2000-2010). The final

  14. Environmental setting and its relations to water quality in the Kanawha River basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Messinger, Terence; Hughes, C.A.

    2000-01-01

    spring and least in the autumn. About 61 percent of the basin's population use surface water from public supply for their domestic needs; about 30 percent use self-supplied ground water, and about nine percent use ground water from public supply. In 1995, total withdrawal of water in the basin was about 1,130 Mgal/d. Total consumptive use was about 118 Mgal/d. Surface water in the Blue Ridge Province is usually dilute (less than 100 mg/L dissolved solids) and well aerated. Dissolved- solids concentrations in streams of the Valley and Ridge Province at low flow are typically greater (150-180 mg/L) than those in the Blue Ridge Province. The Appalachian Plateaus Province contains streams with the most dilute (less than 30 mg/L dissolved solids) and least dilute (more than 500 mg/L dissolved solids) water in the basin. Coal mining has degraded more miles of streams in the basin than any other land use. Streams that receive coal-mine drainage may be affected by sedimentation, and typically contain high concentrations of sulfate, iron, and manganese. Other major water-quality issues include inadequate domestic sewage treatment, present and historic disposal of industrial wastes, and logging, which results in the addition of sediment, nutrients, and other constituents to the water. One hundred eighteen fish species are reported from the Kanawha River system downstream from Kanawha Falls. Of these, 15 are listed as possible, probable, or known introductions. None of these fish species is endemic to the Kanawha River Basin. The New River system has only 46 native fishes, the lowest ratio of native fishes to drainage area of any river system in the eastern United States, and the second-highest proportion of endemic fish species (eight of 46) of any river system in the eastern United States.

  15. Web-Based Water Accounting Scenario Platform to Address Uncertainties in Water Resources Management in the Mekong : A Case Study in Ca River Basin, Vietnam

    Science.gov (United States)

    Apirumanekul, C.; Purkey, D. R.; Pudashine, J.; Seifollahi-Aghmiuni, S.; Wang, D.; Ate, P.; Meechaiya, C.

    2017-12-01

    Rapid economic development in the Mekong Region is placing pressure on environmental resources. Uncertain changes in land-use, increasing urbanization, infrastructure development, migration patterns and climate risks s combined with scarce water resources are increasing water demand in various sectors. More appropriate policies, strategies and planning for sustainable water resource management are urgently needed. Over the last five years, Vietnam has experienced more frequent and intense droughts affecting agricultural and domestic water use during the dry season. The Ca River Basin is the third largest river basin in Vietnam with 35% of its area located in Lao PDR. The delta landscape comprises natural vegetation, forest, paddy fields, farming and urban areas. The Ca River Basin is experiencing ongoing water scarcity that impacts on crop production, farming livelihoods and household water consumption. Water scarcity is exacerbated by uncertainties in policy changes (e.g. changes in land-use, crop types), basin development (e.g. reservoir construction, urban expansion), and climate change (e.g. changes in rainfall patterns and onset of monsoon). The Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) model, with inputs from satellite-based information and institutional data, is used to estimate water supply, water use and water allocation in various sectors (e.g. household, crops, irrigation and flood control) under a wide range of plausible future scenarios in the Ca River Basin. Web-Based Water Allocation Scenario Platform is an online implementation of WEAP model structured in terms of a gaming experience. The online game, as an educational tool, helps key agencies relevant to water resources management understand and explore the complexity of integrated system of river basin under a wide range of scenarios. Performance of the different water resources strategies in Ca River Basin (e.g. change of dam operation to address needs in various sectors, construction of dams, changes

  16. Tritium in surface water of the Yenisei river Basin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bondareva, L.G.; Bolsunovsky, A.Ya.

    2005-01-01

    The paper reports an investigation of the tritium content in the surface waters of the Yenisei River basin near the Mining-and-Chemical Combine (MCC). In 2001-2003 the maximum tritium concentration in the Yenisei River did not exceed 4±1 Bq/L. It has been found that there are surface waters containing enhanced tritium, up to 168 Bq/L, as compared with the background values for the Yenisei River. There are two possible sources of tritium input. First, the last operating reactor of the MCC, which still uses the Yenisei water as coolant. Second, tritium may come from the deep aquifers at the Severny testing site. For the first time tritium has been found in two aquatic plant species of the Yenisei River with maximal tritium concentration 304 Bq/Kg wet weight. Concentration factors of tritium for aquatic plants are much higher than 1

  17. Hydrological Cycle in the Heihe River Basin and Its Implication for Water Resource Management in Endorheic Basins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xin; Cheng, Guodong; Ge, Yingchun; Li, Hongyi; Han, Feng; Hu, Xiaoli; Tian, Wei; Tian, Yong; Pan, Xiaoduo; Nian, Yanyun; Zhang, Yanlin; Ran, Youhua; Zheng, Yi; Gao, Bing; Yang, Dawen; Zheng, Chunmiao; Wang, Xusheng; Liu, Shaomin; Cai, Ximing

    2018-01-01

    Endorheic basins around the world are suffering from water and ecosystem crisis. To pursue sustainable development, quantifying the hydrological cycle is fundamentally important. However, knowledge gaps exist in how climate change and human activities influence the hydrological cycle in endorheic basins. We used an integrated ecohydrological model, in combination with systematic observations, to analyze the hydrological cycle in the Heihe River Basin, a typical endorheic basin in arid region of China. The water budget was closed for different landscapes, river channel sections, and irrigation districts of the basin from 2001 to 2012. The results showed that climate warming, which has led to greater precipitation, snowmelt, glacier melt, and runoff, is a favorable factor in alleviating water scarcity. Human activities, including ecological water diversion, cropland expansion, and groundwater overexploitation, have both positive and negative effects. The natural oasis ecosystem has been restored considerably, but the overuse of water in midstream and the use of environmental flow for agriculture in downstream have exacerbated the water stress, resulting in unfavorable changes in surface-ground water interactions and raising concerns regarding how to fairly allocate water resources. Our results suggest that the water resource management in the region should be adjusted to adapt to a changing hydrological cycle, cropland area must be reduced, and the abstraction of groundwater must be controlled. To foster long-term benefits, water conflicts should be handled from a broad socioeconomic perspective. The findings can provide useful information on endorheic basins to policy makers and stakeholders around the world.

  18. Water reuse in river basins with multiple users : A literature review

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Simons, G. W H (Gijs); Bastiaanssen, W. G M (Wim); Immerzeel, W. W (Walter)

    2015-01-01

    Unraveling the interaction between water users in a river basin is essential for sound water resources management, particularly in a context of increasing water scarcity and the need to save water. While most attention from managers and decision makers goes to allocation and withdrawals of surface

  19. Streamflow distribution maps for the Cannon River drainage basin, southeast Minnesota, and the St. Louis River drainage basin, northeast Minnesota

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Erik A.; Sanocki, Chris A.; Lorenz, David L.; Jacobsen, Katrin E.

    2017-12-27

    Streamflow distribution maps for the Cannon River and St. Louis River drainage basins were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources, to illustrate relative and cumulative streamflow distributions. The Cannon River was selected to provide baseline data to assess the effects of potential surficial sand mining, and the St. Louis River was selected to determine the effects of ongoing Mesabi Iron Range mining. Each drainage basin (Cannon, St. Louis) was subdivided into nested drainage basins: the Cannon River was subdivided into 152 nested drainage basins, and the St. Louis River was subdivided into 353 nested drainage basins. For each smaller drainage basin, the estimated volumes of groundwater discharge (as base flow) and surface runoff flowing into all surface-water features were displayed under the following conditions: (1) extreme low-flow conditions, comparable to an exceedance-probability quantile of 0.95; (2) low-flow conditions, comparable to an exceedance-probability quantile of 0.90; (3) a median condition, comparable to an exceedance-probability quantile of 0.50; and (4) a high-flow condition, comparable to an exceedance-probability quantile of 0.02.Streamflow distribution maps were developed using flow-duration curve exceedance-probability quantiles in conjunction with Soil-Water-Balance model outputs; both the flow-duration curve and Soil-Water-Balance models were built upon previously published U.S. Geological Survey reports. The selected streamflow distribution maps provide a proactive water management tool for State cooperators by illustrating flow rates during a range of hydraulic conditions. Furthermore, after the nested drainage basins are highlighted in terms of surface-water flows, the streamflows can be evaluated in the context of meeting specific ecological flows under different flow regimes and potentially assist with decisions regarding groundwater and surface-water

  20. Evaluation TRMM Rainfall Data In Hydrological Modeling For An Ungaged In Lhasa River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, H. J.; Liu, J.

    2017-12-01

    Evaluation TRMM Rainfall Data In Hydrological Modeling For An Ungaged In Lhasa River BasinHaijuan Ji1* Jintao Liu1,2 Shanshan Xu1___________________ 1College of Hydrology and Water Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, People's Republic of China 2State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, People's Republic of China ___________________ * Corresponding author. Tel.: +86-025-83786973; Fax: +86-025-83786606. E-mail address: Hhu201510@163.com (H.J. Ji). Abstract: The Tibetan Plateau plays an important role in regulating the regional hydrological processes due to its high elevations and being the headwaters of many major Asian river basins. If familiar with the distribution of hydrological characteristics, will help us improve the level of development and utilization the water resources. However, there exist glaciers and snow with few sites. It is significance for us to understand the glacier and snow hydrological process in order to recognize the evolution of water resources in the Tibetan. This manuscript takes Lhasa River as the study area, taking use of ground, remote sensing and assimilation data, taking advantage of high precision TRMM precipitation data and MODIS snow cover data, first, according to the data from ground station evaluation of TRMM data in the application of the accuracy of the Lhasa River, and based on MODIS data fusion of multi source microwave snow making cloudless snow products, which are used for discriminant and analysis glacier and snow regulation mechanism on day scale, add snow and glacier unit into xinanjing model, this model can simulate the study region's runoff evolution, parameter sensitivity even spatial variation of hydrological characteristics the next ten years on region grid scale. The results of hydrological model in Lhasa River can simulate the glacier and snow runoff variation in high cold region better, to enhance the predictive ability of the spring

  1. Surface water of Little River basin in southeastern Oklahoma (with a section on quality of water by R. P. Orth)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westfall, A.O.; Orth, Richard Philip

    1963-01-01

    This report summarizes basic hydrologic data of the surface water resources of Little River basin above the Oklahoma-Arkansas state line near Cerrogordo, Okla., and by analysis and interpretation, presents certain streamflow characteristics at specified points in the basin. Little River basin above the state line includes 2,269 square miles, of which about 250 square miles of the Mountain Fork River is in Arkansas. The climate is humid and the annual precipitation averages about 46 inches. Gross annual lake evaporation averages 49 inches per year. There are three reservoirs totaling 2,831,800 acre-feet of storage, either authorized or under construction in the basin. The average annual discharge at the gaging stations for the period 1930-61 is 674,900 acre-feet for Little River near Wright City; 1,273,000 acre-feet for Little River below Lukfata Creek, near Idabel; and 989,000 acre-feet for Mountain Fork River near Eagletown. The average annual discharge of Little River at the Oklahoma-Arkansas state line near Cerrogordo is 2,401,000 acre-feet. Flow-duration curves have been developed from daily records for the gaging stations. These curves show the percentage of time various rates of discharge have been equaled or exceeded. Procedures for defining the frequency of annual floods at any point in the basin are given. Low-flow frequency curves for the gaging stations defining the recurrence intervals of 7, 14 or 15, 30, 60, and 120 day mean flows have been prepared. Curves showing the relation of instantaneous discharge at specified upstream points to the daily mean discharge at two gaging stations are presented. The storage requirements for suplementing natural flows have been prepared for the gaging-station sites. Chemical analyses show that the surface water in the basin is suitable for domestic and industrial uses.

  2. Documentation of input datasets for the soil-water balance groundwater recharge model of the Upper Colorado River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tillman, Fred D.

    2015-01-01

    The Colorado River and its tributaries supply water to more than 35 million people in the United States and 3 million people in Mexico, irrigating more than 4.5 million acres of farmland, and generating about 12 billion kilowatt hours of hydroelectric power annually. The Upper Colorado River Basin, encompassing more than 110,000 square miles (mi2), contains the headwaters of the Colorado River (also known as the River) and is an important source of snowmelt runoff to the River. Groundwater discharge also is an important source of water in the River and its tributaries, with estimates ranging from 21 to 58 percent of streamflow in the upper basin. Planning for the sustainable management of the Colorado River in future climates requires an understanding of the Upper Colorado River Basin groundwater system. This report documents input datasets for a Soil-Water Balance groundwater recharge model that was developed for the Upper Colorado River Basin.

  3. Resilience in Transboundary Water Governance: the Okavango River Basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olivia O. Green

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available When the availability of a vital resource varies between times of overabundance and extreme scarcity, management regimes must manifest flexibility and authority to adapt while maintaining legitimacy. Unfortunately, the need for adaptability often conflicts with the desire for certainty in legal and regulatory regimes, and laws that fail to account for variability often result in conflict when the inevitable disturbance occurs. Additional keys to resilience are collaboration among physical scientists, political actors, local leaders, and other stakeholders, and, when the commons is shared among sovereign states, collaboration between and among institutions with authority to act at different scales or with respect to different aspects of an ecological system. At the scale of transboundary river basins, where treaties govern water utilization, particular treaty mechanisms can reduce conflict potential by fostering collaboration and accounting for change. One necessary element is a mechanism for coordination and collaboration at the scale of the basin. This could be satisfied by mechanisms ranging from informal networks to the establishment of an international commission to jointly manage water, but a mechanism for collaboration at the basin scale alone does not ensure sound water management. To better guide resource management, study of applied resilience theory has revealed a number of management practices that are integral for adaptive governance. Here, we describe key resilience principles for treaty design and adaptive governance and then apply the principles to a case study of one transboundary basin where the need and willingness to manage collaboratively and iteratively is high - the Okavango River Basin of southwest Africa. This descriptive and applied approach should be particularly instructive for treaty negotiators, transboundary resource managers, and should aid program developers.

  4. Water Budgets of the Walker River Basin and Walker Lake, California and Nevada

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopes, Thomas J.; Allander, Kip K.

    2009-01-01

    The Walker River is the main source of inflow to Walker Lake, a closed-basin lake in west-central Nevada. The only outflow from Walker Lake is evaporation from the lake surface. Between 1882 and 2008, upstream agricultural diversions resulted in a lake-level decline of more than 150 feet and storage loss of 7,400,000 acre-feet. Evaporative concentration increased dissolved solids from 2,500 to 17,000 milligrams per liter. The increase in salinity threatens the survival of the Lahontan cutthroat trout, a native species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. This report describes streamflow in the Walker River basin and an updated water budget of Walker Lake with emphasis on the lower Walker River basin downstream from Wabuska, Nevada. Water budgets are based on average annual flows for a 30-year period (1971-2000). Total surface-water inflow to the upper Walker River basin upstream from Wabuska was estimated to be 387,000 acre-feet per year (acre-ft/yr). About 223,000 acre-ft/yr (58 percent) is from the West Fork of the Walker River; 145,000 acre-ft/yr (37 percent) is from the East Fork of the Walker River; 17,000 acre-ft/yr (4 percent) is from the Sweetwater Range; and 2,000 acre-ft/yr (less than 1 percent) is from the Bodie Mountains, Pine Grove Hills, and western Wassuk Range. Outflow from the upper Walker River basin is 138,000 acre-ft/yr at Wabuska. About 249,000 acre-ft/yr (64 percent) of inflow is diverted for irrigation, transpired by riparian vegetation, evaporates from lakes and reservoirs, and recharges alluvial aquifers. Stream losses in Antelope, Smith, and Bridgeport Valleys are due to evaporation from reservoirs and agricultural diversions with negligible stream infiltration or riparian evapotranspiration. Diversion rates in Antelope and Smith Valleys were estimated to be 3.0 feet per year (ft/yr) in each valley. Irrigated fields receive an additional 0.8 ft of precipitation, groundwater pumpage, or both for a total applied-water rate

  5. The tritium balance of the Ems river basin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krause, W.J.

    1989-01-01

    For the Ems river basin, as a fine example of a Central European lowland basin, an inventory of the tritium distribution is presented for the hydrologic years 1951 to 1983. On the basis of a balance model, the tritium contents in surface waters and groundwater of the Ems river basin are calculated, using known and extrapolated tritium input data and comparing them with the corresponding values measured since 1974. A survey of tritium flows occurring in this basin is presented, taking meteorologic and hydrologic facts into account. (orig.)

  6. Past terrestrial water storage (1980–2008 in the Amazon Basin reconstructed from GRACE and in situ river gauging data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Becker

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Terrestrial water storage (TWS composed of surface waters, soil moisture, groundwater and snow where appropriate, is a key element of global and continental water cycle. Since 2002, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE space gravimetry mission provides a new tool to measure large-scale TWS variations. However, for the past few decades, direct estimate of TWS variability is accessible from hydrological modeling only. Here we propose a novel approach that combines GRACE-based TWS spatial patterns with multi-decadal-long in situ river level records, to reconstruct past 2-D TWS over a river basin. Results are presented for the Amazon Basin for the period 1980–2008, focusing on the interannual time scale. Results are compared with past TWS estimated by the global hydrological model ISBA-TRIP. Correlations between reconstructed past interannual TWS variability and known climate forcing modes over the region (e.g., El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation are also estimated. This method offers new perspective for improving our knowledge of past interannual TWS in world river basins where natural climate variability (as opposed to direct anthropogenic forcing drives TWS variations.

  7. Causes and possible solutions to water resource conflicts in the Okavango River Basin: The case of Angola, Namibia and Botswana

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mbaiwa, Joseph E.

    This paper reviews available literature concerning water resources use in the Okavango River Basin (ORB). It describes a number of common arguments regarding possibilities for the emergence of violent conflict in and among Basin states, particularly those states party to the Okavango River Basin Commission (Okacom)-Angola, Botswana and Namibia. The paper presents data concerning present and future water demands and examines a number of formal, institutional steps taken by global and regional actors to facilitate sustainable development, natural resources management and peaceful cooperation in the Basin. Contrary to trends in much of the literature, the paper suggests that there is great scope for enhanced inter-state cooperation in the Basin. It argues that to achieve sustainable utilisation of water resources and avoid violent conflict in the ORB, an integrated management plan for the entire basin needs to be developed. In addition, each basin member-state should observe international and regional conventions and treaties governing the use of water resources when designing national water development projects that require the use of water from the ORB.

  8. The Saskatchewan River Basin - a large scale observatory for water security research (Invited)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wheater, H. S.

    2013-12-01

    The 336,000 km2 Saskatchewan River Basin (SaskRB) in Western Canada illustrates many of the issues of Water Security faced world-wide. It poses globally-important science challenges due to the diversity in its hydro-climate and ecological zones. With one of the world's more extreme climates, it embodies environments of global significance, including the Rocky Mountains (source of the major rivers in Western Canada), the Boreal Forest (representing 30% of Canada's land area) and the Prairies (home to 80% of Canada's agriculture). Management concerns include: provision of water resources to more than three million inhabitants, including indigenous communities; balancing competing needs for water between different uses, such as urban centres, industry, agriculture, hydropower and environmental flows; issues of water allocation between upstream and downstream users in the three prairie provinces; managing the risks of flood and droughts; and assessing water quality impacts of discharges from major cities and intensive agricultural production. Superimposed on these issues is the need to understand and manage uncertain water futures, including effects of economic growth and environmental change, in a highly fragmented water governance environment. Key science questions focus on understanding and predicting the effects of land and water management and environmental change on water quantity and quality. To address the science challenges, observational data are necessary across multiple scales. This requires focussed research at intensively monitored sites and small watersheds to improve process understanding and fine-scale models. To understand large-scale effects on river flows and quality, land-atmosphere feedbacks, and regional climate, integrated monitoring, modelling and analysis is needed at large basin scale. And to support water management, new tools are needed for operational management and scenario-based planning that can be implemented across multiple scales and

  9. Water and Fisheries: The Sensitivity of Water Supply in the Tana River Basin to Climate Change

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Inima, A.K.

    1998-01-01

    Wether climatic change would cause water supply in the dry areas of the earth to diminish or not is a major question. The main objective of this study was to determine wether the water supply in the Tana river Basin of Kenya would diminish in quality as a result of climate change. The Tana River Basin is the immense economic importance to Kenya and is the lifeline of Kenya's electricity supply, accounting for about 70% of the country's electricity supply. The basin houses about 30% of the country's population and 38% of the total irrigable land. A diminished water supply in this content would, therefore, hamper the economic development of the country.Kenya receives, on average, an annual rainfall of 600 mm, and hence classified as arid to semi-arid. This makes it vulnerable to adverse effects of climate change

  10. Managing Basin Interdependencies in a Heterogeneous, Highly Utilized and Data Scarce River Basin in Semi-Arid Africa : The case of the Pangani River Basin, Eastern Africa

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kiptala, J.K.

    2016-01-01

    For integrated water resources management both blue and green water resources in a river basin and their spatial and temporal distribution have to be considered. This is because green and blue water uses are interdependent. In sub-Saharan Africa, the upper landscapes are often dominated by rainfed

  11. Managing Basin Interdependencies in a Heterogeneous, Highly Utilized and Data Scarce River Basin in Semi-Arid Africa: The Case of the Pangani River Basin, Eastern Africa

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kiptala, J.K.

    2016-01-01

    For integrated water resources management both blue and green water resources in a river basin and their spatial and temporal distribution have to be considered. This is because green and blue water uses are interdependent. In sub-Saharan Africa, the upper landscapes are often dominated by rainfed

  12. WATER RESOURCES STATUS AND AVAILABILITY ASSESSMENT IN CURRENT AND FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE SCENARIOS FOR BEAS RIVER BASIN OF NORTH WESTERN HIMALAYA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. P. Aggarwal

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available The water resources status and availability of any river basin is of primary importance for overall and sustainable development of any river basin. This study has been done in Beas river basin which is located in North Western Himalaya for assessing the status of water resources in present and future climate change scenarios. In this study hydrological modelling approach has been used for quantifying the water balance components of Beas river basin upto Pandoh. The variable infiltration capacity (VIC model has been used in energy balance mode for Beas river basin at 1km grid scale. The VIC model has been run with snow elevation zones files to simulate the snow module of VIC. The model was run with National Centre for Environmental Prediction (NCEP forcing data (Tmax, Tmin, Rainfall and wind speed at 0.5degree resolution from 1 Jan. 1999 to 31 Dec 2006 for calibration purpose. The additional component of glacier melt was added into overall river runoff using semi-empirical approach utilizing air temperature and glacier type and extent data. The ground water component is computed from overall recharge of ground water by water balance approach. The overall water balance approach is validated with river discharge data provided by Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB from 1994-2014. VIC routing module was used to assess pixel wise flow availability at daily, monthly and annual time scales. The mean monthly flow at Pandoh during study period varied from 19 - 1581 m3/s from VIC and 50 to 1556 m3/sec from observation data, with minimum water flow occurring in month of January and maximum flow in month of August with annual R2 of 0.68. The future climate change data is taken from CORDEX database. The climate model of NOAA-GFDL-ESM2M for IPCC RCP scenario 4.5 and 8.5 were used for South Asia at 0.44 deg. grid from year 2006 to 2100. The climate forcing data for VIC model was prepared using daily maximum and minimum near surface air temperature, daily

  13. Water Resources Status and Availability Assessment in Current and Future Climate Change Scenarios for Beas River Basin of North Western Himalaya

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aggarwal, S. P.; Thakur, P. K.; Garg, V.; Nikam, B. R.; Chouksey, A.; Dhote, P.; Bhattacharya, T.

    2016-10-01

    The water resources status and availability of any river basin is of primary importance for overall and sustainable development of any river basin. This study has been done in Beas river basin which is located in North Western Himalaya for assessing the status of water resources in present and future climate change scenarios. In this study hydrological modelling approach has been used for quantifying the water balance components of Beas river basin upto Pandoh. The variable infiltration capacity (VIC) model has been used in energy balance mode for Beas river basin at 1km grid scale. The VIC model has been run with snow elevation zones files to simulate the snow module of VIC. The model was run with National Centre for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) forcing data (Tmax, Tmin, Rainfall and wind speed at 0.5degree resolution) from 1 Jan. 1999 to 31 Dec 2006 for calibration purpose. The additional component of glacier melt was added into overall river runoff using semi-empirical approach utilizing air temperature and glacier type and extent data. The ground water component is computed from overall recharge of ground water by water balance approach. The overall water balance approach is validated with river discharge data provided by Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) from 1994-2014. VIC routing module was used to assess pixel wise flow availability at daily, monthly and annual time scales. The mean monthly flow at Pandoh during study period varied from 19 - 1581 m3/s from VIC and 50 to 1556 m3/sec from observation data, with minimum water flow occurring in month of January and maximum flow in month of August with annual R2 of 0.68. The future climate change data is taken from CORDEX database. The climate model of NOAA-GFDL-ESM2M for IPCC RCP scenario 4.5 and 8.5 were used for South Asia at 0.44 deg. grid from year 2006 to 2100. The climate forcing data for VIC model was prepared using daily maximum and minimum near surface air temperature, daily precipitation and

  14. Ecosystem services in Mediterranean river basin: climate change impact on water provisioning and erosion control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bangash, Rubab F; Passuello, Ana; Sanchez-Canales, María; Terrado, Marta; López, Alfredo; Elorza, F Javier; Ziv, Guy; Acuña, Vicenç; Schuhmacher, Marta

    2013-08-01

    The Mediterranean basin is considered one of the most vulnerable regions of the world to climate change and such changes impact the capacity of ecosystems to provide goods and services to human society. The predicted future scenarios for this region present an increased frequency of floods and extended droughts, especially at the Iberian Peninsula. This paper evaluates the impacts of climate change on the water provisioning and erosion control services in the densely populated Mediterranean Llobregat river basin of. The assessment of ecosystem services and their mapping at the basin scale identify the current pressures on the river basin including the source area in the Pyrenees Mountains. Drinking water provisioning is expected to decrease between 3 and 49%, while total hydropower production will decrease between 5 and 43%. Erosion control will be reduced by up to 23%, indicating that costs for dredging the reservoirs as well as for treating drinking water will also increase. Based on these data, the concept for an appropriate quantification and related spatial visualization of ecosystem service is elaborated and discussed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Climate and Hydrological Change Characteristics and Applicability of GLDAS Data in the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin, China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hong Zhang

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The hydrological cycle is particularly sensitive to and is greatly affected by global climate change. In addition, runoff change has a strong influence on the hydrological cycle and migration of biogenic substances. The Yarlung Zangbo River basin in China is a typical basin for which climate and hydrological data are lacking. Land surface models can provide data for studying land surface substance and energy circulation, which are meaningful to face climate change. The midstream region of the Yarlung Zangbo River basin, which is strongly affected by climate change, was selected as the study area. First, the observed mean temperature, precipitation and runoff characteristics were analysed. Second, after combining the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS and the water balance equation, we simulated climate and hydrological processes for the same time period. Finally, the correlation and error between GLDAS and observed data were analysed to verify applicability of the GLDAS data, and the impacts of climate factors on runoff were discussed. The results revealed that under the background of global warming, precipitation, temperature, and runoff changed significantly and showed strong consistency during the research period. Mean monthly precipitation, temperature and runoff exhibited clear cyclical fluctuations of approximately 12 months, and they all tended to increase. GLDAS is not a good system to describe the land surface conditions of the Yarlung Zangbo River basin all the time. However, within a certain time period, GLDAS data have a good applicability in the basin. Thereinto, the GLDAS mean monthly precipitation was moderately correlated with observed precipitation, with a correlation coefficient of 0.75. GLDAS mean monthly temperature was highly correlated with observed data, with a correlation coefficient of 0.94. Based on the Brunke ranking method, it indicates that GLDAS-Noah-based runoff data were closer to observed runoff data

  16. Zinc and Its Isotopes in the Loire River Basin, France

    Science.gov (United States)

    Millot, R.; Desaulty, A. M.; Bourrain, X.

    2014-12-01

    The contribution of human activities such as industries, agriculture and domestic inputs, becomes more and more significant in the chemical composition of the dissolved load of rivers. Human factors act as a supplementary key process. Therefore the mass-balance for the budget of catchments and river basins include anthropogenic disturbances. The Loire River in central France is approximately 1010 km long and drains an area of 117,800 km2. In the upper basin, the bedrock is old plutonic rock overlain by much younger volcanic rocks. The intermediate basin includes three major tributaries flowing into the Loire River from the left bank: the Cher, the Indre and the Vienne rivers; the main stream flows westward and its valley stretches toward the Atlantic Ocean. Here, the Loire River drains the sedimentary series of the Paris Basin, mainly carbonate deposits. The lower Loire basin drains pre-Mesozoic basement of the Armorican Massif and its overlying Mesozoic to Cenozoic sedimentary deposits. The Loire River is one of the main European riverine inputs to the Atlantic ocean. Here we are reporting concentration and isotope data for Zn in river waters and suspended sediments from the Loire River Basin. In addition, we also report concentration and isotope data for the different industrial sources within the Loire Basin, as well as data for biota samples such as mussels and oysters from the Bay of Biscay and North Brittany. These organisms are known to be natural accumulators of metal pollutants. Zinc isotopic compositions are rather homogeneous in river waters with δ66Zn values ranging from 0.21 to 0.39‰. This range of variation is very different from anthropogenic signature (industrial and/or agriculture release) that displays δ66Zn values between 0.02 to 0.14‰. This result is in agreement with a geogenic origin and the low Zn concentrations in the Loire River Basin (from 0.8 to 6 µg/L).

  17. Transport of Water, Carbon, and Sediment Through the Yukon River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brabets, Timothy P.; Schuster, Paul F.

    2008-01-01

    INTRODUCTION In 2001, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a water-quality study of the Yukon River. The Yukon River Basin (YRB), which encompasses 330,000 square miles in northwestern Canada and central Alaska (fig. 1), is one of the largest and most diverse ecosystems in North America. The Yukon River is more than 1,800 miles long and is one of the last great uncontrolled rivers in the world, and is essential to the eastern Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea ecosystems, providing freshwater runoff, sediments, and nutrients (Brabets and others, 2000). Despite its remoteness, recent studies (Hinzman and others, 2005; Walvoord and Striegl, 2007) indicate the YRB is changing. These changes likely are in response to a warming trend in air temperature of 1.7i??C from 1951 to 2001 (Hartmann and Wendler, 2005). As a result of this warming trend, permafrost is thawing in the YRB, ice breakup occurs earlier on the main stem of the Yukon River and its tributaries, and timing of streamflow and movement of carbon and sediment through the basin is changing (Hinzman and others, 2005; Walvoord and Striegl, 2007). One of the most striking characteristics in the YRB is its seasonality. In the YRB, more than 75 percent of the annual streamflow runoff occurs during a five month period, May through September. This is important because streamflow determines when, where, and how much of a particular constituent will be transported. As an example, more than 95 percent of all sediment transported during an average year also occurs during this period (Brabets and others, 2000). During the other 7 months, streamflow, concentrations of sediment and other water-quality constituents are low and little or no sediment transport occurs in the Yukon River and its tributaries. Streamflow and water-quality data have been collected at more than 50 sites in the YRB (Dornblaser and Halm, 2006; Halm and Dornblaser, 2007). Five sites have been sampled more than 30 times and others have been sampled twice

  18. Water-Energy Nexus in Shared River Basins: How Hydropower Shapes Cooperation and Coordination

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kouangpalath Phimthong

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The construction of hydropower plants on transboundary rivers is seldom done with equal benefits to all riparians, and therefore presents coordination and cooperation challenges. Without a supra-national authority in charge of transboundary river basins, coordination between sectors (water, energy and environment and cooperation between countries largely depends on willingness of the individual nation states and the power relations between these countries. This paper discusses how the interests and relative power positions of actors in transboundary water management shape the outcomes, and what roles are played by River Basin Organisations and foreign investors (especially in hydropower development. These issues are illustrated with examples from the Mekong river in Southeast Asia (Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, the Euphrates-Tigris (Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Kuwait and the Çoruh in Turkey and Georgia.

  19. WATER AND HYGIENE IN THE KHARAA RIVER BASIN, MONGOLIA: CURRENT KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH NEEDS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. Karthe

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The Kharaa River Basin has some of the highest densities of population, agricultural and industrial activities in Mongolia. This puts the naturally limited water resources under pressure in both a quantitative and qualitative perspective. Besides mining, key sources of surface water contamination include large numbers of livestock in riverine floodplains and the discharge of untreated or poorly treated waste waters, both into rivers and by soil infiltration. Since both shallow groundwater and river water are used by people and for livestock, there are at least theoretical risks related to the transmission of water-borne pathogens. Only a very limited number of studies on water and hygiene have so far been conducted in Mongolia, all indicating (potential risks to water users. However, a lack of current and reliable water microbiology data leads to the need of systematic screening of water hygiene in order to derive conclusions for public health and drinking water management at the local and regional scale.

  20. Technical knowledge and water resources management: A comparative study of river basin councils, Brazil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemos, Maria Carmen; Bell, Andrew R.; Engle, Nathan L.; Formiga-Johnsson, Rosa Maria; Nelson, Donald R.

    2010-06-01

    Better understanding of the factors that shape the use of technical knowledge in water management is important both to increase its relevance to decision-making and sustainable governance and to inform knowledge producers where needs lie. This is particularly critical in the context of the many stressors threatening water resources around the world. Recent scholarship focusing on innovative water management institutions emphasizes knowledge use as critical to water systems' adaptive capacity to respond to these stressors. For the past 15 years, water resources management in Brazil has undergone an encompassing reform that has created a set of participatory councils at the river basin level. Using data from a survey of 626 members of these councils across 18 river basins, this article examines the use of technical knowledge (e.g., climate and weather forecasts, reservoir streamflow models, environmental impact assessments, among others) within these councils. It finds that use of knowledge positively aligns with access, a more diverse and broader discussion agenda, and a higher sense of effectiveness. Yet, use of technical knowledge is also associated with skewed levels of power within the councils.

  1. Water-scarcity patterns : spatiotemporal interdependencies between water use and water availability in a semi-arid river basin

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Oel, P.R.

    2009-01-01

    This thesis addresses the interdependencies between water use and water availability and describes a model that has been developed to improve understanding of the processes that drive changes and variations in the spatial and temporal distribution of water resources in a semi-arid river basin. These

  2. Cooperative and adaptive transboundary water governance in Canada's Mackenzie River Basin: status and prospects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michelle Morris

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Canada's Mackenzie River Basin (MRB is one of the largest relatively pristine ecosystems in North America. Home to indigenous peoples for millennia, the basin is also the site of increasing resource development, notably fossil fuels, hydroelectric power resources, minerals, and forests. Three provinces, three territories, the Canadian federal government, and Aboriginal governments (under Canada's constitution, indigenous peoples are referred to as "Aboriginal" have responsibilities for water in the basin, making the MRB a significant setting for cooperative, transboundary water governance. A framework agreement that provides broad principles and establishes a river basin organization, the MRB Board, has been in place since 1997. However, significant progress on completing bilateral agreements under the 1997 Mackenzie River Basin Transboundary Waters Master Agreement has only occurred since 2010. We considered the performance of the MRB Board relative to its coordination function, accountability, legitimacy, and overall environmental effectiveness. This allowed us to address the extent to which governance based on river basin boundaries, a bioregional approach, could contribute to adaptive governance in the MRB. Insights were based on analysis of key documents and published studies, 19 key informant interviews, and additional interactions with parties involved in basin governance. We found that the MRB Board's composition, its lack of funding and staffing, and the unwillingness of the governments to empower it to play the role envisioned in the Master Agreement mean that as constituted, the board faces challenges in implementing a basin-wide vision. This appears to be by design. The MRB governments have instead used the bilateral agreements under the Master Agreement as the primary mechanism through which transboundary governance will occur. A commitment to coordinating across the bilateral agreements is needed to enhance the prospects for

  3. Managing water scarcity in the Magdalena river basin in Colombia.An economic assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolivar Lobato, Martha Isabel; Schneider, Uwe A.

    2014-05-01

    Key words: global change, water scarcity, river basin In Colombia, serious water conflicts began to emerge with the economic development in the 70ies and 80ies and the term "water scarcity" became a common word in this tropical country. Despite a mean annual runoff of 1840 mm, which classifies Colombia as a water rich country, shortfalls in fresh water availability have become a frequent event in the last two decades. One reason for the manifestation of water scarcity is the long-held perception of invulnerable water abundance, which has delayed technical and political developments to use water more efficiently. The Magdalena watershed is the most important and complex area in Colombia, because of its huge anthropogenic present, economic development and increasing environmental problems. This river basin has a total area of 273,459 km2, equivalent to 24% of the territory of the country. It is home to 79% of the country's population (32.5 million of inhabitants) and approximately 85% of Gross Domestic Product of Colombia is generated in this area. Since the economic development of the 1970s and 1980s, large changes in land cover and related environmental conditions have occurred in the Magdalena basin. These changes include deforestation, agricultural land expansion, soil degradation, lower groundwater and increased water pollution. To assess the consequences of geophysical alteration and economic development, we perform an integrated analysis of water demand, water supply, land use changes and possible water management strategies. The main objective of this study is to determine how global and local changes affect the balance between water supply and demand in the Magdalena river basin in Colombia, the consequences of different water pricing schemes, and the social benefits of public or private investments into various water management infrastructures. To achieve this goal, a constrained welfare maximization model has been developed. The General Algebraic Modeling

  4. Interannual variability in water storage over 2003-2008 in the Amazon Basin from GRACE space gravimetry, in situ river level and precipitation data

    OpenAIRE

    Xavier , L.; Becker , M.; Cazenave , A.; Longuevergne , L.; Llovel , W.; Rotunno Filho , Otto Correa

    2012-01-01

    International audience; We investigate the interannual variability over 2003-2008 of different hydrological parameters in the Amazon river basin: (1) vertically-integrated water storage from the GRACE space gravimetry mission, (2) surface water level of the Amazon River and its tributaries from in situ gauge stations, and (3) precipitation. We analyze the spatio-temporal evolution of total water storage from GRACE and in situ river level along the Amazon River and its main tributaries and not...

  5. Improving the performance of streamflow forecasting model using data-preprocessing technique in Dungun River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khai Tiu, Ervin Shan; Huang, Yuk Feng; Ling, Lloyd

    2018-03-01

    An accurate streamflow forecasting model is important for the development of flood mitigation plan as to ensure sustainable development for a river basin. This study adopted Variational Mode Decomposition (VMD) data-preprocessing technique to process and denoise the rainfall data before putting into the Support Vector Machine (SVM) streamflow forecasting model in order to improve the performance of the selected model. Rainfall data and river water level data for the period of 1996-2016 were used for this purpose. Homogeneity tests (Standard Normal Homogeneity Test, the Buishand Range Test, the Pettitt Test and the Von Neumann Ratio Test) and normality tests (Shapiro-Wilk Test, Anderson-Darling Test, Lilliefors Test and Jarque-Bera Test) had been carried out on the rainfall series. Homogenous and non-normally distributed data were found in all the stations, respectively. From the recorded rainfall data, it was observed that Dungun River Basin possessed higher monthly rainfall from November to February, which was during the Northeast Monsoon. Thus, the monthly and seasonal rainfall series of this monsoon would be the main focus for this research as floods usually happen during the Northeast Monsoon period. The predicted water levels from SVM model were assessed with the observed water level using non-parametric statistical tests (Biased Method, Kendall's Tau B Test and Spearman's Rho Test).

  6. A review of current and possible future human-water dynamics in Myanmar's river basins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taft, Linda; Evers, Mariele

    2016-12-01

    Rivers provide a large number of ecosystem services and riparian people depend directly and indirectly on water availability and quality and quantity of the river waters. The country's economy and the people's well-being and income, particularly in agriculturally dominated countries, are strongly determined by the availability of sufficient water. This is particularly true for the country of Myanmar in South-east Asia, where more than 65 % of the population live in rural areas, working in the agricultural sector. Only a few studies exist on river basins in Myanmar at all and detailed knowledge providing the basis for human-water research is very limited. A deeper understanding of human-water system dynamics in the country is required because Myanmar's society, economy, ecosystems and water resources are facing major challenges due to political and economic reforms and massive and rapid investments from neighbouring countries. However, not only policy and economy modify the need for water. Climate variability and change are other essential drivers within human-water systems. Myanmar's climate is influenced by the Indian Monsoon circulation which is subject to interannual and also regional variability. Particularly the central dry zone and the Ayeyarwady delta are prone to extreme events such as serious drought periods and extreme floods. On the one hand, the farmers depend on the natural fertiliser brought by regular river inundations and high groundwater levels for irrigation; on the other hand, they suffer from these water-related extreme events. It is expected that theses climatic extreme events will likely increase in frequency and magnitude in the future as a result of global climate change. Different national and international interests in the abundant water resources may provide opportunities and risks at the same time for Myanmar. Several dam projects along the main courses of the rivers are currently in the planning phase. Dams will most likely modify the

  7. Integrated Hydrographical Basin Management. Study Case - Crasna River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Visescu, Mircea; Beilicci, Erika; Beilicci, Robert

    2017-10-01

    Hydrographical basins are important from hydrological, economic and ecological points of view. They receive and channel the runoff from rainfall and snowmelt which, when adequate managed, can provide fresh water necessary for water supply, irrigation, food industry, animal husbandry, hydrotechnical arrangements and recreation. Hydrographical basin planning and management follows the efficient use of available water resources in order to satisfy environmental, economic and social necessities and constraints. This can be facilitated by a decision support system that links hydrological, meteorological, engineering, water quality, agriculture, environmental, and other information in an integrated framework. In the last few decades different modelling tools for resolving problems regarding water quantity and quality were developed, respectively water resources management. Watershed models have been developed to the understanding of water cycle and pollution dynamics, and used to evaluate the impacts of hydrotechnical arrangements and land use management options on water quantity, quality, mitigation measures and possible global changes. Models have been used for planning monitoring network and to develop plans for intervention in case of hydrological disasters: floods, flash floods, drought and pollution. MIKE HYDRO Basin is a multi-purpose, map-centric decision support tool for integrated hydrographical basin analysis, planning and management. MIKE HYDRO Basin is designed for analyzing water sharing issues at international, national and local hydrographical basin level. MIKE HYDRO Basin uses a simplified mathematical representation of the hydrographical basin including the configuration of river and reservoir systems, catchment hydrology and existing and potential water user schemes with their various demands including a rigorous irrigation scheme module. This paper analyzes the importance and principles of integrated hydrographical basin management and develop a case

  8. Climate Change, the Energy-water-food Nexus, and the "New" Colorado River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Middleton, R. S.; Bennett, K. E.; Solander, K.; Hopkins, E.

    2017-12-01

    Climate change, extremes, and climate-driven disturbances are anticipated to have substantial impacts on regional water resources, particularly in the western and southwestern United States. These unprecedented conditions—a no-analog future—will result in challenges to adaptation, mitigation, and resilience planning for the energy-water-food nexus. We have analyzed the impact of climate change on Colorado River flows for multiple climate and disturbance scenarios: 12 global climate models and two CO2 emission scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5) from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Coupled Model Intercomparison Study, version 5, and multiple climate-driven forest disturbance scenarios including temperature-drought vegetation mortality and insect infestations. Results indicate a wide range of potential streamflow projections and the potential emergence of a "new" Colorado River basin. Overall, annual streamflow tends to increase under the majority of modeled scenarios due to projected increases in precipitation across the basin, though a significant number of scenarios indicate moderate and potentially substantial reductions in water availability. However, all scenarios indicate severe changes in seasonality of flows and strong variability across headwater systems. This leads to increased fall and winter streamflow, strong reductions in spring and summer flows, and a shift towards earlier snowmelt timing. These impacts are further exacerbated in headwater systems, which are key to driving Colorado River streamflow and hence water supply for both internal and external basin needs. These results shed a new and important slant on the Colorado River basin, where an emergent streamflow pattern may result in difficulties to adjust to these new regimes, resulting in increased stress to the energy-water-food nexus.

  9. Quantifying present and future glacier melt-water contribution to runoff in a central Himalayan river basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Prasch

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Water supply of most lowland cultures heavily depends on rain and melt water from the upstream mountains. Especially melt-water release of alpine mountain ranges is usually attributed a pivotal role for the water supply of large downstream regions. Water scarcity is assumed as consequence of glacier shrinkage and possible disappearance due to global climate change (GCC, in particular for large parts of Central and Southeast Asia. In this paper, the application and validation of a coupled modeling approach with regional climate model (RCM outputs and a process-oriented glacier and hydrological model is presented for the central Himalayan Lhasa River basin despite scarce data availability. Current and possible future contributions of ice melt to runoff along the river network are spatially explicitly shown. Its role among the other water balance components is presented. Although glaciers have retreated and will continue to retreat according to the chosen climate scenarios, water availability is and will be primarily determined by monsoon precipitation and snowmelt. Ice melt from glaciers is and will be a minor runoff component in summer monsoon-dominated Himalayan river basins.

  10. Distributed modeling of landsurface water and energy budgets in the inland Heihe river basin of China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Y. Jia

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available A distributed model for simulating the land surface hydrological processes in the Heihe river basin was developed and validated on the basis of considering the physical mechanism of hydrological cycle and the artificial system of water utilization in the basin. Modeling approach of every component process was introduced from 2 aspects, i.e., water cycle and energy cycle. The hydrological processes include evapotranspiration, infiltration, runoff, groundwater flow, interaction between groundwater and river water, overland flow, river flow and artificial cycle processes of water utilization. A simulation of 21 years from 1982 to 2002 was carried out after obtaining various input data and model parameters. The model was validated for both the simulation of monthly discharge process and that of daily discharge process. Water budgets and spatial and temporal variations of hydrological cycle components as well as energy cycle components in the upper and middle reach Heihe basin (36 728 km2 were studied by using the distributed hydrological model. In addition, the model was further used to predict the water budgets under the future land surface change scenarios in the basin. The modeling results show: (1 in the upper reach watershed, the annual average evapotranspiration and runoff account for 63% and 37% of the annual precipitation, respectively, the snow melting runoff accounts for 19% of the total runoff and 41% of the direct runoff, and the groundwater storage has no obvious change; (2 in the middle reach basin, the annual average evapotranspiration is 52 mm more than the local annual precipitation, and the groundwater storage is of an obvious declining trend because of irrigation water consumption; (3 for the scenario of conservation forest construction in the upper reach basin, although the evapotranspiration from interception may increase, the soil evaporation may reduce at the same time, therefore the total evapotranspiration may not

  11. Proposed Strategy for San Joaquin River Basin Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    A Proposed Strategy for San Joaquin River Basin Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment was published in 2010, and a Strawman Proposal was developed in 2012 by the Coalition for Urban/Rural Environmental Stewardship, California Water Resources Board, EPA.

  12. Assessing the influence of climate change and inter-basin water diversion on Haihe River basin, eastern China: a coupled model approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xia, Jun; Wang, Qiang; Zhang, Xiang; Wang, Rui; She, Dunxian

    2018-04-01

    The modeling of changes in surface water and groundwater in the areas of inter-basin water diversion projects is quite difficult because surface water and groundwater models are run separately most of the time and the lack of sufficient data limits the application of complex surface-water/groundwater coupling models based on physical laws, especially for developing countries. In this study, a distributed surface-water and groundwater coupling model, named the distributed time variant gain model-groundwater model (DTVGM-GWM), was used to assess the influence of climate change and inter-basin water diversion on a watershed hydrological cycle. The DTVGM-GWM model can reflect the interaction processes of surface water and groundwater at basin scale. The model was applied to the Haihe River Basin (HRB) in eastern China. The possible influences of climate change and the South-to-North Water Diversion Project (SNWDP) on surface water and groundwater in the HRB were analyzed under various scenarios. The results showed that the newly constructed model DTVGM-GWM can reasonably simulate the surface and river runoff, and describe the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of groundwater level, groundwater storage and phreatic recharge. The prediction results under different scenarios showed a decline in annual groundwater exploitation and also runoff in the HRB, while an increase of groundwater storage and groundwater level after the SNWDP's operation. Additionally, as the project also addresses future scenarios, a slight increase is predicted in the actual evapotranspiration, soil water content and phreatic recharge. This study provides valuable insights for developing sustainable groundwater management options for the HRB.

  13. The main characteristics of the high water registered in the River Basin Bega in February 1999

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Teodorescu, Niculae Iulian

    2008-01-01

    The year 1999 was characterized by high water events with a rare rate of occurrence. The events were produced in different months of the year, in different river basins in the Banat Region (area situated in the south - western part of Romania). In the River Basin Bega the most important high water appeared in mid February and was generated by both rain and the melting of the snow layer. The cold period of 1999 was characterized by relatively high quantities of precipitation (module coefficients from 1.17 to 2.15), the most part of those being liquid (rainfall). At altitudes higher than 1,000 m, the snow layer was relatively continuous. Weather warming appeared in the middle of February, in the same year, generating the melting of an important layer of snow (10-15 cm in the plain and around 20 cm in the hilly area), and the water layer generated by this had an important effect, overlaid on the water layer generated by rainfall. The high water (flood) event, which is the topic of this study, occurred between 20th - 27th February 1999 and after analyzing the data we initiated a comparative analysis between the main element of the event (specific discharge, high water duration, increasing time, shape coefficient) and the mean element of high waters from 10 gauging stations from the river basin. After the analysis we observed that some elements, like high water duration and the increasing time, are bigger than the mean values - which is a characteristic of high waters generated both by rainfall and snow melting, while other elements are smaller (a, overrun layer) - this as a consequence of river basin response to the generating elements. This analysis has enriched our database for hydrologic prognosis, as it is known that in this part of the country warm periods have a frequent occurrence in winter. They produce snow melting and, sometimes generate important high water.

  14. Operational river discharge forecasting in poorly gauged basins: the Kavango River basin case study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bauer-Gottwein, Peter; Jensen, Iris Hedegaard; Guzinski, R.

    2015-01-01

    in Africa. We present an operational probabilistic forecasting approach which uses public-domain climate forcing data and a hydrologic-hydrodynamic model which is entirely based on open-source software. Data assimilation techniques are used to inform the forecasts with the latest available observations......Operational probabilistic forecasts of river discharge are essential for effective water resources management. Many studies have addressed this topic using different approaches ranging from purely statistical black-box approaches to physically based and distributed modeling schemes employing data...... assimilation techniques. However, few studies have attempted to develop operational probabilistic forecasting approaches for large and poorly gauged river basins. The objective of this study is to develop open-source software tools to support hydrologic forecasting and integrated water resources management...

  15. Water resources in the Blackstone River basin, Massachusetts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, Eugene H.; Krejmas, Bruce E.

    1983-01-01

    The Blackstone River heads in brooks 6 miles northwest of Worcester and drains about 330 square miles of central Massachusetts before crossing into Rhode Island at Woonsocket. The primary source of the Worcester water supply is reservoirs, but for the remaining 23 communities in the basin, the primary source is wells. Bedrock consists of granitic and metamorphic rocks. Till mantles the uplands and extends beneath stratified drift in the valleys. Stratified glacial drift, consisting of clay, silt, and fine sand deposited in lakes and coarse-textured sand and gravel deposited by streams, is found in lowlands and valleys. The bedrock aquifer is capable of sustaining rural domestic supplies throughout the Blackstone River basin. Bedrock wells yield an average of 10 gallons per minute, but some wells, especially those in lowlands where bedrock probably contains more fractures and receives more recharge than in the upland areas, yield as much as 100 gallons per minute. Glacial sand and gravel is the principal aquifer. It is capable of sustaining municipal supplies. Average daily pumpage from this aquifer in the Blackstone River basin was 10.4 million gallons per day in 1978. The median yield of large-diameter wells in the aquifer is 325 gallons per minute. The range of yields from these wells is 45 to 3,300 gallons per minute. The median specific capacity is about 30 gallons per minute per foot of drawdown.

  16. A Preliminary Study of Water Quality Index in Terengganu River Basin, Malaysia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suratman, S.; Mohd, S.M.I.; Hee, Y.Y.; Bedurus, E.A.; Latif, M.T.

    2015-01-01

    The Malaysian Department of Environment-Water Quality Index (DOE-WQI) was determined for the Terengganu River basin which is located at the coastal water of the southern South China Sea between July and October 2008. Monthly samplings were carried out at ten sampling stations within the basin. Six parameters listed in DOE-WQI were measured based on standard methods: pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS) and ammonical nitrogen (AN). The results indicated the impact of various anthropogenic activities which contribute to high values of BOD, COD, TSS and AN at middle and downstream stations, as compared with the upstream of the basin. The reverses were true for the pH and DO values. The DOE-WQI ranged from 71.5-94.6 % (mean 86.9 %), which corresponded to a classification status range from slightly polluted to clean. With respect to the Malaysia National Water Quality Standards (NWQS), the level of most of the parameters measured remained at Class I which is suitable for the sustainable conservation of the natural environment, for water supply without treatment and as well as for very sensitive aquatic species. It is suggested that monitoring should be carried out continuously for proper management of this river basin. (author)

  17. Interaction of surface water and groundwater in the Nile River basin: isotopic and piezometric evidence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kebede, Seifu; Abdalla, Osman; Sefelnasr, Ahmed; Tindimugaya, Callist; Mustafa, Osman

    2017-05-01

    Past discussions around water-resources management and development in the River Nile basin disregard groundwater resources from the equation. There is an increasing interest around factoring the groundwater resources as an integral part of the Nile Basin water resources. This is hampered by knowledge gap regarding the groundwater resources dynamics (recharge, storage, flow, quality, surface-water/groundwater interaction) at basin scale. This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the state of surface-water/groundwater interaction from the headwater to the Nile Delta region. Piezometric and isotopic (δ18O, δ2H) evidence reveal that the Nile changes from a gaining stream in the headwater regions to mostly a loosing stream in the arid lowlands of Sudan and Egypt. Specific zones of Nile water leakage to the adjacent aquifers is mapped using the two sources of evidence. Up to 50% of the surface-water flow in the equatorial region of the Nile comes from groundwater as base flow. The evidence also shows that the natural direction and rate of surface-water/groundwater interaction is largely perturbed by human activities (diversion, dam construction) particularly downstream of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt. The decrease in discharge of the Nile River along its course is attributed to leakage to the aquifers as well as to evaporative water loss from the river channel. The surface-water/groundwater interaction occurring along the Nile River and its sensitivity to infrastructure development calls for management strategies that account groundwater as an integral part of the Nile Basin resources.

  18. Environmental Setting and Effects on Water Quality in the Great and Little Miami River Basins, Ohio and Indiana

    Science.gov (United States)

    Debrewer, Linda M.; Rowe, Gary L.; Reutter, David C.; Moore, Rhett C.; Hambrook, Julie A.; Baker, Nancy T.

    2000-01-01

    The Great and Little Miami River Basins drain approximately 7,354 square miles in southwestern Ohio and southeastern Indiana and are included in the more than 50 major river basins and aquifer systems selected for water-quality assessment as part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment Program. Principal streams include the Great and Little Miami Rivers in Ohio and the Whitewater River in Indiana. The Great and Little Miami River Basins are almost entirely within the Till Plains section of the Central Lowland physiographic province and have a humid continental climate, characterized by well-defined summer and winter seasons. With the exception of a few areas near the Ohio River, Pleistocene glacial deposits, which are predominantly till, overlie lower Paleozoic limestone, dolomite, and shale bedrock. The principal aquifer is a complex buried-valley system of sand and gravel aquifers capable of supporting sustained well yields exceeding 1,000 gallons per min-ute. Designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a sole-source aquifer, the Buried-Valley Aquifer System is the principal source of drinking water for 1.6 million people in the basins and is the dominant source of water for southwestern Ohio. Water use in the Great and Little Miami River Basins averaged 745 million gallons per day in 1995. Of this amount, 48 percent was supplied by surface water (including the Ohio River) and 52 percent was supplied by ground water. Land-use and waste-management practices influence the quality of water found in streams and aquifers in the Great and Little Miami River Basins. Land use is approximately 79 percent agriculture, 13 percent urban (residential, industrial, and commercial), and 7 percent forest. An estimated 2.8 million people live in the Great and Little Miami River Basins; major urban areas include Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio. Fertilizers and pesticides associated with agricultural activity, discharges from municipal and

  19. Long-term trend analysis of reservoir water quality and quantity at the landscape scale in two major river basins of Texas, USA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patino, Reynaldo; Asquith, William H.; VanLandeghem, Matthew M.; Dawson, D.

    2016-01-01

    Trends in water quality and quantity were assessed for 11 major reservoirs of the Brazos and Colorado river basins in the southern Great Plains (maximum period of record, 1965–2010). Water quality, major contributing-stream inflow, storage, local precipitation, and basin-wide total water withdrawals were analyzed. Inflow and storage decreased and total phosphorus increased in most reservoirs. The overall, warmest-, or coldest-monthly temperatures increased in 7 reservoirs, decreased in 1 reservoir, and did not significantly change in 3 reservoirs. The most common monotonic trend in salinity-related variables (specific conductance, chloride, sulfate) was one of no change, and when significant change occurred, it was inconsistent among reservoirs. No significant change was detected in monthly sums of local precipitation. Annual water withdrawals increased in both basins, but the increase was significant (P < 0.05) only in the Colorado River and marginally significant (P < 0.1) in the Brazos River. Salinity-related variables dominated spatial variability in water quality data due to the presence of high- and low-salinity reservoirs in both basins. These observations present a landscape in the Brazos and Colorado river basins where, in the last ∼40 years, reservoir inflow and storage generally decreased, eutrophication generally increased, and water temperature generally increased in at least 1 of 3 temperature indicators evaluated. Because local precipitation remained generally stable, observed reductions in reservoir inflow and storage during the study period may be attributable to other proximate factors, including increased water withdrawals (at least in the Colorado River basin) or decreased runoff from contributing watersheds.

  20. Integrated modeling of water quantity and quality in the Araguari River basin, Brazil

    OpenAIRE

    Salla, Marcio Ricardo; Paredes-Arquiola, Javier; Solera, Abel; Álvarez, Joaquín Andreu; Pereira, Carlos Eugênio; Alamy Filho, José Eduardo; De Oliveira, André Luiz

    2014-01-01

    The Araguari River basin has a huge water resource potential. However, population and industrial growth have generated numerous private and collective conflicts of interest in the multiple uses of water, resulting in the need for integrated management of water quantity and quality at the basin scale. This study used the AQUATOOL Decision Support System. The water balance performed by the SIMGES module for the period of October 2006 to September 2011 provided a good representation of the reali...

  1. Water availability forecasting for Naryn River using ground-based and satellite snow cover data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. Y. Kalashnikova

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The main source of river nourishment in arid regions of Central Asia is the melting of seasonal snow accu‑ mulated in mountains during the cold period. In this study, we analyzed data on seasonal snow cover by ground‑based observations from Kyrgyzhydromet network, as well as from MODIS satellite imagery for the period of 2000–2015. This information was used to compile the forecast methods of water availability of snow‑ice and ice‑snow fed rivers for the vegetation period. The Naryn river basin was chosen as a study area which is the main tributary of Syrdarya River and belongs to the Aral Sea basin. The representative mete‑ orological stations with ground‑based observations of snow cover were identified and regression analysis between mean discharge for the vegetation period and number of snow covered days, maximum snow depth based on in‑situ data as well as snow cover area based on MODIS images was conducted. Based on this infor‑ mation, equations are derived for seasonal water availability forecasting using multiple linear regression anal‑ ysis. Proposed equations have high correlation coefficients (R = 0.89÷0.92 and  and fore‑ casting accuracy. The methodology was implemented in Kyrgyzhydromet and is used for forecasting of water availability in Naryn basin and water inflow into Toktogul Reservoir.

  2. The Water Footprint as an indicator of environmental sustainability in water use at the river basin level.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pellicer-Martínez, Francisco; Martínez-Paz, José Miguel

    2016-11-15

    One of the main challenges in water management is to determine how the current water use can condition its availability to future generations and hence its sustainability. This study proposes the use of the Water Footprint (WF) indicator to assess the environmental sustainability in water resources management at the river basin level. The current study presents the methodology developed and applies it to a case study. The WF is a relatively new indicator that measures the total volume of freshwater that is used as a production factor. Its application is ever growing in the evaluation of water use in production processes. The calculation of the WF involves water resources (blue), precipitation stored in the soil (green) and pollution (grey). It provides a comprehensive assessment of the environmental sustainability of water use in a river basin. The methodology is based upon the simulation of the anthropised water cycle, which is conducted by combining a hydrological model and a decision support system. The methodology allows the assessment of the environmental sustainability of water management at different levels, and/or ex-ante analysis of how the decisions made in water planning process affect sustainability. The sustainability study was carried out in the Segura River Basin (SRB) in South-eastern Spain. The SRB is among the most complex basins in Europe, given its special peculiarities: competition for the use, overexploitation of aquifers, pollution, alternative sources, among others. The results indicate that blue water use is not sustainable due to the generalised overexploitation of aquifers. They also reveal that surface water pollution, which is not sustainable, is mainly caused by phosphate concentrations. The assessment of future scenarios reveals that these problems will worsen if no additional measures are implemented, and therefore the water management in the SRB is environmentally unsustainable in both the short- and medium-term. Copyright © 2016

  3. Coalbed Methane Extraction and Soil Suitability Concerns in the Powder River Basin, Montana and Wyoming

    Science.gov (United States)

    ,

    2006-01-01

    The Powder River Basin is located in northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana. It is an area of approximately 55,000 square kilometers. Extraction of methane gas from the coal seams that underlie the Powder River Basin began in Wyoming in the late 1980s and in Montana in the late 1990s. About 100-200 barrels of co-produced water per day are being extracted from each active well in the Powder River Basin, which comes to over 1.5 million barrels of water per day for all the active coalbed methane wells in the Basin. Lab testing indicates that Powder River Basin co-produced water is potable but is high in sodium and other salts, especially in the western and northern parts of the Powder River Basin. Common water management strategies include discharge of co-produced water into drainages, stock ponds, evaporation ponds, or infiltration ponds; treatment to remove sodium; or application of the water directly on the land surface via irrigation equipment or atomizers. Problems may arise because much of the Powder River Basin contains soils with high amounts of swelling clays. As part of the USGS Rocky Mountain Geographic Science Center's hyperspectral research program, researchers are investigating whether hyperspectral remote sensing data can be beneficial in locating areas of swelling clays. Using detailed hyperspectral data collected over parts of the Powder River Basin and applying our knowledge of how the clays of interest reflect energy, we will attempt to identify and map areas of swelling clays. If successful, such information will be useful to resource and land managers.

  4. Summary of sediment data from the Yampa river and upper Green river basins, Colorado and Utah, 1993-2002

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elliott, John G.; Anders, Steven P.

    2004-01-01

    The water resources of the Upper Colorado River Basin have been extensively developed for water supply, irrigation, and power generation through water storage in upstream reservoirs during spring runoff and subsequent releases during the remainder of the year. The net effect of water-resource development has been to substantially modify the predevelopment annual hydrograph as well as the timing and amount of sediment delivery from the upper Green River and the Yampa River Basins tributaries to the main-stem reaches where endangered native fish populations have been observed. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, began a study to identify sediment source reaches in the Green River main stem and the lower Yampa and Little Snake Rivers and to identify sediment-transport relations that would be useful in assessing the potential effects of hydrograph modification by reservoir operation on sedimentation at identified razorback spawning bars in the Green River. The need for additional data collection is evaluated at each sampling site. Sediment loads were calculated at five key areas within the watershed by using instantaneous measurements of streamflow, suspended-sediment concentration, and bedload. Sediment loads were computed at each site for two modes of transport (suspended load and bedload), as well as for the total-sediment load (suspended load plus bedload) where both modes were sampled. Sediment loads also were calculated for sediment particle-size range (silt-and-clay, and sand-and-gravel sizes) if laboratory size analysis had been performed on the sample, and by hydrograph season. Sediment-transport curves were developed for each type of sediment load by a least-squares regression of logarithmic-transformed data. Transport equations for suspended load and total load had coefficients of determination of at least 0.72 at all of the sampling sites except Little Snake River near

  5. Decision support system for optimally managing water resources to meet multiple objectives in the Savannah River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roehl, Edwin A.; Conrads, Paul

    2015-01-01

    Managers of large river basins face conflicting demands for water resources such as wildlife habitat, water supply, wastewater assimilative capacity, flood control, hydroelectricity, and recreation. The Savannah River Basin, for example, has experienced three major droughts since 2000 that resulted in record low water levels in its reservoirs, impacting dependent economies for years. The Savannah River estuary contains two municipal water intakes and the ecologically sensitive freshwater tidal marshes of the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. The Port of Savannah is the fourth busiest in the United States, and modifications to the harbor to expand ship traffic since the 1970s have caused saltwater to migrate upstream, reducing the freshwater marsh’s acreage more than 50 percent. A planned deepening of the harbor includes flow-alteration features to minimize further migration of salinity, whose effectiveness will only be known after all construction is completed.One of the challenges of large basin management is the optimization of water use through ongoing regional economic development, droughts, and climate change. This paper describes a model of the Savannah River Basin designed to continuously optimize regulated flow to meet prioritized objectives set by resource managers and stakeholders. The model was developed from historical data using machine learning, making it more accurate and adaptable to changing conditions than traditional models. The model is coupled to an optimization routine that computes the daily flow needed to most efficiently meet the water-resource management objectives. The model and optimization routine are packaged in a decision support system that makes it easy for managers and stakeholders to use. Simulation results show that flow can be regulated to substantially reduce salinity intrusions in the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, while conserving more water in the reservoirs. A method for using the model to assess the effectiveness of

  6. Sediment transport following water transfer from Yangtze River to Taihu Basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zheng Gong

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available To meet the increasing need of fresh water and to improve the water quality of Taihu Lake, water transfer from the Yangtze River was initiated in 2002. This study was performed to investigate the sediment distribution along the river course following water transfer. A rainfall-runoff model was first built to calculate the runoff of the Taihu Basin in 2003. Then, the flow patterns of river networks were simulated using a one-dimensional river network hydrodynamic model. Based on the boundary conditions of the flow in tributaries of the Wangyu River and the water level in Taihu Lake, a one-dimensional hydrodynamic and sediment transport numerical model of the Wangyu River was built to analyze the influences of the inflow rate of the water transfer and the suspended sediment concentration (SSC of inflow on the sediment transport. The results show that the water transfer inflow rate and SSC of inflow have significant effects on the sediment distribution. The higher the inflow rate or SSC of inflow is, the higher the SSC value is at certain cross-sections along the river course of water transfer. Higher inflow rate and SSC of inflow contribute to higher sediment deposition per kilometer and sediment thickness. It is also concluded that a sharp decrease of the inflow velocity at the entrance of the Wangyu River on the river course of water transfer induces intense sedimentation at the cross-section near the Changshu hydro-junction. With an increasing distance from the Changshu hydro-junction, the sediment deposition and sedimentation thickness decrease gradually along the river course.

  7. River Basin Standards Interoperability Pilot

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pesquer, Lluís; Masó, Joan; Stasch, Christoph

    2016-04-01

    There is a lot of water information and tools in Europe to be applied in the river basin management but fragmentation and a lack of coordination between countries still exists. The European Commission and the member states have financed several research and innovation projects in support of the Water Framework Directive. Only a few of them are using the recently emerging hydrological standards, such as the OGC WaterML 2.0. WaterInnEU is a Horizon 2020 project focused on creating a marketplace to enhance the exploitation of EU funded ICT models, tools, protocols and policy briefs related to water and to establish suitable conditions for new market opportunities based on these offerings. One of WaterInnEU's main goals is to assess the level of standardization and interoperability of these outcomes as a mechanism to integrate ICT-based tools, incorporate open data platforms and generate a palette of interchangeable components that are able to use the water data emerging from the recently proposed open data sharing processes and data models stimulated by initiatives such as the INSPIRE directive. As part of the standardization and interoperability activities in the project, the authors are designing an experiment (RIBASE, the present work) to demonstrate how current ICT-based tools and water data can work in combination with geospatial web services in the Scheldt river basin. The main structure of this experiment, that is the core of the present work, is composed by the following steps: - Extraction of information from river gauges data in OGC WaterML 2.0 format using SOS services (preferably compliant to the OGC SOS 2.0 Hydrology Profile Best Practice). - Model floods using a WPS 2.0, WaterML 2.0 data and weather forecast models as input. - Evaluation of the applicability of Sensor Notification Services in water emergencies. - Open distribution of the input and output data as OGC web services WaterML, / WCS / WFS and with visualization utilities: WMS. The architecture

  8. Spatio-Temporal Variation in Water Quality of Orle River Basin, S.W. ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Spatio-Temporal Variation in Water Quality of Orle River Basin, S.W. Nigeria. ... Abstract. The water quality of small streams in Auchi area of Edo State, S.W. Nigeria was investigated with a view to ... and ecosystems. The study was carried out

  9. Chemical composition of hot spring waters in the Oita river basins, Oita prefecture

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kawano, Tamio

    1988-01-30

    The source of the water from Oita River comes from the Kuju and Yubu-Tsurumi Volcanos, pouring into Beppu Bay. Its drainage area is 646 km/sup 2/ with a total length of 55 km. Hot springs are exist throughout most of the basin of the main and branches of Oita River. The chemical components of the hot springs in the Ota River basin -Yufuin, Yunotaira, Nagayu, Shonai/Hazama, and Oita City - have been analyzed. The equivalent of magnesium exceeds that of calcium in the carbonate springs of the above. Ca+Mg has positive correlations with HCO/sub 3/ in these carbonate springs. The water from these springs flows into the rivers and pours into Beppu Bay. The flow rate and chemical component concentration were measured at Fudai bridge. The concentration of chemical components having an average flow rate (30 ton/sec) were calculated. (4 figs, 7 tabs, 10 refs)

  10. A comparison of integrated river basin management strategies: A global perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Chunhong; Wang, Pei; Zhang, Guanghong

    In order to achieve the integrated river basin management in the arid and rapid developing region, the Heihe River Basin (HRB) in Northwestern China, one of critical river basins were selected as a representative example, while the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) in Australia and the Colorado River Basin (CRB) in the USA were selected for comparative analysis in this paper. Firstly, the comparable characters and hydrological contexts of these three watersheds were introduced in this paper. Then, based on comparative studies on the river basin challenges in terms of the drought, intensive irrigation, and rapid industrialization, the hydrological background of the MDB, the CRB and the HRB was presented. Subsequently, the river management strategies were compared in three aspects: water allocation, water organizations, and water act and scientific projects. Finally, we proposed recommendations for integrated river basin management for the HRB: (1) Water allocation strategies should be based on laws and markets on the whole basin; (2) Public participation should be stressed by the channels between governance organizations and local communities; (3) Scientific research should be integrated into river management to understand the interactions between the human and nature.

  11. Upper Hiwassee River Basin reservoirs 1989 water quality assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fehring, J.P.

    1991-08-01

    The water in the Upper Hiwassee River Basin is slightly acidic and low in conductivity. The four major reservoirs in the Upper Hiwassee River Basin (Apalachia, Hiwassee, Chatuge, and Nottely) are not threatened by acidity, although Nottely Reservoir has more sulfates than the other reservoirs. Nottely also has the highest organic and nutrient concentrations of the four reservoirs. This results in Nottely having the poorest water clarity and the most algal productivity, although clarity as measured by color and secchi depths does not indicate any problem with most water use. However, chlorophyll concentrations indicate taste and odor problems would be likely if the upstream end of Nottely Reservoir were used for domestic water supply. Hiwassee Reservoir is clearer and has less organic and nutrient loading than either of the two upstream reservoirs. All four reservoirs have sufficient algal activity to produce supersaturated dissolved oxygen conditions and relatively high pH values at the surface. All four reservoirs are thermally stratified during the summer, and all but Apalachia have bottom waters depleted in oxygen. The very short residence time of Apalachia Reservoir, less than ten days as compared to over 100 days for the other three reservoirs, results in it being more riverine than the other three reservoirs. Hiwassee Reservoir actually develops three distinct water temperature strata due to the location of the turbine intake. The water quality of all of the reservoirs supports designated uses, but water quality complaints are being received regarding both Chatuge and Nottely Reservoirs and their tailwaters

  12. Environment, poverty and health linkages in the Wami River basin: A search for sustainable water resource management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madulu, Ndalahwa F.

    The Wami Rivers basin is an important area due to its diversified use which benefits a multi-diversity of stakeholders. While large scale irrigated sugar production is the main issue of concern upstream, there are other equally important socio-economic activities which include biodiversity and environmental conservation, domestic water supply, livestock water needs, and fishing. A large water supply project has just been completed downstream of the Wami River to provide water for the Chalinze township and surrounding villages. Other important undertakings include irrigated rice farming in Dakawa area, livestock keeping activities, and the establishment of the Sadani National Park (SANAPA) and the Wami-Mbiki Wildlife Management Area (WMA). The Wami River basin forms significant parts of both the Wami-Mbiki WMA and the SANAPA wildlife conservation areas. Regardless of its importance, the basin is increasingly being degraded through deforestation for agricultural expansion, timber, and more important charcoal making. The basin is also being polluted through disposal of excess molasses from the sugar industry, and use of poisonous substances and herbs in fishing. The worsening environmental condition in the basin has become a health threat to both people in the surrounding villages and wildlife. To a large extent, such changes are intensifying poverty levels among the local population. These changes are raising concerns about the long-term environmental sustainability and health implications of the current water use competition and conflicts in the basin. The purpose of this paper is to examine the main water resource use conflicts and how they affect environmental sustainability in the long-run. It also intends to establish linkages between wildlife management, pastoralism, agricultural activities and how such linkages influence poverty alleviation efforts in the basin. An attempt has been made to examine the environmental and health implications of human activities

  13. Uranium in river water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Palmer, M.R.; Edmond, J.M.

    1993-01-01

    The concentration of dissolved uranium has been determined in over 250 river waters from the Orinoco, Amazon, and Ganges basins. Uranium concentrations are largely determined by dissolution of limestones, although weathering of black shales represents an important additional source in some basins. In shield terrains the level of dissolved U is transport limited. Data from the Amazon indicate that floodplains do not represent a significant source of U in river waters. In addition, the authors have determined dissolved U levels in forty rivers from around the world and coupled these data with previous measurements to obtain an estimate for the global flux of dissolved U to the oceans. The average concentration of U in river waters is 1.3 nmol/kg, but this value is biased by very high levels observed in the Ganges-Brahmaputra and Yellow rivers. When these river systems are excluded from the budget, the global average falls to 0.78 nmol/kg. The global riverine U flux lies in the range of 3-6 x 10 7 mol/yr. The major uncertainty that restricts the accuracy of this estimate (and that of all other dissolved riverine fluxes) is the difficulty in obtaining representative samples from rivers which show large seasonal and annual variations in runoff and dissolved load

  14. Streamflow gain and loss and water quality in the upper Nueces River Basin, south-central Texas, 2008-10

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banta, J. Ryan; Lambert, Rebecca B.; Slattery, Richard N.; Ockerman, Darwin J.

    2012-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey-in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, The Nature Conservancy, the Real Edwards Conservation and Reclamation District, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department-investigated streamflow gain and loss and water quality in the upper Nueces River Basin, south-central Texas, specifically in the watersheds of the West Nueces, Nueces, Dry Frio, Frio, and Sabinal Rivers upstream from the Edwards aquifer outcrop. Streamflow in these rivers is sustained by groundwater contributions (for example, from springs) and storm runoff from rainfall events. To date (2012), there are few data available that describe streamflow and water-quality conditions of the rivers within the upper Nueces River Basin. This report describes streamflow gain-loss characteristics from three reconnaissance-level synoptic measurement surveys (hereinafter referred to as "surveys") during 2008-10 in the upper Nueces River Basin. To help characterize the hydrology, groundwater-level measurements were made, and water-quality samples were collected from both surface-water and groundwater sites in the study area from two surveys during 2009-10. The hydrologic (streamflow, springflow, and groundwater) measurements were made during three reconnaissance-level synoptic measurement surveys occurring in July 21-23, 2008; August 8-18, 2009; and March 22-24, 2010. These survey periods were selected to represent different hydrologic conditions. Streamflow gains and losses were based on streamflow and springflow measurements made at 74 sites in the study area, although not all sites were measured during each survey. Possible water chemistry relations among sample types (streamflow, springflow, or groundwater), between surveys, and among watersheds were examined using water-quality samples collected from as many as 20 sites in the study area.

  15. Ensuring safe use of water in a river basin with uranium drainage

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carvalho, F.; Oliveira, J.; Malta, M.

    2014-01-01

    A regular radioactivity monitoring programme ensures radioactivity surveillance in a river system with multiple and intensive uses of water. In the catchment of River Mondego, centre of Portugal, there is a uranium mining and milling legacy which encompasses about 12 old uranium mine sites and 3 uranium milling sites. This river basin is an important agriculture and cattle growing region with forest areas for paper pulp production. In the catchment of this river there are four dams for electricity production and two main artificial lakes which are water reservoirs to supply drinking water to more than 3 million people, and irrigation water for agriculture including maize and rice production. In the river basin, environmental remediation works were recently implemented especially at the milling tailings and at the major mine sites, which reduced radioactive drainage into the Mondego tributaries and thus into the Mondego river. Mine drainage and seepage from tailings are recuperated and treated in mine water treatment stations. Although, for example, in drainage from milling tailings at Urgeiriça, water may contain high concentrations of dissolved uranium ("2"3"8U), radium ("2"2"6Ra) and polonium ("2"1"0Po) at 35,700±1100, 1084±30, and 700±40 mBq/L, respectively, in the stream receiving discharges of treated water today radionuclide concentrations are orders of magnitude lower. The tributary streams that in the past received untreated mine discharges are today recovering and concentrations decreased to near natural levels. In the artificial lake of Aguieira dam, built on the Mondego River downstream all uranium sites, and where the main capture of water for human consumption is located, radionuclide concentrations were of 9.2±0.3 mBq/L, 17.7±1.9 mBq/L, and 5.3±0.2 mBq/L for uranium ("2"3"8U), radium ("2"2"6Ra) and polonium ("2"1"0Po), respectively. This water has been over the last years consistently in compliance with the EU drinking water quality standards

  16. Selecting quantitative water management measures at the river basin scale in a global change context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Girard, Corentin; Rinaudo, Jean-Daniel; Caballero, Yvan; Pulido-Velazquez, Manuel

    2013-04-01

    One of the main challenges in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in the European Union is the definition of programme of measures to reach the good status of the European water bodies. In areas where water scarcity is an issue, one of these challenges is the selection of water conservation and capacity expansion measures to ensure minimum environmental in-stream flow requirements. At the same time, the WFD calls for the use of economic analysis to identify the most cost-effective combination of measures at the river basin scale to achieve its objective. With this respect, hydro-economic river basin models, by integrating economics, environmental and hydrological aspects at the river basin scale in a consistent framework, represent a promising approach. This article presents a least-cost river basin optimization model (LCRBOM) that selects the combination of quantitative water management measures to meet environmental flows for future scenarios of agricultural and urban demand taken into account the impact of the climate change. The model has been implemented in a case study on a Mediterranean basin in the south of France, the Orb River basin. The water basin has been identified as in need for quantitative water management measures in order to reach the good status of its water bodies. The LCRBOM has been developed using GAMS, applying Mixed Integer Linear Programming. It is run to select the set of measures that minimizes the total annualized cost of the applied measures, while meeting the demands and minimum in-stream flow constraints. For the economic analysis, the programme of measures is composed of water conservation measures on agricultural and urban water demands. It compares them with measures mobilizing new water resources coming from groundwater, inter-basin transfers and improvement in reservoir operating rules. The total annual cost of each measure is calculated for each demand unit considering operation, maintenance and

  17. Water Footprint of Industrial Tomato Cultivations in the Pinios River Basin: Soil Properties Interactions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eleftherios Evangelou

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Industrial tomatoes are cultivated in about 4000 ha of the Pinios river basin (central Greece, providing significant income to the farmers. In this study, the water footprint (WF of industrial tomatoes between planting and harvest was estimated in 24 different farms for three consecutive years. The selected farms were representative of the main agro-climatic zones and soil textural classes within the river basin. Green, blue and grey WF calculations were based on datasets of the experimental plots for each farm, including irrigation water volume, meteorological, soil, and crop yield data. The results showed that the WF of tomatoes ranged from 37 to 131 m3 water/ton tomatoes with an average of 61 m3/ton. The WF variation depended mainly on crop yield, local agro-climatic and soil conditions. The green, blue, and grey WF components averaged 13, 27 and 21 m3/ton, respectively. The results reveal the importance of WF in understanding how tomato production relates to the sustainable use of freshwater and pollution at local level.

  18. Occurrence of antibiotic compounds in source water and finished drinking water from the upper Scioto River Basin, Ohio, 2005-6

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finnegan, Dennis P.; Simonson, Laura A.; Meyer, Michael T.

    2010-01-01

    The occurrence of antibiotics in surface water and groundwater in urban basins has become a topic of increasing interest in recent years. Little is known about the occurrence, fate, or transport of these compounds and the possible health effects in humans and aquatic life. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of Columbus, Division of Power and Water, did a study to provide a synoptic view of the occurrence of antibiotics in source and finished waters in the upper Scioto River Basin. Water samples were collected seasonally-winter (December 2005), spring (May 2006), summer (August 2006) and fall (October 2006)-at five surface-water sites, one groundwater site, and three water-treatment plants (WTPs). Within the upper Scioto River Basin, sampling at each WTP involved two sampling sites: a source-water intake site and a finished-water site. One or more antibiotics were detected at 11 of the 12 sampling sites. Of the 49 targeted antibiotic compounds, 12 (24 percent) were detected at least one time for a total of 61 detections overall. These compounds were azithromycin, tylosin, erythromycin-H2O, erythromycin, roxithromycin, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, sulfamethazine, sulfamethoxazole, iso-chlorotetracycline, lincomycin, and trimethoprim. Detection results were at low levels, with an overall median of 0.014 (u or mu)g/L. Hap Cremean WTP had the fewest detections, with two source-water detections of sulfamethoxazole and azithromycin and no detections in the finished water. Of the total of 61 detections, 31 were in the winter sample run. Sulfamethoxazale and azithromycin detections represent 41 percent of all antibiotic detections. Azithromycin was detected only in the winter sample. Some antibiotics, such as those in the quinoline and tetracycline families, dissipate more quickly in warm water, which may explain why they were detected in the cool months (winter, spring, and fall) and not in the summer. Antibiotic data collected during this study were

  19. Stream water quality in coal mined areas of the lower Cheat River Basin, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, during low-flow conditions, July 1997

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Donald R.; Clark, Mary E.; Brown, Juliane B.

    1999-01-01

    designing treatment facilities for several additional AMD sites that adversely affect the Cheat River and its tributaries. To obtain the baseline water-quality information necessary to evaluate instream treatment and alternative methods for remediating AMD and its effects, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the WVDEP, collected stream water samples at 111 sites throughout the Lower Cheat River Basin during low-flow conditions from July 16-18, 1997. The data also will provide information on stream water quality in areas affected by AMD and thus would point to priority areas of focus, such as the sources of the AMD. This report presents the results of analyses of the samples collected in July 1997 and describes a process for ranking of stream water-quality degradation as a guide to water-resource managers considering AMD remediation activities.

  20. Satellite-based estimates of surface water dynamics in the Congo River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Becker, M.; Papa, F.; Frappart, F.; Alsdorf, D.; Calmant, S.; da Silva, J. Santos; Prigent, C.; Seyler, F.

    2018-04-01

    In the Congo River Basin (CRB), due to the lack of contemporary in situ observations, there is a limited understanding of the large-scale variability of its present-day hydrologic components and their link with climate. In this context, remote sensing observations provide a unique opportunity to better characterize those dynamics. Analyzing the Global Inundation Extent Multi-Satellite (GIEMS) time series, we first show that surface water extent (SWE) exhibits marked seasonal patterns, well distributed along the major rivers and their tributaries, and with two annual maxima located: i) in the lakes region of the Lwalaba sub-basin and ii) in the "Cuvette Centrale", including Tumba and Mai-Ndombe Lakes. At an interannual time scale, we show that SWE variability is influenced by ENSO and the Indian Ocean dipole events. We then estimate water level maps and surface water storage (SWS) in floodplains, lakes, rivers and wetlands of the CRB, over the period 2003-2007, using a multi-satellite approach, which combines the GIEMS dataset with the water level measurements derived from the ENVISAT altimeter heights. The mean annual variation in SWS in the CRB is 81 ± 24 km3 and contributes to 19 ± 5% of the annual variations of GRACE-derived terrestrial water storage (33 ± 7% in the Middle Congo). It represents also ∼6 ± 2% of the annual water volume that flows from the Congo River into the Atlantic Ocean.

  1. Hydrographs Showing Ground-Water Level Changes for Selected Wells in the Lower Skagit River Basin, Washington

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fasser, E.T.; Julich, R.J.

    2009-01-01

    Hydrographs for selected wells in the Lower Skagit River basin, Washington, are presented in an interactive web-based map to illustrate monthly and seasonal changes in ground-water levels in the study area. Ground-water level data and well information were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey using standard techniques and were stored in the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS), Ground-Water Site-Inventory (GWSI) System.

  2. Simulated Effects of Year 2030 Water-Use and Land-Use Changes on Streamflow near the Interstate-495 Corridor, Assabet and Upper Charles River Basins, Eastern Massachusetts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carlson, Carl S.; Desimone, Leslie A.; Weiskel, Peter K.

    2008-01-01

    Continued population growth and land development for commercial, industrial, and residential uses have created concerns regarding the future supply of potable water and the quantity of ground water discharging to streams in the area of Interstate 495 in eastern Massachusetts. Two ground-water models developed in 2002-2004 for the Assabet and Upper Charles River Basins were used to simulate water supply and land-use scenarios relevant for the entire Interstate-495 corridor. Future population growth, water demands, and commercial and residential growth were projected for year 2030 by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. To assess the effects of future development on subbasin streamflows, seven scenarios were simulated by using existing computer-based ground-water-flow models with the data projected for year 2030. The scenarios incorporate three categories of projected 2030 water- and land-use data: (1) 2030 water use, (2) 2030 land use, and (3) a combination of 2030 water use and 2030 land use. Hydrologic, land-use, and water-use data from 1997 through 2001 for the Assabet River Basin study and 1989 through 1998 for the Upper Charles River Basin study were used to represent current conditions - referred to as 'basecase' conditions - in each basin to which each 2030 scenario was compared. The effects of projected 2030 land- and water-use change on streamflows in the Assabet River Basin depended upon the time of year, the hydrologic position of the subbasin in the larger basin, and the relative areas of new commercial and residential development projected for a subbasin. Effects of water use and land use on streamflow were evaluated by comparing average monthly nonstorm streamflow (base flow) for March and September simulated by using the models. The greatest decreases in streamflow (up to 76 percent in one subbasin), compared to the basecase, occurred in September, when streamflows are naturally at their lowest level. By contrast, simulated March streamflows

  3. Fishes of the White River basin, Indiana

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crawford, Charles G.; Lydy, Michael J.; Frey, Jeffrey W.

    1996-01-01

    Since 1875, researchers have reported 158 species of fish belonging to 25 families in the White River Basin. Of these species, 6 have not been reported since 1900 and 10 have not been reported since 1943. Since the 1820's, fish communities in the White River Basin have been affected by the alteration of stream habitat, overfishing, the introduction of non-native species, agriculture, and urbanization. Erosion resulting from conversion of forest land to cropland in the 1800's led to siltation of streambeds and resulted in the loss of some silt-sensitive species. In the early 1900's, the water quality of the White River was seriously degraded for 100 miles by untreated sewage from the City of Indianapolis. During the last 25 years, water quality in the basin has improved because of efforts to control water pollution. Fish communities in the basin have responded favorably to the improved water quality.

  4. Real-time management of water quality in the San Joaquin River Basin, California.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Quinn, N.W.T.; Karkoski, J.

    1997-09-01

    In the San Joaquin River Basin, California, a realtime water quality forecasting model was developed to help improve the management of saline agricultural and wetland drainage to meet water quality objectives. Predicted salt loads from the water quality forecasting model, SJRIODAY, were consistently within +- 11 percent of actual, within +- 14 percent for seven-day forecasts, and with in +- 26 percent for 14-day forecasts for the 16-month trial period. When the 48 days dominated by rainfall/runoff events were eliminated from the data set, the error bar decreased to +- 9 percent for the model and +- 11 percent and +- 17 percent for the seven-day and 14-day forecasts, respectively. Constraints on the use of the model for salinity management on the San Joaquin River include the number of entities that control or influence water quality and the lack of a centralized authority to direct their activities. The lack of real-time monitoring sensors for other primary constituents of concern, such as selenium and boron, limits the application of the model to salinity at the present time. A case study describes wetland drainage releases scheduled to coincide with high river flows and significant river assimilative capacity for salt loads.

  5. Integrating Remote Sensing Information Into A Distributed Hydrological Model for Improving Water Budget Predictions in Large-scale Basins through Data Assimilation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qin, Changbo; Jia, Yangwen; Su, Z.(Bob); Zhou, Zuhao; Qiu, Yaqin; Suhui, Shen

    2008-01-01

    This paper investigates whether remote sensing evapotranspiration estimates can be integrated by means of data assimilation into a distributed hydrological model for improving the predictions of spatial water distribution over a large river basin with an area of 317,800 km2. A series of available MODIS satellite images over the Haihe River basin in China are used for the year 2005. Evapotranspiration is retrieved from these 1×1 km resolution images using the SEBS (Surface Energy Balance System) algorithm. The physically-based distributed model WEP-L (Water and Energy transfer Process in Large river basins) is used to compute the water balance of the Haihe River basin in the same year. Comparison between model-derived and remote sensing retrieval basin-averaged evapotranspiration estimates shows a good piecewise linear relationship, but their spatial distribution within the Haihe basin is different. The remote sensing derived evapotranspiration shows variability at finer scales. An extended Kalman filter (EKF) data assimilation algorithm, suitable for non-linear problems, is used. Assimilation results indicate that remote sensing observations have a potentially important role in providing spatial information to the assimilation system for the spatially optical hydrological parameterization of the model. This is especially important for large basins, such as the Haihe River basin in this study. Combining and integrating the capabilities of and information from model simulation and remote sensing techniques may provide the best spatial and temporal characteristics for hydrological states/fluxes, and would be both appealing and necessary for improving our knowledge of fundamental hydrological processes and for addressing important water resource management problems. PMID:27879946

  6. A multi-approach and multi-scale study on water quantity and quality changes in the Tapajós River basin, Amazon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bezerra Nóbrega, Rodolfo Luiz; Lamparter, Gabriele; Hughes, Harold; Chenjerayi Guzha, Alphonce; Santos Silva Amorim, Ricardo; Gerold, Gerhard

    2018-04-01

    We analyzed changes in water quantity and quality at different spatial scales within the Tapajós River basin (Amazon) based on experimental fieldwork, hydrological modelling, and statistical time-trend analysis. At a small scale, we compared the river discharge (Q) and suspended-sediment concentrations (SSC) of two adjacent micro-catchments ( < 1 km2) with similar characteristics but contrasting land uses (forest vs. pasture) using empirical data from field measurements. At an intermediary scale, we simulated the hydrological responses of a sub-basin of the Tapajós (Jamanxim River basin, 37 400 km2), using a hydrological model (SWAT) and land-use change scenario in order to quantify the changes in the water balance components due to deforestation. At the Tapajós' River basin scale, we investigated trends in Q, sediments, hydrochemistry, and geochemistry in the river using available data from the HYBAM Observation Service. The results in the micro-catchments showed a higher runoff coefficient in the pasture (0.67) than in the forest catchment (0.28). At this scale, the SSC were also significantly greater during stormflows in the pasture than in the forest catchment. At the Jamanxim watershed scale, the hydrological modelling results showed a 2 % increase in Q and a 5 % reduction of baseflow contribution to total Q after a conversion of 22 % of forest to pasture. In the Tapajós River, however, trend analysis did not show any significant trend in discharge and sediment concentration. However, we found upward trends in dissolved organic carbon and NO3- over the last 20 years. Although the magnitude of anthropogenic impact has shown be scale-dependent, we were able to find changes in the Tapajós River basin in streamflow, sediment concentration, and water quality across all studied scales.

  7. On the water hazards in the trans-boundary Kosi River basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, N. Sh.; Hu, G. Sh.; Deng, W.; Khanal, N.; Zhu, Y. H.; Han, D.

    2013-03-01

    The Kosi River is an important tributary of the Ganges River, which passes through China, Nepal and India. With a basin area of 71 500 km2, the Kosi River has the largest elevation drop in the world (from 8848 m of Mt Everest to 60 m of the Ganges Plain) and covers a broad spectrum of climate, soil, vegetation and socioeconomic zones. The basin suffers from multiple water related hazards including glacial lake outburst, debris flow, landslides, flooding, drought, soil erosion and sedimentation. This paper describes the characteristics of water hazards in the basin, based on the literature review and site investigation covering hydrology, meteorology, geology, geomorphology and socio-economics. Glacial lake outbursts are a huge threat to the local population in the region and they usually further trigger landslides and debris flows. Floods are usually a result of interaction between man-made hydraulic structures and the natural environment. Debris flows are widespread and occur in clusters. Droughts tend to last over long periods and affect vast areas. Rapid population increase, the decline of ecosystems and climate change could further exacerbate various hazards in the region. The paper has proposed a set of mitigating strategies and measures. It is an arduous challenge to implement them in practice. More investigations are needed to fill in the knowledge gaps.

  8. Water quality assessment of the Eastern Iowa Basins: Basic water chemistry of rivers and streams, 1996-98

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barnes, Kimberlee K.

    2001-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey began data-collection activities in the Eastern Iowa Basins study unit of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program in September 1995 with the purpose of determining the status and trends in water quality of water from the Wapsipinicon, Cedar, Iowa, and Skunk River basins. From March 1996 through September 1998, monthly surface-water samples were collected from 11 sites on the study's rivers and streams representing three distinct physiographic regions, the Des Moines Lobe, the Iowan Surface, the Southern Iowa Drift Plain, and one subregion, the Iowan Karst. These water samples were analyzed for basic water chemistry, including, but not limited to the following cations: sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and silica; anions: chloride, fluoride, sulfate, and bicarbonate; and two metals - iron and maganese. Although none of the concentrations of the constituents exceeded health advisories or drinking-water regulations, extremely high or low concentrations could potentially affect aquatic life. Calcium, magnesium, and potassium are essential elements for both plant and animal life; manganese is an essential element in plant metabolism; and silica is important in the growth of diatom algae. Calcium had the largest median concentration of 61 milligrams per liter (mg/L) of the cations, and the largest maximum concentration of 100 mg/L. Bicarbonate had the largest median concentration of 210 mg/L of the anions, and the largest maximum concentration of 400 mg/L.

  9. Impact of energy development on water resources in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Completion report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Flug, M.; Walker, W.R.; Skogerboe, G.V.; Smith, S.W.

    1977-08-01

    The Upper Colorado River Basin contains appreciable amounts of undeveloped coal, oil shale, and uranium resources, which are important in the national energy demand system. A mathematical model, which simulates the salt and water exchange phase of potential fuel conversions, has been developed, based on a subbasin analysis identifying available mineral and water resources. Potential energy developments are evaluated with respect to the resulting impacts upon both the quantity and salinity of the waters in the Colorado River. Model solutions are generated by use of a multilevel minimum cost linear programming algorithm, minimum cost referring to the cost of developing predetermined levels of energy output. Level one in the model analysis represents an aggregation of subbasins along state boundaries and thereby optimizes energy developments over the five states of the Upper Colorado River Basin. In each of the five second level problems, energy developments over a subbasin division within the respective states are optimized. Development policies which use high salinity waters of the Upper Colorado River enable a net salinity reduction to be realized in the Colorado River at Lee Ferry, Arizona

  10. Development of a Reservoir System Operation Model for Water Sustainability in the Yaqui River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mounir, A.; Che, D.; Robles-Morua, A.; Kauneckis, D.

    2017-12-01

    The arid state of Sonora, Mexico underwent the Sonora SI project to provide additional water supply to the capital of Hermosillo. The main component of the project involves an interbasin transfer from the Yaqui River Basin (YRB) to the Sonora River Basin via the Independencia aqueduct. This project has generated conflicts over water among different social sectors in the YRB. To improve the management of the Yaqui reservoir system, we developed a daily watershed model. This model allowed us to predict the amount of water available in different regions of the basin. We integrated this simulation to an optimization model which calculates the best water allocation according to water rights established in Mexico's National Water Law. We compared different precipitation forcing scenarios: (1) a network of ground observations from Mexican water agencies during the historical period of 1980-2013, (2) gridded fields from the North America Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS) at 12 km resolution, and (3) we will be studying a future forecast scenario. The simulation results were compared to historical observations at the three reservoirs existing in the YRB to generate confidence in the simulation tools. Our results are presented in the form of flow duration, reliability and exceedance frequency curves that are commonly used in the water management agencies. Through this effort, we anticipate building confidence among regional stakeholders in utilizing hydrological models in the development of reservoir operation policies.

  11. Calibration of hydrodynamic model MIKE 11 for the sub-basin of the Piauitinga river, Sergipe, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcos Vinicius Folegatti

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available In Piauitinga river sub-basin the environment has been suffering from negative actions by humans such as deforestation around springs, inadequate use of the uptaken water, inappropriate use in domestic activities, siltation and sand exploitation, and contamination by domestic, industrial and agricultural residuals. The present study presents the one-dimensional hydrodynamic MIKE 11 model calibration that simulates the water flow in estuary, rivers, irrigation systems, channels and other water bodies. The aim of this work was to fit the MIKE 11 model to available discharge data for this sub-basin. Data from the period of 1994 to 1995 were used for calibration and data from 1996 to 2006 for validation, except the 1997 year, from which data were not available. Manning’s roughness coefficient was the main parameter used for the Piauitinga river sub-basin discharge calibration and other parameters were heat balance, water stratification and groundwater leakage. Results showed that the model had an excellent performance for the Piauitinga basin and had an efficiency coefficient of 0.9 for both periods. This demonstrates that this model can be used to estimate the water quantity in Piauitinga river sub-basin.

  12. Water-quality assessment of the Lower Susquehanna River Basin, Pennsylvania and Maryland; sources, characteristics, analysis and limitations of nutrient and suspended-sediment data, 1975-90

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hainly, R.A.; Loper, C.A.

    1997-01-01

    This report describes analyses of available information on nutrients and suspended sediment collected in the Lower Susquehanna River Basin during water years 1975-90. Most of the analyses were applied to data collected during water years 1980-89. The report describes the spatial and temporal availability of nutrient and suspended-sediment data and presents a preliminary concept of the spatial and temporal patterns of concentrations and loads within the basin. Where data were available, total and dissolved forms of nitrogen and phosphorus species from precipitation, surface water, ground water, and springwater, and bottom material from streams and reservoirs were evaluated. Suspended-sediment data from streams also were evaluated. The U.S. Geological Survey National Water Information System (NWIS) database was selected as the primary database for the analyses. Precipitation-quality data from the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) and bottom-material-quality data from the National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE) were used to supplement the water-quality data from NWIS. Concentrations of nutrients were available from 3 precipitation sites established for longterm monitoring purposes, 883 wells (854 synoptic areal survey sites and 29 project and research sites), 23 springs (17 synoptic areal survey sites and 6 project and research sites), and 894 bottom-material sites (840 synoptic areal survey sites and 54 project and research sites). Concentrations of nutrients and (or) suspended sediment were available from 128 streams (36 long-term monitoring sites, 51 synoptic areal survey sites, and 41 project and research sites). Concentrations of nutrients and suspended sediment in streams varied temporally and spatially and were related to land use, agricultural practices, and streamflow. A general north-to-south pattern of increasing median nitrate concentrations, from 2 to 5 mg/L, was detected in samples collected in study unit streams. In streams that drain

  13. Interaction of water components in the semi-arid Huasco and Limarí river basins, North Central Chile

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. Strauch

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available For sustainable water resource management in semi-arid regions, sound information is required about interactions between the different components of the water system: rain/snow precipitation, surface/subsurface run-off, groundwater recharge. Exemplarily, the Huasco and Limarí river basins as water stressed river catchments have been studied by isotope and hydrochemical methods for (i the origin of water, (ii water quality, (iii relations of surface and groundwater.

    Applying the complex multi-isotopic and hydrochemical methodology to the water components of the Huasco and Limarí basins, a differentiation of water components concerning subsurface flow and river water along the catchment area and by anthropogenic impacts are detected. Sulphate and nitrate concentrations indicate remarkable input from mining and agricultural activities along the river catchment.

    The 2H-18O relations of river water and groundwater of both catchments point to the behaviour of river waters originated in an arid to semi-arid environment.

    Consequently, the groundwater from several production wells in the lower parts of the catchments is related to the rivers where the wells located, however, it can be distinguished from the river water. Using the hydrological water balance and the isotope mixing model, the interaction between surface and subsurface flows and river flow is estimated.

  14. Studying relations between radionuclide contents and water quality and quantity indices for Rivers Kura-Araks basin, Armenia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nalbandyan, A.G.; Saghatelyan, A.K.; Kyureghyan, A.A; Mikayelyan, M.G.

    2008-01-01

    We initiated a research in late 2005 as a constituent and logical expansion of an ongoing NATO Science for Peace/OSCE project 'South Caucasus River Monitoring' which has been performed since 2002 and was initially focused on indication of river water quality and quantity indices and determination of heavy metals. It should be stressed that this radioactivity research is the first ever attempt of this kind and that all the data obtained are unique. This paper is focused on a study of relations between radionuclide contents and water quality and quantity indices for Armenia's section of Rivers Kura-Araks basin and highlights data obtained for the studied period 2006-2007 (author)(tk)

  15. Studying relations between radionuclide contents and water quality and quantity indices for Rivers Kura-Araks basin, Armenia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nalbandyan, A.G.; Saghatelyan, A.K.; Kyureghyan, A.A; Mikayelyan, M.G.

    2008-07-01

    We initiated a research in late 2005 as a constituent and logical expansion of an ongoing NATO Science for Peace/OSCE project 'South Caucasus River Monitoring' which has been performed since 2002 and was initially focused on indication of river water quality and quantity indices and determination of heavy metals. It should be stressed that this radioactivity research is the first ever attempt of this kind and that all the data obtained are unique. This paper is focused on a study of relations between radionuclide contents and water quality and quantity indices for Armenia's section of Rivers Kura-Araks basin and highlights data obtained for the studied period 2006-2007 (author)(tk)

  16. Monitoring Changes in Croplands Due to Water Stress in the Krishna River Basin Using Temporal Satellite Imagery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Venkata Ramana Murthy Reddi

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Remote sensing-based assessments of large river basins such as the Krishna, which supplies water to many states in India, are useful for operationally monitoring agriculture, especially basins that are affected by abiotic stress. Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS time series products can be used to understand cropland changes at the basin level due to abiotic stresses, especially water scarcity. Spectral matching techniques were used to identify land use/land cover (LULC areas for two crop years: 2013–2014, which was a normal year, and 2015–2016, which was a water stress year. Water stress-affected crop areas were categorized into three classes—severe, moderate and mild—based on the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI and intensity of damage assessed through field sampling. Furthermore, ground survey data were used to assess the accuracy of MODIS-derived classification individual products. Water inflows into and outflows from the Krishna river basin during the study period were used as direct indicators of water scarcity/availability in the Krishna Basin. Furthermore, ground survey data were used to assess the accuracy of MODIS-derived LULC classification of individual year products. Rainfall data from the tropical rainfall monitoring mission (TRMM was used to support the water stress analysis. The nine LULC classes derived using the MODIS temporal imagery provided overall accuracies of 82% for the cropping year 2013–2014 and 85% for the year 2015–2016. Kappa values are 0.78 for 2013–2014 and 0.82 for 2015–2016. MODIS-derived cropland areas were compared with national statistics for the cropping year 2013–2014 with a R2 value of 0.87. Results show that both rainfed and irrigated areas in 2015–2016 saw significant changes that will have significant impacts on food security. It has been also observed that the farmers in the basin tend to use lower inputs and labour per ha during drought years. Among

  17. Water Induced Hazard Mapping in Nepal: A Case Study of East Rapti River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neupane, N.

    2010-12-01

    This paper presents illustration on typical water induced hazard mapping of East Rapti River Basin under the DWIDP, GON. The basin covers an area of 2398 sq km. The methodology includes making of base map of water induced disaster in the basin. Landslide hazard maps were prepared by SINMAP approach. Debris flow hazard maps were prepared by considering geology, slope, and saturation. Flood hazard maps were prepared by using two approaches: HEC-RAS and Satellite Imagery Interpretation. The composite water-induced hazard maps were produced by compiling the hazards rendered by landslide, debris flow, and flood. The monsoon average rainfall in the basin is 1907 mm whereas maximum 24 hours precipitation is 456.8 mm. The peak discharge of the Rapati River in the year of 1993 at station was 1220 cu m/sec. This discharge nearly corresponds to the discharge of 100-year return period. The landslides, floods, and debris flows triggered by the heavy rain of July 1993 claimed 265 lives, affected 148516 people, and damaged 1500 houses in the basin. The field investigation and integrated GIS interpretation showed that the very high and high landslide hazard zones collectively cover 38.38% and debris flow hazard zone constitutes 6.58%. High flood hazard zone occupies 4.28% area of the watershed. Mitigation measures are recommendated according to Integrated Watershed Management Approach under which the non-structural and structural measures are proposed. The non-structural measures includes: disaster management training, formulation of evacuation system (arrangement of information plan about disaster), agriculture management practices, protection of water sources, slope protections and removal of excessive bed load from the river channel. Similarly, structural measures such as dike, spur, rehabilitation of existing preventive measures and river training at some locations are recommendated. The major factors that have contributed to induce high incidences of various types of mass

  18. The last will be first : Water transfers from agriculture to cities in the Pangani river basin, Tanzania

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Komakech, H.C.; Van der Zaag, P.; Koppen, B.

    2012-01-01

    Water transfers to growing cities in sub-Sahara Africa, as elsewhere, seem inevitable. But absolute water entitlements in basins with variable supply may seriously affect many water users in times of water scarcity. This paper is based on research conducted in the Pangani river basin, Tanzania.

  19. Surface-water hydrology of the Little Black River basin, Missouri and Arkansas, before water-land improvement practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berkas, W.R.; Femmer, Suzanne R.; Mesko, T.O.; Thompson, B.W.

    1987-01-01

    The U. S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, in accordance with Public Law 566, is implementing various types of water-land improvement practices in the Little Black River basin in southeastern Missouri. These practices are designed, in part, to decrease the suspended sediment (SS) transport in the basin, decrease flood damage in the basin, and improve drainage in the agricultural area. The general features of the basin, such as geology, groundwater hydrology, soils, land use, water use, and precipitation are described; surface water quantity, quality, and suspended sediment discharge are also described. The aquifers are the Mississippi River valley alluvial aquifer, which can yield about 3,500 gal/min to properly constructed wells, and the Ozark and St. Francois aquifers, which can yield from about 30 to 500 gal/min to properly constructed wells. Soils in the area have formed in loess and cherty residuum in the uplands or have formed in alluvial sediment in the lowlands. About 93% of the estimated 3 billion gal/year of water used in the basin is for crop irrigation. The average monthly precipitation varies slightly throughout the year, with an average annual precipitation of about 47 inches. Water quality data were collected at seven stations. Specific conductance values ranged from 50 to 400 microsiemens/cm at 25 C. Water temperatures ranged from 0.0 C in the winter to 33.5 C in summer. pH values ranged from 6.4 to 8.5 units. Dissolved oxygen concentrations ranged from 2.2 to 12.8 ml/l. Total nitrogen concentrations ranged from 0.13 to 2.20 ml/l as nitrogen, with organic nitrogen as the most abundant form. Phosphorus concentrations ranged from zero to 0.29 ml/l as phosphorus. Bacterial counts were largest during storm runoff in the basin with livestock waste as the significant contributor. For the period from October 1, 1980, to September 30, 1984, the average annual SS discharge ranged from 2,230 tons/yr in the headwater areas to 27,800 tons

  20. Does the Limpopo River Basin have sufficient water for massive irrigation development in the plains of Mozambique?

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Zaag, Pieter; Juizo, Dinis; Vilanculos, Agostinho; Bolding, Alex; Uiterweer, Nynke Post

    This paper verifies whether the water resources of the transboundary Limpopo River Basin are sufficient for the planned massive irrigation developments in the Mozambique part of this basin, namely 73,000 ha, in addition to existing irrigation (estimated at 9400 ha), and natural growth of common use irrigation (4000 ha). This development includes the expansion of sugar cane production for the production of ethanol as a biofuel. Total additional water requirements may amount to 1.3 × 10 9 m 3/a or more. A simple river basin simulation model was constructed in order to assess different irrigation development scenarios, and at two storage capacities of the existing Massingir dam. Many uncertainties surround current and future water availability in the Lower Limpopo River Basin. Discharge measurements are incomplete and sometimes inconsistent, while upstream developments during the last 25 years have been dramatic and future trends are unknown. In Mozambique it is not precisely known how much water is currently consumed, especially by the many small-scale users of surface and shallow alluvial groundwater. Future impacts of climate change increase existing uncertainties. Model simulations indicate that the Limpopo River does not carry sufficient water for all planned irrigation. A maximum of approx. 58,000 ha of irrigated agriculture can be sustained in the Mozambican part of the basin. This figure assumes that Massingir will be operated at increased reservoir capacity, and implies that only about 44,000 ha of new irrigation can be developed, which is 60% of the envisaged developments. Any additional water use would certainly impact downstream users and thus create tensions. Some time will elapse before 44,000 ha of new irrigated land will have been developed. This time could be used to improve monitoring networks to decrease current uncertainties. Meanwhile the four riparian Limpopo States are preparing a joint river basin study. In this study a methodology could be

  1. Availability of ground water in the lower Pawcatuck River basin, Rhode Island

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonthier, Joseph B.; Johnston, Herbert E.; Malmberg, Glenn T.

    1974-01-01

    The lower Pawcatuck River basin in southwestern Rhode Island is an area of about 169 square miles underlain by crystalline bedrock over which lies a relatively thin mantle of glacial till and stratified drift. Stratified drift, consisting dominantly of sand and gravel, occurs in irregularly shaped linear deposits that are generally less than a mile wide and less than 125 feet thick; these deposits are found along the Pawcatuck River, its tributaries, and abandoned preglacial channels. Deposits of stratified sand and gravel constitute the principal aquifer in the lower Pawcatuck basin and the only one capable of sustaining yields of 100 gallons per minute or more to individual wells. Water available for development in this aquifer consists of water in storage--potential ground-water runoff to streams--plus infiltration that can be induced from streams. Minimum annual ground-water runoff from the sand and gravel aquifer is calculated to be at least 1.17 cubic feet per second per square mile, or 0.76 million gallons per day per square mile. Potential recharge by induced infiltration is estimated to range from about 250 to 600 gallons per day per linear foot of streambed for the principal streams. In most areas, induced infiltration from streams constitutes the major source of water potentially available for development by wells. Because subsurface hydraulic connection in the sand and gravel aquifer is poor in several places, the deposits are conveniently divisible into several ground-water reservoirs. The potential yield from five of the most promising ground-water reservoirs is evaluated by means of mathematical models. Results indicate that continuous withdrawals ranging from 1.3 to 10.3 million gallons per day, and totaling 31 million gallons per day, are obtainable from these reservoirs. Larger yields may be recovered by different well placement, spacing, construction and development, pumping practice, and so forth. Withdrawals at the rates indicated will reduce

  2. Using remotely sensed imagery to estimate potential annual pollutant loads in river basins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Bin; Oki, Kazuo; Wang, Yi; Oki, Taikan

    2009-01-01

    Land cover changes around river basins have caused serious environmental degradation in global surface water areas, in which the direct monitoring and numerical modeling is inherently difficult. Prediction of pollutant loads is therefore crucial to river environmental management under the impact of climate change and intensified human activities. This research analyzed the relationship between land cover types estimated from NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) imagery and the potential annual pollutant loads of river basins in Japan. Then an empirical approach, which estimates annual pollutant loads directly from satellite imagery and hydrological data, was investigated. Six water quality indicators were examined, including total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), suspended sediment (SS), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), and Dissolved Oxygen (DO). The pollutant loads of TN, TP, SS, BOD, COD, and DO were then estimated for 30 river basins in Japan. Results show that the proposed simulation technique can be used to predict the pollutant loads of river basins in Japan. These results may be useful in establishing total maximum annual pollutant loads and developing best management strategies for surface water pollution at river basin scale.

  3. Numerical assessment of water-saving irrigation on the water cycle at the oasis of the Manas River Basin

    OpenAIRE

    he

    2018-01-01

    As the birthplace of water-saving technology under mulch drip irrigation in China, the Manas River Basin (MRB) has developed into the largest oasis farming area in Xinjiang and the fourth largest irrigated agricultural area in China. This study presents systematic evaluation the effect of water-saving technologies on precipitation, runoff, infiltration and evapotranspiration in this basin. A model of the regional water cycle was developed for quantitatively assessing groundwater balance and g...

  4. Climate variability and demand growth as drivers of water scarcity in the Turkwel river basin: a bottom-up risk assessment of a data-sparse basin in Kenya

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirpa, F. A.; Dyer, E.; Hope, R.; Dadson, S. J.

    2017-12-01

    Sustainable water management and allocation are essential for maintaining human well-being, sustaining healthy ecosystems, and supporting steady economic growth. The Turkwel river basin, located in north-western Kenya, experiences a high level of water scarcity due to its arid climate, high rainfall variability, and rapidly growing water demand. However, due to sparse hydro-climatic data and limited literature, the water resources system of the basin has been poorly understood. Here we apply a bottom-up climate risk assessment method to estimate the resilience of the basin's water resources system to growing demand and climate stressors. First, using a water resource system model and historical climate data, we construct a climate risk map that depicts the way in which the system responds to climate change and variability. Then we develop a set of water demand scenarios to identify the conditions that potentially lead to the risk of unmet water demand and groundwater depletion. Finally, we investigate the impact of climate change and variability by stress testing these development scenarios against historically strong El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) years and future climate projections from multiple Global Circulation Models (GCMs). The results reveal that climate variability and increased water demand are the main drivers of water scarcity in the basin. Our findings show that increases in water demand due to expanded irrigation and population growth exert the strongest influence on the ability of the system to meet water resource supply requirements, and in all cases considered increase the impacts of droughts caused by future climate variability. Our analysis illustrates the importance of combining analysis of future climate risks with other development decisions that affect water resources planning. Policy and investment decisions which maximise water use efficiency in the present day are likely to impart resilience to climate change and variability under a

  5. An integrated model of water resources optimization allocation based on projection pursuit model - Grey wolf optimization method in a transboundary river basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Sen; Lu, Hongwei

    2018-04-01

    Under the effects of global change, water crisis ranks as the top global risk in the future decade, and water conflict in transboundary river basins as well as the geostrategic competition led by it is most concerned. This study presents an innovative integrated PPMGWO model of water resources optimization allocation in a transboundary river basin, which is integrated through the projection pursuit model (PPM) and Grey wolf optimization (GWO) method. This study uses the Songhua River basin and 25 control units as examples, adopting the PPMGWO model proposed in this study to allocate the water quantity. Using water consumption in all control units in the Songhua River basin in 2015 as reference to compare with optimization allocation results of firefly algorithm (FA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithms as well as the PPMGWO model, results indicate that the average difference between corresponding allocation results and reference values are 0.195 bil m3, 0.151 bil m3, and 0.085 bil m3, respectively. Obviously, the average difference of the PPMGWO model is the lowest and its optimization allocation result is closer to reality, which further confirms the reasonability, feasibility, and accuracy of the PPMGWO model. And then the PPMGWO model is adopted to simulate allocation of available water quantity in Songhua River basin in 2018, 2020, and 2030. The simulation results show water quantity which could be allocated in all controls demonstrates an overall increasing trend with reasonable and equal exploitation and utilization of water resources in the Songhua River basin in future. In addition, this study has a certain reference value and application meaning to comprehensive management and water resources allocation in other transboundary river basins.

  6. Watershed prioritization in the upper Han River basin for soil and water conservation in the South-to-North Water Transfer Project (middle route) of China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Haibing

    2018-01-01

    Watershed prioritization with the objective of identifying critical areas to undertake soil and water conservation measures was conducted in the upper Han River basin, the water source area of approximately 95,000 km 2 for the middle route of China's South-to-North Water Transfer Project. Based on the estimated soil erosion intensity in uplands and clustering analysis of measured nutrient concentrations in rivers, the basin was grouped into very-high-, high-, moderate-, and low-priority regions for water and soil conservation, respectively. The results indicated that soil erosion was primarily controlled by topography, and nutrients in rivers were associated with land use and land cover in uplands. Also, there was large spatial disparity between soil erosion intensity in the uplands and nutrient concentrations in the rivers across the basin. Analysis was then performed to prioritize the basin by the integration of the soil erosion intensity and water quality on a GIS platform in order to identify critical areas for water and soil conservation in the basin. The identified high-priority regions which occupy 5.74% of the drainage areas need immediate attention for soil and water conservation treatments, of which 5.28% is critical for soil erosion prevention and 0.46% for water conservation. Understandings of the basin environment and pollutant loading with spatial explicit are critical to the soil and water resource conservation for the interbasin water transfer project.

  7. Water quality of streams in the Red River of the North Basin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, 1970-2001

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tornes, Lan H.

    2005-01-01

    Data for the Red River of the North (Red River) Basin in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota were analyzed to determine whether the water quality of streams in the basin is adequate to meet future needs. For the Red River at Emerson, Manitoba, site, pH values, water temperatures, and dissolved-oxygen concentrations generally were within the criteria established for the protection of aquatic life. Dissolved-solids concentrations ranged from 245 to 1,100 milligrams per liter. Maximum sulfate and chloride concentrations were near, but did not exceed, the established secondary maximum contaminant level. The trace elements considered potentially harmful generally were at concentrations that were less than the established guidelines, standards, and criteria. The concentrations of lead that were detected may have occurred as a result of sample contamination.  For the Red River upstream from Emerson, Manitoba, sites, pH and other field values rarely exceeded the criteria established for the protection of aquatic life. Many constituent concentrations for the Red River below Fargo, N. site exceeded water-quality guidelines, standards, and criteria. However, the trace-element exceedances could be natural or could be related to pollution or sample contamination. Many of the tributaries in the western part of the Red River Basin had median specific-conductance values that were greater than 1,000 microsiemens per centimeter. Sulfate concentrations occasionally exceeded the established drinking-water standard. Median arsenic concentrations were 6 micrograms per liter or less, and maximum concentrations rarely exceeded the 10-microgram-per-liter drinking-water standard that is scheduled to take effect in 2006. The small concentrations of lead, mercury, and selenium that occasionally were detected may have been a result of sample contamination or other factors. The tributaries in the eastern part of the Red River Basin had median specific-conductance values that were less

  8. River monitoring from satellite radar altimetry in the Zambezi River basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. I. Michailovsky

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Satellite radar altimetry can be used to monitor surface water levels from space. While current and past altimetry missions were designed to study oceans, retracking the waveforms returned over land allows data to be retrieved for smaller water bodies or narrow rivers. The objective of this study is the assessment of the potential for river monitoring from radar altimetry in terms of water level and discharge in the Zambezi River basin. Retracked Envisat altimetry data were extracted over the Zambezi River basin using a detailed river mask based on Landsat imagery. This allowed for stage measurements to be obtained for rivers down to 80 m wide with an RMSE relative to in situ levels of 0.32 to 0.72 m at different locations. The altimetric levels were then converted to discharge using three different methods adapted to different data-availability scenarios: first with an in situ rating curve available, secondly with one simultaneous field measurement of cross-section and discharge, and finally with only historical discharge data available. For the two locations at which all three methods could be applied, the accuracies of the different methods were found to be comparable, with RMSE values ranging from 4.1 to 6.5% of the mean annual in situ gauged amplitude for the first method and from 6.9 to 13.8% for the second and third methods. The precision obtained with the different methods was analyzed by running Monte Carlo simulations and also showed comparable values for the three approaches with standard deviations found between 5.7 and 7.2% of the mean annual in situ gauged amplitude for the first method and from 8.7 to 13.0% for the second and third methods.

  9. Relationship of Rainfall Distribution and Water Level on Major Flood 2014 in Pahang River Basin, Malaysia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nur Hishaam Sulaiman

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Climate change gives impact on extreme hydrological events especially in extreme rainfall. This article discusses about the relationship of rainfall distribution and water level on major flood 2014 in Pahang River Basin, Malaysia in helping decision makers to flood management system. Based on DID Malaysia rainfall station, 56 stations have being use as point in this research and it is including Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan and Perak. Data set for this study were analysed with GIS analysis using interpolation method to develop Isohyet map and XLstat statistical software for PCA and SPC analyses. The results that were obtained from the Isohyet Map for three months was mid-November, rainfall started to increase about in range of 800mm-1200mm and the intensity keep increased to 2200mm at mid-December 2014. The high rainfall intensity sense at highland that is upstream of Pahang River. The PCA and SPC analysis also indicates the high relationship between rainfall and water level of few places at Pahang River. The Sg. Yap station and Kg. Serambi station obtained the high relationship of rainfall and water level with factor loading value at 0.9330 and 0.9051 for each station. Hydrological pattern and trend are extremely affected by climate such as north east monsoon season that occurred in South China Sea and affected Pahang during November to March. The findings of this study are important to local authorities by providing basic data as guidelines to the integrated river management at Pahang River Basin.

  10. Delft-FEWS:A Decision Making Platform to Intergrate Data, Model, Algorithm for Large-Scale River Basin Water Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, T.; Welles, E.

    2017-12-01

    In this paper, we introduce a flood forecasting and decision making platform, named Delft-FEWS, which has been developed over years at the Delft Hydraulics and now at Deltares. The philosophy of Delft-FEWS is to provide water managers and operators with an open shell tool, which allows the integratation of a variety of hydrological, hydraulics, river routing, and reservoir models with hydrometerological forecasts data. Delft-FEWS serves as an powerful tool for both basin-scale and national-scale water resources management. The essential novelty of Delft-FEWS is to change the flood forecasting and water resources management from a single model or agency centric paradigm to a intergrated framework, in which different model, data, algorithm and stakeholders are strongly linked together. The paper will start with the challenges in water resources managment, and the concept and philosophy of Delft-FEWS. Then, the details of data handling and linkages of Delft-FEWS with different hydrological, hydraulic, and reservoir models, etc. Last, several cases studies and applications of Delft-FEWS will be demonstrated, including the National Weather Service and the Bonneville Power Administration in USA, and a national application in the water board in the Netherland.

  11. Study of Mechanisms for Development and Strengthening of Water User Cooperatives (Case Study of Aras River Basin): Application of AHP Method

    OpenAIRE

    Rohallah maghabl

    2014-01-01

    Water user cooperatives were formed due to consideration to people's empowerment and participation in water investment and management. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mechanisms of development and strengthening of water user cooperatives in the Aras River Basin. The study population consisted of the management board members of the water user cooperatives in the Aras Basin in the year 2012. Respondents were selected by purposeful stratified sampling method. Having the data col...

  12. Modeling surface water dynamics in the Amazon Basin using MOSART-Inundation v1.0: impacts of geomorphological parameters and river flow representation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Xiangyu; Li, Hong-Yi; Leung, L. Ruby; Tesfa, Teklu K.; Getirana, Augusto; Papa, Fabrice; Hess, Laura L.

    2017-03-01

    In the Amazon Basin, floodplain inundation is a key component of surface water dynamics and plays an important role in water, energy and carbon cycles. The Model for Scale Adaptive River Transport (MOSART) was extended with a macroscale inundation scheme for representing floodplain inundation. The extended model, named MOSART-Inundation, was used to simulate surface hydrology of the entire Amazon Basin. Previous hydrologic modeling studies in the Amazon Basin identified and addressed a few challenges in simulating surface hydrology of this basin, including uncertainties of floodplain topography and channel geometry, and the representation of river flow in reaches with mild slopes. This study further addressed four aspects of these challenges. First, the spatial variability of vegetation-caused biases embedded in the HydroSHEDS digital elevation model (DEM) data was explicitly addressed. A vegetation height map of about 1 km resolution and a land cover dataset of about 90 m resolution were used in a DEM correction procedure that resulted in an average elevation reduction of 13.2 m for the entire basin and led to evident changes in the floodplain topography. Second, basin-wide empirical formulae for channel cross-sectional dimensions were refined for various subregions to improve the representation of spatial variability in channel geometry. Third, the channel Manning roughness coefficient was allowed to vary with the channel depth, as the effect of riverbed resistance on river flow generally declines with increasing river size. Lastly, backwater effects were accounted for to better represent river flow in mild-slope reaches. The model was evaluated against in situ streamflow records and remotely sensed Envisat altimetry data and Global Inundation Extent from Multi-Satellites (GIEMS) inundation data. In a sensitivity study, seven simulations were compared to evaluate the impacts of the five modeling aspects addressed in this study. The comparisons showed that

  13. A Precipitation-Runoff Model for the Blackstone River Basin, Massachusetts and Rhode Island

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barbaro, Jeffrey R.; Zarriello, Phillip J.

    2007-01-01

    A Hydrological Simulation Program-FORTRAN (HSPF) precipitation-runoff model of the Blackstone River Basin was developed and calibrated to study the effects of changing land- and water-use patterns on water resources. The 474.5 mi2 Blackstone River Basin in southeastern Massachusetts and northern Rhode Island is experiencing rapid population and commercial growth throughout much of its area. This growth and the corresponding changes in land-use patterns are increasing stress on water resources and raising concerns about the future availability of water to meet residential and commercial needs. Increased withdrawals and wastewater-return flows also could adversely affect aquatic habitat, water quality, and the recreational value of the streams in the basin. The Blackstone River Basin was represented by 19 hydrologic response units (HRUs): 17 types of pervious areas (PERLNDs) established from combinations of surficial geology, land-use categories, and the distribution of public water and public sewer systems, and two types of impervious areas (IMPLNDs). Wetlands were combined with open water and simulated as stream reaches that receive runoff from surrounding pervious and impervious areas. This approach was taken to achieve greater flexibility in calibrating evapotranspiration losses from wetlands during the growing season. The basin was segmented into 50 reaches (RCHRES) to represent junctions at tributaries, major lakes and reservoirs, and drainage areas to streamflow-gaging stations. Climatological, streamflow, water-withdrawal, and wastewater-return data were collected during the study to develop the HSPF model. Climatological data collected at Worcester Regional Airport in Worcester, Massachusetts and T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island, were used for model calibration. A total of 15 streamflow-gaging stations were used in the calibration. Streamflow was measured at eight continuous-record streamflow-gaging stations that are part of the U.S. Geological

  14. Policy and Practice – River Basins

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Ms Suruchi Bhadwal

    nature of rivers in the northern belt- inextricably linked. Exacerbated water stress in some areas. Increasing demands – food and drinking water needs. Socioeconomics. CC Impacts. Glacier-fed basins in the. North. Glacier melt and river flooding,. GLOFs, landslides. Unique socio-cultural settings and political differences.

  15. California GAMA Special Study: Importance of River Water Recharge to Selected Groundwater Basins

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Visser, Ate [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Moran, Jean E. [California State Univ. East Bay (CalState), Hayward, CA (United States); Singleton, Michael J. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Esser, Bradley K. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

    2016-03-21

    River recharge represents 63%, 86% and 46% of modern groundwater in the Mojave Desert, Owens Valley, and San Joaquin Valley, respectively. In pre-modern groundwater, river recharge represents a lower fraction: 36%, 46%, and 24% respectively. The importance of river water recharge in the San Joaquin valley has nearly doubled and is likely the result of a total increase of recharge of 40%, caused by river water irrigation return flows. This emphasizes the importance of recharge of river water via irrigation for renewal of groundwater resources. Mountain front recharge and local precipitation contribute to recharge of desert groundwater basins in part as the result of geological features focusing scarce precipitation promoting infiltration. River water recharges groundwater systems under lower temperatures and with larger water table fluctuations than local precipitation recharge. Surface storage is limited in time and volume, as evidenced by cold river recharge temperatures resulting from fast recharge, compared to the large capacity for subsurface storage. Groundwater banking of seasonal surface water flows therefore appears to be a natural and promising method for increasing the resilience of water supply systems. The distinct isotopic and noble gas signatures of river water recharge, compared to local precipitation recharge, reflecting the source and mechanism of recharge, are valuable constraints for numerical flow models.

  16. Water resources inventory of Connecticut Part 10: Lower Connecticut River basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weiss, Lawrence A.; Bingham, James W.; Thomas, Mendall P.

    1982-01-01

    The lower Connecticut River basin study area in south-central Connecticut includes 639 square miles and is drained principally by the Connecticut River and by seven smaller streams that flow directly to Long Island Sound between the West River on the west and the Connecticut River on the east. The population in 1979 was estimated to be 210,380. Much of the industrial development and population centers are in the Mattabesset River basin in the northwestern part, and the largest water use is also in the Mattabesset River basin. Precipitation averages 47 inches per year and provides an abundant supply of water. About 20 inches returns to the atmosphere as evapotranspiration, and the remainder either flows directly to streams or percolates to the water table, eventually discharging to Long Island Sound. Small quantities of water are exported from the basin by the New Haven and Meridan Water Departments, and small quantities are imported by the New Britain Water Department and Metropolitan Direct Commission. Precipitation during 1931-60 resulted in an average annual runoff of 302 billion gallons. In inflow from the Connecticut River is added to the average annual runoff, the 4,370 billion gallon s per year is potentially available for water ue. The domestic, institutional, commercial, and industrial (other than cooling water) water use for 1970 was 7 billion gallons, which is only 3 percent of the total water used, whereas 97 percent of the total is cooling water for power plants. Approximately 60 percent of the 7 billion gallons is treated before being discharged back to the streams. The total amount of fresh water used during 1970 was estimated to be 256,000 million gallons (Mgal), of which 247,000 Mgal was used for cooling water at stream electric-generating plants. The quantity for domestic, commercial, industrial, and agricultural used was 9,000 Mgal, which was approximately 120 gallons a day per person. Public water systems providing 70 percent of these

  17. Water poverty in upper Bagmati River Basin in Nepal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jay Krishna Thakur

    2017-04-01

    The WPI was calculated for the upper Bagmati river Basin together with High–Medium–Low category scale and interpretations. WPI intensity scale depicts Sundarijal and Lubhu are in a range of very low water poverty, which means the water situation is better in these two areas. Daman region has a medium level, meaning this region is located into poor-accessible water zone. Kathmandu, Sankhu and Thankot have a low to medium low WPI, what characterize them as neutral. WPI can be used as an effective tool in integrated water resources management and water use master plan for meeting sustainable development goals. Based on the observation, the water agencies required to focus over water-poverty interface, water for sanitation, hygiene and health, water for production and employment generation, sustainable environmental management, gender equality, and water rights.

  18. Availability of ground water in the middle Merrimack River basin, central and southern New Hampshire

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cotton, J.E.

    1976-01-01

    Sufficient amounts of water to supply single family homes are available from the bedrock aquifer nearly everywhere in the middle Merrimack River basin in central and southern New Hampshire. Relatively this and narrow, unconsolidated aquifers of sand or sand and gravel commonly capable of yielding more than 200 gallons per minute to properly located and constructed wells are found only in major stream valleys. The map provides a preliminary assessment of the availability of ground water in the basin, as determined by estimating the capability of the aquifers to store and transmit water. On the map, aquifers are rated as having high, medium, or low potential to yield water. Ground water in the middle Merrimack River basin is generally of good chemical quality. Most of it is clear and colorless, contains no suspended matter and practically no bacteria, water may be affected by land-use practices. Degradation of water quality may occur in unsewered residential and village areas, near solid-waste-disposal sites, agricultural land, and major highways. (Woodard-USGS)

  19. Irrigation Depletions 1928-1989 : 1990 Level of Irrigation, Snake Yakima and Deschutes River Basins.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    United States. Bonneville Power Administation; A.G. Crook Company

    1993-07-01

    The vast amount of irrigation in relation to the available water and extensive system of reservoirs located in the Snake River Basin above Brownlee reservoir precludes this area from using methods such as Blaney-Criddle for estimating irrigation depletions. Also the hydrology, irrigation growth patterns, and water supply problems are unique and complex. Therefore regulation studies were utilized to reflect the net effect on streamflow of the changes in irrigated acreage in terms of corresponding changes in storage regulation and in the amount of water depleted and diverted from and returned to the river system. The regulation study for 1990 conditions was conducted by the Idaho Department of Water Resources. The end product of the basin simulation is 61 years of regulated flows at various points in the river system that are based on 1990 conditions. Data used by the Idaho Department of Water Resources is presented in this section and includes natural gains to the river system and diversions from the river system based on a 1990 level of development and operation criteria. Additional information can be obtained for an Idaho Department of Water Resources Open-File Report ``Stream Flows in the Snake River Basin 1989 Conditions of Use and Management`` dated June 1991. Similar considerations apply to the Yakima and Deschutes river basins.

  20. Human impacts on river water quality- comparative research in the catchment areas of the Tone River and the Mur River-

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kogure, K.

    2013-12-01

    Human activities in river basin affect river water quality as water discharges into river with pollutant after we use it. By detecting pollutants source, pathway, and influential factor of human activities, it will be possible to consider proper river basin management. In this study, material flow analysis was done first and then nutrient emission modeling by MONERIS was conducted. So as to clarify land use contribution and climate condition, comparison of Japanese and European river basin area has been made. The model MONERIS (MOdelling Nutrient Emissions in RIver Systems; Behrendt et al., 2000) was applied to estimate the nutrient emissions in the Danube river basin by point sources and various diffuse pathways. Work for the Mur River Basin in Austria was already carried out by the Institute of Water Quality, Resources and Waste Management at the Vienna University of Technology. This study treats data collection, modelling for the Tone River in Japan, and comparative analysis for these two river basins. The estimation of the nutrient emissions was carried out for 11 different sub catchment areas covering the Tone River Basin for the time period 2000 to 2006. TN emissions into the Tone river basin were 51 kt/y. 67% was via ground water and dominant for all sub catchments. Urban area was also important emission pathway. Human effect is observed in urban structure and agricultural activity. Water supply and sewer system make urban water cycle with pipeline structure. Excess evapotranspiration in arable land is also influential in water cycle. As share of arable land is 37% and there provides agricultural products, it is thought that N emission from agricultural activity is main pollution source. Assumption case of 10% N surplus was simulated and the result was 99% identical to the actual. Even though N surplus reduction does not show drastic impact on N emission, it is of importance to reduce excess of fertilization and to encourage effective agricultural activity

  1. The "normal" elongation of river basins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castelltort, Sebastien

    2013-04-01

    The spacing between major transverse rivers at the front of Earth's linear mountain belts consistently scales with about half of the mountain half-width [1], despite strong differences in climate and rock uplift rates. Like other empirical measures describing drainage network geometry this result seems to indicate that the form of river basins, among other properties of landscapes, is invariant. Paradoxically, in many current landscape evolution models, the patterns of drainage network organization, as seen for example in drainage density and channel spacing, seem to depend on both climate [2-4] and tectonics [5]. Hovius' observation [1] is one of several unexplained "laws" in geomorphology that still sheds mystery on how water, and rivers in particular, shape the Earth's landscapes. This narrow range of drainage network shapes found in the Earth's orogens is classicaly regarded as an optimal catchment geometry that embodies a "most probable state" in the uplift-erosion system of a linear mountain belt. River basins currently having an aspect away from this geometry are usually considered unstable and expected to re-equilibrate over geological time-scales. Here I show that the Length/Width~2 aspect ratio of drainage basins in linear mountain belts is the natural expectation of sampling a uniform or normal distribution of basin shapes, and bears no information on the geomorphic processes responsible for landscape development. This finding also applies to Hack's [6] law of river basins areas and lengths, a close parent of Hovius' law. [1]Hovius, N. Basin Res. 8, 29-44 (1996) [2]Simpson, G. & Schlunegger, F. J. Geophys. Res. 108, 2300 (2003) [3]Tucker, G. & Bras, R. Water Resour. Res. 34, 2751-2764 (1998) [4]Tucker, G. & Slingerland, R. Water Resour. Res. 33, 2031-2047 (1997) [5]Tucker, G. E. & Whipple, K. X. J. Geophys. Res. 107, 1-1 (2002) [6]Hack, J. US Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap. 294-B (1957)

  2. Surface water-quality assessment of the lower Kansas River basin, Kansas and Nebraska; project description

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stamer, J.K.; Jordan, P.R.; Engberg, R.A.; Dugan, J.T.

    1987-01-01

    In 1986 the U.S. Geological Survey began a National Water-Quality Assessment Program to: (1) provide nationally consistent descriptions of the current status of water quality for a large, diverse, and geographically distributed part of the Nation 's surface water resources; (2) where possible, define trends in water quality; and (3) identify and describe the relation between water quality and natural and land use factors. This report describes the pilot study of the lower Kansas River basin, which is one of four surface water pilot studies that will be used to test, and modify as necessary, assessment concepts and approaches in preparation for future full implementation of the national program. Water quality issues in the lower Kansas River basin are dominated by possible nonpoint sources of contamination from agricultural land, with issues including: (1) large sediment discharge in the streams and sediment deposition in the reservoirs caused by intensive cultivation of row crops and subsequent erosion; (2) occurrence of pesticides in streams and reservoirs that could impair the suitability of water for aquatic life and has the potential for impairing the water 's suitability for public supply; (3) bacterial contamination caused by runoff from pastureland and feedlot operations and municipal wastewater discharges; and (4) nutrient enrichment of reservoirs. Data from fixed stations will be used to determine frequency distributions of constituent concentrations and mass balances of constituents between stations. Subbasin or river reach studies will provide a better understanding of the origin, movement, and fate of potential contaminants. (Lantz-PTT)

  3. Forecasting the Amount of Waste-Sewage Water Discharged into the Yangtze River Basin Based on the Optimal Fractional Order Grey Model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Shuliang; Meng, Wei; Xie, Yufeng

    2017-12-23

    With the rapid development of the Yangtze River economic belt, the amount of waste-sewage water discharged into the Yangtze River basin increases sharply year by year, which has impeded the sustainable development of the Yangtze River basin. The water security along the Yangtze River basin is very important for China, It is something aboutwater security of roughly one-third of China's population and the sustainable development of the 19 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions among the Yangtze River basin. Therefore, a scientific prediction of the amount of waste-sewage water discharged into Yangtze River basin has a positive significance on sustainable development of industry belt along with Yangtze River basin. This paper builds the fractional DWSGM(1,1)(DWSGM(1,1) model is short for Discharge amount of Waste Sewage Grey Model for one order equation and one variable) model based on the fractional accumulating generation operator and fractional reducing operator, and calculates the optimal order of "r" by using particle swarm optimization(PSO)algorithm for solving the minimum average relative simulation error. Meanwhile, the simulation performance of DWSGM(1,1)model with the optimal fractional order is tested by comparing the simulation results of grey prediction models with different orders. Finally, the optimal fractional order DWSGM(1,1)grey model is applied to predict the amount of waste-sewage water discharged into the Yangtze River basin, and corresponding countermeasures and suggestions are put forward through analyzing and comparing the prediction results. This paper has positive significance on enriching the fractional order modeling method of the grey system.

  4. Exploring the effectiveness of sustainable water management structures in the Upper Pungwe river basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nyikadzino, B.; Chibisa, P.; Makurira, H.

    The study endeavoured to assess the effectiveness of stakeholder structures and their participation in sustainable water resources management in the Upper Pungwe river basin shared by Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The study sought to assess the level and effectiveness of stakeholder, gender and the vulnerable groups representation in sustainable water resources management as well as the whole stakeholder participation process. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection and analysis. Sampling data was obtained from 15 stakeholder representatives (councillors) constituting Pungwe Subcatchment Council, 30 water users ranging from small scale to large scale users and professionals in water resources management. Two different questionnaires and three structured interviews were administered during the study. Water permit database, financial reports and other source documents were also analysed. The study established that the sustainability and effectiveness of stakeholder structures and their participation in water resources management is being compromised by lack of stakeholder awareness. Water utilisation is very high in the subcatchment (99%) while women participation is still low (20%). The study therefore recommends the use of quotas for the participation of women in stakeholder structures. Stakeholder structures are encouraged to intensify stakeholder awareness on issues of river protection, efficient water use and pollution control. Further research is recommended to be carried out on the effectiveness of stakeholder structures in combating water pollution and enhancing river protection.

  5. Landsat Evapotranspiration for Historical Field-scale Water Use (1984-2015) in the Upper Rio Grande River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Senay, G. B.; Schauer, M.; Singh, R. K.; Friedrichs, M.

    2017-12-01

    Field-scale water use maps derived from evapotranspiration (ET) can characterize water use patterns and the impacts of water management decisions. This project generated historical (1984-2015) Landsat-based ET maps for the entire Upper Rio Grande basin which makes this one of the largest regions in the United States with remotely sensed historical ET at Landsat resolution. More than 10,000 Landsat images spanning 32 years were processed using the Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) model which integrates weather data and remotely sensed images to estimate monthly and annual ET. Time-series analysis focused on three water-intensive study areas within the basin: the San Luis Valley in Colorado, irrigated fields along the Rio Grande River near Albuquerque, NM, and irrigated fields near Las Cruces, NM. Preliminary analysis suggests land use changes result in declining water use in irrigated areas of the basin which corresponds with increases in land surface temperatures. Time-series analysis of water use patterns at multiple temporal and spatial scales demonstrates the impact of water management decisions on the availability of water in the basin. Comparisons with cropland data from the USDA (NASS CDL) demonstrate how water use for particular crop types changes over time in response to land use changes and shifts in water management. This study illustrates a useful application of "Big Data" earth observation science for quantifying impacts of climate and land use changes on water availability within the United States as well as applications in planning water resource allocation, managing water rights, and sustaining agricultural production in the Upper Rio Grande basin.

  6. Scaling up watershed model parameters--Flow and load simulations of the Edisto River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feaster, Toby D.; Benedict, Stephen T.; Clark, Jimmy M.; Bradley, Paul M.; Conrads, Paul

    2014-01-01

    The Edisto River is the longest and largest river system completely contained in South Carolina and is one of the longest free flowing blackwater rivers in the United States. The Edisto River basin also has fish-tissue mercury concentrations that are some of the highest recorded in the United States. As part of an effort by the U.S. Geological Survey to expand the understanding of relations among hydrologic, geochemical, and ecological processes that affect fish-tissue mercury concentrations within the Edisto River basin, analyses and simulations of the hydrology of the Edisto River basin were made with the topography-based hydrological model (TOPMODEL). The potential for scaling up a previous application of TOPMODEL for the McTier Creek watershed, which is a small headwater catchment to the Edisto River basin, was assessed. Scaling up was done in a step-wise process beginning with applying the calibration parameters, meteorological data, and topographic wetness index data from the McTier Creek TOPMODEL to the Edisto River TOPMODEL. Additional changes were made with subsequent simulations culminating in the best simulation, which included meteorological and topographic wetness index data from the Edisto River basin and updated calibration parameters for some of the TOPMODEL calibration parameters. Comparison of goodness-of-fit statistics between measured and simulated daily mean streamflow for the two models showed that with calibration, the Edisto River TOPMODEL produced slightly better results than the McTier Creek model, despite the significant difference in the drainage-area size at the outlet locations for the two models (30.7 and 2,725 square miles, respectively). Along with the TOPMODEL hydrologic simulations, a visualization tool (the Edisto River Data Viewer) was developed to help assess trends and influencing variables in the stream ecosystem. Incorporated into the visualization tool were the water-quality load models TOPLOAD, TOPLOAD-H, and LOADEST

  7. Multi isotopic characterization (Li-Cu-Zn-Pb) of waste waters pollution in a small watershed (Loire River basin, France)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Millot, R.; Desaulty, A. M.; Perret, S.; Bourrain, X.

    2016-12-01

    The goal of this study is to use multi-isotopic signature to track the pollution in surface waters, and to understand the complex processes causing the metals mobilization and transport in the environment. In the present study, we investigate waste water releases from a hospital water treatment plant and its potential impact in a small river basin near Orléans in France (Egoutier watershed: 15 km²and 5 km long). We decided to monitor this small watershed which is poorly urbanized in the Loire river basin. Its spring is located in a pristine area (forested area), while it is only impacted some kilometers further by the releases rich in metals coming from a hospital water treatment plant. A sampling of these liquid effluents as well as dissolved load and sediment from upstream to downstream was realized and their concentrations and isotopic data were determined. Isotopic ratios were measured using a MC-ICP-MS at BRGM, after a specific protocol of purification for each isotopic systematics. Lithium isotopic compositions are rather homogeneous in river waters along the main course of the stream. The waste water signal is very different from the natural background with significant heavy lithium contribution (high δ7Li). Lead isotopic compositions are rather homogenous in river waters and sediments with values close to geologic background. For Zn, the sediments with high concentrations and depleted isotopic compositions (low δ66Zn), typical of an anthropic pollution, are strongly impacted. The analyses of Cu isotopes in sediments show the impact of waster waters, but also isotopic fractionations due to redox processes in the watershed. To better understand these processes controlling the release of metals in water, sequential extractions on sediments are in progress under laboratory conditions and will provide important constraints for metal distribution in this river basin.

  8. Models and data to predict radionuclide concentrations in river basin systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fleming, G.; Rufai, G.G.

    1990-01-01

    Radioactive contamination of land may result from the detonation of nuclear weapons or nuclear accidents, such as Chernobyl. The deposition of fallout on soil and/or plants, and subsequent erosion by rainsplash and overland flow, could introduce radioactive isotopes into the water and soil resources of the environment. A model to simulate the transport and deposition of concentrated pollutants and radionuclides within the river basin is proposed. The proposed model is built on an existing Strathclyde River Basin Model, (SRBM), which has the potential to simulate runoff and erosion and the distribution of eroded soil particle sizes. An algorithm of the processes of concentration of pollutants and radionuclides can be developed based on the current understanding of the process of radionuclide attachment to soil particles. (author)

  9. How to allocate water resources under climate change in the arid endorheic river basin, Northwest China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, A.; Feng, D.; Tian, Y.; Zheng, Y.

    2017-12-01

    Water resource is of fundamental importance to the society and ecosystem in arid endorheic river basins, and water-use conflicts between upstream and downstream are usually significant. Heihe river basin (HRB) is the second largest endorheic river basin in china, which is featured with dry climate, intensively irrigated farmlands in oases and significant surface water-groundwater interaction. The irrigation districts in the middle HRB consume a large portion of the river flow, and the low HRB, mainly Gobi Desert, has an extremely vulnerable ecological environment. The water resources management has significantly altered the hydrological processes in HRB, and is now facing multiple challenges, including decline of groundwater table in the middle HRB, insufficient environmental flow for the lower HRB. Furthermore, future climate change adds substantial uncertainty to the water system. Thus, it is imperative to have a sustainable water resources management in HRB in order to tackle the existing challenges and future uncertainty. Climate projection form a dynamical downscaled climate change scenario shows precipitation will increase at a rate of approximately 3 millimeter per ten years and temperature will increase at a rate of approximately 0.2 centigrade degree per ten years in the following 50 years in the HRB. Based on an integrated ecohydrological model, we evaluated how the climate change and agricultural development would collaboratively impact the water resources and ecological health in the middle and lower HRB, and investigated how the water management should cope with the complex impact.

  10. Recent tritium levels in environmental waters collected at the drainage basin of Changjiang (Yangtze River)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sato, Osamu; Nakagawa, Takao; Hashimoto, Tetsuo [Niigata Univ. (Japan)

    1989-11-01

    This paper reports tritium levels in environmental waters in the China in comparison with those in Japan. Environmental water samples were collected in October-November 1987 from the drainage basin of Changjiang from Sichuan through Hubei districts. Tritium levels were 0.22 Bq/l-6.73 Bq/l (an average, 3.09{plus minus}1.18 Bq/l) in 50 ground water samples; 3.40 Bq/l-3.81 Bq/l (an average, 3.71{plus minus}0.81 Bq/l) in four river samples collected from the main course of the Changjiang River; 1.74 Bq/l-5.40 Bq/l (an average, 3.14{plus minus}1.52 Bq/l) in four river samples collected from the tributary river; and 0.63 Bq/l and 1.78 Bq/l in precipitation samples. Environmental waters contained a large quantity of Ca{sup 2+} and Mg{sup 2+} ions, irrespective of river and ground water samples. In comparing tritium levels in environmental waters in the China and Japan, tritium levels were higher in the ground water influenced by a landslide in the China than Japan. Tritium levels in precipitations collected from the drainage basin of the Changjiang were similar to those in Niigata (Japan), 0.63{plus minus}0.26 Bq/l and 1.78{plus minus}0.26 Bq/l vs 0.53{plus minus}0.36 Bq/l - 2.17{plus minus}0.40 Bq/l. The concentrations of Ca{sup 2+}, Mg{sup 2+}, and HCO{sub 3}{sup -} were higher in the Changjiang River (4 water samples) than the river waters, including the Shinano River in Japan. The concentrations of Na{sup +} and Cl{sup -} were higher in the Changjiang River than the average concentrations in the Japanese rivers, but lower than the Shinano River (Japan). A small quantity of precipitations and width of the Changjiang River, as well as nuclear explosion test performed up to 1980, seem to influence higher tritium levels in the Changjiang than those in Japan. (N.K.).

  11. Technical analysis of a river basin-based model of advanced power plant cooling technologies for mitigating water management challenges

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stillwell, Ashlynn S; Clayton, Mary E; Webber, Michael E

    2011-01-01

    Thermoelectric power plants require large volumes of water for cooling, which can introduce drought vulnerability and compete with other water needs. Alternative cooling technologies, such as cooling towers and hybrid wet-dry or dry cooling, present opportunities to reduce water diversions. This case study uses a custom, geographically resolved river basin-based model for eleven river basins in the state of Texas (the Brazos and San Jacinto-Brazos, Colorado and Colorado-Brazos, Cypress, Neches, Nueces, Red, Sabine, San Jacinto, and Trinity River basins), focusing on the Brazos River basin, to analyze water availability during drought. We utilized two existing water availability models for our analysis: (1) the full execution of water rights-a scenario where each water rights holder diverts the full permitted volume with zero return flow, and (2) current conditions-a scenario reflecting actual diversions with associated return flows. Our model results show that switching the cooling technologies at power plants in the eleven analyzed river basins to less water-intensive alternative designs can potentially reduce annual water diversions by 247-703 million m 3 -enough water for 1.3-3.6 million people annually. We consider these results in a geographic context using geographic information system tools and then analyze volume reliability, which is a policymaker's metric that indicates the percentage of total demand actually supplied over a given period. This geographic and volume reliability analysis serves as a measure of drought susceptibility in response to changes in thermoelectric cooling technologies. While these water diversion savings do not alleviate all reliability concerns, the additional streamflow from the use of dry cooling alleviates drought concerns for some municipal water rights holders and might also be sufficient to uphold instream flow requirements for important bays and estuaries on the Texas Gulf coast.

  12. Investigating the evolutionary history of irrigated agricultural technology in the Heihe River Basin, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, S.; Wei, Y.; Zhao, Y.; Zheng, H.

    2017-12-01

    Human's innovative abilities do not only enable rapid expansion of civilization, but also lead to enormous modifications on the natural environment. Technology, while a key factor embedded in socioeconomic developments, its impacts have been rarely appropriately considered in river basin management. This research aims to examine the evolutionary history of irrigated agricultural technology in the Heihe River Basin, China, and how its characteristics interacted with the river basin environment. It adopts a content analysis approach to collect and summarize quantitative technological information in the Heihe River Basin across a time span of more than 2000 years from the Han Dynasty (206 BC) to 2015. Two Chinese academic research databases: Wan Fang Data and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) were chosen as data sources. The results show that irrigated agricultural technologies in Heihe River Basin have shifted from focusing on developing new farming tools and cultivation methods to adapting modernized, water-saving irrigation methods and water diversion infrastructures. In additions, the center of irrigated agricultural technology in the Heihe river basin has moved from downstream to middle stream since the Ming Dynasty (1368AD) as a result of degraded natural environment. The developing trend of technology in the Heihe River Basin thus coincides with the change of societal focus from agricultural production efficiency to the human-water balance and environmental remediation. This research demonstrates that irrigated agricultural technologies had a twisted evolutionary history in the Heihe River Basin, influenced by a diverse range of environmental and socioeconomic factors. It provides insights into the fact that technology exhibits a co-evolutionary characteristic with the social development history in the region, pointing towards the urgent need to maintain the balance between human and environment.

  13. Studying groundwater and surface water interactions using airborne remote sensing in Heihe River basin, northwest China

    OpenAIRE

    Liu, C.; Liu, J.; Hu, Y.; Zheng, C.

    2015-01-01

    Managing surface water and groundwater as a unified system is important for water resource exploitation and aquatic ecosystem conservation. The unified approach to water management needs accurate characterization of surface water and groundwater interactions. Temperature is a natural tracer for identifying surface water and groundwater interactions, and the use of remote sensing techniques facilitates basin-scale temperature measurement. This study focuses on the Heihe River basin, the second...

  14. A multi-approach and multi-scale study on water quantity and quality changes in the Tapajós River basin, Amazon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. L. B. Nóbrega

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available We analyzed changes in water quantity and quality at different spatial scales within the Tapajós River basin (Amazon based on experimental fieldwork, hydrological modelling, and statistical time-trend analysis. At a small scale, we compared the river discharge (Q and suspended-sediment concentrations (SSC of two adjacent micro-catchments ( <  1 km2 with similar characteristics but contrasting land uses (forest vs. pasture using empirical data from field measurements. At an intermediary scale, we simulated the hydrological responses of a sub-basin of the Tapajós (Jamanxim River basin, 37 400 km2, using a hydrological model (SWAT and land-use change scenario in order to quantify the changes in the water balance components due to deforestation. At the Tapajós' River basin scale, we investigated trends in Q, sediments, hydrochemistry, and geochemistry in the river using available data from the HYBAM Observation Service. The results in the micro-catchments showed a higher runoff coefficient in the pasture (0.67 than in the forest catchment (0.28. At this scale, the SSC were also significantly greater during stormflows in the pasture than in the forest catchment. At the Jamanxim watershed scale, the hydrological modelling results showed a 2 % increase in Q and a 5 % reduction of baseflow contribution to total Q after a conversion of 22 % of forest to pasture. In the Tapajós River, however, trend analysis did not show any significant trend in discharge and sediment concentration. However, we found upward trends in dissolved organic carbon and NO3− over the last 20 years. Although the magnitude of anthropogenic impact has shown be scale-dependent, we were able to find changes in the Tapajós River basin in streamflow, sediment concentration, and water quality across all studied scales.

  15. Estimation of reservoir inflow in data scarce region by using Sacramento rainfall runoff model - A case study for Sittaung River Basin, Myanmar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myo Lin, Nay; Rutten, Martine

    2017-04-01

    The Sittaung River is one of four major rivers in Myanmar. This river basin is developing fast and facing problems with flood, sedimentation, river bank erosion and salt intrusion. At present, more than 20 numbers of reservoirs have already been constructed for multiple purposes such as irrigation, domestic water supply, hydro-power generation, and flood control. The rainfall runoff models are required for the operational management of this reservoir system. In this study, the river basin is divided into (64) sub-catchments and the Sacramento Soil Moisture Accounting (SAC-SMA) models are developed by using satellite rainfall and Geographic Information System (GIS) data. The SAC-SMA model has sixteen calibration parameters, and also uses a unit hydrograph for surface flow routing. The Sobek software package is used for SAC-SMA modelling and simulation of river system. The models are calibrated and tested by using observed discharge and water level data. The statistical results show that the model is applicable to use for data scarce region. Keywords: Sacramento, Sobek, rainfall runoff, reservoir

  16. Simulation of streamflow and water quality in the Christina River subbasin and overview of simulations in other subbasins of the Christina River Basin, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware, 1994-98

    Science.gov (United States)

    Senior, Lisa A.; Koerkle, Edward H.

    2003-01-01

    The Christina River Basin drains 565 square miles (mi2) in Pennsylvania and Delaware and includes the major subbasins of Brandywine Creek, Red Clay Creek, White Clay Creek, and Christina River. The Christina River subbasin (exclusive of the Brandywine, Red Clay, and White Clay Creek subbasins) drains an area of 76 mi2. Streams in the Christina River Basin are used for recreation, drinking water supply, and support of aquatic life. Water quality in some parts of the Christina River Basin is impaired and does not support designated uses of the stream. A multi-agency water-quality management strategy included a modeling component to evaluate the effects of point- and nonpoint-source contributions of nutrients and suspended sediment on stream water quality. To assist in nonpoint-source evaluation, four independent models, one for each of the four main subbasins of the Christina River Basin, were developed and calibrated using the model code Hydrological Simulation Program–Fortran (HSPF). Water-quality data for model calibration were collected in each of the four main subbasins and in small subbasins predominantly covered by one land use following a nonpoint- source monitoring plan. Under this plan, stormflow and base-flow samples were collected during 1998 at two sites in the Christina River subbasin and nine sites elsewhere in the Christina River Basin.The HSPF model for the Christina River subbasin simulates streamflow, suspended sediment, and the nutrients, nitrogen and phosphorus. In addition, the model simulates water temperature, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, and plankton as secondary objectives needed to support the sediment and nutrient simulations. For the model, the basin was subdivided into nine reaches draining areas that ranged from 3.8 to 21.9 mi2. Ten different pervious land uses and two impervious land uses were selected for simulation. Land-use areas were determined from 1995 land-use data. The predominant land uses in the Christina

  17. Groundwater quality in the Colorado River basins, California

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dawson, Barbara J. Milby; Belitz, Kenneth

    2012-01-01

    Groundwater provides more than 40 percent of California’s drinking water. To protect this vital resource, the State of California created the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The Priority Basin Project of the GAMA Program provides a comprehensive assessment of the State’s groundwater quality and increases public access to groundwater-quality information. Four groundwater basins along the Colorado River make up one of the study areas being evaluated. The Colorado River study area is approximately 884 square miles (2,290 square kilometers) and includes the Needles, Palo Verde Mesa, Palo Verde Valley, and Yuma groundwater basins (California Department of Water Resources, 2003). The Colorado River study area has an arid climate and is part of the Sonoran Desert. Average annual rainfall is about 3 inches (8 centimeters). Land use in the study area is approximately 47 percent (%) natural (mostly shrubland), 47% agricultural, and 6% urban. The primary crops are pasture and hay. The largest urban area is the city of Blythe (2010 population of 21,000). Groundwater in these basins is used for public and domestic water supply and for irrigation. The main water-bearing units are gravel, sand, silt, and clay deposited by the Colorado River or derived from surrounding mountains. The primary aquifers in the Colorado River study area are defined as those parts of the aquifers corresponding to the perforated intervals of wells listed in the California Department of Public Health database. Public-supply wells in the Colorado River basins are completed to depths between 230 and 460 feet (70 to 140 meters), consist of solid casing from the land surface to a depth of 130 of 390 feet (39 to 119 meters), and are screened or perforated below the solid casing. The main source of recharge to the groundwater systems in the Needles, Palo Verde Mesa, and Palo Verde Valley basins is the Colorado River; in the Yuma basin, the main source of recharge is from

  18. Water management for development of water quality in the Ruhr River basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klopp, R

    2000-01-01

    On the Ruhr, a small river running through hilly country and with a mean flow of 76 m3/s, 27 water works use the method of artificial groundwater recharge to produce 350 million m3 of drinking water annually. On the basis of a special act, the Ruhr River Association is responsible for water quality and water quantity management in the Ruhr basin. The present 94 municipal sewage treatment plants ensure that the raw water is sufficiently good to be turned into drinking water. In the Ruhr's lower reaches, where dry weather results in a 20% share of the entire water flow being treated wastewater, comparatively high concentration of substances of domestic or industrial origin are likely, including substances which municipal wastewater treatment measures cannot entirely remove. These substances include ammonium, coliform bacteria or pathogens, boron and organic trace substances. Although water treatment measures have greatly contributed to the considerable improvement of the Ruhr's water quality in the last few decades, it is desirable to continue to aim at a high standard of drinking water production technologies since the Ruhr is a surface water body influenced by anthropogenic factors. However, in the case of substances infiltrating into drinking water, legislation is required if a reduction of pollution appears to be necessary.

  19. Radiocesium dynamics in the Hirose River basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuramoto, T.; Taniguchi, K.; Arai, H.; Onuma, S.; Onishi, Y.

    2017-12-01

    A significant amount of radiocesium was deposited in Fukushima Prefecture during the accident of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. In river systems, radiocesium is transported to downstream in rivers. For the safe use of river and its water, it is needed to clarify the dynamics of radiocesium in river systems. We started the monitoring of the Hirose River from December 2015. The Hirose River is a tributary of the Abukuma River flowing into the Pacific Ocean, and its catchment is close to areas where a large amount of radiocesium was deposited. We set up nine monitoring points in the Hirose River watershed. The Water level and turbidity data are continuously observed at each monitoring point. We regularly collected about 100 liters of water at each monitoring point. Radiocesium in water samples was separated into two forms; the one is the dissolved form, and the other is the suspended particulate form. Radionuclide concentrations of radiocesium in both forms were measured by a germanium semiconductor detector. Furthermore, we applied the TODAM (Time-dependent One-dimensional Degradation And Migration) code to the Hirose River basin using the monitoring data. The objectives of the modeling are to understand a redistribution pattern of radiocesium adsorbed by sediments during flooding events and to determine the amount of radiocesium flux into the Abukuma River.

  20. Temporal variations of water and sediment fluxes in the Cointzio river basin, central Mexico

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duvert, C.; Gratiot, N.; Navratil, O.; Esteves, M.; Prat, C.; Nord, G.

    2009-04-01

    The STREAMS program (Sediment TRansport and Erosion Across MountainS) was launched in 2006 to study suspended sediment dynamics in mountainous areas. Two watersheds were selected as part of the program: the Bléone river basin in the French Alps, and the Cointzio river basin (636 km2), located in the mountainous region of Michoacán, in central Mexico. The volcanic soils of the Cointzio catchment undergo important erosion processes, especially during flashflood events. Thus, a high-frequency monitoring of sediment transport is highly required. The poster presents the high-frequency database obtained from the 2008 hydrological season at the Santiago Undameo gauged station, located at the basin's outlet. Suspended Sediment Concentration (SSC) was estimated every 10 minutes by calibrating turbidity measurements with bottle sampling acquired on a double-daily basis. Water discharge time-series was approximated with continuous water-level measurements (5 minutes time-step), and a stage-discharge rating curve. Our investigation highlights the influence of sampling frequency on annual water and sediment fluxes estimate. A daily or even a weekly water-level measurement provides an unexpectedly reliable assessment of the seasonal water fluxes, with an under-estimation of about 5 % of the total flux. Concerning sediment fluxes, a high-frequency SSC survey appears to be necessary. Acquiring SSC data even twice a day leads to a significant (over 30 %) under-estimation of the seasonal sediment load. These distinct behaviors can be attributed to the fact that sediment transport almost exclusively occurs during brief night flood events, whereas exfiltration on the watershed always provides a base flow during the daily water-level measurements.

  1. River Basin Scale Management and Governance: Competing Interests for Western Water

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindquist, Eric

    2015-04-01

    One of the most significant issues in regard to how social scientists understand environmental and resource management is the question of scale: what is the appropriate scale at which to consider environmental problems, and associated stakeholders (including hydrologists) and their interests, in order to "govern" them? Issues of scale touch on the reality of political boundaries, from the international to the local, and their overlap and conflict across jurisdictions. This presentation will consider the questions of environmental management and governance at the river basin scale through the case of the Boise River Basin (BRB), in southwest Idaho. The river basin scale provides a viable, and generalizable, unit of analysis with which to consider theoretical and empirical questions associated with governance and the role of hydrological science in decision making. As a unit of analysis, the "river basin" is common among engineers and hydrologists. Indeed, hydrological data is often collected and assessed at the basin level, not at an institutional or jurisdictional level. In the case of the BRB much is known from the technical perspective, such as infrastructure and engineering factors, who manages the river and how, and economic perspectives, in regard to benefits in support of major agricultural interests in the region. The same level of knowledge cannot be said about the political and societal factors, and related concepts of institutions and power. Compounding the situation is the increasing probability of climate change impacts in the American West. The geographic focus on the Boise River Basin provides a compelling example of what the future might hold in the American West, and how resource managers and other vested interests make or influence river basin policy in the region. The BRB represents a complex and dynamic environment covering approximately 4,100 square miles of land. The BRB is a highly managed basin, with multiple dams and diversions, and is

  2. Field Operations For The "Intelligent River" Observation System: A Basin-wide Water Quality Observation System In The Savannah River Basin And Platform Supporting Related Diverse Initiatives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sutton, A.; Koons, M.; O'Brien-Gayes, P.; Moorer, R.; Hallstrom, J.; Post, C.; Gayes, P. T.

    2017-12-01

    The Intelligent River (IR) initiative is an NSF sponsored study developing new data management technology for a range of basin-scale applications. The technology developed by Florida Atlantic and Clemson University established a network of real-time reporting water quality sondes; from the mountains to the estuary of the Savannah River basin. Coastal Carolina University led the field operations campaign. Ancillary studies, student projects and initiatives benefitted from the associated instrumentation, infrastructure and operational support of the IR program. This provided a vehicle for students to participate in fieldwork across the watershed and pursue individual interests. Student projects included: 1) a Multibeam sonar survey investigating channel morphology in the area of an IR sensor station and 2) field tests of developing techniques for acquiring and assimilating flood velocity data into model systems associated with a separate NSF Rapid award. The multibeam survey within the lower Savannah basin exhibited a range of complexity in bathymetry, bedforms and bottom habitat in the vicinity of one of the water quality stations. The complex morphology and bottom habitat reflect complex flow patterns, localized areas of depositional and erosive tendencies providing a valuable context for considering point-source water quality time series. Micro- Lagrangian drifters developed by ISENSE at Florida Atlantic University, a sled mounted ADCP, and particle tracking from imagery collected by a photogrammetric drone were tested and used to develop methodology for establishing velocity, direction and discharge levels to validate, initialize and assimilate data into advance models systems during future flood events. The prospect of expanding wide scale observing systems can serve as a platform to integrate small and large-scale cooperative studies across disciplines as well as basic and applied research interests. Such initiatives provide opportunities for embedded education

  3. Maintaining healthy rivers and lakes through water diversion from Yangtze River to Taihu Lake in Taihu Basin

    OpenAIRE

    Wu Haoyun; Hu Yan

    2008-01-01

    On the basis of the Taihu water resources assessment, an analysis of the importance and rationality of the water diversion from the Yangtze River to Taihu Lake in solving the water problem and establishing a harmonious eco-environment in the Taihu Basin is performed. The water quantity and water quality conjunctive dispatching decision-making support system, which ensures flood control, water supply and eco-aimed dispatching, is built by combining the water diversion with flood control dispat...

  4. Flood Risk Index Assessment in Johor River Basin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahmad Shakir Mohd Saudi; Hafizan Juahir; Azman Azid; Fazureen Azaman; Ahmad Shakir Mohd Saudi

    2015-01-01

    This study is focusing on constructing the flood risk index in the Johor river basin. The application of statistical methods such as factor analysis (FA), statistical process control (SPC) and artificial neural network (ANN) had revealed the most efficient flood risk index. The result in FA was water level has correlation coefficient of 0.738 and the most practicable variable to be used for the warning alert system. The upper control limits (UCL) for the water level in the river basin Johor is 4.423 m and the risk index for the water level has been set by this method consisting of 0-100.The accuracy of prediction has been evaluated by using ANN and the accuracy of the test result was R"2 = 0.96408 with RMSE= 2.5736. The future prediction for UCL in Johor river basin has been predicted and the value was 3.75 m. This model can shows the current and future prediction for flood risk index in the Johor river basin and can help local authorities for flood control and prevention of the state of Johor. (author)

  5. Numerical representation of rainfall field in the Yarmouk River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shentsis, Isabella; Inbar, Nimrod; Magri, Fabien; Rosenthal, Eliyahu

    2017-04-01

    Rainfall is the decisive factors in evaluating the water balance of river basins and aquifers. Accepted methods rely on interpolation and extrapolation of gauged rain to regular grid with high dependence on the density and regularity of network, considering the relief complexity. We propose an alternative method that makes up to those restrictions by taking into account additional physical features of the rain field. The method applies to areas with (i) complex plain- and mountainous topography, which means inhomogeneity of the rainfall field and (ii) non-uniform distribution of a rain gauge network with partial lack of observations. The rain model is implemented in two steps: 1. Study of the rainfall field, based on the climatic data (mean annual precipitation), its description by the function of elevation and other factors, and estimation of model parameters (normalized coefficients of the Taylor series); 2. Estimation of rainfall in each historical year using the available data (less complete and irregular versus climatic data) as well as the a-priori known parameters (by the basic hypothesis on inter-annual stability of the model parameters). The proposed method was developed by Shentsis (1990) for hydrological forecasting in Central Asia and was later adapted to the Lake Kinneret Basin. Here this model (the first step) is applied to the Yarmouk River Basin. The Yarmouk River is the largest tributary of the Jordan River. Its transboundary basin (6,833 sq. km) extends over Syria (5,257 sq.km), Jordan (1,379 sq. km) and Israel (197 sq. km). Altitude varies from 1800 m (and more) to -235 m asl. The total number of rain stations in use is 36 (17 in Syria, 19 in Jordan). There is evidently lack and non-uniform distribution of a rain gauge network in Syria. The Yarmouk Basin was divided into five regions considering typical relationship between mean annual rain and elevation for each region. Generally, the borders of regions correspond to the common topographic

  6. Irrigation efficiency and water-policy implications for river basin resilience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, C. A.; Vicuña, S.; Blanco-Gutiérrez, I.; Meza, F.; Varela-Ortega, C.

    2014-04-01

    Rising demand for food, fiber, and biofuels drives expanding irrigation withdrawals from surface water and groundwater. Irrigation efficiency and water savings have become watchwords in response to climate-induced hydrological variability, increasing freshwater demand for other uses including ecosystem water needs, and low economic productivity of irrigation compared to most other uses. We identify three classes of unintended consequences, presented here as paradoxes. Ever-tighter cycling of water has been shown to increase resource use, an example of the efficiency paradox. In the absence of effective policy to constrain irrigated-area expansion using "saved water", efficiency can aggravate scarcity, deteriorate resource quality, and impair river basin resilience through loss of flexibility and redundancy. Water scarcity and salinity effects in the lower reaches of basins (symptomatic of the scale paradox) may partly be offset over the short-term through groundwater pumping or increasing surface water storage capacity. However, declining ecological flows and increasing salinity have important implications for riparian and estuarine ecosystems and for non-irrigation human uses of water including urban supply and energy generation, examples of the sectoral paradox. This paper briefly considers three regional contexts with broadly similar climatic and water-resource conditions - central Chile, southwestern US, and south-central Spain - where irrigation efficiency directly influences basin resilience. The comparison leads to more generic insights on water policy in relation to irrigation efficiency and emerging or overdue needs for environmental protection.

  7. Colorado River basin sensitivity to disturbance impacts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bennett, K. E.; Urrego-Blanco, J. R.; Jonko, A. K.; Vano, J. A.; Newman, A. J.; Bohn, T. J.; Middleton, R. S.

    2017-12-01

    The Colorado River basin is an important river for the food-energy-water nexus in the United States and is projected to change under future scenarios of increased CO2emissions and warming. Streamflow estimates to consider climate impacts occurring as a result of this warming are often provided using modeling tools which rely on uncertain inputs—to fully understand impacts on streamflow sensitivity analysis can help determine how models respond under changing disturbances such as climate and vegetation. In this study, we conduct a global sensitivity analysis with a space-filling Latin Hypercube sampling of the model parameter space and statistical emulation of the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrologic model to relate changes in runoff, evapotranspiration, snow water equivalent and soil moisture to model parameters in VIC. Additionally, we examine sensitivities of basin-wide model simulations using an approach that incorporates changes in temperature, precipitation and vegetation to consider impact responses for snow-dominated headwater catchments, low elevation arid basins, and for the upper and lower river basins. We find that for the Colorado River basin, snow-dominated regions are more sensitive to uncertainties. New parameter sensitivities identified include runoff/evapotranspiration sensitivity to albedo, while changes in snow water equivalent are sensitive to canopy fraction and Leaf Area Index (LAI). Basin-wide streamflow sensitivities to precipitation, temperature and vegetation are variable seasonally and also between sub-basins; with the largest sensitivities for smaller, snow-driven headwater systems where forests are dense. For a major headwater basin, a 1ºC of warming equaled a 30% loss of forest cover, while a 10% precipitation loss equaled a 90% forest cover decline. Scenarios utilizing multiple disturbances led to unexpected results where changes could either magnify or diminish extremes, such as low and peak flows and streamflow timing

  8. Optimization Model for cooperative water allocation and valuation in large river basins regarding environmental constraints

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pournazeri, S.

    2011-12-01

    A comprehensive optimization model named Cooperative Water Allocation Model (CWAM) is developed for equitable and efficient water allocation and valuation of Zab river basin in order to solve the draught problems of Orumieh Lake in North West of Iran. The model's methodology consists of three phases. The first represents an initial water rights allocation among competing users. The second comprises the water reallocation process for complete usage by consumers. The third phase performs an allocation of the net benefit of the stakeholders participating in a coalition by applying cooperative game theory. The environmental constraints are accounted for in the water allocation model by entering probable environmental damage in a target function, and inputting the minimum water requirement of users. The potential of underground water usage is evaluated in order to compensate for the variation in the amount of surface water. This is conducted by applying an integrated economic- hydrologic river basin model. A node-link river basin network is utilized in CWAM which consists of two major blocks. The first indicates the internal water rights allocation and the second is associated to water and net benefit reallocation. System control, loss in links by evaporation or seepage, modification of inflow into the node, loss in nodes and loss in outflow are considered in this model. Water valuation is calculated for environmental, industrial, municipal and agricultural usage by net benefit function. It can be seen that the water rights are allocated efficiently and incomes are distributed appropriately based on quality and quantity limitations.

  9. Agricultural implications of reduced water supplies in the Green and Upper Yellowstone River Basins

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lansford, R. R.; Roach, F.; Gollehon, N. R.; Creel, B. J.

    1982-02-01

    The growth of the energy sector in the energy-rich but water-restricted Western US has presented a potential conflict with the irrigated agricultural sector. This study measures the direct impacts on farm income and employment resulting from the transfer of water from agriculture to energy in two specific geographical areas - the Green and Upper Yellowstone River Basins. We used a linear programming model to evaluate the impacts of reduced water supplies. Through the use of regional multipliers, we expanded our analysis to include regional impacts. Volume I provides the major analysis of these impacts. Volume II provides further technical data.

  10. Assessment of groundwater potential in Ankobra River Basin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nyarkoh, Charles Prince

    2011-08-01

    Ankobra river basin is endowed with many rich natural resources. The mining activities in the basin and the proposed hydropower generation on the Ankobra river as well as oil discovery in the Western Region would lead to the establishing of new industries in the basin. These would certainly lead to potential population growth. As a result of these developments, there would be stress on surface water resources and therefore there would be demand for ground water. A research was carried out to assess groundwater supply. Hydrogeological data was used to evaluate the ground water storage in the basement complex, regolith. The relevant aquifer characteristics/parameters (extent of the study area, thickness of the ground water zone in the regolith, the porosity and specific capacity of the aquifer zones) were used to compute total groundwater storage and recoverable storage. The groundwater contribution to stream flow was computed using mean monthly discharge data from the filled data and hydrograph drawn. The base flow was then determined from the hydrograph separation using the straight line method. The groundwater potential in the Ankobra basin is 45.82*10 9 m 3 while the recoverable groundwater storage is 29.39*10 9 m 3 . The base flow computed was 13.75m 3/ s. Investigations into groundwater chemistry with particular references to physico-chemical parameters (quality) was analysed. The constituents fall within the acceptable limits of the Ghana Standard Board (GSB) for drinking water standard and are satisfactory for human consumption. However, Tamso, Wantenem, Gyaman, Beyim communities exceeded the GSB'S recommended values of PH (6.5-8.5) and chloride ( 250 mg/I) respectively for drinking water standard.(author)

  11. Integrating EO data for applying the Nexus of water, energy and agriculture to monitor SDG Indicators within transboundary river basins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zalidis, G.; Kavvada, A.; Crisman, T.

    2016-12-01

    The NEXUS of water, energy and agriculture is widely recognized as an integrated approach for innovative management solutions and actions to protect natural resources. Soil Spectral Libraries (SSL) implement the NEXUS approach by combining Earth Observation (EO) and Geospatial Information (GI) data and tools to extract information on soil attributes rapidly, reliably and cost effectively. NEXUS approach for soil resources at large scales- across landscapes or regions- remains a challenge however, especially for stakeholders, and in regards to promoting the concept, disseminating the methodology, and discussing potential benefits at both local and transboundary river basin levels. The CEOS Data Cube is an excellent tool for collecting, processing and disseminating EO data, and providing `Analysis Ready Data' utilized both as a management tool for policy makers, and a tool boosting economic activity and supporting end-users. Thus, it helps supporting the tracking of, and reporting on, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and promoting targeted approaches to address specific SDG Indicators. Although several European projects in the Balkan transboundary river basin areas focus on existing/potential ties to specific SDG Indicators under the leadership of i-BEC, data are lacking for some regions, and there is an exigent need for country/region - specific case studies. A case study in Albania, the 3rd for CEOS and the 1st for Europe, will seek to build synergies between different sectors and activities (water, energy, food) and natural resources, while also accounting for ecosystem climate- regulating functions. This will contribute to the global expansion of the Data Cube initiative, while adding high quality datasets in GEOSS. Engagement of EO ecosystem stakeholders, together with National Statistical Offices, regionally and globally, should exploit the networking capacities of multipliers, maximizing the impact and reach of SSL. The H2020 project GEOCRADLE has

  12. Irrigation efficiency and water-policy implications for river-basin resilience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, C. A.; Vicuña, S.; Blanco-Gutiérrez, I.; Meza, F.; Varela-Ortega, C.

    2013-07-01

    Rising demand for food, fiber, and biofuels drives expanding irrigation withdrawals from surface- and groundwater. Irrigation efficiency and water savings have become watchwords in response to climate-induced hydrological variability, increasing freshwater demand for other uses including ecosystem water needs, and low economic productivity of irrigation compared to most other uses. We identify three classes of unintended consequences, presented here as paradoxes. Ever-tighter cycling of water has been shown to increase resource use, an example of the efficiency paradox. In the absence of effective policy to constrain irrigated-area expansion using "saved water", efficiency can aggravate scarcity, deteriorate resource quality, and impair river-basin resilience through loss of flexibility and redundancy. Water scarcity and salinity effects in the lower reaches of basins (symptomatic of the scale paradox) may partly be offset over the short-term through groundwater pumping or increasing surface water storage capacity. However, declining ecological flows and increasing salinity have important implications for riparian and estuarine ecosystems and for non-irrigation human uses of water including urban supply and energy generation, examples of the sectoral paradox. This paper briefly examines policy frameworks in three regional contexts with broadly similar climatic and water-resource conditions - central Chile, southwestern US, and south-central Spain - where irrigation efficiency directly influences basin resilience. The comparison leads to more generic insights on water policy in relation to irrigation efficiency and emerging or overdue needs for environmental protection.

  13. Nitrate Pollution and Preliminary Source Identification of Surface Water in a Semi-Arid River Basin, Using Isotopic and Hydrochemical Approaches

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ying Xue

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Nitrate contamination in rivers has raised widespread concern in the world, particularly in arid/semi-arid river basins lacking qualified water. Understanding the nitrate pollution levels and sources is critical to control the nitrogen input and promote a more sustainable water management in those basins. Water samples were collected from a typical semi-arid river basin, the Weihe River watershed, China, in October 2014. Hydrochemical assessment and nitrogen isotopic measurement were used to determine the level of nitrogen compounds and identify the sources of nitrate contamination. Approximately 32.4% of the water samples exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO drinking water standard for NO3−-N. Nitrate pollution in the main stream of the Weihe River was obviously much more serious than in the tributaries. The δ15N-NO3− of water samples ranged from +8.3‰ to +27.0‰. No significant effect of denitrification on the shift in nitrogen isotopic values in surface water was observed by high dissolved oxygen (DO values and linear relationship diagram between NO3−-N and δ15N-NO3−, except in the Weihe River in Huayin County and Shitou River. Analyses of hydrochemistry and isotopic compositions indicate that domestic sewage and agricultural activities are the main sources of nitrate in the river.

  14. Hydrogeologic framework and groundwater/surface-water interactions of the upper Yakima River Basin, Kittitas County, central Washington

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gendaszek, Andrew S.; Ely, D. Matthew; Hinkle, Stephen R.; Kahle, Sue C.; Welch, Wendy B.

    2014-01-01

    The hydrogeology, hydrology, and geochemistry of groundwater and surface water in the upper (western) 860 square miles of the Yakima River Basin in Kittitas County, Washington, were studied to evaluate the groundwater-flow system, occurrence and availability of groundwater, and the extent of groundwater/surface-water interactions. The study area ranged in altitude from 7,960 feet in its headwaters in the Cascade Range to 1,730 feet at the confluence of the Yakima River with Swauk Creek. A west-to-east precipitation gradient exists in the basin with the western, high-altitude headwaters of the basin receiving more than 100 inches of precipitation per year and the eastern, low-altitude part of the basin receiving about 20 inches of precipitation per year. From the early 20th century onward, reservoirs in the upper part of the basin (for example, Keechelus, Kachess, and Cle Elum Lakes) have been managed to store snowmelt for irrigation in the greater Yakima River Basin. Canals transport water from these reservoirs for irrigation in the study area; additional water use is met through groundwater withdrawals from wells and surface-water withdrawals from streams and rivers. Estimated groundwater use for domestic, commercial, and irrigation purposes is reported for the study area. A complex assemblage of sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous bedrock underlies the study area. In a structural basin in the southeastern part of the study area, the bedrock is overlain by unconsolidated sediments of glacial and alluvial origin. Rocks and sediments were grouped into six hydrogeologic units based on their lithologic and hydraulic characteristics. A map of their extent was developed from previous geologic mapping and lithostratigraphic information from drillers’ logs. Water flows through interstitial space in unconsolidated sediments, but largely flows through fractures and other sources of secondary porosity in bedrock. Generalized groundwater-flow directions within the

  15. Simulation of the Regional Ground-Water-Flow System and Ground-Water/Surface-Water Interaction in the Rock River Basin, Wisconsin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Juckem, Paul F.

    2009-01-01

    A regional, two-dimensional, areal ground-water-flow model was developed to simulate the ground-water-flow system and ground-water/surface-water interaction in the Rock River Basin. The model was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Rock River Coalition. The objectives of the regional model were to improve understanding of the ground-water-flow system and to develop a tool suitable for evaluating the effects of potential regional water-management programs. The computer code GFLOW was used because of the ease with which the model can simulate ground-water/surface-water interactions, provide a framework for simulating regional ground-water-flow systems, and be refined in a stepwise fashion to incorporate new data and simulate ground-water-flow patterns at multiple scales. The ground-water-flow model described in this report simulates the major hydrogeologic features of the modeled area, including bedrock and surficial aquifers, ground-water/surface-water interactions, and ground-water withdrawals from high-capacity wells. The steady-state model treats the ground-water-flow system as a single layer with hydraulic conductivity and base elevation zones that reflect the distribution of lithologic groups above the Precambrian bedrock and a regionally significant confining unit, the Maquoketa Formation. In the eastern part of the Basin where the shale-rich Maquoketa Formation is present, deep ground-water flow in the sandstone aquifer below the Maquoketa Formation was not simulated directly, but flow into this aquifer was incorporated into the GFLOW model from previous work in southeastern Wisconsin. Recharge was constrained primarily by stream base-flow estimates and was applied uniformly within zones guided by regional infiltration estimates for soils. The model includes average ground-water withdrawals from 1997 to 2006 for municipal wells and from 1997 to 2005 for high-capacity irrigation, industrial, and commercial wells. In addition

  16. Using Stochastic Dynamic Programming to Support Water Resources Management in the Ziya River Basin, China

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Davidsen, Claus; Cardenal, Silvio Javier Pereira; Liu, Suxia

    2015-01-01

    of stochastic dynamic programming, to optimize water resources management in the Ziya River basin. Natural runoff from the upper basin was estimated with a rainfall-runoff model autocalibrated using in situ measured discharge. The runoff serial correlation was described by a Markov chain and used as input...

  17. SWOT data assimilation for operational reservoir management on the upper Niger River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Munier, S.; Polebistki, A.; Brown, C.; Belaud, G.; Lettenmaier, D. P.

    2015-01-01

    The future Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite mission will provide two-dimensional maps of water elevation for rivers with width greater than 100 m globally. We describe a modeling framework and an automatic control algorithm that prescribe optimal releases from the Selingue dam in the Upper Niger River Basin, with the objective of understanding how SWOT data might be used to the benefit of operational water management. The modeling framework was used in a twin experiment to simulate the "true" system state and an ensemble of corrupted model states. Virtual SWOT observations of reservoir and river levels were assimilated into the model with a repeat cycle of 21 days. The updated state was used to initialize a Model Predictive Control (MPC) algorithm that computed the optimal reservoir release that meets a minimum flow requirement 300 km downstream of the dam. The data assimilation results indicate that the model updates had a positive effect on estimates of both water level and discharge. The "persistence," which describes the duration of the assimilation effect, was clearly improved (greater than 21 days) by integrating a smoother into the assimilation procedure. We compared performances of the MPC with SWOT data assimilation to an open-loop MPC simulation. Results show that the data assimilation resulted in substantial improvements in the performances of the Selingue dam management with a greater ability to meet environmental requirements (the number of days the target is missed falls to zero) and a minimum volume of water released from the dam.

  18. Evaluation of water quality at the source of streams of the Sinos River Basin, southern Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T Benvenuti

    Full Text Available The Sinos River Basin (SRB is located in the northeastern region of the state of Rio Grande do Sul (29º20' to 30º10'S and 50º15' to 51º20'W, southern Brazil, and covers two geomorphologic provinces: the southern plateau and the central depression. It is part of the Guaíba basin, has an area of approximately 800 km2 and contains 32 counties. The basin provides drinking water for 1.6 million inhabitants in one of the most important industrial centres in Brazil. This study describes different water quality indices (WQI used for the sub-basins of three important streams in the SRB: Pampa, Estância Velha/Portão and Schmidt streams. Physical, chemical and microbiological parameters assessed bimonthly using samples collected at each stream source were used to calculate the Horton Index (HI, the Dinius Index (DI and the water quality index adopted by the US National Sanitation Foundation (NSF WQI in the additive and multiplicative forms. These indices describe mean water quality levels at the streams sources. The results obtained for these 3 indexes showed a worrying scenario in which water quality has already been negatively affected at the sites where three important sub-basins in the Sinos River Basin begin to form.

  19. Comprehensive Characterization of Droughts to Assess the Effectiveness of a Basin-Wide Integrated Water Management in the Yakima River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demissie, Y.; Mortuza, M. R.; Li, H. Y.

    2017-12-01

    Better characterization and understanding of droughts and their potential links to climate and hydrologic factors are essential for water resources planning and management in drought-sensitive but agriculturally productive regions like the Yakima River Basin (YKB) in Washington State. The basin is semi-arid and heavily relies on a fully appropriated irrigation water for fruit and crop productions that worth more than 3 billion annually. The basin experienced three major droughts since 2000 with estimated 670 million losses in farm revenue. In response to these and expected worsening drought conditions in the future, there is an ongoing multi-agency effort to adopt a basin-wide integrated water management to ensure water security during severe droughts. In this study, the effectiveness of the proposed water management plan to reduce the frequency and severity of droughts was assessed using a new drought index developed based on the seasonal variations of precipitation, temperature, snow accumulation, streamflow, and reservoir storages. In order to uncover the underlying causes of the various types of droughts observed during the 1961-2016, explanatory data analysis using deep learning was conducted for the local climate and hydrologic data including total water supply available, as well as global climatic phenomenon (El Niño/Southern Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation and North Atlantic Oscillation). The preliminary results showed that besides shortage in annual precipitation, various combinations of climate and hydrologic factors are responsible for the different drought conditions in the basin. Particularly, the winter snowpack, which provides about 2/3 of the surface water in the basin along with the carryover storage from the reservoirs play an important role during both single- and multiple-year drought events. Besides providing the much-needed insights about characteristics of droughts and their contributing factors, the outcome of the study is expected

  20. Harmonic analyses of stream temperatures in the Upper Colorado River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steele, T.D.

    1985-01-01

    Harmonic analyses were made for available daily water-temperature records for 36 measurement sites on major streams in the Upper Colorado River Basin and for 14 measurement sites on streams in the Piceance structural basin. Generally (88 percent of the station years analyzed), more than 80 percent of the annual variability of temperatures of streams in the Upper Colorado River Basin was explained by the simple-harmonic function. Significant trends were determined for 6 of the 26 site records having 8 years or more record. In most cases, these trends resulted from construction and operation of upstream surface-water impoundments occurring during the period of record. Regional analysis of water-temperature characteristics at the 14 streamflow sites in the Piceance structural basin indicated similarities in water-temperature characteristics for a small range of measurement-site elevations. Evaluation of information content of the daily records indicated that less-than-daily measurement intervals should be considered, resulting in substantial savings in measurement and data-processing costs. (USGS)

  1. River habitat assessment for ecological restoration of Wei River Basin, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Tao; Wang, Shuo; Li, Xiaoping; Wu, Ting; Li, Li; Chen, Jia

    2018-04-11

    As an important composition component of river ecosystems, river habitats must undergo quality assessment to potentially provide scientific basis for river ecological restoration. Substrate composition, habitat complexity, bank erosion degree, river meandering degree, human activity intensity, vegetation buffer width, water quality, and water condition were determined as indicators for river habitat assessment. The comprehensive habitat quality index (CHQI) was established for the Wei River Basin. In addition, the indicator values were determined on the basis of a field investigation at 12 national hydrological stations distributed across the Wei, Jing, and Beiluo Rivers. The analytic hierarchy process was used to determine the indicator weights and thus distinguish the relative importance of the assessment indicator system. Results indicated that the average CHQIs for the Wei, Jing, and Beiluo Rivers were 0.417, 0.508, and 0.304, respectively. The river habitat quality for the three rivers was well. As for the whole river basin, the river habitat quality for 25% of the cross section was very well, the other 25% was well, and the 50% remaining was in critical state. The river habitat quality of the Jing River was better than that of the Wei and Beiluo Rivers.

  2. Integrated water resources management : A case study in the Hehei river basin, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jia, Siqi; Deng, Xiangzheng

    2017-04-01

    The lack of water resources experienced in different parts of the world has now been recognized and analyzed by different international organizations such as WHO, the World Bank, etc. Add to this the growing urbanization and the fast socio-economic development, the water supply of many urban areas is already or will be severely threatened. Recently published documents from the UN Environmental Program confirms that severe water shortage affects 400 million people today and will affect 4 billion people by 2050. Water nowadays is getting scarce, and access to clean drinking water and water for agricultural usage is unequally distributed. The biggest opportunity and challenge for future water management is how to achieve water sustainability to reduce water consumption. Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is a process which promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources in order to maximize economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems. We take the Heibe river basin where agriculture water there accounted for 90% of total water consumption as an example to study the impacts of IWRM on regional water resources. We calculated the elasticity of substitution values between labor and land, water by each irrigation areas to find the variable elastic value among irrigation areas, and the water-use efficiency based on NPP estimation with the C-fix model and WUE estimation with NPP and ET. The empirical analysis indicated that the moderate scale of farmland is 0.27-0.53hm2 under the condition of technical efficiency of irrigation water and production. Agricultural water use accounted for 94% of the social and economic water consumption in 2012, but water efficiency and water productivity were both at a low stage. In conclusion, land use forms at present in Heihe river basin have a detrimental impact on the availability of ecological water use. promoting water

  3. Modeling Surface Water Dynamics in the Amazon Basin Using Mosart-Inundation-v1.0: Impacts of Geomorphological Parameters and River Flow Representation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Xiangyu; Li, Hong-Yi; Leung, Ruby; Tesfa, Teklu K.; Getirana, Augusto; Papa, Fabrice; Hess, Laura L.

    2017-01-01

    Surface water dynamics play an important role in water, energy and carbon cycles of the Amazon Basin. A macro-scale inundation scheme was integrated with a surface-water transport model and the extended model was applied in this vast basin. We addressed the challenges of improving basin-wide geomorphological parameters and river flow representation for 15 large-scale applications. Vegetation-caused biases embedded in the HydroSHEDS DEM data were alleviated by using a vegetation height map of about 1-km resolution and a land cover dataset of about 90-m resolution. The average elevation deduction from the DEM correction was about 13.2 m for the entire basin. Basin-wide empirical formulae for channel cross-sectional geometry were adjusted based on local information for the major portion of the basin, which could significantly reduce the cross-sectional area for the channels of some subregions. The Manning roughness coefficient of the channel 20 varied with the channel depth to reflect the general rule that the relative importance of riverbed resistance in river flow declined with the increase of river size. The entire basin was discretized into 5395 subbasins (with an average area of 1091.7 km2), which were used as computation units. The model was driven by runoff estimates of 14 years (1994 2007) generated by the ISBA land surface model. The simulated results were evaluated against in situ streamflow records, and remotely sensed Envisat altimetry data and GIEMS inundation data. The hydrographs were reproduced fairly well for the majority of 25 13 major stream gauges. For the 11 subbasins containing or close to 11 of the 13 gauges, the timing of river stage fluctuations was captured; for most of the 11 subbasins, the magnitude of river stage fluctuations was represented well. The inundation estimates were comparable to the GIEMS observations. Sensitivity analyses demonstrated that refining floodplain topography, channel morphology and Manning roughness coefficients

  4. Real-time remote sensing driven river basin modeling using radar altimetry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. J. Pereira-Cardenal

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Many river basins have a weak in-situ hydrometeorological monitoring infrastructure. However, water resources practitioners depend on reliable hydrological models for management purposes. Remote sensing (RS data have been recognized as an alternative to in-situ hydrometeorological data in remote and poorly monitored areas and are increasingly used to force, calibrate, and update hydrological models.

    In this study, we evaluate the potential of informing a river basin model with real-time radar altimetry measurements over reservoirs. We present a lumped, conceptual, river basin water balance modeling approach based entirely on RS and reanalysis data: precipitation was obtained from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA, temperature from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast's (ECMWF Operational Surface Analysis dataset and reference evapotranspiration was derived from temperature data. The Ensemble Kalman Filter was used to assimilate radar altimetry (ERS2 and Envisat measurements of reservoir water levels. The modeling approach was applied to the Syr Darya River Basin, a snowmelt-dominated basin with large topographical variability, several large reservoirs and scarce hydrometeorological data that is located in Central Asia and shared between 4 countries with conflicting water management interests.

    The modeling approach was tested over a historical period for which in-situ reservoir water levels were available. Assimilation of radar altimetry data significantly improved the performance of the hydrological model. Without assimilation of radar altimetry data, model performance was limited, probably because of the size and complexity of the model domain, simplifications inherent in model design, and the uncertainty of RS and reanalysis data. Altimetry data assimilation reduced the mean absolute error of the simulated reservoir water levels from 4.7 to 1.9 m, and

  5. Simulation of Regional Ground-Water Flow in the Suwannee River Basin, Northern Florida and Southern Georgia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Planert, Michael

    2007-01-01

    The Suwannee River Basin covers a total of nearly 9,950 square miles in north-central Florida and southern Georgia. In Florida, the Suwannee River Basin accounts for 4,250 square miles of north-central Florida. Evaluating the impacts of increased development in the Suwannee River Basin requires a quantitative understanding of the boundary conditions, hydrogeologic framework and hydraulic properties of the Floridan aquifer system, and the dynamics of water exchanges between the Suwannee River and its tributaries and the Floridan aquifer system. Major rivers within the Suwannee River Basin are the Suwannee, Santa Fe, Alapaha, and Withlacoochee. Four rivers west of the Suwannee River are the Aucilla, the Econfina, the Fenholloway, and the Steinhatchee; all drain to the Gulf of Mexico. Perhaps the most notable aspect of the surface-water hydrology of the study area is that large areas east of the Suwannee River are devoid of channelized, surface drainage; consequently, most of the drainage occurs through the subsurface. The ground-water flow system underlying the study area plays a critical role in the overall hydrology of this region of Florida because of the dominance of subsurface drain-age, and because ground-water flow sustains the flow of the rivers and springs. Three principal hydrogeologic units are present in the study area: the surficial aquifer system, the intermediate aquifer system, and the Floridan aquifer system. The surficial aquifer system principally consists of unconsoli-dated to poorly indurated siliciclastic deposits. The intermediate aquifer system, which contains the intermediate confining unit, lies below the surficial aquifer system (where present), and generally consists of fine-grained, uncon-solidated deposits of quartz sand, silt, and clay with interbedded limestone of Miocene age. Regionally, the intermediate aquifer system and intermediate con-fining unit act as a confining unit that restricts the exchange of water between the over

  6. Geospatial data for coal beds in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming and Montana

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kinney, Scott A.; Scott, David C.; Osmonson, Lee M.; Luppens, James A.

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this report is to provide geospatial data for various layers and themes in a Geographic Information System (GIS) format for the Powder River Basin, Wyoming and Montana. In 2015, as part of the U.S. Coal Resources and Reserves Assessment Project, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed an assessment of coal resources and reserves within the Powder River Basin, Wyoming and Montana. This report is supplemental to USGS Professional Paper 1809 and contains GIS data that can be used to view digital layers or themes, including the Tertiary limit of the Powder River Basin boundary, locations of drill holes, clinker, mined coal, land use and technical restrictions, geology, mineral estate ownership, coal thickness, depth to the top of the coal bed (overburden), and coal reliability categories. Larger scale maps may be viewed using the GIS data provided in this report supplemental to the page-size maps provided in USGS Professional Paper 1809. Additionally, these GIS data can be exported to other digital applications as needed by the user. The database used for this report contains a total of 29,928 drill holes, of which 21,393 are in the public domain. The public domain database is linked to the geodatabase in this report so that the user can access the drill-hole data through GIS applications. Results of this report are available at the USGS Energy Resources Program Web site,http://energy.usgs.gov/RegionalStudies/PowderRiverBasin.aspx.

  7. Water data to answer urgent water policy questions: Monitoring design, available data, and filling data gaps for determining whether shale gas development activities contaminate surface water or groundwater in the Susquehanna River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Betanzo, Elin A.; Hagen, Erik R.; Wilson, John T.; Reckhow, Kenneth H.; Hayes, Laura; Argue, Denise M.; Cangelosi, Allegra A.

    2016-01-01

    Throughout its history, the United States has made major investments in assessing natural resources, such as soils, timber, oil and gas, and water. These investments allow policy makers, the private sector and the American public to make informed decisions about cultivating, harvesting or conserving these resources to maximize their value for public welfare, environmental conservation and the economy. As policy issues evolve, new priorities and challenges arise for natural resource assessment, and new approaches to monitoring are needed. For example, new technologies for oil and gas development or alternative energy sources may present new risks for water resources both above and below ground. There is a need to evaluate whether today’s water monitoring programs are generating the information needed to answer questions surrounding these new policy priorities. The Northeast-Midwest Institute (NEMWI), in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program, initiated this project to explore the types and amounts of water data needed to address water-quality related policy questions of critical concern to today’s policy makers and whether those data are currently available. The collaborating entities identified two urgent water policy questions and conducted case studies in the Northeast-Midwest region to determine the water data needed, water data available, and the best ways to fill the data gaps relative to those questions. This report details the output from one case study and focuses on the Susquehanna River Basin, a data-rich area expected to be a best-case scenario in terms of water data availability.

  8. Comparative study of carbonic anhydrase activity in waters among different geological eco-environments of Yangtze River basin and its ecological significance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nzung'a, Sila Onesmus; Pan, Weizhi; Shen, Taiming; Li, Wei; Qin, Xiaoqun; Wang, Chenwei; Zhang, Liankai; Yu, Longjiang

    2018-04-01

    This study provides the presence of carbonic anhydrase (CA) activity in waters of the Yangtze River basin, China, as well as the correlation of CA activity with HCO 3 - concentration and CO 2 sink flux. Different degrees of CA activity could be detected in almost all of the water samples from different geological eco-environments in all four seasons. The CA activity of water samples from karst areas was significantly higher than from non-karst areas (PP3 - concentration (r=0.672, P2 sink flux (r=0.602, P=0.076) in karst areas. This suggests that CA in waters might have a promoting effect on carbon sinks for atmospheric CO 2 in karst river basins. In conditions of similar geological type, higher CA activity was generally detected in water samples taken from areas that exhibited better eco-environments, implying that the CA activity index of waters could be used as an indicator for monitoring ecological environments and protection of river basins. These findings suggest that the role of CA in waters in the karst carbon sink potential of river basins is worthy of further in-depth studies. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  9. Implementing Integrated River Basin Management in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dorri G. J. te Boekhorst

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the role of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature China as policy entrepreneur in China. It illustrates the ways in which the World Wildlife Fund for Nature is active in promoting integrated river basin management in the Yangtze River basin and how the efforts at basin level are matched with the advice of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development task force on integrated river basin management to the national government of China. This article demonstrates that the World Wildlife Fund for Nature uses various strategies of different types to support a transition process towards integrated river basin management. Successful deployment of these strategies for change in environmental policy requires special skills, actions, and attitudes on the part of the policy entrepreneur, especially in China, where the government has a dominant role regarding water management and the position of policy entrepeneurs is delicate.

  10. Water and sediment transport modeling of a large temporary river basin in Greece.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gamvroudis, C; Nikolaidis, N P; Tzoraki, O; Papadoulakis, V; Karalemas, N

    2015-03-01

    The objective of this research was to study the spatial distribution of runoff and sediment transport in a large Mediterranean watershed (Evrotas River Basin) consisting of temporary flow tributaries and high mountain areas and springs by focusing on the collection and use of a variety of data to constrain the model parameters and characterize hydrologic and geophysical processes at various scales. Both monthly and daily discharge data (2004-2011) and monthly sediment concentration data (2010-2011) from an extended monitoring network of 8 sites were used to calibrate and validate the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. In addition flow desiccation maps showing wet and dry aquatic states obtained during a dry year were used to calibrate the simulation of low flows. Annual measurements of sediment accumulation in two reaches were used to further calibrate the sediment simulation. Model simulation of hydrology and sediment transport was in good agreement with field observations as indicated by a variety of statistical measures used to evaluate the goodness of fit. A water balance was constructed using a 12 year long (2000-2011) simulation. The average precipitation of the basin for this period was estimated to be 903 mm yr(-1). The actual evapotranspiration was 46.9% (424 mm yr(-1)), and the total water yield was 13.4% (121 mm yr(-1)). The remaining 33.4% (302 mm yr(-1)) was the amount of water that was lost through the deep groundwater of Taygetos and Parnonas Mountains to areas outside the watershed and for drinking water demands (6.3%). The results suggest that the catchment has on average significant water surplus to cover drinking water and irrigation demands. However, the situation is different during the dry years, where the majority of the reaches (85% of the river network are perennial and temporary) completely dry up as a result of the limited rainfall and the substantial water abstraction for irrigation purposes. There is a large variability in the

  11. Combining Expert and Stakeholder Knowledge to Define Water Management Priorities in the Mékrou River Basin

    OpenAIRE

    Adandedji, Firmin M.; Afouda, Abel; Agbossou, Euloge Kossi; Carmona Moreno, Cesar; Mama, Daouda; Markantonis, Vasileios; N’Tcha M’Po, Yèkambèssoun; Reynaud, Arnaud; Sambienou, Gédéon Wèré

    2015-01-01

    Participatory approaches to water management, and specifically to transboundary river management, have been widely applied over recent decades. Regarding transboundary rivers, the active involvement of key actors in policy planning is of great importance. In this context, a participatory approach has been used to identify sectors of interest and priorities related to water and development in the Mékrou transboundary River Basin involving three countries: Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger. We cond...

  12. Water Availability in the Tigris-Euphrates River Basin and the Middle East from GRACE

    Science.gov (United States)

    Voss, K.; Famiglietti, J. S.; Lo, M.; de Linage, C.; Swenson, S. C.; Rodell, M.

    2010-12-01

    As water security becomes more tenuous, conflicts and disputes over the appropriate management and allocation of transboundary water resources are sure to arise. In particular, the Middle East faces extreme scarcity as a result of both natural climate variations and the impacts of water management decisions and policies. A recent drought, which began in 2007, caused regional hardships as precious water resources dwindled and collaboration between nations failed to accommodate shared needs. In this work, the area surrounding the Tigris and Euphrates River Basin was selected as a case study to evaluate trends in fresh water availability. Because few complete datasets exist for precipitation, streamflow, evapotranspiration, groundwater or surface water in the area, remote sensing techniques, including GRACE and altimetry, as well as land-surface models were utilized to develop an understanding of the regional hydrology. These observations and model results were used to estimate trends in total water storage and its individual components - soil moisture, snow water equivalent, surface water and groundwater. GRACE data show a clear decrease in total water storage in the Middle East from January 2003 to December 2009, and indicate that the selected region experienced a total volume loss of 143 km3 of water. Supporting datasets suggest that approximately two-thirds of this was a loss of groundwater. These results highlight the impacts of drought conditions on groundwater consumption and of agricultural expansion on available water resources in the region. Furthermore, they raise important political issues regarding water use in transboundary river basins and aquifers, while amplifying the need for increased monitoring and datasets for the core components of the water budget.

  13. Partitioning of the water budget in the main river basins in High Mountain Asia with GRACE, model output, and other observations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Velicogna, I.; Ciraci, E.; Grogan, D. S.; Lammers, R. B.

    2017-12-01

    Access to freshwater is important as world populations grow, especially in High Mountain Asia, where glaciers are a significant component of the freshwater resources, particularly in summer. Glaciers are sensitive to climate perturbations and affected by climate change. Our understanding of the contribution of glacier runoff to specific watersheds, and projections of glacier runoff in a warming climate, are critical to inform decisions, management and policy development. Here, we quantify changes in glacier mass balance in HMA using GRACE data and determine their contribution to river basin hydrology. We use GRACE data to estimate the HMA glacier mass mas balance and compare the results with changes in total water storage (TWS) for the major watersheds in the HMA regions. We designed ad-hoc mascon configurations to calculate the upstream glacier change in mass balance and contribution to major river basins water supply, determined appropriate corrections and uncertainties for the signal and evaluated the results via comparison with the Water Balance Model (WBM) output and other data (re-analysis data and satellite-derived precipitation and evapotranspiration). Most of the glacier loss is from the Himalaya region (Himalaya, Hengduan Shan S and E Tibet), whereas the western sectors (E and W Tien Shan; and Hindu Kush, Karakoram, W Kunlun, Pamir, Hissar Alay) experienced smaller losses but with larger interannual variability driven by changes in the westerly-driven winter precipitation. For the Indus basin, to evaluate the glacier contribution to the total water budget, we examine the contribution of the upper basin to the lower basin TWS change. Over the Upper Indus basin, we find that the seasonal decline in total water storage between May and September averages 88 Gt during 2002-2012. TRMM cumulative precipitation amounts to 119 Gt, leaving a runoff and evapotranspiration component of 207 Gt. This estimate compares well with an estimate for the WBM modeled runoff of

  14. Integrated Water Resource Management and Energy Requirements for Water Supply in the Copiapó River Basin, Chile

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco Suárez

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Population and industry growth in dry climates are fully tied to significant increase in water and energy demands. Because water affects many economic, social and environmental aspects, an interdisciplinary approach is needed to solve current and future water scarcity problems, and to minimize energy requirements in water production. Such a task requires integrated water modeling tools able to couple surface water and groundwater, which allow for managing complex basins where multiple stakeholders and water users face an intense competition for limited freshwater resources. This work develops an integrated water resource management model to investigate the water-energy nexus in reducing water stress in the Copiapó River basin, an arid, highly vulnerable basin in northern Chile. The model was utilized to characterize groundwater and surface water resources, and water demand and uses. Different management scenarios were evaluated to estimate future resource availability, and compared in terms of energy requirements and costs for desalinating seawater to eliminate the corresponding water deficit. Results show a basin facing a very complex future unless measures are adopted. When a 30% uniform reduction of water consumption is achieved, 70 GWh over the next 30 years are required to provide the energy needed to increase the available water through seawater desalination. In arid basins, this energy could be supplied by solar energy, thus addressing water shortage problems through integrated water resource management combined with new technologies of water production driven by renewable energy sources.

  15. Integrated Assessment Of Groundwater Recharge In The North Kelantan River Basin Using Environmental Water Stable Isotopes, Tritium And Chloride Data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wan Zakaria Wan Muhamad Tahir; Nur Hayati Hussin; Ismail Yusof; Kamaruzaman Mamat; Johari Abdul Latif; Rohaimah Demanah

    2014-01-01

    Estimation and understanding of groundwater recharge mechanism and capacity of aquifer are essential issues in water resources investigation. An integrated study of environmental chloride content in the unsaturated zone using chloride mass balance method (CMB) and isotopic analyses of deuterium, oxygen-18, and tritium values range in the alluvial channel aquifer profiles (quaternary sediments) of the North Kelantan River basin has been carried out in order to estimate and understand groundwater recharge processes. However, the rate of aquifer recharge is one of the most difficult factors to measure in the evaluation of ground water resources. Estimation of recharge, by whatever method, is normally subject to large uncertainties and errors. In this paper, changes in stable isotopic signatures in different seasons and tritium analysis of the sampled groundwater observed at different depth in the aquifer system were evaluated. Stable isotope data are slightly below the local meteoric water line (LMWL) indicating that there is some isotopic enrichment due to direct evaporation through the soil surface which is exposed prior or during the recharging process. The overall data on water isotopic signatures from boreholes and production wells (shallow and relatively deep aquifer system) are spread over a fairly small range but somewhat distinct compared to river water isotopic compositions. Such a narrow variation in isotopic signatures of the sampled groundwaters may suggest that all groundwater samples originated from the same area of direct recharge predominantly from rainfall and nearby rivers. Environmental tritium data measured in groundwater at different depths and locations together with a medium-term of limited monthly rainfall collections were used to investigate the groundwater age distributions (residence times). The existence of groundwater in the aquifer system (sampled wells) is predominantly designated as modern (young) water that has undergone recharged

  16. Land Use/Cover Change in the Middle Reaches of the Heihe River Basin over 2000-2011 and Its Implications for Sustainable Water Resource Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Xiaoli; Lu, Ling; Li, Xin; Wang, Jianhua; Guo, Ming

    2015-01-01

    The Heihe River Basin (HRB) is a typical arid inland river basin in northwestern China. From the 1960s to the 1990s, the downstream flow in the HRB declined as a result of large, artificial changes in the distribution of water and land and a lack of effective water resource management. Consequently, the ecosystems of the lower reaches of the basin substantially deteriorated. To restore these degraded ecosystems, the Ecological Water Diversion Project (EWDP) was initiated by the Chinese government in 2000. The project led to agricultural and ecological changes in the middle reaches of the basin. In this study, we present three datasets of land use/cover in the middle reaches of the HRB derived from Landsat TM/ETM+ images in 2000, 2007 and 2011. We used these data to investigate changes in land use/cover between 2000 and 2011 and the implications for sustainable water resource management. The results show that the most significant land use/cover change in the middle reaches of the HRB was the continuous expansion of farmland for economic interests. From 2000 to 2011, the farmland area increased by 12.01%. The farmland expansion increased the water resource stress; thus, groundwater was over-extracted and the ecosystem was degraded in particular areas. Both consequences are negative and potentially threaten the sustainability of the middle reaches of the HRB and the entire river basin. Local governments should therefore improve the management of water resources, particularly groundwater management, and should strictly control farmland reclamation. Then, water resources could be ecologically and socioeconomically sustained, and the balance between upstream and downstream water demands could be ensured. The results of this study can also serve as a reference for the sustainable management of water resources in other arid inland river basins. PMID:26115484

  17. Optimizing Irrigation Water Allocation under Multiple Sources of Uncertainty in an Arid River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Y.; Tang, D.; Gao, H.; Ding, Y.

    2015-12-01

    Population growth and climate change add additional pressures affecting water resources management strategies for meeting demands from different economic sectors. It is especially challenging in arid regions where fresh water is limited. For instance, in the Tailanhe River Basin (Xinjiang, China), a compromise must be made between water suppliers and users during drought years. This study presents a multi-objective irrigation water allocation model to cope with water scarcity in arid river basins. To deal with the uncertainties from multiple sources in the water allocation system (e.g., variations of available water amount, crop yield, crop prices, and water price), the model employs a interval linear programming approach. The multi-objective optimization model developed from this study is characterized by integrating eco-system service theory into water-saving measures. For evaluation purposes, the model is used to construct an optimal allocation system for irrigation areas fed by the Tailan River (Xinjiang Province, China). The objective functions to be optimized are formulated based on these irrigation areas' economic, social, and ecological benefits. The optimal irrigation water allocation plans are made under different hydroclimate conditions (wet year, normal year, and dry year), with multiple sources of uncertainty represented. The modeling tool and results are valuable for advising decision making by the local water authority—and the agricultural community—especially on measures for coping with water scarcity (by incorporating uncertain factors associated with crop production planning).

  18. Urban influence on the water quality of the Uberaba River basin: an ecotoxicological assessment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Luisa Curado

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Ecotoxicological tests applied to Tradescantia pallida, Allium cepa and Lactuca sativa were used to assess the quality of the Uberaba River basin under urban area influence. Water samples were collected at eight different points during the dry season. The samples were assessed using the following toxicity indicators: micronuclei percentage in T. pallida pollen grains (TRAD-MN, seed germination, root growth, mitotic index (MI and micronuclei in A. cepa root-cells, and seed germination and root growth in L. sativa. Water physicochemical parameters such as temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO, pH and electric conductivity were assessed in situ. The three plant species were efficient bio-indicators, since they presented good cost-benefit and fast and easily interpreted results, thus completing the physicochemical parameters. There was strong correlation between seed germination and root growth among the ecotoxicological parameters assessed in L. sativa and A. cepa. The micronuclei percentage in T. pallida and the MI in A. cepa presented strong correlation with water electric conductivity and moderate and negative correlation with DO. Water electric conductivity ranged from 75 to 438 µS.cm-1; and the DO concentrations ranged from 0.5 to 6.9 mg.L-1. The importance of pollution control measures in the Uberaba River basin stands out. From the supply-water capture point, the basin is strongly affected by pollution, mainly in the tributaries that cross the city. It presents a short, or almost absent, riparian forest line, residues on the river banks, and it is impacted by discharges of untreated sewage, among other anthropic actions.

  19. 33 CFR 207.10 - Charles River, Mass.; dam of Charles River Basin Commission.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Charles River, Mass.; dam of Charles River Basin Commission. 207.10 Section 207.10 Navigation and Navigable Waters CORPS OF ENGINEERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE NAVIGATION REGULATIONS § 207.10 Charles River, Mass.; dam of...

  20. Modeling Climate and Management Change Impacts on Water Quality and In-Stream Processes in the Elbe River Basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cornelia Hesse

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Eco-hydrological water quality modeling for integrated water resources management of river basins should include all necessary landscape and in-stream nutrient processes as well as possible changes in boundary conditions and driving forces for nutrient behavior in watersheds. The study aims to assess possible impacts of the changing climate (ENSEMBLES climate scenarios and/or land use conditions on resulting river water quantity and quality in the large-scale Elbe river basin by applying a semi-distributed watershed model of intermediate complexity (SWIM with implemented in-stream nutrient (N+P turnover and algal growth processes. The calibration and validation results revealed the ability of SWIM to satisfactorily simulate nutrient behavior at the watershed scale. Analysis of 19 climate scenarios for the whole Elbe river basin showed a projected increase in temperature (+3 °C and precipitation (+57 mm on average until the end of the century, causing diverse changes in river discharge (+20%, nutrient loads (NO3-N: −5%; NH4-N: −24%; PO4-P: +5%, phytoplankton biomass (−4% and dissolved oxygen concentration (−5% in the watershed. In addition, some changes in land use and nutrient management were tested in order to reduce nutrient emissions to the river network.

  1. Hydrogeologic framework and selected components of the groundwater budget for the upper Umatilla River Basin, Oregon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herrera, Nora B.; Ely, Kate; Mehta, Smita; Stonewall, Adam J.; Risley, John C.; Hinkle, Stephen R.; Conlon, Terrence D.

    2017-05-31

    Executive SummaryThis report presents a summary of the hydrogeology of the upper Umatilla River Basin, Oregon, based on characterization of the hydrogeologic framework, horizontal and vertical directions of groundwater flow, trends in groundwater levels, and components of the groundwater budget. The conceptual model of the groundwater flow system integrates available data and information on the groundwater resources of the upper Umatilla River Basin and provides insights regarding key hydrologic processes, such as the interaction between the groundwater and surface water systems and the hydrologic budget.The conceptual groundwater model developed for the study area divides the groundwater flow system into five hydrogeologic units: a sedimentary unit, three Columbia River basalt units, and a basement rock unit. The sedimentary unit, which is not widely used as a source of groundwater in the upper basin, is present primarily in the lowlands and consists of conglomerate, loess, silt and sand deposits, and recent alluvium. The Columbia River Basalt Group is a series of Miocene flood basalts that are present throughout the study area. The basalt is uplifted in the southeastern half of the study area, and either underlies the sedimentary unit, or is exposed at the surface. The interflow zones of the flood basalts are the primary aquifers in the study area. Beneath the flood basalts are basement rocks composed of Paleogene to Pre-Tertiary sedimentary, volcanic, igneous, and metamorphic rocks that are not used as a source of groundwater in the upper Umatilla River Basin.The major components of the groundwater budget in the upper Umatilla River Basin are (1) groundwater recharge, (2) groundwater discharge to surface water and wells, (3) subsurface flow into and out of the basin, and (4) changes in groundwater storage.Recharge from precipitation occurs primarily in the upland areas of the Blue Mountains. Mean annual recharge from infiltration of precipitation for the upper

  2. Beyond annual streamflow reconstructions for the Upper Colorado River Basin: a paleo-water-balance approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gangopadhyay, Subhrendu; McCabe, Gregory J.; Woodhouse, Connie A.

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, we present a methodology to use annual tree-ring chronologies and a monthly water balance model to generate annual reconstructions of water balance variables (e.g., potential evapotrans- piration (PET), actual evapotranspiration (AET), snow water equivalent (SWE), soil moisture storage (SMS), and runoff (R)). The method involves resampling monthly temperature and precipitation from the instrumental record directed by variability indicated by the paleoclimate record. The generated time series of monthly temperature and precipitation are subsequently used as inputs to a monthly water balance model. The methodology is applied to the Upper Colorado River Basin, and results indicate that the methodology reliably simulates water-year runoff, maximum snow water equivalent, and seasonal soil moisture storage for the instrumental period. As a final application, the methodology is used to produce time series of PET, AET, SWE, SMS, and R for the 1404–1905 period for the Upper Colorado River Basin.

  3. Contaminants of emerging concern in the lower Stillaguamish River Basin, Washington, 2008-11

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wagner, Richard J.; Moran, Patrick W.; Zaugg, Steven D.; Sevigny, Jennifer M.; Pope, Judy M.

    2014-01-01

    A series of discrete water-quality samples were collected in the lower Stillaguamish River Basin near the city of Arlington, Washington, through a partnership with the Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians. These samples included surface waters of the Stillaguamish River, adjacent tributary streams, and paired inflow and outflow sampling at three wastewater treatment plants in the lower river basin. Chemical analysis of these samples focused on chemicals of emerging concern, including wastewater compounds, human-health pharmaceuticals, steroidal hormones, and halogenated organic compounds on solids and sediment. This report presents the methods used and data results from the chemical analysis of these samples

  4. RUNOFF POTENTIAL OF MUREŞ RIVER UPPER BASIN TRIBUTARIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. SOROCOVSCHI

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Runoff Potential of Mureş River Upper Basin Tributaries. The upper basin of the Mureş River includes a significant area of the Eastern Carpathians central western part with different runoff formation conditions. In assessing the average annual runoff potential we used data from six gauging stations and made assessments on three distinct periods. Identifying the appropriate areas of the obtained correlations curves (between specific average runoff and catchments mean altitude allowed the assessment of potential runoff at catchment level and on geographical units. The potential average runoff is also assessed on altitude intervals of the mentioned areas. The runoff potential analysis on hydrographic basins, geographical units and altitude intervals highlights the variant spatial distribution of this general water resources indicator in the different studied areas.

  5. Geohydrology and potential effects of coal mining in 12 coal-lease areas, Powder River structural basin, northeastern Wyoming. Water Resources Investigation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fogg, J.L.; Martin, M.W.; Daddow, P.B.

    1991-01-01

    The purpose of the report is to describe the geohydrology of 12 coal-lease areas in the Powder River structural basin in relation to the mining proposed for each area. The description of the geohydrology of each of the lease areas focuses on the shallow ground-water system and includes identification of recharge and discharge areas, directions of ground-water movement, and potential effects of mining. The shallow ground-water system in the Powder River structural basin is not well defined because of the discontinuous nature of the aquifers in the basin. Understanding the ground-water hydrology of these 12 coal-lease areas will improve understanding of the shallow ground-water system in the basin. The first part of the report is a description of the general geohydrology of the Wyoming part of the Powder River structural basin. The second part of the report is a general discussion of the effects of coal mining on ground-water hydrology. The third part of the report contains site-specific discussions of the ground-water hydrology and potential effects of mining for each of the 12 coal-lease areas

  6. Development of river flood model in lower reach of urbanized river basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoshimura, Kouhei; Tajima, Yoshimitsu; Sanuki, Hiroshi; Shibuo, Yoshihiro; Sato, Shinji; Lee, SungAe; Furumai, Hiroaki; Koike, Toshio

    2014-05-01

    Japan, with its natural mountainous landscape, has demographic feature that population is concentrated in lower reach of elevation close to the coast, and therefore flood damage with large socio-economic value tends to occur in low-lying region. Modeling of river flood in such low-lying urbanized river basin is complex due to the following reasons. In upstream it has been experienced urbanization, which changed land covers from natural forest or agricultural fields to residential or industrial area. Hence rate of infiltration and runoff are quite different from natural hydrological settings. In downstream, paved covers and construct of sewerage system in urbanized areas affect direct discharges and it enhances higher and faster flood peak arrival. Also tidal effect from river mouth strongly affects water levels in rivers, which must be taken into account. We develop an integrated river flood model in lower reach of urbanized areas to be able to address above described complex feature, by integrating model components: LSM coupled distributed hydrological model that models anthropogenic influence on river discharges to downstream; urban hydrological model that simulates run off response in urbanized areas; Saint Venant's equation approximated river model that integrates upstream and urban hydrological models with considering tidal effect from downstream. These features are integrated in a common modeling framework so that model interaction can be directly performed. The model is applied to the Tsurumi river basin, urbanized low-lying river basin in Yokohama and model results show that it can simulate water levels in rivers with acceptable model errors. Furthermore the model is able to install miscellaneous water planning constructs, such as runoff reduction pond in urbanized area, flood control field along the river channel, levee, etc. This can be a useful tool to investigate cost performance of hypothetical water management plan against impact of climate change in

  7. Coupling Meteorological, Land Surface and Water Temperature Models in the Mississippi River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, C.; Cooter, E. J.

    2017-12-01

    Water temperature is a significant factor influencing of the stream ecosystem and water management especially under climate change. In this study, we demonstrate a physically based semi-Lagrangian water temperature model (RBM) coupled with the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrology model and Weather Research & Forecasting Model (WRF) in the Mississippi River Basin (MRB). The results of this coupling compare favorably with observed water temperature data at river gages throughout the MRB. Further sensitivity analysis shows that mean water temperatures increase by 1.3°C, 1.5°C, and 1.8°C in northern, central and southern MRB zones, respectively, under a hypothetical uniform air temperature increase of 3°C. If air temperatures increase uniformly by 6°C in this scenario, then water temperatures are projected to increase by 3.3°C, 3.5°C and 4.0°C. Lastly, downscaled air temperatures from a global climate model are used to drive the coupled VIC and RBM model from 2020 to 2099. Average stream temperatures from 2020 to 2099 increase by 1°C to 8°C above 1950 to 2010 average water temperatures, with non-uniform increases along the river. In some portions of the MRB, stream temperatures could increase above survival thresholds for several native fish species, which are critical components of the stream ecosystem. The increased water temperature accelerates harmful algal blooming which results in a larger dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

  8. Socio-Hydrology of Channel Flows in Complex River Basins: Rivers, Canals, and Distributaries in Punjab, Pakistan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wescoat, James L.; Siddiqi, Afreen; Muhammad, Abubakr

    2018-01-01

    This paper presents a socio-hydrologic analysis of channel flows in Punjab province of the Indus River basin in Pakistan. The Indus has undergone profound transformations, from large-scale canal irrigation in the mid-nineteenth century to partition and development of the international river basin in the mid-twentieth century, systems modeling in the late-twentieth century, and new technologies for discharge measurement and data analytics in the early twenty-first century. We address these processes through a socio-hydrologic framework that couples historical geographic and analytical methods at three levels of flow in the Punjab. The first level assesses Indus River inflows analysis from its origins in 1922 to the present. The second level shows how river inflows translate into 10-daily canal command deliveries that vary widely in their conformity with canal entitlements. The third level of analysis shows how new flow measurement technologies raise questions about the performance of established methods of water scheduling (warabandi) on local distributaries. We show how near real-time measurement sheds light on the efficiency and transparency of surface water management. These local socio-hydrologic changes have implications in turn for the larger scales of canal and river inflow management in complex river basins.

  9. Transport and Retention of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Carbon in North America’s Largest River Swamp Basin, the Atchafalaya River Basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Y. Jun Xu

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Floodplains and river corridor wetlands may be effectively managed for reducing nutrients and carbon. However, our understanding is limited to the reduction potential of these natural riverine systems. This study utilized the long-term (1978–2004 river discharge and water quality records from an upriver and a downriver location of the Atchafalaya River to quantify the inflow, outflow, and inflow–outflow mass balance of total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN = organic nitrogen + ammonia nitrogen, nitrate + nitrite nitrogen (NO3 + NO2, total phosphorous (TP, and total organic carbon (TOC through the largest river swamp basin in North America. The study found that, over the past 27 years, the Atchafalaya River Basin (ARB acted as a significant sink for TKN (annual retention: 24%, TP (41%, and TOC (12%, but a source for NO3 + NO2 nitrogen (6%. On an annual basis, ARB retained 48,500 t TKN, 16,900 t TP, and 167,100 t TOC from the river water. The retention rates were closely and positively related to the river discharge with highs during the winter and spring and lows in the late summer. The higher NO3 + NO2 mass outflow occurred throughout spring and summer, indicating an active role of biological processes on nitrogen as water and air temperatures in the basin rise.

  10. A data reconnaissance on the effect of suspended-sediment concentrations on dissolved-solids concentrations in rivers and tributaries in the Upper Colorado River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tillman, Fred D.; Anning, David W.

    2014-01-01

    The Colorado River is one of the most important sources of water in the western United States, supplying water to over 35 million people in the U.S. and 3 million people in Mexico. High dissolved-solids loading to the River and tributaries are derived primarily from geologic material deposited in inland seas in the mid-to-late Cretaceous Period, but this loading may be increased by human activities. High dissolved solids in the River causes substantial damages to users, primarily in reduced agricultural crop yields and corrosion. The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program was created to manage dissolved-solids loading to the River and has focused primarily on reducing irrigation-related loading from agricultural areas. This work presents a reconnaissance of existing data from sites in the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB) in order to highlight areas where suspended-sediment control measures may be useful in reducing dissolved-solids concentrations. Multiple linear regression was used on data from 164 sites in the UCRB to develop dissolved-solids models that include combinations of explanatory variables of suspended sediment, flow, and time. Results from the partial t-test, overall likelihood ratio, and partial likelihood ratio on the models were used to group the sites into categories of strong, moderate, weak, and no-evidence of a relation between suspended-sediment and dissolved-solids concentrations. Results show 68 sites have strong or moderate evidence of a relation, with drainage areas for many of these sites composed of a large percentage of clastic sedimentary rocks. These results could assist water managers in the region in directing field-scale evaluation of suspended-sediment control measures to reduce UCRB dissolved-solids loading.

  11. Detecting the long-term impacts from climate variability and increasing water consumption on runoff in the Krishna river basin (India

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. M. Bouwer

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Variations in climate, land-use and water consumption can have profound effects on river runoff. There is an increasing demand to study these factors at the regional to river basin-scale since these effects will particularly affect water resources management at this level. This paper presents a method that can help to differentiate between the effects of man-made hydrological developments and climate variability (including both natural variability and anthropogenic climate change at the basin scale. We show and explain the relation between climate, water consumption and changes in runoff for the Krishna river basin in central India. River runoff variability due to observed climate variability and increased water consumption for irrigation and hydropower is simulated for the last 100 years (1901–2000 using the STREAM water balance model. Annual runoff under climate variability is shown to vary only by about 14–34 millimetres (6–15%. It appears that reservoir construction after 1960 and increasing water consumption has caused a persistent decrease in annual river runoff of up to approximately 123 mm (61%. Variation in runoff under climate variability only would have decreased over the period under study, but we estimate that increasing water consumption has caused runoff variability that is three times higher.

  12. Susquehanna River Basin Hydrologic Observing System (SRBHOS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reed, P. M.; Duffy, C. J.; Dressler, K. A.

    2004-12-01

    In response to the NSF-CUAHSI initiative for a national network of Hydrologic Observatories, we propose to initiate the Susquehanna River Basin Hydrologic Observing System (SRBHOS), as the northeast node. The Susquehanna has a drainage area of 71, 410 km2. From the headwaters near Cooperstown, NY, the river is formed within the glaciated Appalachian Plateau physiographic province, crossing the Valley and Ridge, then the Piedmont, before finishing its' 444 mile journey in the Coastal Plain of the Chesapeake Bay. The Susquehanna is the major source of water and nutrients to the Chesapeake. It has a rich history in resource development (logging, mining, coal, agriculture, urban and heavy industry), with an unusual resilience to environmental degradation, which continues today. The shallow Susquehanna is one of the most flood-ravaged rivers in the US with a decadal regularity of major damage from hurricane floods and rain-on-snow events. As a result of this history, it has an enormous infrastructure for climate, surface water and groundwater monitoring already in place, including the nations only regional groundwater monitoring system for drought detection. Thirty-six research institutions have formed the SRBHOS partnership to collaborate on a basin-wide network design for a new scientific observing system. Researchers at the partner universities have conducted major NSF research projects within the basin, setting the stage and showing the need for a new terrestrial hydrologic observing system. The ultimate goal of SRBHOS is to close water, energy and solute budgets from the boundary layer to the water table, extending across plot, hillslope, watershed, and river basin scales. SRBHOS is organized around an existing network of testbeds (legacy watershed sites) run by the partner universities, and research institutions. The design of the observing system, when complete, will address fundamental science questions within major physiographic regions of the basin. A nested

  13. A stream temperature model for the Peace-Athabasca River basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morales-Marin, L. A.; Rokaya, P.; Wheater, H. S.; Lindenschmidt, K. E.

    2017-12-01

    Water temperature plays a fundamental role in water ecosystem functioning. Because it regulates flow energy and metabolic rates in organism productivity over a broad spectrum of space and time scales, water temperature constitutes an important indicator of aquatic ecosystems health. In cold region basins, stream water temperature modelling is also fundamental to predict ice freeze-up and break-up events in order to improve flood management. Multiple model approaches such as linear and multivariable regression methods, neural network and thermal energy budged models have been developed and implemented to simulate stream water temperature. Most of these models have been applied to specific stream reaches and trained using observed data, but very little has been done to simulate water temperature in large catchment river networks. We present the coupling of RBM model, a semi-Lagrangian water temperature model for advection-dominated river system, and MESH, a semi-distributed hydrological model, to simulate stream water temperature in river catchments. The coupled models are implemented in the Peace-Athabasca River basin in order to analyze the variation in stream temperature regimes under changing hydrological and meteorological conditions. Uncertainty of stream temperature simulations is also assessed in order to determine the degree of reliability of the estimates.

  14. Relationship of land use to water quality in the Chesapeake Bay region. [water sampling and photomapping river basins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Correll, D. L.

    1978-01-01

    Both the proportions of the various land use categories present on each watershed and the specific management practices in use in each category affect the quality of runoff waters, and the water quality of the Bay. Several permanent and portable stations on various Maryland Rivers collect volume-integrated water samples. All samples are analyzed for a series of nutrient, particulate, bacterial, herbicide, and heavy metal parameters. Each basin is mapped with respect to land use by the analysis of low-elevation aerial photos. Analyses are verified and adjusted by ground truth surveys. Data are processed and stored in the Smithsonian Institution data bank. Land use categories being investigated include forests/old fields, pastureland, row crops, residential areas, upland swamps, and tidal marshes.

  15. Preliminary results of water quality assessment using phytoplankton and physicochemical approaches in the Huai River Basin, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Hao; Zuo, Qi-Ting; Zhang, Yong-Yong

    2017-11-01

    Water pollution has been a significant issue in the Huai River Basin (HRB) of China since the late 1970s. In July and December 2013, two field investigations were carried out at 10 sites along the main streams of the basin. The monitoring indices contained both physicochemical variables and the structure and composition of phytoplankton communities. The correlations between communities and physicochemical variables were analyzed using cluster analysis and redundancy analysis. Moreover, water quality was evaluated using the comprehensive nutrition state index (TLI) and Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H). Results indicated that more phytoplankton species were present in December than in July, but total density was less in December. Phytoplankton communities in the midstream of the Shaying River were affected by the same physicochemical factors throughout the year, but ammonia nitrogen and total phosphorus had the greatest influence on these sites in July and December, respectively. The water pollution status of the sampling sites was much greater in the Shaying River midstream than at other sites. TLI was more suitable than H for assessing water quality in the study area. These results provide valuable information for policy makers and stakeholders in water quality assessment, water ecosystem restoration, and sustainable basin management in the HRB.

  16. Hydrology signal from GRACE gravity data in the Nelson River basin, Canada: a comparison of two approaches

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Tanghua; Wu, Patrick; Wang, Hansheng; Jia, Lulu; Steffen, Holger

    2018-03-01

    The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission measures the combined gravity signal of several overlapping processes. A common approach to separate the hydrological signal in previous ice-covered regions is to apply numerical models to simulate the glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) signals related to the vanished ice load and then remove them from the observed GRACE data. However, the results of this method are strongly affected by the uncertainties of the ice and viscosity models of GIA. To avoid this, Wang et al. (Nat Geosci 6(1):38-42, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO1652; Geodesy Geodyn 6(4):267-273, 2015) followed the theory of Wahr et al. (Geophys Res Lett 22(8):977-980, 1995) and isolated water storage changes from GRACE in North America and Scandinavia with the help of Global Positioning System (GPS) data. Lambert et al. (Postglacial rebound and total water storage variations in the Nelson River drainage basin: a gravity GPS Study, Geological Survey of Canada Open File, 7317, 2013a, Geophys Res Lett 40(23):6118-6122, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GL057973, 2013b) did a similar study for the Nelson River basin in North America but applying GPS and absolute gravity measurements. However, the results of the two studies in the Nelson River basin differ largely, especially for the magnitude of the hydrology signal which differs about 35%. Through detailed comparison and analysis of the input data, data post-processing techniques, methods and results of these two works, we find that the different GRACE data post-processing techniques may lead to this difference. Also the GRACE input has a larger effect on the hydrology signal amplitude than the GPS input in the Nelson River basin due to the relatively small uplift signal in this region. Meanwhile, the influence of the value of α , which represents the ratio between GIA-induced uplift rate and GIA-induced gravity-rate-of-change (before the correction for surface uplift), is more obvious in

  17. Development of a stream–aquifer numerical flow model to assess river water management under water scarcity in a Mediterranean basin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mas-Pla, Josep; Font, Eva; Astui, Oihane; Menció, Anna; Rodríguez-Florit, Agustí; Folch, Albert; Brusi, David; Pérez-Paricio, Alfredo

    2012-01-01

    Stream flow, as a part of a basin hydrological cycle, will be sensible to water scarcity as a result of climate change. Stream vulnerability should then be evaluated as a key component of the basin water budget. Numerical flow modeling has been applied to an alluvial formation in a small mountain basin to evaluate the stream–aquifer relationship under these future scenarios. The Arbúcies River basin (116 km 2 ) is located in the Catalan Inner Basins (NE Spain) and its lower reach, which is related to an alluvial aquifer, usually becomes dry during the summer period. This study seeks to determine the origin of such discharge losses whether from natural stream leakage and/or induced capture due to groundwater withdrawal. Our goal is also investigating how discharge variations from the basin headwaters, representing potential effects of climate change, may affect stream flow, aquifer recharge, and finally environmental preservation and human supply. A numerical flow model of the alluvial aquifer, based on MODFLOW and especially in the STREAM routine, reproduced the flow system after the usual calibration. Results indicate that, in the average, stream flow provides more than 50% of the water inputs to the alluvial aquifer, being responsible for the amount of stored water resources and for satisfying groundwater exploitation for human needs. Detailed simulations using daily time-steps permit setting threshold values for the stream flow entering at the beginning of the studied area so surface discharge is maintained along the whole watercourse and ecological flow requirements are satisfied as well. The effects of predicted rainfall and temperature variations on the Arbúcies River alluvial aquifer water balance are also discussed from the outcomes of the simulations. Finally, model results indicate the relevance of headwater discharge management under future climate scenarios to preserve downstream hydrological processes. They also point out that small mountain basins

  18. Whose waters? Large-scale agricultural development and water grabbing in the Wami-Ruvu River Basin, Tanzania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aurelia van Eeden

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available In Tanzania like in other parts of the global South, in the name of 'development' and 'poverty eradication' vast tracts of land have been earmarked by the government to be developed by investors for different commercial agricultural projects, giving rise to the contested land grab phenomenon. In parallel, Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM has been promoted in the country and globally as the governance framework that seeks to manage water resources in an efficient, equitable and sustainable manner. This article asks how IWRM manages the competing interests as well as the diverse priorities of both large and small water users in the midst of foreign direct investment. By focusing on two commercial sugar companies operating in the Wami-Ruvu River Basin in Tanzania and their impacts on the water and land rights of the surrounding villages, the article asks whether institutional and capacity weaknesses around IWRM implementation can be exploited by powerful actors that seek to meet their own interests, thus allowing water grabbing to take place. The paper thus highlights the power, interests and alliances of the various actors involved in the governance of water resources. By drawing on recent conceptual insights from the water grabbing literature, the empirical findings suggest that the IWRM framework indirectly and directly facilitates the phenomenon of water grabbing to take place in the Wami-Ruvu River Basin in Tanzania.

  19. Misrepresenting the Jordan River Basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Clemens Messerschmid

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available This article advances a critique of the UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia’s (ESCWA’s representation of the Jordan River Basin, as contained in its recently published Inventory of Shared Water Resources in Western Asia. We argue that ESCWA’s representation of the Jordan Basin is marked by serious technical errors and a systematic bias in favour of one riparian, Israel, and against the Jordan River’s four Arab riparians. We demonstrate this in relation to ESCWA’s account of the political geography of the Jordan River Basin, which foregrounds Israel and its perspectives and narratives; in relation to hydrology, where Israel’s contribution to the basin is overstated, whilst that of Arab riparians is understated; and in relation to development and abstraction, where Israel’s transformation and use of the basin are underplayed, while Arab impacts are exaggerated. Taken together, this bundle of misrepresentations conveys the impression that it is Israel which is the main contributor to the Jordan River Basin, Arab riparians its chief exploiters. This impression is, we argue, not just false but also surprising, given that the Inventory is in the name of an organisation of Arab states. The evidence discussed here provides a striking illustration of how hegemonic hydro-political narratives are reproduced, including by actors other than basin hegemons themselves.

  20. Socio-hydrologic Perspectives of the Co-evolution of Humans and Water in the Tarim River Basin, Western China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Ye; Tian, Fuqiang; Hu, Heping; Liu, Dengfeng; Sivapalan, Murugesu

    2013-04-01

    Socio-hydrology studies the co-evolution of coupled human-water systems, which is of great importance for long-term sustainable water resource management in basins suffering from serious eco-environmental degradation. Process socio-hydrology can benefit from the exploring the patterns of historical co-evolution of coupled human-water systems as a way to discovering the organizing principles that may underpin their co-evolution. As a self-organized entity, the human-water system in a river basin would evolve into certain steady states over a sufficiently long time but then could also experience sudden shifts due to internal or external disturbances that exceed system thresholds. In this study, we discuss three steady states (also called stages in the social sciences, including natural, human exploitation and recovery stages) and transitions between these during the past 1500 years in the Tarim River Basin of Western China, which a rich history of civilization including its place in the famous Silk Road that connected China to Europe. Specifically, during the natural stage with a sound environment that existed before the 19th century, shifts in the ecohydrological regime were mainly caused by environmental changes such river channel migration and climate change. During the human exploitation stages in the 5th and again in the 19th-20th centuries, however, humans gradually became the main drivers for system evolution, during which the basin experienced rapid population growth, fast socio-economic development and intense human activities. By the 1970s, after 200 years of colonization, the Tarim River Basin evolved into a new regime with vulnerable ecosystem and water system, and suffered from serious water shortages and desertification. Human society then began to take a critical look into the effects of their activities and reappraise the impact of human development on the ecohydrological system, which eventually led the basin into a treatment and recovery stage

  1. Modeling of Regionalized Emissions (MoRE into Water Bodies: An Open-Source River Basin Management System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephan Fuchs

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available An accurate budget of substance emissions is fundamental for protecting freshwater resources. In this context, the European Union asks all member states to report an emission inventory of substances for river basins. The river basin management system MoRE (Modeling of Regionalized Emissions was developed as a flexible open-source instrument which is able to model pathway-specific emissions and river loads on a catchment scale. As the reporting tool for the Federal Republic of Germany, MoRE is used to model annual emissions of nutrients, heavy metals, micropollutants like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH, Bis(2-ethylhexylphthalate (DEHP, and certain pharmaceuticals. Observed loads at gauging stations are used to validate the calculated emissions. In addition to its balancing capabilities, MoRE can consider different variants of input data and quantification approaches, in order to improve the robustness of different modeling approaches and to evaluate the quality of different input data. No programming skills are required to set up and run the model. Due to its flexible modeling base, the effect of reduction measures can be assessed. Within strategic planning processes, this is relevant for the allocation of investments or the implementation of specific measures to reduce the overall pollutant emissions into surface water bodies and therefore to meet the requirements of water policy.

  2. Environmental setting and natural factors and human influences affecting water quality in the White River Basin, Indiana

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schnoebelen, Douglas J.; Fenelon, Joseph M.; Baker, Nancy T.; Martin, Jeffrey D.; Bayless, E. Randall; Jacques, David V.; Crawford, Charles G.

    1999-01-01

    The White River Basin drains 11,349 square miles of central and southern Indiana and is one of 59 Study Units selected for water-quality assessment as part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National WaterQuality Assessment Program. Defining the environmental setting of the basin and identifying the natural factors and human influences that affect water quality are important parts of the assessment.

  3. Sources and chronology of nitrate contamination in spring waters, Suwannee River basin, Florida

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katz, Brian G.; Hornsby, H.D.; Bohlke, J.K.; Mokray, M.F.

    1999-01-01

    A multi-tracer approach, which consisted of analyzing water samples for n aturally occurring chemical and isotopic indicators, was used to better understand sources and chronology of nitrate contamination in spring wate rs discharging to the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers in northern Florida. Dur ing 1997 and 1998, as part of a cooperative study between the Suwannee River Water Management District and the U.S. Geological Survey, water samples were collected and analyzed from 24 springs and two wells for major ions, nutrients, dissolved organic carbon, and selected environmental isotopes [18O/16O, D/H, 13C/12C, 15N/14N]. To better understand when nitrate entered the ground-water system, water samples were analyzed for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs; CCl3F, CCl2F2, and C2Cl3F3) and tritium (3H); in this way, the apparent ages and residence times of spring waters and water from shallow zones in the Upper Floridan aquifer were determined. In addition to information obtained from the use of isotopic and other chemical tracers, information on changes in land-use activities in the basin during 1954-97 were used to estimate nitrogen inputs from nonpoint sources for five counties in the basin. Changes in nitrate concentrations in spring waters with time were compared with estimated nitrogen inputs for Lafayette and Suwannee Counties. Agricultural activities [cropland farming, animal farming operations (beef and dairy cows, poultry, and swine)] along with atmospheric deposition have contributed large quantities of nitrogen to ground water in the Suwannee River Basin in northern Florida. Changes in agricultural land use during the past 40 years in Alachua, Columbia, Gilchrist, Lafayette, and Suwannee Counties have contributed variable amounts of nitrogen to the ground-water system. During 1955-97, total estimated nitrogen from all nonpoint sources (fertilizers, animal wastes, atmospheric deposition, and septic tanks) increased continuously in Gilchrist and Lafayette Counties. In

  4. Assessment of Pressure Sources and Water Body Resilience: An Integrated Approach for Action Planning in a Polluted River Basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mirauda, Domenica; Ostoich, Marco

    2018-02-23

    The present study develops an integrated methodology combining the results of the water-quality classification, according to the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC-WFD, with those of a mathematical integrity model. It is able to analyse the potential anthropogenic impacts on the receiving water body and to help municipal decision-makers when selecting short/medium/long-term strategic mitigation actions to be performed in a territory. Among the most important causes of water-quality degradation in a river, the focus is placed on pollutants from urban wastewater. In particular, the proposed approach evaluates the efficiency and the accurate localisation of treatment plants in a basin, as well as the capacity of its river to bear the residual pollution loads after the treatment phase. The methodology is applied to a sample catchment area, located in northern Italy, where water quality is strongly affected by high population density and by the presence of agricultural and industrial activities. Nearly 10 years of water-quality data collected through official monitoring are considered for the implementation of the system. The sample basin shows different real and potential pollution conditions, according to the resilience of the river and surroundings, together with the point and diffuse pressure sources acting on the receiving body.

  5. Assessment of Pressure Sources and Water Body Resilience: An Integrated Approach for Action Planning in a Polluted River Basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Domenica Mirauda

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available The present study develops an integrated methodology combining the results of the water-quality classification, according to the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC—WFD, with those of a mathematical integrity model. It is able to analyse the potential anthropogenic impacts on the receiving water body and to help municipal decision-makers when selecting short/medium/long-term strategic mitigation actions to be performed in a territory. Among the most important causes of water-quality degradation in a river, the focus is placed on pollutants from urban wastewater. In particular, the proposed approach evaluates the efficiency and the accurate localisation of treatment plants in a basin, as well as the capacity of its river to bear the residual pollution loads after the treatment phase. The methodology is applied to a sample catchment area, located in northern Italy, where water quality is strongly affected by high population density and by the presence of agricultural and industrial activities. Nearly 10 years of water-quality data collected through official monitoring are considered for the implementation of the system. The sample basin shows different real and potential pollution conditions, according to the resilience of the river and surroundings, together with the point and diffuse pressure sources acting on the receiving body.

  6. Sustainability of Water Resources in Arid Ecosystems: A View from Hei River Basin, China (Invited)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, C.; Cheng, G.; Xiao, H.; Ma, R.

    2009-12-01

    The northwest of China is characterized by an arid climate and fragile ecosystems. With irrigated agriculture, the region is a prolific producer of cotton, wheat, and maize with some of the highest output per acre in the country. The region is also rich in ore deposits, with the reserves of numerous minerals ranked at or near the top in the country. However, the sustainability of irrigated agriculture and economic development in the region is threaten by severe eco-environmental problems resulting from both global changes and human activities, such as desertification, salinization, groundwater depletion, and dust storms. All these problems are a direct consequence of water scarcity. As global warming accelerates and rapid economic growth continues, the water shortage crisis is expected to worsen. To improve the bleak outlook for the health of ecosystem and environment in northwest China, the Chinese government has invested heavily in ecosystem restoration and watershed management in recent years. However, the effectiveness of such measures and actions depends on scientific understanding of the complex interplays among ecological, hydrological and socioeconomic factors. This presentation is intended to provide an overview of a major new research initiative supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China to study the integration of ecological principles, hydrological processes and socioeconomic considerations toward more sustainable exploitation of surface water and groundwater resources in the Hei River Basin in northwest China. The Hei River Basin is an inland watershed located at the center of the arid region in East Asia, stretching from Qilianshan Mountains in the south to the desert in the north bordering China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Mongolia. The total area of Hei River Basin is approximately 130,000 km2. The research initiative builds on existing research infrastructure and ecohydrological data and seeks to reveal complex

  7. Gravity data from the San Pedro River Basin, Cochise County, Arizona

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kennedy, Jeffrey R.; Winester, Daniel

    2011-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey, Arizona Water Science Center in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Geodetic Survey has collected relative and absolute gravity data at 321 stations in the San Pedro River Basin of southeastern Arizona since 2000. Data are of three types: observed gravity values and associated free-air, simple Bouguer, and complete Bouguer anomaly values, useful for subsurface-density modeling; high-precision relative-gravity surveys repeated over time, useful for aquifer-storage-change monitoring; and absolute-gravity values, useful as base stations for relative-gravity surveys and for monitoring gravity change over time. The data are compiled, without interpretation, in three spreadsheet files. Gravity values, GPS locations, and driving directions for absolute-gravity base stations are presented as National Geodetic Survey site descriptions.

  8. Assessing climate change impacts on fresh water resources of the Athabasca River Basin, Canada.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shrestha, Narayan Kumar; Du, Xinzhong; Wang, Junye

    2017-12-01

    Proper management of blue and green water resources is important for the sustainability of ecosystems and for the socio-economic development of river basins such as the Athabasca River Basin (ARB) in Canada. For this reason, quantifying climate change impacts on these water resources at a finer temporal and spatial scale is often necessary. In this study, we used a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to assess climate change impacts on fresh water resources, focusing explicitly on the impacts to both blue and green water. We used future climate data generated by the Canadian Center for Climate Modelling and Analysis Regional Climate Model (CanRCM4) with a spatial resolution of 0.22°×0.22° (~25km) for two emission scenarios (RCP 4.5 and 8.5). Results projected the climate of the ARB to be wetter by 21-34% and warmer by 2-5.4°C on an annual time scale. Consequently, the annual average blue and green water flow was projected to increase by 16-54% and 11-34%, respectively, depending on the region, future period, and emission scenario. Furthermore, the annual average green water storage at the boreal region was expected to increase by 30%, while the storage was projected to remain fairly stable or decrease in other regions, especially during the summer season. On average, the fresh water resources in the ARB are likely to increase in the future. However, evidence of temporal and spatial heterogeneity could pose many future challenges to water resource planners and managers. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. South Fork Holston River basin 1988 biomonitoring

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Saylor, C.F.; Ahlstedt, S.A.

    1990-06-01

    There is concern over the effects of shifts in land use use practices on the aquatic fauna of streams in the South Fork Holston River basin in northwestern North Carolina and southwestern Virginia. Trout reproduction has noticeably declined in the Watauga River subbasin. The Watauga River and Elk River subbasins have been subjected to commercial and resort development. The Middle fork Holston River and the upper South Fork Holston River subbasins have been affected by agricultural and mining activities, respectively (Cox, 1986). To aid reclamation and management of the South Fork Holston basin, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) biologists conducted biomonitoring--including index of biotic integrity and macroinvertebrate sampling--on the Middle Fork Holston, South Fork Holston, Watauga, and Elk Rivers to assess cumulative impairment related to changes in habitat and pollutant loading in these subbasins. Biomonitoring can detect environmental degradation, help document problem areas, and assist in development of strategies for managing water quality. This report discusses the methods and materials and results of the biomonitoring of South Fork Holston River Basin. 13 refs., 5 figs., 12 tabs.

  10. [GIS and scenario analysis aid to water pollution control planning of river basin].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Shao-ping; Cheng, Sheng-tong; Jia, Hai-feng; Ou, Zhi-dan; Tan, Bin

    2004-07-01

    The forward and backward algorithms for watershed water pollution control planning were summarized in this paper as well as their advantages and shortages. The spatial databases of water environmental function region, pollution sources, monitoring sections and sewer outlets were built with ARCGIS8.1 as the platform in the case study of Ganjiang valley, Jiangxi province. Based on the principles of the forward algorithm, four scenarios were designed for the watershed pollution control. Under these scenarios, ten sets of planning schemes were generated to implement cascade pollution source control. The investment costs of sewage treatment for these schemes were estimated by means of a series of cost-effective functions; with pollution source prediction, the water quality was modeled with CSTR model for each planning scheme. The modeled results of different planning schemes were visualized through GIS to aid decision-making. With the results of investment cost and water quality attainment as decision-making accords and based on the analysis of the economic endurable capacity for water pollution control in Ganjiang river basin, two optimized schemes were proposed. The research shows that GIS technology and scenario analysis can provide a good guidance to the synthesis, integrity and sustainability aspects for river basin water quality planning.

  11. Application of CryoSat-2 altimetry data for river analysis and modelling

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schneider, Raphael; Godiksen, Peter Nygaard; Villadsen, Heidi

    2017-01-01

    , satellite altimeters are used in various ways to provide information about such river basins. Most missions provide virtual station time series of water levels at locations where their repeat orbits cross rivers. CryoSat-2 is equipped with a new type of altimeter, providing estimates of the actual ground....... This allowed extraction of river water levels over previously unmonitored narrow stretches of the river. In the Assam Valley section of the Brahmaputra River, CryoSat-2 data and Envisat virtual station data were combined to calibrate cross sections in a 1-D hydrodynamic model of the river. The hydrologic......Availability of in situ river monitoring data, especially of data shared across boundaries, is decreasing, despite growing challenges for water resource management across the entire globe. This is especially valid for the case study of this work, the Brahmaputra Basin in South Asia. Commonly...

  12. Recent Trends in the Ebro River Basin: Is It All "Just" Climate Change?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lutz, Stefanie; Merz, Ralf

    2016-04-01

    Water resources are under pressure from a variety of stressors such as industry, agriculture, water abstraction or pollution. Changing climate can potentially enhance the impact of these stressors, especially under water scarcity conditions. The aim of the GLOBAQUA project ("Managing the effects of multiple stressors on aquatic ecosystems under water scarcity") is, therefore, to analyze the combined effect of multiple stressors in the context of increasing water scarcity. As part of the GLOBAQUA project, this study examines recent trends in climate, water quantity and quality parameters in the Ebro River Basin in Northern Spain to identify stressors and determine their joint impact on water resources. Mann-Kendall trend analyses of temperature, precipitation, streamflow, groundwater level, streamwater and groundwater quality data (spanning between 15 and 40 years) were performed. Moreover, anthropogenic pressures such as land use and alteration of natural flow by reservoirs were considered. Climate data indicate increasing temperatures in the Ebro River Basin especially in summer and autumn, and decreasing precipitation particularly in summer. In contrast, precipitation mostly shows upwards trends in autumn, but these are counterbalanced by greater evapotranspiration due to higher temperatures. Overall, this results in annual and seasonal streamflow decreases at the majority of gauging stations. Declining trends in streamflow are most pronounced during summer and are also observed in subbasins without reservoirs. Diminishing water resources become also apparent in generally decreasing groundwater levels in the Ebro River Basin. This decrease is most pronounced in areas where groundwater serves as main origin for irrigation water, which demonstrates how land use acts as a local rather than regional driver of change. Increasing air temperatures correlate with increasing water temperatures over the past 30 years, which indicates the effect of changing climate on water

  13. Summary of surface-water-quality data collected for the Northern Rockies Intermontane Basins National Water-Quality Assessment Program in the Clark Fork-Pend Oreille and Spokane River basins, Montana, Idaho, and Washington, water years 1999-2001

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beckwith, Michael A.

    2003-01-01

    Water-quality samples were collected at 10 sites in the Clark Fork-Pend Oreille and Spokane River Basins in water years 1999 – 2001 as part of the Northern Rockies Intermontane Basins (NROK) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. Sampling sites were located in varied environments ranging from small streams and rivers in forested, mountainous headwater areas to large rivers draining diverse landscapes. Two sampling sites were located immediately downstream from the large lakes; five sites were located downstream from large-scale historical mining and oreprocessing areas, which are now the two largest “Superfund” (environmental remediation) sites in the Nation. Samples were collected during a wide range of streamflow conditions, more frequently during increasing and high streamflow and less frequently during receding and base-flow conditions. Sample analyses emphasized major ions, nutrients, and selected trace elements. Streamflow during the study ranged from more than 130 percent of the long-term average in 1999 at some sites to 40 percent of the long-term average in 2001. River and stream water in the study area exhibited small values for specific conductance, hardness, alkalinity, and dissolved solids. Dissolved oxygen concentrations in almost all samples were near saturation. Median total nitrogen and total phosphorus concentrations in samples from most sites were smaller than median concentrations reported for many national programs and other NAWQA Program study areas. The only exceptions were two sites downstream from large wastewater-treatment facilities, where median concentrations of total nitrogen exceeded the national median. Maximum concentrations of total phosphorus in samples from six sites exceeded the 0.1 milligram per liter threshold recommended for limiting nuisance aquatic growth. Concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, and zinc were largest in samples from sites downstream from historical mining and ore

  14. "Climate change impact on water resources - a challenge for IWRM". BRAHMATWINN - Twinning European and South Asian River Basins to enhance capacity and implement adaptive management approaches

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bartosch, A.; Pechstädt, J.; Müller Schmied, H.; Flügel, W.-A.

    2009-04-01

    main characteristics of an IWRM. An analysis of present IWRM practices and strategies in the basins and test sites, as well as an analysis of water administration, related organizations and water laws was conducted in the frame of the project to evaluate the status of water management in the regions and develop approaches to enhance the situation and to transfer professional IWRM expertise. For investigating the actual status of the system and its development in the past a thorough system analysis was conducted as the fundament for further activities. With the knowledge of the historical development of climate conditions, runoff regime, glacier development and similar basin-related information it is possible to extrapolate the system response for future developments. One approach of the system analysis is the delineation of hydrological response units (HRUs). "Hydrological response units are distributed, heterogeneously structured entities having a common climate, land use and underlying pedo-topo-geological associations controlling their hydrological dynamics" (FLÜGEL 1995, Hydrological Processes, Vol.9, 423-436). HRUs can be used as model entities to simulate the hydrology of the basin using a distributive hydrological modeling system. The hydrologic modeling is the next logical step after the HRU delineation. The novel hydrological model JAMS/J2000g, developed at the Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, was used for this purpose. For managing data (time series, GIS-data and documents) within the BRAHMATWINN project, a River Basin Information System (RBIS) was developed. In addition, RBIS provides the technical basis of a decision support system. For this challenge, the frontend offers different analysis functions. The structure of the web application RBIS consists of several components. One element is responsible for application administration tasks, e.g. the access management. Another component was constructed as a variable number of application modules plus a

  15. Simulation of Ground-Water Flow and Effects of Ground-Water Irrigation on Base Flow in the Elkhorn and Loup River Basins, Nebraska

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peterson, Steven M.; Stanton, Jennifer S.; Saunders, Amanda T.; Bradley, Jesse R.

    2008-01-01

    Irrigated agriculture is vital to the livelihood of communities in the Elkhorn and Loup River Basins in Nebraska, and ground water is used to irrigate most of the cropland. Concerns about the sustainability of ground-water and surface-water resources have prompted State and regional agencies to evaluate the cumulative effects of ground-water irrigation in this area. To facilitate understanding of the effects of ground-water irrigation, a numerical computer model was developed to simulate ground-water flow and assess the effects of ground-water irrigation (including ground-water withdrawals, hereinafter referred to as pumpage, and enhanced recharge) on stream base flow. The study area covers approximately 30,800 square miles, and includes the Elkhorn River Basin upstream from Norfolk, Nebraska, and the Loup River Basin upstream from Columbus, Nebraska. The water-table aquifer consists of Quaternary-age sands and gravels and Tertiary-age silts, sands, and gravels. The simulation was constructed using one layer with 2-mile by 2-mile cell size. Simulations were constructed to represent the ground-water system before 1940 and from 1940 through 2005, and to simulate hypothetical conditions from 2006 through 2045 or 2055. The first simulation represents steady-state conditions of the system before anthropogenic effects, and then simulates the effects of early surface-water development activities and recharge of water leaking from canals during 1895 to 1940. The first simulation ends at 1940 because before that time, very little pumpage for irrigation occurred, but after that time it became increasingly commonplace. The pre-1940 simulation was calibrated against measured water levels and estimated long-term base flow, and the 1940 through 2005 simulation was calibrated against measured water-level changes and estimated long-term base flow. The calibrated 1940 through 2005 simulation was used as the basis for analyzing hypothetical scenarios to evaluate the effects of

  16. Assessment of Surface Water Quality Using Multivariate Statistical Techniques in the Terengganu River Basin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aminu Ibrahim; Hafizan Juahir; Mohd Ekhwan Toriman; Mustapha, A.; Azman Azid; Isiyaka, H.A.

    2015-01-01

    Multivariate Statistical techniques including cluster analysis, discriminant analysis, and principal component analysis/factor analysis were applied to investigate the spatial variation and pollution sources in the Terengganu river basin during 5 years of monitoring 13 water quality parameters at thirteen different stations. Cluster analysis (CA) classified 13 stations into 2 clusters low polluted (LP) and moderate polluted (MP) based on similar water quality characteristics. Discriminant analysis (DA) rendered significant data reduction with 4 parameters (pH, NH 3 -NL, PO 4 and EC) and correct assignation of 95.80 %. The PCA/ FA applied to the data sets, yielded in five latent factors accounting 72.42 % of the total variance in the water quality data. The obtained varifactors indicate that parameters in charge for water quality variations are mainly related to domestic waste, industrial, runoff and agricultural (anthropogenic activities). Therefore, multivariate techniques are important in environmental management. (author)

  17. Ecotoxicological evaluation of water of the hydrographic Basin of the Una River using the bioindicator Ceriodaphnia dubia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tatiane Alves

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The majority of the Una River Basin is located in Taubaté County and contributes significantly to its water supply. The main goal of this research was to evaluate the water quality of the Una River using the microcrustacean C. dubia as bioindicator for tests of chronic and acute toxicity. Bimonthly water samples were obtained from each of six localities throughout the Una Basin, from March to October, 2011. Physical-chemical water parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity, hardness, dissolved oxygen and precipitation were measured and correlated to the C. dubia reproductive rates. No significant relationships were found between the water’s electrical conductivity and precipitation with respect to bioindicator reproductive rates. However, at the Sete Voltas, Antas and Rocinha Sub-Basins, significant interactions were detected between some water parameters and reproductive rates, suggesting that water may constrain the reproduction of C. dubia. Acute toxicity was not detected in any of the six sites, while chronic toxicity was recorded at Rocinha, Sete Voltas, Antas, Médio and Baixo Una Sub-Basins. In general, the water quality of the Una Basin, as indicated by the absence of acute toxicity, still remains in an acceptable conservation condition. Caution is needed, however, since slight pollution sources are causing chronic toxicity in some localities. In addition, as the microcrustacean C. dubia, appeared to be a reliable bioindicator in this investigation, we suggest that it be used for continuous water quality monitoring programs.

  18. Study of interaction of shallow groundwater and river along the Cisadane and Ciliwung river of Jakarta basin and its management using environmental isotopes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sidauruk, P.; Syafalni; Satrio

    2012-01-01

    The environmental isotopes were employed to study the interaction of shallow groundwater and river along the Cisadane River and Ciliwung River in Jakarta basin. The rapid growth and development of Jakarta and its surrounding cities, coupled with increasing industrial and other business sectors have impacted on the demand of the water supply for the area. These investigations have been conducted to determine the interaction between shallow groundwater and the river. The 14 C results showed that the groundwater samples (above 40 m) which were close to the river influenced the iso-age contour of 14 C, which indicated the contributions of river water. The analysis of stable isotopes 18 O and Deuterium from the river implied that the river water from upstream to downstream was influenced by the mixing of the river water with the human activities in the upstream (the isotopic compositions becoming enriched). Further, the 18 O and Deuterium data revealed that rivers of Cisadane and Ciliwung are contributing to recharge the shallow groundwater in Jakarta, especially in the nearby river bank. In general, the quality of the shallow groundwater along the rivers is good and is suitable as fresh water resource. Due to pollution and declining water table problems in the Jakarta basin, the artificial recharge wells is shown to be a good way out to delineate the problems as indicated by pilot project conducted at Kelurahan Kramat Jati, using infiltration basin method. (author)

  19. Soil erosion assessment of a Himalayan river basin using TRMM data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pandey, A.; Mishra, S. K.; Gautam, A. K.; Kumar, D.

    2015-04-01

    In this study, an attempt has been made to assess the soil erosion of a Himalayan river basin, the Karnali basin, Nepal, using rainfall erosivity (R-factor) derived from satellite-based rainfall estimates (TRMM-3B42 V7). Average annual sediment yield was estimated using the well-known Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). The eight-year annual average rainfall erosivity factor (R) for the Karnali River basin was found to be 2620.84 MJ mm ha-1 h-1 year-1. Using intensity-erosivity relationships and eight years of the TRMM daily rainfall dataset (1998-2005), average annual soil erosion was also estimated for Karnali River basin. The minimum and maximum values of the rainfall erosivity factor were 1108.7 and 4868.49 MJ mm ha-1 h-1 year-1, respectively, during the assessment period. The average annual soil loss of the Karnali River basin was found to be 38.17 t ha-1 year-1. Finally, the basin area was categorized according to the following scale of erosion severity classes: Slight (0 to 5 t ha-1 year-1), Moderate (5 to 10 t ha-1 year-1), High (10 to 20 t ha-1 year-1), Very High (20 to 40 t ha-1 year-1), Severe (40 to 80 t ha-1 year-1) and Very Severe (>80 t ha-1 year-1). About 30.86% of the river basin area was found to be in the slight erosion class. The areas covered by the moderate, high, very high, severe and very severe erosion potential zones were 13.09%, 6.36%, 11.09%, 22.02% and 16.64% respectively. The study revealed that approximately 69% of the Karnali River basin needs immediate attention from a soil conservation point of view.

  20. Hydroclimatology of the Missouri River basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wise, Erika K.; Woodhouse, Connie A.; McCabe, Gregory; Pederson, Gregory T.; St. Jacques, Jeannine-Marie

    2018-01-01

    Despite the importance of the Missouri River for navigation, recreation, habitat, hydroelectric power, and agriculture, relatively little is known about the basic hydroclimatology of the Missouri River basin (MRB). This is of particular concern given the droughts and floods that have occurred over the past several decades and the potential future exacerbation of these extremes by climate change. Here, observed and modeled hydroclimatic data and estimated natural flow records in the MRB are used to 1) assess the major source regions of MRB flow, 2) describe the climatic controls on streamflow in the upper and lower basins , and 3) investigate trends over the instrumental period. Analyses indicate that 72% of MRB runoff is generated by the headwaters in the upper basin and by the lowest portion of the basin near the mouth. Spring precipitation and temperature and winter precipitation impacted by changes in zonal versus meridional flow from the Pacific Ocean play key roles in surface water supply variability in the upper basin. Lower basin flow is significantly correlated with precipitation in late spring and early summer, indicative of Atlantic-influenced circulation variability affecting the flow of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. Although increases in precipitation in the lower basin are currently overriding the effects of warming temperatures on total MRB flow, the upper basin’s long-term trend toward decreasing flows, reduction in snow versus rain fraction, and warming spring temperatures suggest that the upper basin may less often provide important flow supplements to the lower basin in the future.

  1. Range extension of Moenkhausia oligolepis (Günther,1864 to the Pindaré river drainage, of Mearim river basin, and Itapecuru river basin of northeastern Brazil (Characiformes: Characidae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erick Cristofore Guimarães

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available The present study reports range extansion of Moenkhausia oligolepis to the Pindaré river drainage, of the Mearim river basin, and Itapecuru river basin, Maranhão state, northeastern Brazil. This species was previously known only from Venezuela, Guianas, and the Amazon River basins. In addition, we present some meristic and morphometric data of the specimens herein examined and discuss on its diagnostic characters.

  2. Case study on rehabilitation of a polluted urban water body in Yangtze River Basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Juan; Cheng, Shuiping; Li, Zhu; Guo, Weijie; Zhong, Fei; Yin, Daqiang

    2013-10-01

    In the past three decades, the fast development of economy and urbanization has caused increasingly severe pollutions of urban water bodies in China. Consequently, eutrophication and deterioration of aquatic ecosystem, which is especially significant for aquatic vegetation, inevitably became a pervasive problem across the Yangtze River Basin. To rehabilitate the degraded urban water bodies, vegetation replanting is an important issue to improve water quality and to rehabilitate ecosystem. As a case study, a representative polluted urban river, Nanfeihe River, in Hefei City, Anhui Province, was chosen to be a rehabilitation target. In October 2009 and May 2010, 13 species of indigenous and prevalent macrophytes, including seven species emergent, one species floating leaved, and five species submersed macrophytes, were planted along the bank slopes and in the river. Through 1.5 years' replanting practice, the water quality and biodiversity of the river had been improved. The concentrations of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and ammonia nitrogen (NH4 (+)-N) declined by 46.0, 39.5, and 60.4 %, respectively. The species of macrophytes increased from 14 to 60, and the biodiversity of phytoplankton rose significantly in the river (purban waters restoration in the middle-downstream area of Yangtze River Base.

  3. Environmental education for river-basin planning

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Saha, S K

    1980-08-01

    Harmonious intervention in land use, a result of environmental education and good planning, can increase the social and economic benefits without precluding development. Modern river basin planning began as a US innovation in 1874 over the subject of water regulation in the west. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was devised as a state tool for comprehensive river basin planning and development. The TVA example was not repeated in the other 10 US basins by the Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation, although the concept of unified development has survived as a three-part relationship of physical,biological, and human forces in which any malfunctioning of one subsystem affects the others. This is evident in problems of water transfer from agricultural to industrial functions and changes to drainage patterns. The potential damage from ignoring these relationships can be avoided with true interdisciplinary communications. 24 references, 2 tables. (DCK)

  4. Water Scarcity as a Cause of Conflict in the Nile, Euphrates, and Jordan River Basins

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Still, Douglas R

    2006-01-01

    The Euphrates, Nile, and Jordan Rivers are at center stage in the continued existence of the peoples in their basins where water scarcity serves as a source of conflict between the region's riparian...

  5. A framework for identifying water management typologies for agent based modeling of water resources and its application in the Boise River Basin, USA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaiser, K. E.; Flores, A. N.; Hillis, V.; Moroney, J.; Schneider, J.

    2017-12-01

    Modeling the management of water resources necessitates incorporation of complex social and hydrologic dynamics. Simulation of these socio-ecological systems requires characterization of the decision-making process of relevant actors, the mechanisms through which they exert control on the biophysical system, their ability to react and adapt to regional environmental conditions, and the plausible behaviors in response to changes in those conditions. Agent based models (ABMs) are a useful tool in simulating these complex adaptive systems because they can dynamically couple hydrological models and the behavior of decision making actors. ABMs can provide a flexible, integrated framework that can represent multi-scale interactions, and the heterogeneity of information networks and sources. However, the variability in behavior of water management actors across systems makes characterizing agent behaviors and relationships challenging. Agent typologies, or agent functional types (AFTs), group together individuals and/or agencies with similar functional roles, management objectives, and decision-making strategies. AFTs have been used to represent archetypal land managers in the agricultural and forestry sectors in large-scale socio-economic system models. A similar typology of water actors could simplify the representation of water management across river basins, and increase transferability and scaling of resulting ABMs. Here, we present a framework for identifying and classifying major water actors and show how we will link an ABM of water management to a regional hydrologic model in a western river basin. The Boise River Basin in southwest Idaho is an interesting setting to apply our AFT framework because of the diverse stakeholders and associated management objectives which include managing urban growth pressures and water supply in the face of climate change. Precipitation in the upper basin supplies 90% of the surface water used in the basin, thus managers of the

  6. Seasonal water chemistry variability in the Pangani River basin, Tanzania.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Selemani, Juma R; Zhang, Jing; Muzuka, Alfred N N; Njau, Karoli N; Zhang, Guosen; Maggid, Arafa; Mzuza, Maureen K; Jin, Jie; Pradhan, Sonali

    2017-11-01

    The stable isotopes of δ 18 O, δ 2 H, and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr and dissolved major ions were used to assess spatial and seasonal water chemistry variability, chemical weathering, and hydrological cycle in the Pangani River Basin (PRB), Tanzania. Water in PRB was NaHCO 3 type dominated by carbonate weathering with moderate total dissolved solids. Major ions varied greatly, increasing from upstream to downstream. In some stations, content of fluoride and sodium was higher than the recommended drinking water standards. Natural and anthropogenic factors contributed to the lowering rate of chemical weathering; the rate was lower than most of tropical rivers. The rate of weathering was higher in Precambrian than volcanic rocks. 87 Sr/ 86 Sr was lower than global average whereas concentration of strontium was higher than global average with mean annual flux of 0.13 × 10 6  mol year -1 . Evaporation and altitude effects have caused enrichment of δ 18 O and δ 2 H in dry season and downstream of the river. Higher d-excess value than global average suggests that most of the stations were supplied by recycled moisture. Rainfall and groundwater were the major sources of surface flowing water in PRB; nevertheless, glacier from Mt. Kilimanjaro has insignificant contribution to the surface water. We recommend measures to be taken to reduce the level of fluoride and sodium before domestic use.

  7. Estimated use of water in the Delaware River Basin in Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hutson, Susan S.; Linsey, Kristin S.; Ludlow, Russell A.; Reyes, Betzaida; Shourds, Jennifer L.

    2016-11-07

    The Delaware River Basin (DRB) was selected as a Focus Area Study in 2011 by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as part of the USGS National Water Census. The National Water Census is a USGS research program that focuses on national water availability and use and then develops new water accounting tools and assesses water availability at both the regional and national scales. One of the water management needs that the DRB study addressed, and that was identified by stakeholder groups from the DRB, was to improve the integration of state water use and water-supply data and to provide the compiled water use information to basin users. This water use information was also used in the hydrologic modeling and ecological components of the study.Instream and offstream water use was calculated for 2010 for the DRB based on information received from Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Water withdrawal, interbasin transfers, return flow, and hydroelectric power generation release data were compiled for 11 categories by hydrologic subregion, basin, subbasin, and subwatershed. Data availability varied by state. Site-specific data were used whenever possible to calculate public supply, irrigation (golf courses, nurseries, sod farms, and crops), aquaculture, self-supplied industrial, commercial, mining, thermoelectric, and hydroelectric power withdrawals. Where site-specific data were not available, primarily for crop irrigation, livestock, and domestic use, various techniques were used to estimate water withdrawals.Total water withdrawals in the Delaware River Basin were calculated to be about 7,130 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) in 2010. Calculations of withdrawals by source indicate that freshwater withdrawals were about 4,130 Mgal/d (58 percent of the total) and the remaining 3,000 Mgal/d (42 percent) were from saline water. Total surface-water withdrawals were calculated to be 6,590 Mgal/d, or 92 percent of the total; about 54 percent (3,590 Mgal/d) of surface

  8. Monitoring Water Levels and Discharges Using Radar Altimetry in an Ungauged River Basin: The Case of the Ogooué

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sakaros Bogning

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Radar altimetry is now commonly used for the monitoring of water levels in large river basins. In this study, an altimetry-based network of virtual stations was defined in the quasi ungauged Ogooué river basin, located in Gabon, Central Africa, using data from seven altimetry missions (Jason-2 and 3, ERS-2, ENVISAT, Cryosat-2, SARAL, Sentinel-3A from 1995 to 2017. The performance of the five latter altimetry missions to retrieve water stages and discharges was assessed through comparisons against gauge station records. All missions exhibited a good agreement with gauge records, but the most recent missions showed an increase of data availability (only 6 virtual stations (VS with ERS-2 compared to 16 VS for ENVISAT and SARAL and accuracy (RMSE lower than 1.05, 0.48 and 0.33 and R² higher than 0.55, 0.83 and 0.91 for ERS-2, ENVISAT and SARAL respectively. The concept of VS is extended to the case of drifting orbits using the data from Cryosat-2 in several close locations. Good agreement was also found with the gauge station in Lambaréné (RMSE = 0.25 m and R2 = 0.96. Very good results were obtained using only one year and a half of Sentinel-3 data (RMSE < 0.41 m and R2 > 0.89. The combination of data from all the radar altimetry missions near Lamabréné resulted in a long-term (May 1995 to August 2017 and significantly improved water-level time series (R² = 0.96 and RMSE = 0.38 m. The increase in data sampling in the river basin leads to a better water level peak to peak characterization and hence to a more accurate annual discharge over the common observation period with only a 1.4 m3·s−1 difference (i.e., 0.03% between the altimetry-based and the in situ mean annual discharge.

  9. Stabilization of Aley river water content by forest stands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. G. Paramonov

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Aley river basin is one of the most developed territories in West Siberia. Initially, the development here was related to the development of ore mining in the Altai. Currently it is associated mainly with the agricultural orientation of economic development. The intensive involvement of basin lands into the economic turnover for the last 100 years contributed to the formation of a number of environmental problems, such as water and wind erosion, loss of soil fertility and salinization, and desertification of the territory. Besides, the decrease of Aley river water content due to natural and anthropogenic reasons was observed. A specific feature of water management in Aley river basin is a significant amount of water resources used for irrigation purposes and agricultural water supply. To ensure the economic and drinking water supply, two reservoirs and a number of ponds have been constructed and operate in the basin. Forest ecosystems of the basin are considered from the viewpoint of preservation and restoration of small rivers. The ability of forest to accumulate solid precipitation and intercept them during the snowmelt for a longer time reduces the surface drainage and promotes transfer into the subsurface flow, significantly influencing the water content of permanent watercourses, is shown. The state of protective forest plantations in Aley river basin is analyzed. Aley river tributaries are compared by area, the length of water flow, and forest coverage of the basin. It is proposed to regulate the runoff through drastic actions on the increase of forest cover in the plain and especially in the mountainous parts of the basin. Measures to increase the forest cover within water protection zones, afforestation of temporary and permanent river basins, and the protection of agricultural soil fertility are worked out.

  10. Real-time remote sensing driven river basin modeling using radar altimetry

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pereira Cardenal, Silvio Javier; Riegels, Niels; Bauer-Gottwein, Peter

    2011-01-01

    Many river basins have a weak in-situ hydrometeorological monitoring infrastructure. However, water resources practitioners depend on reliable hydrological models for management purposes. Remote sensing (RS) data have been recognized as an alternative to in-situ hydrometeorological data in remote...

  11. The Global Dimension of Water Governance: Why the River Basin Approach Is No Longer Sufficient and Why Cooperative Action at Global Level Is Needed

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arjen Y. Hoekstra

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available When water problems extend beyond the borders of local communities, the river basin is generally seen as the most appropriate unit for analysis, planning, and institutional arrangements. In this paper it is argued that addressing water problems at the river basin level is not always sufficient. Many of today’s seemingly local water issues carry a (subcontinental or even global dimension, which urges for a governance approach that comprises institutional arrangements at a level beyond that of the river basin. This paper examines a number of arguments for the thesis that good water governance requires a global approach complementary to the river basin approach. Subsequently, it identifies four major issues to be addressed at global scale: Efficiency, equity, sustainability and security of water supply in a globalised world. Finally, the paper raises the question of what kind of institutional arrangements could be developed to cope with the global dimension of water issues. A few possible directions are explored, ranging from an international protocol on full-cost water pricing and a water label for water-intensive products to the implementation of water footprint quotas and the water-neutral concept.

  12. Characterization of Surface Water and Groundwater Quality in the Lower Tano River Basin Using Statistical and Isotopic Approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edjah, Adwoba; Stenni, Barbara; Cozzi, Giulio; Turetta, Clara; Dreossi, Giuliano; Tetteh Akiti, Thomas; Yidana, Sandow

    2017-04-01

    Adwoba Kua- Manza Edjaha, Barbara Stennib,c,Giuliano Dreossib, Giulio Cozzic, Clara Turetta c,T.T Akitid ,Sandow Yidanae a,eDepartment of Earth Science, University of Ghana Legon, Ghana West Africa bDepartment of Enviromental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca Foscari University of Venice, Italy cInstitute for the Dynamics of Environmental Processes, CNR, Venice, Italy dDepartment of Nuclear Application and Techniques, Graduate School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences University of Ghana Legon This research is part of a PhD research work "Hydrogeological Assessment of the Lower Tano river basin for sustainable economic usage, Ghana, West - Africa". In this study, the researcher investigated surface water and groundwater quality in the Lower Tano river basin. This assessment was based on some selected sampling sites associated with mining activities, and the development of oil and gas. Statistical approach was applied to characterize the quality of surface water and groundwater. Also, water stable isotopes, which is a natural tracer of the hydrological cycle was used to investigate the origin of groundwater recharge in the basin. The study revealed that Pb and Ni values of the surface water and groundwater samples exceeded the WHO standards for drinking water. In addition, water quality index (WQI), based on physicochemical parameters(EC, TDS, pH) and major ions(Ca2+, Na+, Mg2+, HCO3-,NO3-, CL-, SO42-, K+) exhibited good quality water for 60% of the sampled surface water and groundwater. Other statistical techniques, such as Heavy metal pollution index (HPI), degree of contamination (Cd), and heavy metal evaluation index (HEI), based on trace element parameters in the water samples, reveal that 90% of the surface water and groundwater samples belong to high level of pollution. Principal component analysis (PCA) also suggests that the water quality in the basin is likely affected by rock - water interaction and anthropogenic activities (sea water intrusion). This

  13. Data-driven modeling of background and mine-related acidity and metals in river basins

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Friedel, Michael J.

    2014-01-01

    A novel application of self-organizing map (SOM) and multivariate statistical techniques is used to model the nonlinear interaction among basin mineral-resources, mining activity, and surface-water quality. First, the SOM is trained using sparse measurements from 228 sample sites in the Animas River Basin, Colorado. The model performance is validated by comparing stochastic predictions of basin-alteration assemblages and mining activity at 104 independent sites. The SOM correctly predicts (>98%) the predominant type of basin hydrothermal alteration and presence (or absence) of mining activity. Second, application of the Davies–Bouldin criteria to k-means clustering of SOM neurons identified ten unique environmental groups. Median statistics of these groups define a nonlinear water-quality response along the spatiotemporal hydrothermal alteration-mining gradient. These results reveal that it is possible to differentiate among the continuum between inputs of background and mine-related acidity and metals, and it provides a basis for future research and empirical model development. The trained self-organizing map is used to determine upstream hydrothermal alteration (AS – acid sulfate; PROP – propylitic, PROP-V – propylitic veins, QSP – quartz-sericite-pyrite, WSP – weak-sericite-pyrite; Mining activity: MINES) from water-quality measurements in the Animas river basin, Colorado, USA. The white hexagons are sized proportional to the number of water-quality samples associated with that SOM neuron. Highlights: • We model surface-water quality response using a self-organizing map and multivariate statistics. • Applying Davies–Bouldin criteria to k-means clusters defines ten environmental response groups. • The approach differentiates between background and mine-related acidity and metals. -- These results reveal that it is possible to differentiate among the continuum between inputs of background and mine-related acidity and metals

  14. Climate Change Impacts on Water Availability and Use in the Limpopo River Basin

    OpenAIRE

    Tingju Zhu; Claudia Ringler

    2012-01-01

    This paper analyzes the effects of climate change on water availability and use in the Limpopo River Basin of Southern Africa, using a linked modeling system consisting of a semi-distributed global hydrological model and the Water Simulation Module (WSM) of the International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT). Although the WSM simulates all major water use sectors, the focus of this study is to evaluate the implications of climate change on irrigation wat...

  15. Retrieval of Land Surface Temperature over the Heihe River Basin Using HJ-1B Thermal Infrared Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaoying Ouyang

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The reliable estimation of spatially distributed Land Surface Temperature (LST is useful for monitoring regional land surface heat fluxes. A single-channel method is developed to derive the LST over the Heihe River Basin in China using data from the infrared sensor (IRS onboard the Chinese “Environmental and Disaster Monitoring and Forecasting with a Small Satellite Constellation” (HJ-1B for short for one of the satellites, with ancillary water vapor information from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS products (MOD05 and in situ automatic sun tracking photometer CE318 data for the first time. In situ LST data for the period from mid-June to mid-September 2012 were acquired from automatic meteorological stations (AMS that are part of Heihe Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research (HiWATER project. MOD05-based LST and CE318-based LST are compared with in situ measurements at 16 AMS sites with land cover types of vegetable, maize and orchards. The results show that the use of the MOD05 product could achieve a comparable accuracy in LST retrieval with that achieved using the CE318 data. The largest difference between the MOD05-based LST and CE318-based LST is 0.84 K throughout the study period over the Heihe River Basin. The standard deviation (STD, root mean square error (RMSE, and correlation coefficient (R of HJ-1B/IRS vs. the in situ measurements are 2.45 K, 2.78 K, and 0.67, respectively, whereas those for the MODIS 1 km LST product vs. the in situ measurements are 4.07 K, 2.98 K, and 0.79, respectively. The spatial pattern of the HJ-1B/LST over the study area in the Heihe River Basin generally agreed well with the MODIS 1 km LST product and contained more detailed spatial textures.

  16. Susquehanna River Basin Flood Control Review Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    1980-08-01

    and made recommendations for an intergrated water plan for the Basin and included a specific Early Action Plan. Concerning flood damage reduction, the...transportation and by agriculture as a source of income and occupation. The river served as a source of transportation for trade and commerce and also as a... trade patterns, and labor market areas. The Susquehanna River Basin is largely comprised of BEA economic areas 011, 012, 013, and 016. Figure II shows the

  17. Water geochemistry of the Xijiang basin rivers, South China: Chemical weathering and CO2 consumption

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu Zhifang; Liu Congqiang

    2010-01-01

    Research highlights: → The Xijiang River is the second largest river in China and flows through a large carbonate rock region in South China. → Sulfuric acid, which emanate from acid precipitation and the oxidation of sulfide minerals, is involved as a proton donor in weathering reactions in the Xijiang basin. → Calculated results show that the contribution of cations from rock weathering induced by sulfuric acid accounts for approximately 11.2%. → The flux of CO 2 released into the atmosphere is approximately 0.41 x 10 12 gC yr -1 produced by sulfuric acid-induced carbonate weathering in the Xijiang basin. → Sulfuric acid-induced carbonate weathering could counterbalance a significant part of the CO 2 consumed by silicate weathering. - Abstract: The Xijiang River, the mainstream of the Zhujiang (Pearl) River, which is the second largest river in China in terms of discharge, flows through a large carbonate rock region in South China. The chemical and Sr isotopic compositions of the Xijiang waters were determined during the high-flow season in order to understand the chemical weathering processes, associated CO 2 consumption and anthropogenic influences within the carbonate-dominated basin. The major ion compositions of the river waters are characterized by the dominance of Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , HCO 3 - and are significantly rich in SO 4 2- . The SO 4 2- is mainly derived from the oxidation of sulfide minerals and acid precipitation caused by coal combustion. Chemical and Sr isotopic compositions of the river waters indicate that four reservoirs (carbonates, silicates, evaporites and anthropogenic inputs) contribute to the total dissolved loads. The chemical weathering rates of carbonates and silicates for the Xijiang basin are estimated to be approximately 78.5 and 7.45 ton km -2 a -1 , respectively. The total chemical weathering rate of rocks for the Xijiang basin is approximately 86.1 ton km -2 a -1 or 42 mm ka -1 , which is much higher than global mean

  18. Scaling issues in sustainable river basin management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Timmerman, Jos; Froebich, Jochen

    2014-05-01

    Sustainable river basin management implies considering the whole river basin when managing the water resources. Management measures target at dividing the water over different uses (nature, agriculture, industry, households) thereby avoiding calamities like having too much, too little or bad quality water. Water management measures are taken at the local level, usually considering the sub-national and sometimes national effects of such measures. A large part of the world's freshwater resources, however, is contained in river basins and groundwater systems that are shared by two or more countries. Sustainable river basin management consequently has to encompass local, regional, national and international scales. This requires coordination over and cooperation between these levels that is currently compressed into the term 'water governance' . Governance takes into account that a large number of stakeholders in different regimes (the principles, rules and procedures that steer management) contribute to policy and management of a resource. Governance includes the increasing importance of basically non-hierarchical modes of governing, where non-state actors (formal organizations like NGOs, private companies, consumer associations, etc.) participate in the formulation and implementation of public policy. Land use determines the run-off generation and use of irrigation water. Land use is increasingly determined by private sector initiatives at local scale. This is a complicating factor in the governance issue, as in comparison to former developments of large scale irrigation systems, planning institutions at state level have then less insight on actual water consumption. The water management regime of a basin consequently has to account for the different scales of water management and within these different scales with both state and non-state actors. The central elements of regimes include the policy setting (the policies and water management strategies), legal setting

  19. Hydrological Impacts of Flood Storage and Management on Irrigation Water Abstraction in Upper Ewaso Ng’iro River Basin, Kenya

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ngigi, S.N.; Savenije, H.H.G.; Gichuki, F.N.

    2008-01-01

    The upper Ewaso Ng’iro basin, which starts from the central highlands of Kenya and stretches northwards transcending different climatic zones, has experienced decreasing river flows for the last two decades. The Naro Moru sub-basin is used to demonstrate the looming water crisis in this water scarce

  20. Northern part, Ten Mile and Taunton River basins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, John R.; Willey, Richard E.

    1967-01-01

    The northern part of the Ten Mile and Taunton River basins is an area of about 195 square miles within Norfolk, Plymouth, and Bristol Counties in southeastern Massachusetts. The northern boundary of the area (plate 1) is the drainage divide separating these basins from that of the Charles, Neponset, and Weymouth River basins. The western boundary is, for the most part, the divide separating the basins from the Blackstone River basin. The eastern boundary is at the edge of the Brockton-Pembroke area (Petersen, 1962; Petersen and Shaw, 1961). The southern boundary in Seekonk is the northern limit of the East Providence quadrangle, for which a ground-water map was prepared by Allen and Gorman (1959); eastward, the southern boundaries of the city of Attleboro and the towns of Norton, Easton, and West Bridgewater form the southern boundary of the area.

  1. Does the Limpopo River Basin have sufficient water for massive irrigation development in the plains of Mozambique?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zaag, van der P.; Juizo, D.; Vilanculos, A.; Bolding, J.A.; Post Uiterweer, N.C.

    2010-01-01

    This paper verifies whether the water resources of the transboundary Limpopo River Basin are sufficient for the planned massive irrigation developments in the Mozambique part of this basin, namely 73,000 ha, in addition to existing irrigation (estimated at 9400 ha), and natural growth of common use

  2. 78 FR 17643 - Greater Mississippi River Basin Water Management Board; Engineer Regulation No. 15-2-13

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-22

    ... reorganized its command and control structure. This regulation revision reflects the current organizational structure and is aligned with water management activities during recent flood and drought events in the... inter- divisional coordination of water management activities within the Greater Mississippi River Basin...

  3. DETERMINATION OF WATER RESOURCES IN RIVERS IN THE BULGARIAN BASINS OF THE LOWER DANUBE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Plamen Iliev Ninov

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Object of the study is surface water bodies from category “rivers” according to Water Framework Directive 2000/60/ЕС. Surface water assessment is important for number of activities such as: water management in the country, making reports to international agencies, determining the change of the resources in the light of upcoming climate changes. The determination of water resources is based on information of hydrometric stations from the monitoring network system in the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology — Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (NIMH-BAS in which real ongoing and available water flows that are subject of management are registered. In the study a technology for surface water bodies in the Bulgarian basins of the lower Danube is applied which has been developed in the frame of cooperative project together with the Ministry of Environment and Water. This is absolutely true for the Bulgarian section of the Danube River basin which is expressed in big number and variety of hydrological homogeneous sections. The river flow is characterized with annual and inter-annual variability determined by climatic factors and anthropogenic influences. The main obtained results of the present hydrologic studies are the usage of transferred information from gauged to ungauged watersheds and the estimation of the surface water bodies’ resources using original regression relationships based on multiannual hydrological information from the NIMH-BAS monitoring network. The relationships delineate the hydrological homogeneous areas with similar conditions of flow formation. The estimated resources have significant usefulness for all State institutions managing the water in the Danube basin and have already been introduced in the operative and management practice.

  4. Hydrological assessment of freshwater resource areas in the Zambezi River Basin

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Mwenge Kahinda, Jean-Marc

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available characterisation of the degree of regulation of the river system, followed by an assessment of high water yielding areas (water towers), groundwater recharge and base flow index. To understand the environmental patterns and processes that occur in the river... to hydrogeology, IAH Publ. 8, Verlag Heinz Heisse. Xu, Y. and Beekman, H.E. (Eds). 2003. Groundwater recharge estimation in southern Africa. UNESCO IHP Series No. 64. UNESCO Paris. Figure 1: The Zambezi River Basin and its 13 sub basins Figure 3: High water...

  5. Temporal and spatial characteristics of water resources in the Yeerqiang River Basin based on remote sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Y Ran, Q.; Y Bai, L.; Feng, J. Z.; Yang, Y. M.; Guo, M. Q.; Li, H. L.; Zhang, Q.; Zhang, P.; Cao, D.

    2017-07-01

    Surface water resources play an important role in the economic and social developments as well as the protection of natural ecological environment in the Yeerqiang River Basin. Based upon the six stages of land use data from 1990 to 2015, the temporal and spatial variation of surface water resources in the Yerqiang River Basin have been explored and analyzed. The results show that: (1) From 1990 to 2015, the area of natural landscape initially increased and then decreased, while the area of artificial landscape increased, which caused a slight increase in the land use degree in the study area. (2) The dynamic changes of water and glacier areas are somewhat consistent over the past 25 years, with a sharp decline between 2005-2010 and a small increase in the remaining years. The dynamic changes in areas of non-glacial water were moderate, with decrease in area of 9 km2 from 1990 to 2015. The beach area decreased, and the other water sub-classes initially increased and then decreased. (3) Over the past 25 years, the proportion of unchanged water area is 73.22%, the transfer-out proportion is 19.19%, and the transfer-in proportion is 7.59%. Generally, water types transferred to grassland and unused land. Additionally, significant transfers were observed for the conversions between glaciers and woodland, conversions between canal, lake, reservoir and beach, and conversions between beach and farmland.

  6. Evaluating LSM-Based Water Budgets Over a West African Basin Assisted with a River Routing Scheme

    Science.gov (United States)

    Getirana, Augusto C. V.; Boone, Aaron; Peugeot, Christophe

    2014-01-01

    Within the framework of the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) Land Surface Model Intercomparison Project phase 2 (ALMIP-2), this study evaluates the water balance simulated by the Interactions between Soil, Biosphere, and Atmosphere (ISBA) over the upper Oum River basin, in Benin, using a mesoscale river routing scheme (RRS). The RRS is based on the nonlinear Muskingum Cunge method coupled with two linear reservoirs that simulate the time delay of both surface runoff and base flow that are produced by land surface models. On the basis of the evidence of a deep water-table recharge in that region,a reservoir representing the deep-water infiltration (DWI) is introduced. The hydrological processes of the basin are simulated for the 2005-08 AMMA field campaign period during which rainfall and stream flow data were intensively collected over the study area. Optimal RRS parameter sets were determined for three optimization experiments that were performed using daily stream flow at five gauges within the basin. Results demonstrate that the RRS simulates stream flow at all gauges with relative errors varying from -22% to 3% and Nash-Sutcliffe coefficients varying from 0.62 to 0.90. DWI varies from 24% to 67% of the base flow as a function of the sub-basin. The relatively simple reservoir DWI approach is quite robust, and further improvements would likely necessitate more complex solutions (e.g., considering seasonality and soil type in ISBA); thus, such modifications are recommended for future studies. Although the evaluation shows that the simulated stream flows are generally satisfactory, further field investigations are necessary to confirm some of the model assumptions.

  7. Environmental Setting of the Lower Merced River Basin, California

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gronberg, Jo Ann M.; Kratzer, Charles R.

    2006-01-01

    In 1991, the U.S. Geological Survey began to study the effects of natural and anthropogenic influences on the quality of ground water, surface water, biology, and ecology as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. As part of this program, the San Joaquin-Tulare Basins study unit is assessing parts of the lower Merced River Basin, California. This report provides descriptions of natural and anthropogenic features of this basin as background information to assess the influence of these and other factors on water quality. The lower Merced River Basin, which encompasses the Mustang Creek Subbasin, gently slopes from the northeast to the southwest toward the San Joaquin River. The arid to semiarid climate is characterized by hot summers (highs of mid 90 degrees Fahrenheit) and mild winters (lows of mid 30 degrees Fahrenheit). Annual precipitation is highly variable, with long periods of drought and above normal precipitation. Population is estimated at about 39,230 for 2000. The watershed is predominately agricultural on the valley floor. Approximately 2.2 million pounds active ingredient of pesticides and an estimated 17.6 million pounds active ingredient of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer is applied annually to the agricultural land.

  8. Evaluation of Ensemble Water Supply and Demands Forecasts for Water Management in the Klamath River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Broman, D.; Gangopadhyay, S.; McGuire, M.; Wood, A.; Leady, Z.; Tansey, M. K.; Nelson, K.; Dahm, K.

    2017-12-01

    The Upper Klamath River Basin in south central Oregon and north central California is home to the Klamath Irrigation Project, which is operated by the Bureau of Reclamation and provides water to around 200,000 acres of agricultural lands. The project is managed in consideration of not only water deliveries to irrigators, but also wildlife refuge water demands, biological opinion requirements for Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed fish, and Tribal Trust responsibilities. Climate change has the potential to impact water management in terms of volume and timing of water and the ability to meet multiple objectives. Current operations use a spreadsheet-based decision support tool, with water supply forecasts from the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and California-Nevada River Forecast Center (CNRFC). This tool is currently limited in its ability to incorporate in ensemble forecasts, which offer the potential for improved operations by quantifying forecast uncertainty. To address these limitations, this study has worked to develop a RiverWare based water resource systems model, flexible enough to use across multiple decision time-scales, from short-term operations out to long-range planning. Systems model development has been accompanied by operational system development to handle data management and multiple modeling components. Using a set of ensemble hindcasts, this study seeks to answer several questions: A) Do a new set of ensemble streamflow forecasts have additional skill beyond what?, and allow for improved decision making under changing conditions? B) Do net irrigation water requirement forecasts developed in this project to quantify agricultural demands and reservoir evaporation forecasts provide additional benefits to decision making beyond water supply forecasts? C) What benefit do ensemble forecasts have in the context of water management decisions?

  9. The Last Will Be First: Water Transfers from Agriculture to Cities in the Pangani River Basin, Tanzania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hans C. Komakech

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Water transfers to growing cities in sub-Sahara Africa, as elsewhere, seem inevitable. But absolute water entitlements in basins with variable supply may seriously affect many water users in times of water scarcity. This paper is based on research conducted in the Pangani river basin, Tanzania. Using a framework drawing from a theory of water right administration and transfer, the paper describes and analyses the appropriation of water from smallholder irrigators by cities. Here, farmers have over time created flexible allocation rules that are negotiated on a seasonal basis. More recently the basin water authority has been issuing formal water use rights that are based on average water availability. But actual flows are more often than not less than average. The issuing of state-based water use rights has been motivated on grounds of achieving economic efficiency and social equity. The emerging water conflicts between farmers and cities described in this paper have been driven by the fact that domestic use by city residents has, by law, priority over other types of use. The two cities described in this paper take the lion’s share of the available water during the low-flow season, and at times over and above the permitted amounts, creating extreme water stress among the farmers. Rural communities try to defend their prior use claims through involving local leaders, prominent politicians and district and regional commissioners. Power inequality between the different actors (city authorities, basin water office, and smallholder farmers played a critical role in the reallocation and hence the dynamics of water conflict. The paper proposes proportional allocation, whereby permitted abstractions are reduced in proportion to the expected shortfall in river flow, as an alternative by which limited water resources can be fairly allocated. The exact amounts (quantity or duration of use by which individual user allocations are reduced would be

  10. Is irrigation water price an effective leverage for water management? An empirical study in the middle reaches of the Heihe River basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Qing; Wu, Feng; Zhang, Qian

    Serious water scarcity, low water-use efficiency, and over-exploitation of underground water have hindered socio-economic development and led to environmental degradation in the Heihe River basin, northwestern China. Price leveraging is an important tool in water demand management, and it is considered to be effective in promoting water conservation and improving water use efficiency on the premise that water demand is elastic. In the present study, we examine whether price is an effective and applicable instrument for restraining the increasing demand for agricultural irrigation water in the middle reaches of the Heihe River basin and how will it affect farmers' decisions on irrigation and crop structure. Specifically, the price elasticity of agricultural water demand was estimated based on the irrigation water demand function. The results show that the agricultural irrigation water price is statistically significant, but its elasticity is very low under current low water price. Price leverage cannot play a significant role in the context of the current pricing regime and farmers' response to price increase is intrinsically weak. To create incentives for conserving water and improving irrigation efficiency, price mechanism should be accompanied with clearly defined and legally enforceable water rights, restricted water quota measures, and reform of water authorities and water-user associations. Furthermore, increases of surface irrigation water price may lead to the over-withdrawal of groundwater, consequently, effective groundwater licensing and levying must take place to limit the total volume of groundwater withdrawal. In all, improving irrigation efficiency through better management and the adoption of water-saving technologies is the ultimate way to deal with the challenges facing irrigated agriculture in the middle reaches of the Heihe River basin.

  11. Applicability of GLDAS in the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin under Climate Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jia, L.; Hong, Z.; Linglei, Z.; Yun, D.

    2017-12-01

    The change of runoff has a great influence on global water cycle, and migration or transformation of biogenic matters. As the Tibet's most important economic region, the Yarlung Zangbo River basin is extremely sensitive and fragile to the global climate change. But the river is a typical lack-data basin, where the quantity of available runoff data is extremely limited and the spatial and temporal resolutions are very low. This study Chooses middle reaches of Yarlung Zangbo River basin as the study area, 4 models of Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) and the water balance equation are used to calculate surface runoff of Nuxia hydrological station from year of 2009 to 2013. Through the analysis of hydrological elements change, the impact of climate factors to surface runoff is discussed. At last, Statistical method is used to compare correlation and error between the 4 models results and in situ runoff observation. The Broke ranking method is applied to evaluate data quality and applicability of the 4 models in the Yarlung Zangbo River basin. The results reveal that the total runoff calculated from 4 models all have similar change cycle around 12 months, and the values all tend to have slight increase as in situ runoff data during research period. Moreover, it can conclude that the runoff time series show obvious period and mutation characters. During study period, monthly mean precipitation and temperature both have obvious seasonal variability, and the variation trend is relatively consistent. Through the analysis of the runoff affecting factors, it shows that the changes of precipitation and temperature are the most direct factors affecting runoff of the Yarlung Zangbo River. Correlation between precipitations, temperature with runoff of Nuxia hydrological station is good, and the correlation coefficients are in the range of 0.727 to 0.924.It shows that climate change controls basin runoff change to some extent. At last, runoff estimated from GLDAS

  12. Effects of water use and land use on streamflow and aquatic habitat in the Sudbury and Assabet River Basins, Massachusetts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zarriello, Phillip J.; Parker, Gene W.; Armstrong, David S.; Carlson, Carl S.

    2010-01-01

    Water withdrawals from surface-water reservoirs and groundwater have affected streamflow in the Sudbury and Assabet River Basins. These effects are particularly evident in the upper Sudbury River Basin, which prompted the need to improve the understanding of water resources and aquatic habitat in these basins. In 2004, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, developed a precipitation-runoff model that uses Hydrologic Simulation Program-FORTRAN (HSPF) to evaluate the effects of water use and projected future water-use and land-use change on streamflow. As part of this study, the aquatic habitat in the basins and the effects of streamflow alteration also were evaluated. Chapter 1 of the report covers the development of the HSPF model that focuses on the upper Sudbury River Basin (106 square miles) but covers the entire Sudbury and Assabet River Basins (339 square miles). The model was calibrated to an 11-year period (1993-2003) using observed or estimated streamflow at four streamgages. The model was then used to simulate long-term (1960-2004) streamflows to evaluate the effects of average 1993-2003 water use and projected 2030 water-use and land-use change over long-term climatic conditions. Simulations indicate that the average 1993-2003 withdrawals most altered streamflow relative to no withdrawals in small headwater subbasins where the ratios of mean annual withdrawals to mean annual streamflow are the highest. The effects of withdrawals are also appreciable in other parts of the upper Sudbury River Basin as a result of the perpetuation of the effects of large withdrawals in upstream reaches or in subbasins that also have a high ratio of withdrawal to streamflow. The simulated effects of potential 2030 water-use and land-use change indicate small decreases in flows as a result of increased water demands, but these flow alterations were offset as a result of decreased evapotranspiration

  13. The global dimension of water governance: why the river basin approach is no longer sufficient and why cooperative action at global level is needed

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hoekstra, Arjen Ysbert

    2011-01-01

    When water problems extend beyond the borders of local communities, the river basin is generally seen as the most appropriate unit for analysis, planning, and institutional arrangements. In this paper it is argued that addressing water problems at the river basin level is not always sufficient. Many

  14. Assessment of environmental flow requirements for river basin planning in Zimbabwe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mazvimavi, D.; Madamombe, E.; Makurira, H.

    There is a growing awareness and understanding of the need to allocate water along a river to maintain ecological processes that provide goods and services. Legislation in Zimbabwe requires water resources management plans to include the amount of water to be reserved for environmental purposes in each river basin. This paper aims to estimate the amount of water that should be reserved for environmental purposes in each of the 151 sub-basins or water management units of Zimbabwe. A desktop hydrological method is used to estimate the environmental flow requirement (EFR). The estimated EFRs decrease with increasing flow variability, and increase with the increasing contribution of base flows to total flows. The study has established that in order to maintain slightly modified to natural habitats along rivers, the EFR should be 30-60% of mean annual runoff (MAR) in regions with perennial rivers, while this is 20-30% in the dry parts of the country with rivers, which only flow during the wet season. The inclusion of EFRs in water resources management plans will not drastically change the proportion of the available water allocated to water permits, since the amount of water allocated to water permit holders is less than 50% of the MAR on 77% of the sub-basins in the country.

  15. Hydrochemical evidence for mixing of river water and groundwater during high-flow conditions, lower Suwannee River basin, Florida, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crandall, C.A.; Katz, B.G.; Hirten, J.J.

    1999-01-01

    Karstic aquifers are highly susceptible to rapid infiltration of river water, particularly during periods of high flow. Following a period of sustained rainfall in the Suwannee River basin, Florida, USA, the stage of the Suwannee River rose from 3.0 to 5.88 m above mean sea level in April 1996 and discharge peaked at 360 m3/s. During these high-flow conditions, water from the Suwannee River migrated directly into the karstic Upper Floridan aquifer, the main source of water supply for the area. Changes in the chemical composition of groundwater were quantified using naturally occurring geochemical tracers and mass-balance modeling techniques. Mixing of river water with groundwater was indicated by a decrease in the concentrations of calcium, silica, and 222Rn; and by an increase in dissolved organic carbon (DOC), tannic acid, and chloride, compared to low-flow conditions in water from a nearby monitoring well, Wingate Sink, and Little River Springs. The proportion (fraction) of river water in groundwater ranged from 0.13 to 0.65 at Wingate Sink and from 0.5 to 0.99 at well W-17258, based on binary mixing models using various tracers. The effectiveness of a natural tracer in quantifying mixing of river water and groundwater was related to differences in tracer concentration of the two end members and how conservatively the tracer reacted in the mixed water. Solutes with similar concentrations in the two end-member waters (Na, Mg, K, Cl, SO4, SiO2) were not as effective tracers for quantifying mixing of river water and groundwater as those with larger differences in end-member concentrations (Ca, tannic acid, DOC, 222Rn, HCO3). ?? Springer-Verlag.

  16. Identifying Pollutants in the Siret River Basin by Applying New Assessment Tools on Monitoring Data: the Correlation of Land Use and Physicochemical Parameter of Water Quality Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mănescu Andreea

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The Siret River are used as raw water source for different municipal water supply systems, yet the Siret River are used as receiving bodies by some inhabitants and industry. In the study the quality of the Siret River water was determinate using a Water Quality Index (WQI. Results are presented from a field study performed on the Bistrita, Moldova, Suceava, Siret, Şomuzu Mare, Trotuş and Tributary River in the study area Siret Basin Romania. The main objective of this study was to determine is to find correlations land use to indicators physical-chemical of water quality, to investigate pollution source is more responsible for river water quality. This is of interest not only research context, but also for supporting and facilitating the application analysis postullend in the Water Framework Directive (WFD (2000/60/CE for the establishment of programmers of measures. For this purpose a slightly impact pollution source municipal wastewater treatment, land uses, urban, forest, agriculture and mining was selected and intensively monitored during six years January 2006 - December 2011, sampling was determined to meet the WFD standards for confidence in twenty two different control section of the Siret Basin. The main measures to reduce emissions to the Siret River were calcium, ammonium, sulfate, residue fixed (RF, sodium, chloride, free detergent and municipal wastewater treatment, concentrated on point emission. The main contributor to diffuse this parameters increased when more percentage of land was dedicated to industry and urban and less to forest and mining.

  17. Analysis of stream quality in the Yampa River Basin, Colorado and Wyoming

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wentz, Dennis A.; Steele, Timothy Doak

    1980-01-01

    Historic data show no significant water-temperature changes since 1951 for the Little Snake or Yampa Rivers, the two major streams of the Yampa River basin in Colorado and Wyoming. Regional analyses indicate that harmonic-mean temperature is negatively correlated with altitude. No change in specific conductance since 1951 was noted for the Little Snake River; however, specific conductance in the Yampa River has increaed 14 % since that time and is attributed to increased agricultural and municipal use of water. Site-specific relationships between major inorganic constituents and specific conductance for the Little Snake and Yampa Rivers were similar to regional relationships developed from both historic and recent (1975) data. These relationships provide a means for estimating concentrations of major inorganic constituents from specific conductance, which is easily measured. Trace-element and nutrient data collected from August 1975 through September 1976 at 92 sites in the Yampa River basin indicate that water-quality degradation occurred upstream from 3 sites. The degradation resulted from underground drainage from pyritic materials that probably are associated with coal at one site, discharge from powerplant cooling-tower blowdown water at a second site, and runoff from a small watershed containing a gas field at the third site. Ambient concentrations of dissolved and total iron and manganese frequently exceeded proposed Colorado water-quality standards. The concentrations of many dissolved and total trace elements and nutrients were greatest during March 1976. These were associated with larger suspended-sediment concentrations and smaller pH values than at other times of the year. (USGS)

  18. Sensitivity of water resources in the Delaware River basin to climate variability and change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayers, Mark A.; Wolock, David M.; McCabe, Gregory J.; Hay, Lauren E.; Tasker, Gary D.

    1994-01-01

    Because of the greenhouse effect, projected increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels might cause global warming, which in turn could result in changes in precipitation patterns and evapotranspiration and in increases in sea level. This report describes the greenhouse effect; discusses the problems and uncertainties associated with the detection, prediction, and effects of climate change; and presents the results of sensitivity analyses of how climate change might affect water resources in the Delaware River basin. Sensitivity analyses suggest that potentially serious shortfalls of certain water resources in the basin could result if some scenarios for climate change come true . The results of model simulations of the basin streamflow demonstrate the difficulty in distinguishing the effects that climate change versus natural climate variability have on streamflow and water supply . The future direction of basin changes in most water resources, furthermore, cannot be precisely determined because of uncertainty in current projections of regional temperature and precipitation . This large uncertainty indicates that, for resource planning, information defining the sensitivities of water resources to a range of climate change is most relevant . The sensitivity analyses could be useful in developing contingency plans for evaluating and responding to changes, should they occur.

  19. Hydrological River Drought Analysis (Case Study: Lake Urmia Basin Rivers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Nazeri Tahrudi

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Drought from the hydrological viewpoint is a continuation of the meteorological drought that cause of the lack of surface water such as rivers, lakes, reservoirs and groundwater resources. This analysis, which is generally on the surface streams, reservoirs, lakes and groundwater, takes place as hydrological drought considered and studied. So the data on the quantity of flow of the rivers in this study is of fundamental importance. This data are included, level, flow, river flow is no term (5. Overall the hydrological drought studies are focused on annual discharges, maximum annual discharge or minimum discharge period. The most importance of this analysis is periodically during the course of the analysis remains a certain threshold and subthresholdrunoff volume fraction has created. In situations where water for irrigation or water of a river without any reservoir, is not adequate, the minimum flow analysis, the most important factor to be considered (4. The aim of this study is evaluatingthe statistical distributions of drought volume rivers data from the Urmia Lake’s rivers and its return period. Materials and Methods: Urmia Lake is a biggest and saltiest continued lake in Iran. The Lake Urmia basin is one of the most important basins in Iran region which is located in the North West of Iran. With an extent of 52700 square kilometers and an area equivalent to 3.21% of the total area of the country, This basin is located between the circuit of 35 degrees 40 minutes to 38 degrees 29 minutes north latitude and the meridian of 44 degrees 13 minutes to 47 degrees 53 minutes east longitude. In this study used the daily discharge data (m3s-1 of Urmia Lake Rivers. Extraction of river drought volume The drought durations were extracted from the daily discharge of 13 studied stations. The first mean year was calculated for each 365 days using the Eq 1 (14. (1 (For i=1,2,3,…,365 That Ki is aith mean year, Yijis ith day discharge in jth

  20. Sectorial Water Use Trends in the Urbanizing Pearl River Delta, China

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Yao, M.; Werners, S.E.; Hutjes, R.W.A.; Kabat, P.; Huang, H.Q.

    2015-01-01

    Assessing and managing water use is crucial for supporting sustainable river basin management and regional development. The first consistent and comprehensive assessment of sectorial water use in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) is presented by analysing homogenized annual water use data from 2000 to

  1. Integrated resource assessment of the Drina River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Almulla, Youssef; Ramos, Eunice; Gardumi, Francesco; Howells, Mark

    2017-04-01

    The integrated assessment and management of resources: water, energy, food and environment is of fundamental importance, yet it is a very challenging task especially when it is carried out on the transboundary level. This study focuses on the Drina River Basin (DRB) which is a transboundary basin in South East Europe spreading across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro with a total surface area of 19,982 km2. Water resources from the Drina River Basin are shared among many activities in the basin: domestic water supply, electricity generation, fishery, tourism and, to a lesser extent, irrigation, industry and mining. The region has recently experienced repeated events of floods and droughts causing significant damage to the economy, showing a high vulnerability of the area to the effects of climate change. The assessment of the Drina River Basin is carried out in the framework of the project "Water food energy ecosystems nexus in transboundary river basins" under the UNECE Water Convention. This study aims to: 1) Improve the cooperation in the operation of dams and hydropower plants in the DRB for optimized production; 2) Explore the opportunities generated by electricity trade between the DRB countries as a mechanism to enhance cooperation and as an enabler for the synchronised operation of hydropower plants; 3) Motivate the implementation of energy efficiency measures to reduce the electricity production requirement from hydro and thermal power. In order to achieve that, a multi-country electricity system model was developed for the three countries of Drina river basin using the Open Source energy MOdelling SYStem (OSeMOSYS). The model represents the whole electricity system of each country, with special cascade representation of hydropower plants along Drina river and its tributaries. The results show that, in a scenario of synchronised operation of all power plants along Drina and its tributaries, those downstream can significantly increase their

  2. Indexes for water management and planning on the Paraopeba River Basin, Minas Gerais State

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bruno Marcel Barros da Silva

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Knowledge of the true amount of officially granted use of water and the spatial distribution of water usage in a watershed has become indispensable for the appropriate management of water resources. In this process, the use of indexes allows for the identification of possible water use conflicts. The objective of this study was to evaluate the indexes of conflict regarding water use in the management (icg and planning (icp of water resources in the Paraopeba River Basin, focusing on identifying possible water resource conflicts and on providing supportive information for the water management agency in Minas Gerais State. Besides the Digital Elevation Model (DEM for hydrological analyses to calculate the drainage area for every river segment, the official amount of granted water use and estimated river flows at watershed confluences was also needed. The results of the icg calculation demonstrated that in 22.7% of the analyzed river segments the use of water was higher than what is legally granted, and this indicates a potential conflict regarding water use. The icp analyses showed that in three river segments the use of water was higher than the long-term mean flow. The combined icg and icp analyses led us to conclude that in the water use conflict scenario the solution could be establishing an infrastructure that would allow a year-round increase in the availability of water to be granted.

  3. Analyzing the water budget and hydrological characteristics and responses to land use in a monsoonal climate river basin in South China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Yiping; Chen, Ji

    2013-01-01

    Hydrological models have been increasingly used by hydrologists and water resource managers to understand natural processes and human activities that affect watersheds. In this study, we use the physically based model, Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), to investigate the hydrological processes in the East River Basin in South China, a coastal area dominated by monsoonal climate. The SWAT model was calibrated using 8-year (1973–1980) record of the daily streamflow at the basin outlet (Boluo station), and then validated using data collected during the subsequent 8 years (1981–1988). Statistical evaluation shows that SWAT can consistently simulate the streamflow of the East River with monthly Nash–Sutcliffe efficiencies of 0.93 for calibration and 0.90 for validation at the Boluo station. We analyzed the model simulations with calibrated parameters, presented the spatiotemporal distribution of the key hydrological components, and quantified their responses to different land uses. Watershed managers can use the results of this study to understand hydrological features and evaluate water resources of the East River in terms of sustainable development and effective management.

  4. [Dynamic coupling and spatial disparity of economic development and water environmental quality in Songhua River Basin of Jilin Province, Northeast China].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Li-Hua; Tong, Lian-Jun

    2013-02-01

    By using coupling model, this paper analyzed the relationships between the economic development and water environment quality in Songhua River Basin of Jilin Province from 1991 to 2010. During the study period, both the economic development index and the water environment index in the Basin showed an uptrend, basically in a coordination state. From the perspective of coupling coordination degree, the economic development and the water environment system were in interactive coupling, with the features of complexity, nonlinearity, and time-variation. As a whole, the coupling experienced three stages, i.e., low level stage, antagonistic stage, and breaking-in stage. As for the coupling degree, the coupling of the economic development and the water environment system was in the first quadrant, i.e., at a development stage of basic coordination. From the perspective of spatial disparity, the coupling degree of the economic development and the water environment system was higher in the upper reaches of the Songhua River Basin, including Changchun and Jilin, than in the lower reaches, including Songyuan and Baicheng. The coupling degree was not only significantly positively correlated with regional economic development, but also affected by the links between the regions as well as the industrial structure within the regions. The economic development of the cities in the upper reaches of the Songhua River Basin was obviously higher than that in the lower reaches, and, due to the adopting of more strict and effective measures for environmental protection and pollution emissions reduction, the water environment quality in the upper reaches of the Songhua River Basin was better.

  5. A combined linear optimisation methodology for water resources allocation in Alfeios River Basin (Greece) under uncertain and vague system conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bekri, Eleni; Yannopoulos, Panayotis; Disse, Markus

    2013-04-01

    In the present study, a combined linear programming methodology, based on Li et al. (2010) and Bekri et al. (2012), is employed for optimizing water allocation under uncertain system conditions in the Alfeios River Basin, in Greece. The Alfeios River is a water resources system of great natural, ecological, social and economic importance for Western Greece, since it has the longest and highest flow rate watercourse in the Peloponnisos region. Moreover, the river basin was exposed in the last decades to a plethora of environmental stresses (e.g. hydrogeological alterations, intensively irrigated agriculture, surface and groundwater overexploitation and infrastructure developments), resulting in the degradation of its quantitative and qualitative characteristics. As in most Mediterranean countries, water resource management in Alfeios River Basin has been focused up to now on an essentially supply-driven approach. It is still characterized by a lack of effective operational strategies. Authority responsibility relationships are fragmented, and law enforcement and policy implementation are weak. The present regulated water allocation puzzle entails a mixture of hydropower generation, irrigation, drinking water supply and recreational activities. Under these conditions its water resources management is characterised by high uncertainty and by vague and imprecise data. The considered methodology has been developed in order to deal with uncertainties expressed as either probability distributions, or/and fuzzy boundary intervals, derived by associated α-cut levels. In this framework a set of deterministic submodels is studied through linear programming. The ad hoc water resources management and alternative management patterns in an Alfeios subbasin are analyzed and evaluated under various scenarios, using the above mentioned methodology, aiming to promote a sustainable and equitable water management. Li, Y.P., Huang, G.H. and S.L., Nie, (2010), Planning water resources

  6. Simulated runoff at many stream locations in the Methow River Basin, Washington

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mastin, Mark C.

    2015-01-01

    A collaborative Bureau of Reclamation-U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) team has been brought together to incorporate a conceptual geomorphic-habitat model with a process-based trophic model to understand the processes important to stream habitat for anadromous fish populations. The Methow River Basin was selected as a test basin for this hybrid geomorphic-habitat/trophic model, and one of the required model inputs is long-term daily runoff at reaches with potential habitat. Leveraging the existence of a watershed model that was constructed for the Methow River Basin by the USGS, the team approached the USGS at the Washington Water Science Center to resurrect the original model and to simulate runoff at many locations in the basin to test the trophic model. Thirteen new flow-routing sites were added to the model, creating a total of 61 sites in the basin where daily runoff was simulated and provided as output. The input file that contains observed meteorological data that drives the watershed model and observed runoff data for comparisons with simulated runoff was extended from water year 2001 to water year 2013 using data from 18 meteorological sites and 12 observed runoff sites. The watershed model included simulation of 16 irrigation diversions that simulated 50-percent water loss through canal seepage. Irrigation was simulated as a constant application of 0.2 inches per day to during the irrigation season, May 1–October 7.

  7. Conceptual model of water resources in the Kabul Basin, Afghanistan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mack, Thomas J.; Akbari, M. Amin; Ashoor, M. Hanif; Chornack, Michael P.; Coplen, Tyler B.; Emerson, Douglas G.; Hubbard, Bernard E.; Litke, David W.; Michel, Robert L.; Plummer, Niel; Rezai, M. Taher; Senay, Gabriel B.; Verdin, James P.; Verstraeten, Ingrid M.

    2010-01-01

    The United States (U.S.) Geological Survey has been working with the Afghanistan Geological Survey and the Afghanistan Ministry of Energy and Water on water-resources investigations in the Kabul Basin under an agreement supported by the United States Agency for International Development. This collaborative investigation compiled, to the extent possible in a war-stricken country, a varied hydrogeologic data set and developed limited data-collection networks to assist with the management of water resources in the Kabul Basin. This report presents the results of a multidisciplinary water-resources assessment conducted between 2005 and 2007 to address questions of future water availability for a growing population and of the potential effects of climate change. Most hydrologic and climatic data-collection activities in Afghanistan were interrupted in the early 1980s as a consequence of war and civil strife and did not resume until 2003 or later. Because of the gap of more than 20 years in the record of hydrologic and climatic observations, this investigation has made considerable use of remotely sensed data and, where available, historical records to investigate the water resources of the Kabul Basin. Specifically, this investigation integrated recently acquired remotely sensed data and satellite imagery, including glacier and climatic data; recent climate-change analyses; recent geologic investigations; analysis of streamflow data; groundwater-level analysis; surface-water- and groundwater-quality data, including data on chemical and isotopic environmental tracers; and estimates of public-supply and agricultural water uses. The data and analyses were integrated by using a simplified groundwater-flow model to test the conceptual model of the hydrologic system and to assess current (2007) and future (2057) water availability. Recharge in the basin is spatially and temporally variable and generally occurs near streams and irrigated areas in the late winter and early

  8. Geological Features Mapping Using PALSAR-2 Data in Kelantan River Basin, Peninsular Malaysia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pour, A. B.; Hashim, M.

    2016-09-01

    In this study, the recently launched Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar-2 (PALSAR-2) onboard the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2), remote sensing data were used to map geologic structural and topographical features in the Kelantan river basin for identification of high potential risk and susceptible zones for landslides and flooding areas. A ScanSAR and two fine mode dual polarization level 3.1 images cover Kelantan state were processed for comprehensive analysis of major geological structures and detailed characterizations of lineaments, drainage patterns and lithology at both regional and district scales. Red-Green-Blue (RGB) colour-composite was applied to different polarization channels of PALSAR-2 data to extract variety of geological information. Directional convolution filters were applied to the data for identifying linear features in particular directions and edge enhancement in the spatial domain. Results derived from ScanSAR image indicate that lineament occurrence at regional scale was mainly linked to the N-S trending of the Bentong-Raub Suture Zone (BRSZ) in the west and Lebir Fault Zone in the east of the Kelantan state. Combination of different polarization channels produced image maps contain important information related to water bodies, wetlands and lithological units for the Kelantan state using fine mode observation data. The N-S, NE-SW and NNE-SSW lineament trends were identified in the study area using directional filtering. Dendritic, sub-dendritic and rectangular drainage patterns were detected in the Kelantan river basin. The analysis of field investigations data indicate that many of flooded areas were associated with high potential risk zones for hydro-geological hazards such as wetlands, urban areas, floodplain scroll, meander bend, dendritic and sub-dendritic drainage patterns, which are located in flat topograghy regions. Numerous landslide points were located in rectangular drainage system that associated

  9. GEOLOGICAL FEATURES MAPPING USING PALSAR-2 DATA IN KELANTAN RIVER BASIN, PENINSULAR MALAYSIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. B. Pour

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available In this study, the recently launched Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar-2 (PALSAR-2 onboard the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2, remote sensing data were used to map geologic structural and topographical features in the Kelantan river basin for identification of high potential risk and susceptible zones for landslides and flooding areas. A ScanSAR and two fine mode dual polarization level 3.1 images cover Kelantan state were processed for comprehensive analysis of major geological structures and detailed characterizations of lineaments, drainage patterns and lithology at both regional and district scales. Red-Green-Blue (RGB colour-composite was applied to different polarization channels of PALSAR-2 data to extract variety of geological information. Directional convolution filters were applied to the data for identifying linear features in particular directions and edge enhancement in the spatial domain. Results derived from ScanSAR image indicate that lineament occurrence at regional scale was mainly linked to the N-S trending of the Bentong-Raub Suture Zone (BRSZ in the west and Lebir Fault Zone in the east of the Kelantan state. Combination of different polarization channels produced image maps contain important information related to water bodies, wetlands and lithological units for the Kelantan state using fine mode observation data. The N-S, NE-SW and NNE-SSW lineament trends were identified in the study area using directional filtering. Dendritic, sub-dendritic and rectangular drainage patterns were detected in the Kelantan river basin. The analysis of field investigations data indicate that many of flooded areas were associated with high potential risk zones for hydro-geological hazards such as wetlands, urban areas, floodplain scroll, meander bend, dendritic and sub-dendritic drainage patterns, which are located in flat topograghy regions. Numerous landslide points were located in rectangular drainage system

  10. Water scarcity from climate change and adaptation response in an international river basin context

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Levin-Koopman, J.F.; Kuik, O.J.; Tol, Richard S.J.; Brouwer, Roy

    We simulate and analyze the direct and indirect economic impacts of climate change on water availability for irrigation on the economy of the Netherlands and the other EU countries which share the Rhine and Meuse river basin (France, Germany and Belgium), employing a computable general equilibrium

  11. Suspended sediment, turbidity, and stream water temperature in the Sauk River Basin, western Washington, water years 2012-16

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaeger, Kristin L.; Curran, Christopher A.; Anderson, Scott W.; Morris, Scott T.; Moran, Patrick W.; Reams, Katherine A.

    2017-11-01

    The Sauk River is a federally designated Wild and Scenic River that drains a relatively undisturbed landscape along the western slope of the North Cascade Mountain Range, Washington, which includes the glaciated volcano, Glacier Peak. Naturally high sediment loads characteristic of basins draining volcanoes like Glacier Peak make the Sauk River a dominant contributor of sediment to the downstream main stem river, the Skagit River. Additionally, the Sauk River serves as important spawning and rearing habitat for several salmonid species in the greater Skagit River system. Because of the importance of sediment to morphology, flow-conveyance, and ecosystem condition, there is interest in understanding the magnitude and timing of suspended sediment and turbidity from the Sauk River system and its principal tributaries, the White Chuck and Suiattle Rivers, to the Skagit River.Suspended-sediment measurements, turbidity data, and water temperature data were collected at two U.S. Geological Survey streamgages in the upper and middle reaches of the Sauk River over a 4-year period extending from October 2011 to September 2015, and at a downstream location in the lower river for a 5-year period extending from October 2011 to September 2016. Over the collective 5-year study period, mean annual suspended-sediment loads at the three streamgages on the upper, middle, and lower Sauk River streamgages were 94,200 metric tons (t), 203,000 t, and 940,000 t streamgages, respectively. Fine (smaller than 0.0625 millimeter) total suspended-sediment load averaged 49 percent at the upper Sauk River streamgage, 42 percent at the middle Sauk River streamgage, and 34 percent at the lower Sauk River streamgage.

  12. Hydrological Process Simulation of Inland River Watershed: A Case Study of the Heihe River Basin with Multiple Hydrological Models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lili Wang

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Simulating the hydrological processes of an inland river basin can help provide the scientific guidance to the policies of water allocation among different subbasins and water resource management groups within the subbasins. However, it is difficult to simulate the hydrological processes of an inland river basin with hydrological models due to the non-consistent hydrological characteristics of the entire basin. This study presents a solution to this problem with a case study about the hydrological process simulation in an inland river basin in China, Heihe River basin. It is divided into the upper, middle, and lower reaches based on the distinctive hydrological characteristics in the Heihe River basin, and three hydrological models are selected, applied, and tested to simulate the hydrological cycling processes for each reach. The upper reach is the contributing area with the complex runoff generation processes, therefore, the hydrological informatic modeling system (HIMS is utilized due to its combined runoff generation mechanisms. The middle reach has strong impacts of intensive human activities on the interactions of surface and subsurface flows, so a conceptual water balance model is applied to simulate the water balance process. For the lower reach, as the dissipative area with groundwater dominating the hydrological process, a groundwater modeling system with the embedment of MODFLOW model is applied to simulate the groundwater dynamics. Statistical parameters and water balance analysis prove that the three models have excellent performances in simulating the hydrological process of the three reaches. Therefore, it is an effective way to simulate the hydrological process of inland river basin with multiple hydrological models according to the characteristics of each subbasin.

  13. Actual evapotranspiration (water use) assessment of the Colorado River Basin at the Landsat resolution using the operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Accurately estimating consumptive water use in the Colorado River Basin (CRB) is important for assessing and managing limited water resources in the basin. Increasing water demand from various sectors may threaten long-term sustainability of the water supply in the arid southwestern United States. L...

  14. Water-ecosystem-economy nexus under human intervention and climate change: a study in the Heihe River Basin (China)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Y.; Tian, Y.; Wu, X.; Feng, D.

    2017-12-01

    Recently, "One Belt and One Road" initiative, namely, building the "Silk Road Economic Belt" and "21st Century Maritime Silk Road", has become a global strategy of China and has been discussed as China's "Marshall Plan". The overland route of "One Belt" comes across vast arid lands, where the local population and ecosystem compete keenly for limited water resources. Water and environmental securities represent an important constraint of the "One Belt" development, and therefore understanding the complex water-ecosystem-economy nexus in the arid inland areas is very important. One typical case is Heihe River Basin (HRB), the second largest inland river basin of China, where the croplands in its middle part sucked up the river flow and groundwater, causing serious ecological problems in its lower part (Gobi Desert). We have developed an integrated hydrological-ecological model for the middle and lower HRB (the modeling domain has an area of 90,589 km2), which served as a platform to fuse multi-source data and provided a coherent understanding on the regional water cycle. With this physically based model, we quantitatively investigated how the nexus would be impacted by human intervention, mainly the existing and potential water regulations, and what would be the uncertainty of the nexus under the climate change. In studying the impact of human intervention, simulation-optimization analyses based on surrogate modeling were performed. In studying the uncertainty resulted from the climate change, outputs of multiple GCMs were downscaled for this river basin to drive ecohydrological simulations. Our studies have demonstrated the significant tradeoffs among the crop production in the middle HRB, the water and environmental securities of the middle HRB, and the ecological health of the lower HRB. The underlying mechanisms of the tradeoffs were also systematically addressed. The climate change would cause notable uncertainty of the nexus, which makes the water resources

  15. Concentrations and loads of cadmium, lead, and zinc measured near the peak of the 1999 snowmelt-runoff hydrographs for 42 water-quality stations, Coeur d'Alene River basin, Idaho

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woods, Paul F.

    2000-01-01

    The Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency within the Spokane River Basin of northern Idaho and eastern Washington included extensive data-collection activities to determine the nature and extent of trace-element contamination within the basin. The U.S. Geological Survey designed and implemented synoptic sampling of the 1999 snowmelt-runoff event at 42 water- quality stations during the 1999 water year. The distribution of the 42 stations was as follows: North Fork Coeur d’Alene River and tributaries, 4 stations; South Fork Coeur d’Alene River, 13 stations; Canyon, Ninemile, and Pine Creeks, 4 stations each; other tributaries to South Fork Coeur d’Alene River, 10 stations; and main stem Coeur d’Alene River, 3 stations. The objective was to synoptically collect discharge and water-quality data in order to significantly improve the estimation of trace-element loads from multiple contributing source areas during the snowmelt-runoff event. Discharge and water-quality data were collected near the peak discharge during late May 1999. Each station was sampled for whole-water recoverable and dissolved concentrations and loads of cadmium, lead, and zinc.

  16. Water quality assessment of the Sinos River, Southern Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blume, K K; Macedo, J C; Meneguzzi, A; Silva, L B; Quevedo, D M; Rodrigues, M A S

    2010-12-01

    The Sinos River basin is located Northeast of the state of Rio Grande do Sul (29º 20' to 30º 10' S and 50º 15' to 51º20'W), Southern Brazil, covering two geomorphologic provinces: the Southern plateau and central depression. It is part of the Guaíba basin and has an area of approximately 800 km², encompassing 32 municipalities. The objective of this study was to monitor water quality in the Sinos River, the largest river in this basin. Water samples were collected at four selected sites in the Sinos River, and the following parameters were analysed: pH, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD₅), turbidity, fecal coliforms, total dissolved solids, temperature, nitrate, nitrite, phosphorous, chromium, lead, aluminum, zinc, iron, and copper. The results were analysed based on Resolution No. 357/2005 of the Brazilian National Environmental Council (CONAMA) regarding regulatory limits for residues in water. A second analysis was performed based on a water quality index (WQI) used by the Sinos River Basin Management Committee (COMITESINOS). Poor water quality in the Sinos River presents a worrying scenario for the region, since this river is the main source of water supply for the urban core. Health conditions found in the Sinos River, mainly in its lower reaches, are worrying and a strong indicator of human activities on the basin.

  17. Water quality assessment of the Sinos River, Southern Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    KK. Blume

    Full Text Available The Sinos River basin is located Northeast of the state of Rio Grande do Sul (29º 20' to 30º 10' S and 50º 15' to 51º20'W, Southern Brazil, covering two geomorphologic provinces: the Southern plateau and central depression. It is part of the Guaíba basin and has an area of approximately 800 km², encompassing 32 municipalities. The objective of this study was to monitor water quality in the Sinos River, the largest river in this basin. Water samples were collected at four selected sites in the Sinos River, and the following parameters were analysed: pH, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5, turbidity, fecal coliforms, total dissolved solids, temperature, nitrate, nitrite, phosphorous, chromium, lead, aluminum, zinc, iron, and copper. The results were analysed based on Resolution No. 357/2005 of the Brazilian National Environmental Council (CONAMA regarding regulatory limits for residues in water. A second analysis was performed based on a water quality index (WQI used by the Sinos River Basin Management Committee (COMITESINOS. Poor water quality in the Sinos River presents a worrying scenario for the region, since this river is the main source of water supply for the urban core. Health conditions found in the Sinos River, mainly in its lower reaches, are worrying and a strong indicator of human activities on the basin.

  18. Spatial-temporal particularities of the ecological status of surface water bodies and pollution sources from Siret river basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dan DĂSCĂLIȚA

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available The ecological status of surface water bodies from Siret River Basin is monitored systematically and spatial in accordance with the requirements of European Directives in the water area. Analysis temporary and spatial of qualitative and quantitative status of surface waters (rivers, lakes is achieved according to the specificities of each body of water resulting from physical and geographical conditions, climatic and hydromorphological regimes of river basin and from human activities.In order to know of those features, there are needed specific monitoring systems of water bodies. The parametersunderlying the assessment of ecological status of rivers and lakes are monitored systematically and temporary: daily, monthly, quarterly, annually, according to these characteristics. In this context, the daily variations in environmental condition, expresses the current status of surface waters. Monthly changes are correlated with climate change and characterize the seasonal variations. On annual basis are identified the mean, minimum and maximum for each parameter and the trends (increase, decrease, regularity, periodicity, changes, etc.. Based on this information, extensive to multiannual level, itcan achieve medium and long term forecasts and it might be issued the concepts and strategies for maintaining a balance and sustainable development of water resources.In this paper we have presented some issues related to the synthesis of spatial-temporal ecological status of water bodies managed by Administration of Siret Water Basin(ABAS. Results of studies on the ecological status of water bodies have been presented for the year 2009. Also, in this paper it was presented an evolution of the quantities ofpollutants from wastewater discharged in surface receptors and their purification by water users from of activity of ABAS area in 1999-2009 periods.

  19. The Role of Forests in Regulating the River Flow Regime of Large Basins of the World

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salazar, J. F.; Villegas, J. C.; Mercado-Bettin, D. A.; Rodríguez, E.

    2017-12-01

    Many natural and social phenomena depend on river flow regimes that are being altered by global change. Understanding the mechanisms behind such alterations is crucial for predicting river flow regimes in a changing environment. Here we explore potential linkages between the presence of forests and the capacity of river basins for regulating river flows. Regulation is defined here as the capacity of river basins to attenuate the amplitude of the river flow regime, that is to reduce the difference between high and low flows. We first use scaling theory to show how scaling properties of observed river flows can be used to classify river basins as regulated or unregulated. This parsimonious classification is based on a physical interpretation of the scaling properties (particularly the scaling exponents) that is novel (most previous studies have focused on the interpretation of the scaling exponents for floods only), and widely-applicable to different basins (the only assumption is that river flows in a given river basin exhibit scaling properties through well-known power laws). Then we show how this scaling framework can be used to explore global-change-induced temporal variations in the regulation capacity of river basins. Finally, we propose a conceptual hypothesis (the "Forest reservoir concept") to explain how large-scale forests can exert important effects on the long-term water balance partitioning and regulation capacity of large basins of the world. Our quantitative results are based on data analysis (river flows and land cover features) from 22 large basins of the world, with emphasis in the Amazon river and its main tributaries. Collectively, our findings support the hypothesis that forest cover enhances the capacity of large river basins to maintain relatively high mean river flows, as well as to regulate (ameliorate) extreme river flows. Advancing towards this quantitative understanding of the relation between forest cover and river flow regimes is

  20. Temporal characterization of Arsenic in das Velhas River hydrographic basin waters, MG, Brazil for one decade (1998 - 2007

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mônica Maria Diniz Leão

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Arsenic, a metalloid with wide distribution in nature, can be found in natural environments in the forms of high toxicity. Monitoring conducted in the Basin of the das Velhas River, MG, demonstrates the occurrence of this metal in all sampling stations distributed over the water course and main tributaries. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the time trends of concentration of arsenic in water courses of the basin of das Velhas River, considering the data of twenty-nine monitoring stations from 1998 to 2007. The tests included the verification of seasonality, autocorrelation and temporal trend with the non-parametric tests of Mann-Kendall and Mann-Kendall seasonal. Eight sampling stations showed seasonality, with higher concentrations observed in rainy season. The autocorrelation was virtually nonexistent, which may be associated with low sample found in a monitoring program (three to six months. Only seven monitoring stations showed significant negative trend, indicating a reduction in the concentration of arsenic over the period studied. The results showed that the time trend studies have great relevance for the management of pollution of water resources from tracking data, providing subsidies for preventive and corrective measures differentiated between the stations and sampling periods of the year and also be used in evaluation of the effectiveness of these measures.

  1. Emergence, concept, and understanding of Pan-River-Basin (PRB

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ning Liu

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available In this study, the concept of Pan-River-Basin (PRB for water resource management is proposed with a discussion on the emergence, concept, and application of PRB. The formation and application of PRB is also discussed, including perspectives on the river contribution rates, harmonious levels of watershed systems, and water resource availability in PRB system. Understanding PRB is helpful for reconsidering river development and categorizing river studies by the influences from human projects. The sustainable development of water resources and the harmonization between humans and rivers also requires PRB.

  2. Simulation of ground-water flow and evaluation of water-management alternatives in the upper Charles River basin, eastern Massachusetts

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeSimone, Leslie A.; Walter, Donald A.; Eggleston, John R.; Nimiroski, Mark T.

    2002-01-01

    Ground water is the primary source of drinking water for towns in the upper Charles River Basin, an area of 105 square miles in eastern Massachusetts that is undergoing rapid growth. The stratified-glacial aquifers in the basin are high yield, but also are thin, discontinuous, and in close hydraulic connection with streams, ponds, and wetlands. Water withdrawals averaged 10.1 million gallons per day in 1989?98 and are likely to increase in response to rapid growth. These withdrawals deplete streamflow and lower pond levels. A study was conducted to develop tools for evaluating water-management alternatives at the regional scale in the basin. Geologic and hydrologic data were compiled and collected to characterize the ground- and surface-water systems. Numerical flow modeling techniques were applied to evaluate the effects of increased withdrawals and altered recharge on ground-water levels, pond levels, and stream base flow. Simulation-optimization methods also were applied to test their efficacy for management of multiple water-supply and water-resource needs. Steady-state and transient ground-water-flow models were developed using the numerical modeling code MODFLOW-2000. The models were calibrated to 1989?98 average annual conditions of water withdrawals, water levels, and stream base flow. Model recharge rates were varied spatially, by land use, surficial geology, and septic-tank return flow. Recharge was changed during model calibration by means of parameter-estimation techniques to better match the estimated average annual base flow; area-weighted rates averaged 22.5 inches per year for the basin. Water withdrawals accounted for about 7 percent of total simulated flows through the stream-aquifer system and were about equal in magnitude to model-calculated rates of ground-water evapotranspiration from wetlands and ponds in aquifer areas. Water withdrawals as percentages of total flow varied spatially and temporally within an average year; maximum values were

  3. Characterizing hydrological activities over Yangtze River basin using the new HUST-Grace2016 model, MODIS, and NCEP/NCAR data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, H.; Luo, Z.; Tangdamrongsub, N.; He, L.

    2017-12-01

    Accurate TWS estimation is important to evaluate the situation of the water resource over the Yangtze River basin. This study exploits the TWS observation from the new gravity model, HUST-Grace06, which is developed by a new low-frequency noise processing strategy. A novel GRACE post-processing approach is proposed to enhance the quality of the TWS estimate, and the improved TWS is used to characterize the hydrological activities over the Yangtze River basin. The approach includes the effective noise reduction and the leakage error mitigation based on forward modeling. The HUST-Grace06 derived TWS presents good agreement with the CSR mascon solution as well as the PCR-GLOBWB hydrological model. Particularly, our solution provides remarkable performance in identifying the extreme climate events e.g., flood and drought over the Yangtze River basin. In addition, for the first time, the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data is incorporated with GRACE in the exploration of the climate induced hydrological activities. The comparison between GRACE and the MODIS-derived NDVI data is also conducted to investigate their connection regarding temporal and spatial distribution. The analysis suggests that the terrestrial reflectance data can be used to represent the TWS information. Importantly, such information can be used to fill the missing data in case of the early termination of GRACE or during the prelaunch of the GRACE Follow-On mission.

  4. SURFACE WATER POLLUTION WITH HEAVY METALS IN THE LOWER CATCHMENT OF JIU RIVER BASIN, ACCORDING TO THE WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE (2000/60/EC

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ADINA SANDA ŞERBAN

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Surface water pollution with heavy metals in the lower catchment of Jiu river basin, according to the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC. The Water Framework Directive establishes a single transparent, effective and coherent water policy by defining a strategy to combat pollution by requiring specific action programs.Chemical pollution of surface water presents a threat to the aquatic environment with acute and chronic toxicity to aquatic organisms, accumulation in the ecosystem and losses of habitats and biodiversity, as well as a threat to human health (art.1 from Directive 2008/105/EC regarding the environmental quality standards for water policy.The purpose of this study is to evaluate the chemical status for surface water bodies in the lower catchment of Jiu river basin. The assessment was made taking into account the water impact of four heavy metals: cadmium (Cd, nickel (Ni, mercury (Hg and lead (Pb.

  5. A stochastic approach for the description of the water balance dynamics in a river basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Manfreda

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available The present paper introduces an analytical approach for the description of the soil water balance dynamics over a schematic river basin. The model is based on a stochastic differential equation where the rainfall forcing is interpreted as an additive noise in the soil water balance. This equation can be solved assuming known the spatial distribution of the soil moisture over the basin transforming the two-dimensional problem in space in a one dimensional one. This assumption is particularly true in the case of humid and semihumid environments, where spatial redistribution becomes dominant producing a well defined soil moisture pattern. The model allowed to derive the probability density function of the saturated portion of a basin and of its relative saturation. This theory is based on the assumption that the soil water storage capacity varies across the basin following a parabolic distribution and the basin has homogeneous soil texture and vegetation cover. The methodology outlined the role played by the soil water storage capacity distribution of the basin on soil water balance. In particular, the resulting probability density functions of the relative basin saturation were found to be strongly controlled by the maximum water storage capacity of the basin, while the probability density functions of the relative saturated portion of the basin are strongly influenced by the spatial heterogeneity of the soil water storage capacity. Moreover, the saturated areas reach their maximum variability when the mean rainfall rate is almost equal to the soil water loss coefficient given by the sum of the maximum rate of evapotranspiration and leakage loss in the soil water balance. The model was tested using the results of a continuous numerical simulation performed with a semi-distributed model in order to validate the proposed theoretical distributions.

  6. Sharing water and benefits in transboundary river basins

    OpenAIRE

    D. Arjoon; A. Tilmant; M. Herrmann

    2016-01-01

    The equitable sharing of benefits in transboundary river basins is necessary to solve disputes among riparian countries and to reach a consensus on basin-wide development and management activities. Benefit-sharing arrangements must be collaboratively developed to be perceived not only as efficient, but also as equitable in order to be considered acceptable to all riparian countries. The current literature mainly describes what is meant by the term benefit sharing in the cont...

  7. Modeling the hydrologic effects of land and water development interventions: a case study of the upper Blue Nile river basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haregeweyn, Nigussie; Tsunekawa, Atsushi; Tsubo, Mitsuru; Meshesha, Derege; Adgo, Enyew; Poesen, Jean; Schütt, Brigitta

    2014-05-01

    Over 67% of the Ethiopian landmass has been identified as very vulnerable to climate variability and land degradation. These problems are more prevalent in the Upper Blue Nile (UBN, often called Abay) river basin covering a drainage area of about 199,800 km2. The UBN River runs from Lake Tana (NW Ethiopia) to the Ethiopia-Sudan border. To enhance the adaptive capacity to the high climate variability and land degradation in the basin, different land and water management measures (stone/soil bunds, runoff collector trenches, exclosures) have been extensively implemented, especially since recent years. Moreover, multipurpose water harvesting schemes including the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD, reservoir area of ca. 4000 km2) and 17 other similar projects are being or to be implemented by 2025. However, impact studies on land and water management aspects rarely include detailed hydrological components especially at river basin scale, although it is generally regarded as a major determinant of hydrological processes. The main aim of this study is therefore to model the significance of land and water management interventions in surface runoff response at scale of UBN river basin and to suggest some recommendations. Spatially-distributed annual surface runoff was simulated for both present-day and future (2025) land and water management conditions using calibrated values of the proportional loss model in ArcGIS environment. Average annual rainfall map (1998-2012) was produced from calibrated TRMM satellite source and shows high spatial variability of rainfall ranging between ca. 1000 mm in the Eastern part of the basin to ca. 2000 mm in the southern part of the basin. Present-day land use day condition was obtained from Abay Basin Master Plan study. The future land use map was created taking into account the land and water development interventions to be implemented by 2025. Under present-day conditions, high spatial variability of annual runoff depth was observed

  8. Using radar altimetry to update a large-scale hydrological model of the Brahmaputra river basin

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Finsen, F.; Milzow, Christian; Smith, R.

    2014-01-01

    Measurements of river and lake water levels from space-borne radar altimeters (past missions include ERS, Envisat, Jason, Topex) are useful for calibration and validation of large-scale hydrological models in poorly gauged river basins. Altimetry data availability over the downstream reaches...... of the Brahmaputra is excellent (17 high-quality virtual stations from ERS-2, 6 from Topex and 10 from Envisat are available for the Brahmaputra). In this study, altimetry data are used to update a large-scale Budyko-type hydrological model of the Brahmaputra river basin in real time. Altimetry measurements...... improved model performance considerably. The Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency increased from 0.77 to 0.83. Real-time river basin modelling using radar altimetry has the potential to improve the predictive capability of large-scale hydrological models elsewhere on the planet....

  9. Climate-driven disturbances in the San Juan River sub-basin of the Colorado River

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bennett, Katrina E.; Bohn, Theodore J.; Solander, Kurt; McDowell, Nathan G.; Xu, Chonggang; Vivoni, Enrique; Middleton, Richard S.

    2018-01-01

    Accelerated climate change and associated forest disturbances in the southwestern USA are anticipated to have substantial impacts on regional water resources. Few studies have quantified the impact of both climate change and land cover disturbances on water balances on the basin scale, and none on the regional scale. In this work, we evaluate the impacts of forest disturbances and climate change on a headwater basin to the Colorado River, the San Juan River watershed, using a robustly calibrated (Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency 0.76) hydrologic model run with updated formulations that improve estimates of evapotranspiration for semi-arid regions. Our results show that future disturbances will have a substantial impact on streamflow with implications for water resource management. Our findings are in contradiction with conventional thinking that forest disturbances reduce evapotranspiration and increase streamflow. In this study, annual average regional streamflow under the coupled climate-disturbance scenarios is at least 6-11 % lower than those scenarios accounting for climate change alone; for forested zones of the San Juan River basin, streamflow is 15-21 % lower. The monthly signals of altered streamflow point to an emergent streamflow pattern related to changes in forests of the disturbed systems. Exacerbated reductions of mean and low flows under disturbance scenarios indicate a high risk of low water availability for forested headwater systems of the Colorado River basin. These findings also indicate that explicit representation of land cover disturbances is required in modeling efforts that consider the impact of climate change on water resources.

  10. Export of Nitrogen From the Yukon River Basin to the Bering Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dornblaser, M. M.; Striegl, R. G.

    2005-12-01

    The US Geological Survey measured nitrogen export from the 831,400 km2 Yukon River basin during 2001-04 as part of a five year water quality study of the Yukon River and its major tributaries. Concentrations of NO2+NO3, NH4+DON, and particulate N were measured ~6 times annually during open water and once under ice cover at three locations on the Yukon River, and on the Porcupine and Tanana Rivers. Concentration and continuous flow data were used to generate daily and annual loads of N species. NH4 concentration was generally negligible when compared to DON concentration, allowing for comparison of the relative importance of DIN vs. DON export at various watershed scales. NO2 concentration was also small compared to NO3. At Pilot Station, the last site on the Yukon before it flows into the Yukon Delta and the Bering Sea, DIN, DON, and particulate N loads averaged 19.3 × 106 kg/yr, 52.6 × 106 kg/yr, and 39.1 × 106 kg/yr, respectively. Normalized for the watershed area at Pilot Station, corresponding N yields were 1.65, 4.52, and 3.35 mmol/m2/yr. DIN yield for the Yukon at Pilot Station is substantially less than the NO3 flux reported for tropical/temperate rivers such as the Amazon, the Yangtze, and the Mississippi. DIN yield in the upper Yukon River basin is similar to that of the Mackenzie and other arctic rivers, but increases substantially downstream. This is likely due to development around Fairbanks in the Tanana River basin. When compared to other headwater basins in the upper Yukon, the Tanana basin yields about four times more DIN and two times more particulate N, while DON yields are only slightly elevated.

  11. Ground-Water System in the Chimacum Creek Basin and Surface Water/Ground Water Interaction in Chimacum and Tarboo Creeks and the Big and Little Quilcene Rivers, Eastern Jefferson County, Washington

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simonds, F. William; Longpre, Claire I.; Justin, Greg B.

    2004-01-01

    A detailed study of the ground-water system in the unconsolidated glacial deposits in the Chimacum Creek Basin and the interactions between surface water and ground water in four main drainage basins was conducted in eastern Jefferson County, Washington. The study will assist local watershed planners in assessing the status of the water resources and the potential effects of ground-water development on surface-water systems. A new surficial geologic map of the Chimacum Creek Basin and a series of hydrogeologic sections were developed by incorporating LIDAR imagery, existing map sources, and drillers' logs from 110 inventoried wells. The hydrogeologic framework outlined in the study will help characterize the occurrence of ground water in the unconsolidated glacial deposits and how it interacts with the surface-water system. Water levels measured throughout the study show that the altitude of the water table parallels the surface topography and ranges from 0 to 400 feet above the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 across the basin, and seasonal variations in precipitation due to natural cycles generally are on the order of 2 to 3 feet. Synoptic stream-discharge measurements and instream mini-piezometers and piezometers with nested temperature sensors provided additional data to refine the positions of gaining and losing reaches and delineate seasonal variations. Chimacum Creek generally gains water from the shallow ground-water system, except near the community of Chimacum where localized losses occur. In the lower portions of Chimacum Creek, gaining conditions dominate in the summer when creek stages are low and ground-water levels are high, and losing conditions dominate in the winter when creek stages are high relative to ground-water levels. In the Quilcene Bay area, three drainage basins were studied specifically to assess surface water/ground water interactions. The upper reaches of Tarboo Creek generally gain water from the shallow ground-water system

  12. Comparison of historical streamflows to 2013 Streamflows in the Williamson, Sprague, and Wood Rivers, Upper Klamath Lake Basin, Oregon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hess, Glen W.; Stonewall, Adam J.

    2014-01-01

    In 2013, the Upper Klamath Lake Basin, Oregon, experienced a dry spring, resulting in an executive order declaring a state of drought emergency in Klamath County. The 2013 drought limited the water supply and led to a near-total cessation of surface-water diversions for irrigation above Upper Klamath Lake once regulation was implemented. These conditions presented a unique opportunity to understand the effects of water right regulation on streamflows. The effects of regulation of diversions were evaluated by comparing measured 2013 streamflow with data from hydrologically similar years. Years with spring streamflow similar to that in 2013 measured at the Sprague River gage at Chiloquin from water years 1973 to 2012 were used to define a Composite Index Year (CIY; with diversions) for comparison to measured 2013 streamflows (no diversions). The best-fit 6 years (1977, 1981, 1990, 1991, 1994, and 2001) were used to determine the CIY. Two streams account for most of the streamflow into Upper Klamath Lake: the Williamson and Wood Rivers. Most streamflow into the lake is from the Williamson River Basin, which includes the Sprague River. Because most of the diversion regulation affecting the streamflow of the Williamson River occurred in the Sprague River Basin, and because of uncertainties about historical flows in a major diversion above the Williamson River gage, streamflow data from the Sprague River were used to estimate the change in streamflow from regulation of diversions for the Williamson River Basin. Changes in streamflow outside of the Sprague River Basin were likely minor relative to total streamflow. The effect of diversion regulation was evaluated using the “Baseflow Method,” which compared 2013 baseflow to baseflow of the CIY. The Baseflow Method reduces the potential effects of summer precipitation events on the calculations. A similar method using streamflow produced similar results, however, despite at least one summer precipitation event. The

  13. Application of water quality models to rivers in Johor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chii, Puah Lih; Rahman, Haliza Abd.

    2017-08-01

    River pollution is one the most common hazard in many countries in the world, which includes Malaysia. Many rivers have been polluted because of the rapid growth in industrialization to support the country's growing population and economy. Domestic and industrial sewage, agricultural wastes have polluted the rivers and will affect the water quality. Based on the Malaysia Environment Quality Report 2007, the Department of Environment (DOE) has described that one of the major pollutants is Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD). Data from DOE in 2004, based on BOD, 18 river basins were classified polluted, 37 river basins were slightly polluted and 65 river basins were in clean condition. In this paper, two models are fitted the data of rivers in Johor state namely Streeter-Phelps model and nonlinear regression (NLR) model. The BOD concentration data for the two rivers in Johor state from year 1981 to year 1990 is analyzed. To estimate the parameters for the Streeter-Phelps model and NLR model, this study focuses on the weighted least squares and Gauss-Newton method respectively. Based on the value of Mean Square Error, NLR model is a better model compared to Streeter-Phelps model.

  14. Changing climatic conditions in the Upper Thames River Basin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simonovic, S.P.

    2009-01-01

    'Full text:' Many climate change impact studies have been conducted using a top-down approach. First, outputs from Global Circulation Models (GCMs) are considered which are downscaled in a second step to the river basin scale using either a statistical/empirical or a dynamic approach. The local climatic signal that is obtained is then used as input into a hydrological model to assess the direct consequences in the basin. Problems related to this approach include: a high degree of uncertainty associated with GCM outputs; and an increase in uncertainty due to the downscaling approach. An original inverse approach is developed in this work in order to improve the understanding of the processes leading to hydrological hazards, including both flood and drought events. The developed approach starts with the analysis of existing guidelines and management practices in a river basin with respect to critical hydrological exposures that may lead to failure of the water resources system or parts thereof. This implies that vulnerable components of the river basin have to be identified together with the risk exposure. In the next step the critical hydrologic exposures (flood levels for example) are transformed into corresponding critical meteorological conditions (extreme precipitation events for example). These local weather scenarios are then be statistically linked to possible large-scale climate conditions that are available from the GCMs. The developed procedure allows for the assessment of the vulnerability of river basins with respect to climate forcing. It also provides a tool for identifying the spatial distribution of the vulnerability and risk. Vulnerability is here characterized by the incremental losses, expressed either quantitatively or qualitatively, due to a change in the probability and magnitude of hazard events driven by climatic forcing. Vulnerability is seen as the basis for risk mitigation measures for hydrologic extremes at the basin level. The

  15. Are calanco landforms similar to river basins?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caraballo-Arias, N A; Ferro, V

    2017-12-15

    In the past badlands have been often considered as ideal field laboratories for studying landscape evolution because of their geometrical similarity to larger fluvial systems. For a given hydrological process, no scientific proof exists that badlands can be considered a model of river basin prototypes. In this paper the measurements carried out on 45 Sicilian calanchi, a type of badlands that appears as a small-scale hydrographic unit, are used to establish their morphological similarity with river systems whose data are available in the literature. At first the geomorphological similarity is studied by identifying the dimensionless groups, which can assume the same value or a scaled one in a fixed ratio, representing drainage basin shape, stream network and relief properties. Then, for each property, the dimensionless groups are calculated for the investigated calanchi and the river basins and their corresponding scale ratio is evaluated. The applicability of Hack's, Horton's and Melton's laws for establishing similarity criteria is also tested. The developed analysis allows to conclude that a quantitative morphological similarity between calanco landforms and river basins can be established using commonly applied dimensionless groups. In particular, the analysis showed that i) calanchi and river basins have a geometrically similar shape respect to the parameters Rf and Re with a scale factor close to 1, ii) calanchi and river basins are similar respect to the bifurcation and length ratios (λ=1), iii) for the investigated calanchi the Melton number assumes values less than that (0.694) corresponding to the river case and a scale ratio ranging from 0.52 and 0.78 can be used, iv) calanchi and river basins have similar mean relief ratio values (λ=1.13) and v) calanchi present active geomorphic processes and therefore fall in a more juvenile stage with respect to river basins. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. MECHANISMS CONTROLLING SURFACE WATER QUALITY IN THE COBRAS RIVER SUB-BASIN, NORTHEASTERN BRAZIL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ALEXANDRE DE OLIVEIRA LIMA

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Stream water quality is dependent on many factors, including the source and quantity of the streamflow and the types of geology and soil along the path of the stream. This study aims to evaluate the origin and the mechanisms controlling the input of ions that effect surface water quality in the sub-basin of the Rio das Cobras, Rio Grande do Norte state, Northeastern Brazil. Thirteen ponds were identified for study: three in the main river and ten in the tributaries between, thus covering the whole area and lithology of the sub-basin. The samples were collected at two different times (late dry and rainy periods in the hydrological years 2009 and 2010, equating to total of four collection times. We analyzed the spatial and seasonal behavior of water quality in the sub-basin, using Piper diagrams, and analyzed the source of the ions using Guibbs diagram and molar ratios. With respect to ions, we found that water predominate in 82% sodium and 76% bicarbonate water (cations and anions, respectively. The main salinity control mechanism was related to the interaction of the colloidal particles (minerals and organic sediment with the ions dissolved in water. Based on the analysis of nitrates and nitrites there was no evidence of contamination from anthropogenic sources.

  17. Comparison between agricultural and urban ground-water quality in the Mobile River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinson, James L.

    2003-01-01

    The Black Warrior River aquifer is a major source of public water supply in the Mobile River Basin. The aquifer outcrop trends northwest - southeast across Mississippi and Alabama. A relatively thin shallow aquifer overlies and recharges the Black Warrior River aquifer in the flood plains and terraces of the Alabama, Coosa, Black Warrior, and Tallapoosa Rivers. Ground water in the shallow aquifer and the Black Warrior River aquifer is susceptible to contamination due to the effects of land use. Ground-water quality in the shallow aquifer and the shallow subcrop of the Black Warrior River aquifer, underlying an agricultural and an urban area, is described and compared. The agricultural and urban areas are located in central Alabama in Autauga, Elmore, Lowndes, Macon, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa Counties. Row cropping in the Mobile River Basin is concentrated within the flood plains of major rivers and their tributaries, and has been practiced in some of the fields for nearly 100 years. Major crops are cotton, corn, and beans. Crop rotation and no-till planting are practiced, and a variety of crops are grown on about one-third of the farms. Row cropping is interspersed with pasture and forested areas. In 1997, the average farm size in the agricultural area ranged from 196 to 524 acres. The urban area is located in eastern Montgomery, Alabama, where residential and commercial development overlies the shallow aquifer and subcrop of the Black Warrior River aquifer. Development of the urban area began about 1965 and continued in some areas through 1995. The average home is built on a 1/8 - to 1/4 - acre lot. Ground-water samples were collected from 29 wells in the agricultural area, 30 wells in the urban area, and a reference well located in a predominately forested area. The median depth to the screens of the agricultural and urban wells was 22.5 and 29 feet, respectively. Ground-water samples were analyzed for physical properties, major ions, nutrients, and pesticides

  18. Exploring Evidence of Land Surface Dynamics of River Basin Development in East Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eluwa, C.; Brown, C.

    2017-12-01

    Improving the productivity of agricultural lands in Africa in the face of climate variability and change is vital to achieving food security. A variety of possible approaches exist, many of which focus on the development and expansion of irrigation - at times associated with dam construction to provide co-benefits of hydropower and water supply. Optimal development of river basin infrastructure such as this has long been a topic of interest in water resources systems analysis. Recent advances have focused on addressing the uncertainty associated with climate change in the development of river basin plans. However, such studies rarely consider either the uncertainty from changing local surface-atmosphere interactions via basin development or the attendant effects on local ecosystems, precipitation, evapotranspiration and consequently the availability of water for the proposed projects. Some numerical experiments have described and reproduced the mechanisms via which river basin infrastructure influences local climatology in Sahelian Africa. However, no studies have explored available data for evidence of land-atmosphere interactions associated with actual development projects. This study explores the correlation of seasonal soil moisture and latent heat flux over currently dammed/irrigated areas on downwind precipitation in the East Africa region (bounded by 0N, -15N, 25E, 40E) at the mesoscale (30km - 100km) to unearth evidence of local climatological effects of river basin development (irrigation schemes). The adopted process is (1) use reanalysis data to derive mean wind directions at 800hPa for selected regions (2) use mean wind directions (and orthogonal directions) to locate high (and low) impact areas 30 -100km downwind (3) extract precipitation time series for downwind locations from three different gridded products (CRU, GCPC, PRINCETON) (4) compare precipitation time series across datasets in high/low impact areas and correlate with upwind latent heat flux

  19. Development of a stream-aquifer numerical flow model to assess river water management under water scarcity in a Mediterranean basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mas-Pla, Josep; Font, Eva; Astui, Oihane; Menció, Anna; Rodríguez-Florit, Agustí; Folch, Albert; Brusi, David; Pérez-Paricio, Alfredo

    2012-12-01

    Stream flow, as a part of a basin hydrological cycle, will be sensible to water scarcity as a result of climate change. Stream vulnerability should then be evaluated as a key component of the basin water budget. Numerical flow modeling has been applied to an alluvial formation in a small mountain basin to evaluate the stream-aquifer relationship under these future scenarios. The Arbúcies River basin (116 km(2)) is located in the Catalan Inner Basins (NE Spain) and its lower reach, which is related to an alluvial aquifer, usually becomes dry during the summer period. This study seeks to determine the origin of such discharge losses whether from natural stream leakage and/or induced capture due to groundwater withdrawal. Our goal is also investigating how discharge variations from the basin headwaters, representing potential effects of climate change, may affect stream flow, aquifer recharge, and finally environmental preservation and human supply. A numerical flow model of the alluvial aquifer, based on MODFLOW and especially in the STREAM routine, reproduced the flow system after the usual calibration. Results indicate that, in the average, stream flow provides more than 50% of the water inputs to the alluvial aquifer, being responsible for the amount of stored water resources and for satisfying groundwater exploitation for human needs. Detailed simulations using daily time-steps permit setting threshold values for the stream flow entering at the beginning of the studied area so surface discharge is maintained along the whole watercourse and ecological flow requirements are satisfied as well. The effects of predicted rainfall and temperature variations on the Arbúcies River alluvial aquifer water balance are also discussed from the outcomes of the simulations. Finally, model results indicate the relevance of headwater discharge management under future climate scenarios to preserve downstream hydrological processes. They also point out that small mountain basins

  20. Interlinking feasibility of five river basins of Rajasthan in India

    OpenAIRE

    Vyas, Sunil Kumar; Sharma, Gunwant; Mathur, Y.P.; Chandwani, Vinay

    2016-01-01

    The increasing population and large scale growth with the development of modern science and technology has indicated very high stress on water sector in Rajasthan in India. Availability of water and uniformity of rainfall distribution is changing day by day due to shifting of monsoon in Rajasthan. The spatial and temporal variations in the rainfall in different river basins in Rajasthan are drastic due to which flood situation arises in the tributaries of Chambal river basin every year. Simul...

  1. Upper Illinois River basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friedel, Michael J.

    1998-01-01

    During the past 25 years, industry and government made large financial investments that resulted in better water quality across the Nation; however, many water-quality concerns remain. Following a 1986 pilot project, the U.S. Geological Survey began implementation of the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program in 1991. This program differs from other national water-quality assessment studies in that the NAWQA integrates monitoring of surface- and ground-water quality with the study of aquatic ecosystems. The goals of the NAWQA Program are to (1) describe current water-quality conditions for a large part of the Nation's freshwater streams and aquifers (water-bearing sediments and rocks), (2) describe how water quality is changing over time, and (3) improve our understanding of the primary natural and human factors affecting water quality.The Upper Illinois River Basin National Water- Quality Assessment (NAWQA) study will increase the scientific understanding of surface- and ground-water quality and the factors that affect water quality in the basin. The study also will provide information needed by water-resource managers to implement effective water-quality management actions and evaluate long-term changes in water quality.

  2. Assimilation of ground and satellite snow observations in a distributed hydrologic model to improve water supply forecasts in the Upper Colorado River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Micheletty, P. D.; Day, G. N.; Quebbeman, J.; Carney, S.; Park, G. H.

    2016-12-01

    The Upper Colorado River Basin above Lake Powell is a major source of water supply for 25 million people and provides irrigation water for 3.5 million acres. Approximately 85% of the annual runoff is produced from snowmelt. Water supply forecasts of the April-July runoff produced by the National Weather Service (NWS) Colorado Basin River Forecast Center (CBRFC), are critical to basin water management. This project leverages advanced distributed models, datasets, and snow data assimilation techniques to improve operational water supply forecasts made by CBRFC in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The current work will specifically focus on improving water supply forecasts through the implementation of a snow data assimilation process coupled with the Hydrology Laboratory-Research Distributed Hydrologic Model (HL-RDHM). Three types of observations will be used in the snow data assimilation system: satellite Snow Covered Area (MODSCAG), satellite Dust Radiative Forcing in Snow (MODDRFS), and SNOTEL Snow Water Equivalent (SWE). SNOTEL SWE provides the main source of high elevation snowpack information during the snow season, however, these point measurement sites are carefully selected to provide consistent indices of snowpack, and may not be representative of the surrounding watershed. We address this problem by transforming the SWE observations to standardized deviates and interpolating the standardized deviates using a spatial regression model. The interpolation process will also take advantage of the MODIS Snow Covered Area and Grainsize (MODSCAG) product to inform the model on the spatial distribution of snow. The interpolated standardized deviates are back-transformed and used in an Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) to update the model simulated SWE. The MODIS Dust Radiative Forcing in Snow (MODDRFS) product will be used more directly through temporary adjustments to model snowmelt parameters, which should improve melt estimates in areas affected by dust on snow. In

  3. Chemical composition of black-watered rivers in the Amazons Region (Brazil)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horbe, Adriana M.C.; Santos, Ana G. da Silva

    2009-01-01

    Most investigations addressing Amazonian water chemistry are focused on the Solimoes, Amazonas and Negro rivers. Knowledge of the chemical composition of their smaller tributaries is restricted to some few, punctual data. The smaller rivers, that only present inputs from their catchments, are very important to understand the overall mechanisms controlling the chemistry of larger rivers of the region. With this objective the chemical composition of the principal Solimoes river black-watered tributaries in the western Brazilian Amazon during the low water period were determined. The data reveal the black water chemical composition to be highly variable and strongly influenced by the local geological environment: the Badajos basin being chemically more diluted; the Coari basin presenting higher SiO 2 contents, as well as smaller lakes having higher pH, conductivity, Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ and Sr, yet not as much as those found in the Solimoes river. The chemical composition of these waters is compatible with the low physical erosion and the region's highly leached tropical environment from which most soluble elements were quickly removed. (author)

  4. Hydrological Process Simulation of Inland River Watershed: A Case Study of the Heihe River Basin with Multiple Hydrological Models

    OpenAIRE

    Lili Wang; Zhonggen Wang; Jingjie Yu; Yichi Zhang; Suzhen Dang

    2018-01-01

    Simulating the hydrological processes of an inland river basin can help provide the scientific guidance to the policies of water allocation among different subbasins and water resource management groups within the subbasins. However, it is difficult to simulate the hydrological processes of an inland river basin with hydrological models due to the non-consistent hydrological characteristics of the entire basin. This study presents a solution to this problem with a case study about the hydrolo...

  5. Modeling water quality in an urban river using hydrological factors--data driven approaches.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Fi-John; Tsai, Yu-Hsuan; Chen, Pin-An; Coynel, Alexandra; Vachaud, Georges

    2015-03-15

    Contrasting seasonal variations occur in river flow and water quality as a result of short duration, severe intensity storms and typhoons in Taiwan. Sudden changes in river flow caused by impending extreme events may impose serious degradation on river water quality and fateful impacts on ecosystems. Water quality is measured in a monthly/quarterly scale, and therefore an estimation of water quality in a daily scale would be of good help for timely river pollution management. This study proposes a systematic analysis scheme (SAS) to assess the spatio-temporal interrelation of water quality in an urban river and construct water quality estimation models using two static and one dynamic artificial neural networks (ANNs) coupled with the Gamma test (GT) based on water quality, hydrological and economic data. The Dahan River basin in Taiwan is the study area. Ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) is considered as the representative parameter, a correlative indicator in judging the contamination level over the study. Key factors the most closely related to the representative parameter (NH3-N) are extracted by the Gamma test for modeling NH3-N concentration, and as a result, four hydrological factors (discharge, days w/o discharge, water temperature and rainfall) are identified as model inputs. The modeling results demonstrate that the nonlinear autoregressive with exogenous input (NARX) network furnished with recurrent connections can accurately estimate NH3-N concentration with a very high coefficient of efficiency value (0.926) and a low RMSE value (0.386 mg/l). Besides, the NARX network can suitably catch peak values that mainly occur in dry periods (September-April in the study area), which is particularly important to water pollution treatment. The proposed SAS suggests a promising approach to reliably modeling the spatio-temporal NH3-N concentration based solely on hydrological data, without using water quality sampling data. It is worth noticing that such estimation can be

  6. Modeling human-water-systems: towards a comprehensive and spatially distributed assessment of co-evolutions for river basins in Central Europe

    OpenAIRE

    P. Krahe; E. Nilson; M. Knoche; A.-D. Ebner von Eschenbach

    2016-01-01

    In the context of river basin and flood risk management there is a growing need to improve the understanding of and the feedbacks between the driving forces “climate and socio-economy” and water systems. We make use of a variety of data resources to illustrate interrelationships between different constituents of the human-water-systems. Taking water storage for energy production as an example we present a first analysis on the co-evolution of socio-economic and hydrological ...

  7. Projected impacts of climate change on hydrology, water resource use and adaptation needs for the Chu and Talas cross-border rivers basin, Central Asia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shamil Iliasov, Shamil; Dolgikh, Svetlana; Lipponen, Annukka; Novikov, Viktor

    2014-05-01

    The observed long-term trends, variability and projections of future climate and hydrology of the Chu and Talas transboundary rivers basin were analysed using a common approach for Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan parts of the basin. Historical, current and forecasted demands and main uses of water in the basin were elaborated by the joint effort of both countries. Such cooperative approach combining scientific data, water practitioners' outlook with decision making needs allowed the first time to produce a comprehensive assessment of climate change impacts on water resources in the Chu-Talas transboundary rivers basin, identify future needs and develop the initial set of adaptation measures and recommendations. This work was carried out under the project "Promoting Cooperation to Adapt to Climate Change in the Chu and Talas Transboundary Basin", supported by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Climate change projections, including air temperatures and rainfall in the 21st century were determined with a spatial resolution 0.5 degrees based on the integration of 15 climate change model outputs (derived from IPCC's 4th Assessment Report, and partially 5th Assessment Report) combined with locally-designed hydrology and glacier models. A significant increase in surface air temperatures by 3-6°C may be expected in the basin area, especially in summer and autumn. This change is likely to be accompanied by rainfall increase during the cold season and a decrease in the warm half of the year. As a result, a deterioration of moisture conditions during the summer-autumn period is possible. Furthermore, milder winters and hotter summers can be expected. Mountains will likely receive more liquid precipitation, than snow, while the area and volume of glaciers may significantly reduce. Projected changes in climate and glaciers have implications for river hydrology and different sectors of the economy dependent

  8. Water Level Fluctuations in the Congo Basin Derived from ENVISAT Satellite Altimetry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mélanie Becker

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available In the Congo Basin, the elevated vulnerability of food security and the water supply implies that sustainable development strategies must incorporate the effects of climate change on hydrological regimes. However, the lack of observational hydro-climatic data over the past decades strongly limits the number of studies investigating the effects of climate change in the Congo Basin. We present the largest altimetry-based dataset of water levels ever constituted over the entire Congo Basin. This dataset of water levels illuminates the hydrological regimes of various tributaries of the Congo River. A total of 140 water level time series are extracted using ENVISAT altimetry over the period of 2003 to 2009. To improve the understanding of the physical phenomena dominating the region, we perform a K-means cluster analysis of the altimeter-derived river level height variations to identify groups of hydrologically similar catchments. This analysis reveals nine distinct hydrological regions. The proposed regionalization scheme is validated and therefore considered reliable for estimating monthly water level variations in the Congo Basin. This result confirms the potential of satellite altimetry in monitoring spatio-temporal water level variations as a promising and unprecedented means for improved representation of the hydrologic characteristics in large ungauged river basins.

  9. Biological and associated water-quality data for lower Olmos Creek and upper San Antonio River, San Antonio, Texas, March-October 1990

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, R. Lynn

    1995-01-01

    Biological and associated water-quality data were collected from lower Olmos Creek and upper San Antonio River in San Antonio, Texas, during March-October 1990, the second year of a multiyear data-collection program. The data will be used to document water-quality conditions prior to implementation of a proposal to reuse treated wastewater to irrigate city properties in Olmos Basin and Brackenridge Parks and to augment flows in the Olmos Creek/San Antonio River system.

  10. Groundwater Depletion During Drought Threatens Future Water Security of the Colorado River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castle, Stephanie L.; Thomas, Brian F.; Reager, John T.; Rodell, Matthew; Swenson, Sean C.; Famiglietti, James S.

    2014-01-01

    Streamflow of the Colorado River Basin is the most overallocated in the world. Recent assessment indicates that demand for this renewable resource will soon outstrip supply, suggesting that limited groundwater reserves will play an increasingly important role in meeting future water needs. Here we analyze 9 years (December 2004 to November 2013) of observations from the NASA Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment mission and find that during this period of sustained drought, groundwater accounted for 50.1 cu km of the total 64.8 cu km of freshwater loss. The rapid rate of depletion of groundwater storage (5.6 +/- 0.4 cu km/yr) far exceeded the rate of depletion of Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Results indicate that groundwater may comprise a far greater fraction of Basin water use than previously recognized, in particular during drought, and that its disappearance may threaten the long-term ability to meet future allocations to the seven Basin states.

  11. River basins as social-ecological systems: linking levels of societal and ecosystem water metabolism in a semiarid watershed

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Violeta Cabello

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available River basin modeling under complexity requires analytical frameworks capable of dealing with the multiple scales and dimensions of environmental problems as well as uncertainty in the evolution of social systems. Conceptual and methodological developments can now be framed using the wide socio-eco-hydrological approach. We add hierarchy theory into the mix to discuss the conceptualization of river basins as complex, holarchic social-ecological systems. We operationalize the social-ecological systems water metabolism framework in a semiarid watershed in Spain, and add the governance dimension that shapes human-environment reciprocity. To this purpose, we integrate an eco-hydrological model with the societal metabolism accounting scheme for land use, human activity, and water use. We explore four types of interactions: between societal organization and water uses/demands, between ecosystem organization and their water requirements/supplies, between societal metabolism and aquatic ecosystem health, and between water demand and availability. Our results reveal a metabolic pattern of a high mountain rural system striving to face exodus and agricultural land abandonment with a multifunctional economy. Centuries of social-ecological evolution shaping waterscapes through traditional water management practices have influenced the eco-hydrological functioning of the basin, enabling adaptation to aridity. We found a marked spatial gradient on water supply, use pattern, and impact on water bodies from the head to the mouth of the basin. Management challenges posed by the European water regulatory framework as a new driver of social-ecological change are highlighted.

  12. Towards a digital watershed, with a case study in the Heihe River Basin of northwest China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, X.; Cheng, G.-D.; Ma, M.-G.; Lu, L.; Ge, Y.-C.

    2003-04-01

    Integrated watershed study and river basin management needs integrated database and integrated hydrological and water resource models. We define digital watershed as a web-based information system that integrates data from different sources and in different scales through both information technology and hydrological modeling. In the last two years, a “digital basin” of the Heihe River Basin, which is a well-studied in-land catchment in China’s arid region was established. More than 6 Gb of in situ observation data, GIS maps, and remotely sensed data have been uploaded to the Heihe web site. Various database and dynamic web techniques such as PHP, ASP, XML, VRML are being used for data service. In addition, the DIAL (Data and Information Access Link), IMS (Internet Map Server) and other Web-GISs are used to make GIS and remote sensing datasets of the Heihe River Basin available and accessible on the Internet. We also have developed models for estimating the evapotranspiration, bio-physical parameters, and snow runoff. These methods can be considered as the elements to build up the integrated watershed model that can be used for integrated management of the Heihe River Basin. The official domain name of the digital Heihe River Basin is heihe.westgis.ac.cn

  13. Potential relationships between the river discharge and the precipitation in the Jinsha River basin, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Gaoxu; Zeng, Xiaofan; Zhao, Na; He, Qifang; Bai, Yiran; Zhang, Ruoyu

    2018-02-01

    The relationships between the river discharge and the precipitation in the Jinsha River basin are discussed in this study. In addition, the future precipitation trend from 2011-2050 and its potential influence on the river discharge are analysed by applying the CCLM-modelled precipitation. According to the observed river discharge and precipitation, the annual river discharge at the two main hydrological stations displays good correlations with the annual precipitation in the Jinsha River basin. The predicted future precipitation tends to change similarly as the change that occurred during the observation period, whereas the monthly distributions over a year could be more uneven, which is unfavourable for water resources management.

  14. Summary of biological investigations relating to surface-water quality in the Kentucky River Basin, Kentucky

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bradfield, A.D.; Porter, S.D.

    1990-01-01

    The Kentucky River basin, an area of approximately 7,000 sq mi, is divided into five hydrologic units that drain parts of three physiographic regions. Data on aquatic biological resources were collected and reviewed to assess conditions in the major streams for which data were available. The North, Middle, and south Forks of the Kentucky River are in the Eastern Coal Field physiographic region. Streams in this region are affected by drainage from coal mines and oil and gas operations, and many support only tolerant biotic stream forms. The Kentucky River from the confluence of the three forks to the Red River, is in the Knobs physiographic region. Oil and gas production operations and point discharges from municipalities have affected many streams in this region. The Red River, a Kentucky Wild River, supported a unique flora and fauna but accelerated sedimentation has eliminated many species of mussels. The Millers Creek drainage is affected by brines discharged from oil and gas operations, and some reaches support only halophilic algae and a few fish. The Kentucky River from the Red River to the Ohio River is in the Bluegrass physiographic region. Heavy sediment loads and sewage effluent from urban centers have limited the aquatic biota in this region. Silver Creek and South Elkhorn Creek have been particularly affected and aquatic communities in these streams are dominated by organisms tolerant of low dissolved oxygen concentrations. Biological data for other streams indicate that habitat and water quality conditions are favorable for most commonly occurring aquatic organisms. 205 refs., 7 figs., 1 tab

  15. Development of streamflow projections under changing climate conditions over Colorado River basin headwaters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    W. P. Miller

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available The current drought over the Colorado River Basin has raised concerns that the US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation may impose water shortages over the lower portion of the basin for the first time in history. The guidelines that determine levels of shortage are affected by relatively short-term (3 to 7 month forecasts determined by the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center (CBRFC using the National Weather Service (NWS River Forecasting System (RFS hydrologic model. While these forecasts by the CBRFC are useful, water managers within the basin are interested in long-term projections of streamflow, particularly under changing climate conditions. In this study, a bias-corrected, statistically downscaled dataset of projected climate is used to force the NWS RFS utilized by the CBRFC to derive projections of streamflow over the Green, Gunnison, and San Juan River headwater basins located within the Colorado River Basin. This study evaluates the impact of changing climate to evapotranspiration rates and contributes to a better understanding of how hydrologic processes change under varying climate conditions. The impact to evapotranspiration rates is taken into consideration and incorporated into the development of streamflow projections over Colorado River headwater basins in this study. Additionally, the NWS RFS is modified to account for impacts to evapotranspiration due to changing temperature over the basin. Adjusting evapotranspiration demands resulted in a 6 % to 13 % average decrease in runoff over the Gunnison River Basin when compared to static evapotranspiration rates. Streamflow projections derived using projections of future climate and the NWS RFS provided by the CBRFC resulted in decreased runoff in 2 of the 3 basins considered. Over the Gunnison and San Juan River basins, a 10 % to 15 % average decrease in basin runoff is projected through the year 2099. However, over the Green River basin, a 5 % to 8

  16. Water-quality assessment of the Smith River drainage basin, California and Oregon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iwatsubo, Rick T.; Washabaugh, Donna S.

    1982-01-01

    A water-quality assessment of the Smith River drainage basin was made to provide a summary of the water-quality conditions including known or potential water-quality problems. Results of the study showed that the water quality of the Smith River is excellent and generally meets the water-quality objectives for the beneficial uses identified by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, North Coast Region. Known and potential problems related to water quality include: Sedimentation resulting from both natural erosional processes and land-use activities such as timber harvest, road construction, and mining that accelerate the erosional processes; bacterial contamination of surface and ground waters from inundated septic tanks and drainfields, and grazing activities; industrial spills which have resulted in fish kills and oil residues; high concetrations of iron in ground water; log and debris jams creating fish migration barriers; and pesticide and trace-element contamination from timber-harvest and mining activities, respectively. Future studies are needed to establish: (1) a sustained long-term monitoring program to provide a broad coverage of water-quality conditions in order to define long-term water-quality trends; and (2) interpretive studies to determine the source of known and potential water-quality problems. (USGS)

  17. Foundations of the participatory approach in the Mekong River basin management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Budryte, Paulina; Heldt, Sonja; Denecke, Martin

    2018-05-01

    Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) was acknowledged as a leading concept in the water management for the last two decades by academia, political decision-makers and experts. It strongly promotes holistic management and participatory approaches. The flexibility and adaptability of IWRM concept are especially important for large, transboundary river basins - e.g. the Mekong river basin - where natural processes and hazards, as well as, human-made "disasters" are demanding for a comprehensive approach. In the Mekong river basin, the development and especially the enforcement of one common strategy has always been a struggle. The past holds some unsuccessful experiences. In 2016 Mekong River Commission published IWRM-based Basin Development Strategy 2016-2020 and The Mekong River Commission Strategic Plan 2016-2020. They should be the main guiding document for the Mekong river development in the near future. This study analyzes how the concept of public participation resembles the original IWRM participatory approach in these documents. Therefore, IWRM criteria for public participation in international literature and official documents from the Mekong river basin are compared. As there is often a difference between "de jure" and "de facto" implementation of public participation in management concepts, the perception of local stakeholders was assessed in addition. The results of social survey give an insight if local people are aware of Mekong river basin development and present their dominant attitudes about the issue. The findings enable recommendations how to mitigate obstacles in the implementation of common development strategy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Remotely-Sensed Mapping of Irrigation Area in the Chu-Talas River Basin in Central Asia and Application to Compliance Monitoring of Transboundary Water Sharing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ragettli, S.; Siegfried, T.; Herberz, T.

    2017-12-01

    In the Central Asian Chu-Talas River Basin, farmers depend on freshwater from international rivers to irrigate their fields during the summer growing season. While the allocation percentages of water sharing between up- and downstream are defined for both rivers, marked interannual supply variability plus inadequate monitoring renders the compliance with these quotas difficult. In such circumstances, data on irrigated area obtained by remote sensing can be used to map the extent of irrigation in terms of its area on at national and subnational scales. Due to its transparency on how the data was obtained (freely available satellite data) and processed, this objective measure could potentially be used as a data product for confidence building and for compliance monitoring. This study assesses the extent and location of irrigated areas over the period 2000 - 2016 in the basins by using state-of-the-art remote sensing technology. Using a random forest classifier, an automated irrigated cropland mapping algorithm was implemented in Google Earth Engine using Landsat 7 data. First, a training set was established through visual interpretation (irrigated and non-irrigated classes for the year 2015) and the classifier then trained. The classier was then applied on a series of seasonal greenest pixels image mosaics from 2000 to 2016. A four-stepped accuracy assessment confirmed that the classifier yielded robust, reliable and reproducible results. Outcomes indicate that irrigated areas in the Kyrgyz side of the Talas Basin approximately doubled by 2016 since 2000 while the irrigated area in the Kazakh part of the basin did not significantly change over the 17 year time period. In the Chu River Basin, total irrigated area tripled since 2000. Comparison with officially reported statistics shows differences and points to reporting issues in both countries. We conclude that remote sensing of irrigated areas in arid and semi-arid regions in combination with cloud computing offers

  19. Instream flow characterization of upper Salmon River basin streams, central Idaho, 2004

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maret, Terry R.; Hortness, Jon E.; Ott, Douglas S.

    2005-01-01

    Anadromous fish populations in the Columbia River Basin have plummeted in the last 100 years. This severe decline led to Federal listing of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) stocks as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the 1990s. Historically, the upper Salmon River Basin (upstream of the confluence with the Pahsimeroi River) in Idaho provided migration corridors and significant habitat for these ESA-listed species, in addition to the ESA-listed bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus). Human development has modified the original streamflow conditions in many streams in the upper Salmon River Basin. Summer streamflow modifications resulting from irrigation practices, have directly affected quantity and quality of fish habitat and also have affected migration and (or) access to suitable spawning and rearing habitat for these fish. As a result of these ESA listings and Action 149 of the Federal Columbia River Power System Biological Opinion of 2000, the Bureau of Reclamation was tasked to conduct streamflow characterization studies in the upper Salmon River Basin to clearly define habitat requirements for effective species management and habitat restoration. These studies include collection of habitat and streamflow information for the Physical Habitat Simulation System model, a widely applied method to determine relations between habitat and discharge requirements for various fish species and life stages. Model results can be used by resource managers to guide habitat restoration efforts by evaluating potential fish habitat and passage improvements by increasing streamflow. In 2004, instream flow characterization studies were completed on Salmon River and Beaver, Pole, Champion, Iron, Thompson, and Squaw Creeks. Continuous streamflow data were recorded upstream of all diversions on Salmon River and Pole, Iron, Thompson, and Squaw Creeks. In addition, natural summer streamflows were

  20. Gazetteer of hydrologic characteristics of streams in Massachusetts; Blackstone River basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wandle, S.W.; Phipps, A.F.

    1984-01-01

    The Blackstone River basin encompasses 335 square miles in south-central Massachusetts, including parts of Bristol, Middlesex, Norfolk, and Worcester Counties. Drainage areas, using the latest available 1:24,000 scale topographic maps, were computed for the first time for streams draining more than 3 square miles and were recomputed for data-collection sites. Streamflow characteristics, were calculated using a new data base with records through 1980. These characteristics include annual and monthly flow statistics, duration of daily flow values, and the annual 7-day mean low flow at the 2-year and 10-year recurrence intervals. The 7-day, 10-year low-flow values are presented for 31 partial-record sites and the procedures used to determine the hydrologic characteristics of the basin are summarized. Basin characteristics representing 14 commonly used indices to estimate various streamflows are presented for the six gaged streams in the Blackstone River basin. This gazetteer will aid in the planning and siting of water-resources-related activities and will provide a common data base for governmental agencies and the engineering and planning communities. (USGS)

  1. Data-driven modeling of background and mine-related acidity and metals in river basins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friedel, Michael J

    2013-01-01

    A novel application of self-organizing map (SOM) and multivariate statistical techniques is used to model the nonlinear interaction among basin mineral-resources, mining activity, and surface-water quality. First, the SOM is trained using sparse measurements from 228 sample sites in the Animas River Basin, Colorado. The model performance is validated by comparing stochastic predictions of basin-alteration assemblages and mining activity at 104 independent sites. The SOM correctly predicts (>98%) the predominant type of basin hydrothermal alteration and presence (or absence) of mining activity. Second, application of the Davies–Bouldin criteria to k-means clustering of SOM neurons identified ten unique environmental groups. Median statistics of these groups define a nonlinear water-quality response along the spatiotemporal hydrothermal alteration-mining gradient. These results reveal that it is possible to differentiate among the continuum between inputs of background and mine-related acidity and metals, and it provides a basis for future research and empirical model development.

  2. Water-quality and algal conditions in the North Umpqua River basin, Oregon, 1992-95, and indications for resource management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Chauncey W.; Carpenter, Kurt D.

    1998-01-01

    This report describes the results of a synoptic water-quality and algal investigation during July 1995 at 36 stream sites in a 1,350 square-mile area of the North Umpqua River Basin, Oregon. The study area includes a headwaters hydroelectric project area, a Wild and Scenic reach in the main stem immediately downstream, and the watersheds of several major tributaries. Additional data from previous investigations are reviewed, and impacts on water quality in the Wild and Scenic reach from resource management, including forestry and reservoir operations, are inferred where sufficient data exist.

  3. Quantifying the potential for reservoirs to secure future surface water yields in the world’s largest river basins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Lu; Parkinson, Simon; Gidden, Matthew; Byers, Edward; Satoh, Yusuke; Riahi, Keywan; Forman, Barton

    2018-04-01

    Surface water reservoirs provide us with reliable water supply, hydropower generation, flood control and recreation services. Yet reservoirs also cause flow fragmentation in rivers and lead to flooding of upstream areas, thereby displacing existing land-use activities and ecosystems. Anticipated population growth and development coupled with climate change in many regions of the globe suggests a critical need to assess the potential for future reservoir capacity to help balance rising water demands with long-term water availability. Here, we assess the potential of large-scale reservoirs to provide reliable surface water yields while also considering environmental flows within 235 of the world’s largest river basins. Maps of existing cropland and habitat conservation zones are integrated with spatially-explicit population and urbanization projections from the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways to identify regions unsuitable for increasing water supply by exploiting new reservoir storage. Results show that even when maximizing the global reservoir storage to its potential limit (∼4.3–4.8 times the current capacity), firm yields would only increase by about 50% over current levels. However, there exist large disparities across different basins. The majority of river basins in North America are found to gain relatively little firm yield by increasing storage capacity, whereas basins in Southeast Asia display greater potential for expansion as well as proportional gains in firm yield under multiple uncertainties. Parts of Europe, the United States and South America show relatively low reliability of maintaining current firm yields under future climate change, whereas most of Asia and higher latitude regions display comparatively high reliability. Findings from this study highlight the importance of incorporating different factors, including human development, land-use activities, and climate change, over a time span of multiple decades and across a range of different

  4. Are the streams of the Sinos River basin of good water quality? Aquatic macroinvertebrates may answer the question

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. Bieger

    Full Text Available Macroinvertebrate communities are one of the most used groups in assessments of water quality, since they respond directly to the level of contamination of aquatic ecosystems. The main objective of this study was the assessment of the water quality of the Sinos River basin (Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil through biotic indices based on the macroinvertebrate community ("Family Biotic Index - FBI", and "Biological Monitoring Working Party Score System - BMWP". Three lower order streams (2nd order were selected in each one of three main regions of the basin. In each stream, the samplings were performed in three reaches (upper, middle, and lower, totalling 27 reaches. Two samplings were carried in each reach over one year (winter and summer. A total of 6,847 macroinvertebrates distributed among 54 families were sampled. The streams from the upper region were of better water quality than the lower region. The water quality did not change between the upper, middle and lower reaches of the streams. However, the upper reaches of the streams were of better water quality in all the regions of the basin. The water quality of the streams did not vary between the summer and the winter. This result demonstrated that water quality may be analysed in both studied seasons (summer and winter using biotic indices. The analysis of the results allows us to conclude that the biotic indices used reflected the changes related to the water quality along the longitudinal gradient of the basin. Thus, aquatic macroinvertebrates were important bioindicators of the water and environmental quality of the streams of the Sinos River basin.

  5. [Simulation for balanced effect of soil and water resources on cultivated land in Naoli River Basin, Northeast China under the RCPs climate scene].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Hao; Lei, Guo Ping; Yang, Xue Xin; Zhao, Yu Hui; Zhang, Ji Xin

    2018-04-01

    Under the scenarios of climate change, balancing the land and water resources is one of the key problems needed to be solved in land development. To reveal the water dynamics of the cultivated land in Naoli River Basin, we simulated the future scenarios by using the future land use simulation model based on Landsat Satellite images, the DEM data and the meteorological data. Results showed that the growth rate of cultivated land gradually decreased. It showed different changing characteristics in different time periods, which led to different balancing effect between land and water resources. In 1990, the water dynamics of the cultivated land resources was in good state, At the same time, the adjustment of crops structure caused the paddy fields increased dramatically. During 2002 to 2014, the cultivated land that in moderate and serious moisture shortage state increased slightly, the water deficit was deteriorating to a certain degree, and maintained sound development of water profit and loss situation gradually. By comparing the simulation accuracy with different spatial resolutions and time scales, we selected 200 m as the spatial resolution of the simulation, and simulated the land use status in 2038. The simulation results showed that the cultivated land's water profit and loss degree in the river basin showed significant polarization characteristic, in that the water profit and loss degree of the cultivated land would be further intensified, the area with the higher grades of moisture profit and loss degree would distribute more centralized, and partially high evaluated grades for the moisture shortage would expand. It is needed to develop the cultivated land irrigation schemes and adjust the cultivated land in Naoli River Basin to balance soil and water resources.

  6. Hydrologic parameters and land use reflection on water quality at Mun river, Thailand

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akter, A.; Babel, M.S.

    2005-01-01

    The 'River Basin' is the land area surrounding one river from its headwaters to its mouth whereas the area drained by a river and its tributaries. So that the land use changes and excessive application of nutrients (Nitrogen and Phosphorus) in predominant agricultural river basins may have a great influence on water quality. Here the study area Mun River Basin is approximately of 69,701 km/sup 2/ and in 1994, out of the total basin area 'about 80 percent was covered by agricultural purposes. Also one of the driest parts of Thailand as well as one of the industrialized provinces in Thailand, Nakhon Ratchasima is situated at the upstream of the river. Accordingly the downstream part Ubon Ratchathani seems totally agricultural based area. To get the water quality changing trends due to land use, there are around forty water quality parameters has considered for the last ten years along with the basins hydrological parameters. For this study based on the fifteen years rainfall data, the whole year divided into two seasons namely wet season (May to October) and dry season (November to April). The result shows: (1) most of the physicochemical parameters are high in wet season; (2) heavy metals moreover appear higher at wet season and (3) although the presences of pesticides are very nominal, the higher values are detected at wet season. The conclusion draws for the water quality by having wet season water sampling and then the testing of water samples for selected seven parameters whereas the water samples are collected at a duration of one-week to three-week from April to October 2004. And this short duration analysis shows that the mean value of the nutrient shows not only higher at wet season (May to October) than April's data also exceed the existing Thailand's surface water quality standard. (author)

  7. Linking land-use type and stream water quality using spatial data of fecal indicator bacteria and heavy metals in the Yeongsan river basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kang, Joo-Hyon; Lee, Seung Won; Cho, Kyung Hwa; Ki, Seo Jin; Cha, Sung Min; Kim, Joon Ha

    2010-07-01

    This study reveals land-use factors that explain stream water quality during wet and dry weather conditions in a large river basin using two different linear models-multiple linear regression (MLR) models and constrained least squares (CLS) models. Six land-use types and three topographical parameters (size, slope, and permeability) of the watershed were incorporated into the models as explanatory variables. The suggested models were then demonstrated using a digitized elevation map in conjunction with the land-use and the measured concentration data for Escherichia coli (EC), Enterococci bacteria (ENT), and six heavy metal species collected monthly during 2007-2008 at 50 monitoring sites in the Yeongsan Watershed, Korea. The results showed that the MLR models can be a powerful tool for predicting the average concentrations of pollutants in stream water (the Nash-Sutcliffe (NS) model efficiency coefficients ranged from 0.67 to 0.95). On the other hand, the CLS models, with moderately good prediction performance (the NS coefficients ranged 0.28-0.85), were more suitable for quantifying contributions of respective land-uses to the stream water quality. The CLS models suggested that industrial and urban land-uses are major contributors to the stream concentrations of EC and ENT, whereas agricultural, industrial, and mining areas were significant sources of many heavy metal species. In addition, the slope, size, and permeability of the watershed were found to be important factors determining the extent of the contribution from each land-use type to the stream water quality. The models proposed in this paper can be considered useful tools for developing land cover guidelines and for prioritizing locations for implementing management practices to maintain stream water quality standard in a large river basin. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Monitoring mass changes in the Volta River basin using GRACE satellite gravity and TRMM precipitation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vagner G. Ferreira

    Full Text Available GRACE satellite gravity data was used to estimate mass changes within the Volta River basin in West African for the period of January, 2005 to December, 2010. We also used the precipitation data from the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM to determine relative contributions source to the seasonal hydrological balance within the Volta River basin. We found out that the seasonal mass change tends to be detected by GRACE for periods from 1 month in the south to 4 months in the north of the basin after the rainfall events. The results suggested a significant gain in water storage in the basin at reference epoch 2007.5 and a dominant annual cycle for the period under consideration for both in the mass changes and rainfall time series. However, there was a low correlation between mass changes and rainfall implying that there must be other processes which cause mass changes without rainfall in the upstream of the Volta River basin.

  9. The evolution and performance of river basin management in the Murray-Darling Basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew Ross

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available We explore bioregional management in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB in Australia through the institutional design characteristics of the MDB River Basin Organization (RBO, the actors and organizations who supported and resisted the establishment of the RBO, and the effectiveness of the RBO. During the last 25 years, there has been a major structural reform in the MDB RBO, which has changed from an interstate coordinating body to an Australian government agency. Responsibility for basin management has been centralized under the leadership of the Australian government, and a comprehensive integrated Basin plan has been adopted. The driving forces for this centralization include national policy to restore river basins to sustainable levels of extraction, state government difficulties in reversing overallocation of water entitlements, the millennium drought and its effects, political expediency on the part of the Australian government and state governments, and a major injection of Australian government funding. The increasing hierarchy and centralization of the MDB RBO does not follow a general trend toward multilevel participative governance of RBOs, but decentralization should not be overstated because of the special circumstances at the time of the centralization and the continuing existence of some decentralized elements, such as catchment water plans, land use planning, and water quality. Further swings in the centralization-decentralization pendulum could occur. The MDB reform has succeeded in rebalancing Basin water allocations, including an allocation for the environment and reduced diversion limits. There are some longer term risks to the implementation of reform, including lack of cooperation by state governments, vertical coordination difficulties, and perceived reductions in the accountability and legitimacy of reform at the local level. If implementation of the Basin plan is diverted or delayed, a new institution, the Commonwealth

  10. Drainage divides, Massachusetts; Blackstone and Thames River basins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krejmas, Bruce E.; Wandle, S. William

    1982-01-01

    Drainage boundaries for selected subbasins of the Blackstone and Thames River basins in eastern Hampden, eastern Hampshire, western Norfolk, southern Middlesex, and southern Worcester Counties, Massachusetts, are delineated on 12 topographic quadrangle maps at a scale of 1:24,000. Drainage basins are shown for all U.S. Geological Survey data-collection sites and for mouths of major rivers. Drainage basins are shown for the outlets of lakes or ponds and for streams where the drainage area is greater than 3 square miles. Successive sites along watercourses are indicated where the intervening area is at least 6 miles on tributary streams or 15 square miles along the Blackstone River, French River, or Quinebaug River. (USGS)

  11. Pb-Zn-Cd-Hg multi isotopic characterization of the Loire River Basin, France

    Science.gov (United States)

    Millot, R.; Widory, D.; Innocent, C.; Guerrot, C.; Bourrain, X.; Johnson, T. M.

    2012-12-01

    The contribution of human activities such as industries, agriculture and domestic inputs, becomes more and more significant in the chemical composition (major ions and pollutants such as metals) of the dissolved load of rivers. Furthermore, this influence can also be evidenced in the suspended solid matter known to play an important role in the transport of heavy metals through river systems. Human factors act as a supplementary key process. Therefore the mass-balance for the budget of catchments and river basins include anthropogenic disturbances. The Loire River in central France is approximately 1010 km long and drains an area of 117,800 km2. Initially, the Loire upstream flows in a south to north direction originating in the Massif Central, and continues up to the city of Orléans, 650 km from the source. In the upper basin, the bedrock is old plutonic rock overlain by much younger volcanic rocks. The Loire River then follows a general east to west direction to the Atlantic Ocean. The intermediate basin includes three major tributaries flowing into the Loire River from the left bank: the Cher, the Indre and the Vienne rivers; the main stream flows westward and its valley stretches toward the Atlantic Ocean. Here, the Loire River drains the sedimentary series of the Paris Basin, mainly carbonate deposits. The lower Loire basin drains pre-Mesozoic basement of the Armorican Massif and its overlying Mesozoic to Cenozoic sedimentary deposits. The Loire River is one of the main European riverine inputs to the Atlantic ocean. Here we are reporting concentration and isotope data for heavy metals Zn-Cd-Pb-Hg in river waters and suspended sediments from the Loire River Basin. In addition, we also report concentration and isotope data for these metals for the different industrial sources within the Loire Basin, as well as data for biota samples such as mussels and oysters from the Bay of Biscay and North Brittany. These organisms are known to be natural accumulators of

  12. 210Pb and compositional data of sediments from Rondonian lakes, Madeira River basin, Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bonotto, Daniel Marcos; Vergotti, Marcelo

    2015-01-01

    Gold exploration has been intensive in Brazilian Amazon over the last 40 years, where the use of mercury as an amalgam has caused abnormal Hg concentrations in water bodies. Special attention has been directed to Madeira River due to fact it is a major tributary of Amazon River and that since 1986, gold exploration has been officially permitted along a 350 km sector of the river. The 210 Pb method has been used to date sediments taken from nine lakes situated in Madeira River basin, Rondônia State, and to verify where anthropogenic Hg might exist due to gold exploitation in Madeira River. Activity profiles of excess 210 Pb determined in the sediment cores provided a means to evaluate the sedimentation rates using a Constant Flux: Constant Sedimentation (CF:CS) and Constant Rate of Supply (CRS) of unsupported/excess 210 Pb models. A significant relationship was found between the CF:CS sedimentation rates and the mean values of the CRS sedimentation rates (Pearson correlation coefficient r=0.59). Chemical data were also determined in the sediments for identifying possible relationships with Hg occurring in the area. Significant values were found in statistical correlation tests realized among the Hg, major oxides and Total Organic Carbon (TOC) content in the sediments. The TOC increased in the sediment cores accompanied by a loss on ignition (LOI) increment, whereas silica decreased following a specific surface area raising associated to the TOC increase. The CRS model always provided ages within the permitted range of the 210 Pb-method in the studied lakes, whereas the CF:CS model predicted two values above 140 years. - Highlights: • Gold mining activities. • Madeira River basin at Amazon area. • Pb-210 chronological method. • Models for evaluating sedimentation rates

  13. Management of water use in the Paraíba River, PB, Brazil basin based on water grants and charge models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Márcia Araújo de Almeida

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available One of the challenges in the management of water resources is to advance water distribution mechanisms to allow them to balance the basin's available water with the demands of its various economic sectors. This research evaluated the combined use of a model of grant optimization with a proposed model of charging for the use of raw water in order to assist decision makers in the distribution of water of the Acauã Reservoir, located in the basin of the Paraiba River in the State of Paraiba, Brazil. The grant model allowed optimizing the achievement of the demand requests according to water use priorities defined in four scenarios, balancing demand and availability. It was shown that it can be used in decision-making processes in the evaluation of new grant requests in basins controlled by reservoirs. The proposed charging model incorporated various profiles of water users using various coefficients which enabled the definition of the amount to be charged to encourage the rational use of water, not just a tax collection mechanism.

  14. Fishes of the Taquari-Antas river basin (Patos Lagoon basin, southern Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    FG. Becker

    Full Text Available The aquatic habitats of the Taquari-Antas river basin (in the Patos Lagoon basin, southern Brazil are under marked environmental transformation because of river damming for hydropower production. In order to provide an information baseline on the fish fauna of the Taquari-Antas basin, we provide a comprehensive survey of fish species based on primary and secondary data. We found 5,299 valid records of fish species in the basin, representing 119 species and 519 sampling sites. There are 13 non-native species, six of which are native to other Neotropical river basins. About 24% of the total native species are still lacking a taxonomic description at the species level. Three native long-distance migratory species were recorded (Leporinus obtusidens, Prochilodus lineatus, Salminus brasiliensis, as well as two potential mid-distance migrators (Parapimelodus nigribarbis and Pimelodus pintado. Although there is only one officially endangered species in the basin (S. brasiliensis, restricted range species (21.7% of total species should be considered in conservation efforts.

  15. Operational Hydrologic Forecasts in the Columbia River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shrestha, K. Y.; Curry, J. A.; Webster, P. J.; Toma, V. E.; Jelinek, M.

    2013-12-01

    The Columbia River Basin (CRB) covers an area of ~670,000 km2 and stretches across parts of seven U.S. states and one Canadian province. The basin is subject to a variable climate, and moisture stored in snowpack during the winter is typically released in spring and early summer. These releases contribute to rapid increases in flow. A number of impoundments have been constructed on the Columbia River main stem and its tributaries for the purposes of flood control, navigation, irrigation, recreation, and hydropower. Storage reservoirs allow water managers to adjust natural flow patterns to benefit water and energy demands. In the past decade, the complexity of water resource management issues in the basin has amplified the importance of streamflow forecasting. Medium-range (1-10 day) numerical weather forecasts of precipitation and temperature can be used to drive hydrological models. In this work, probabilistic meteorological variables from the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) are used to force the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model. Soil textures were obtained from FAO data; vegetation types / land cover information from UMD land cover data; stream networks from USGS HYDRO1k; and elevations from CGIAR version 4 SRTM data. The surface energy balance in 0.25° (~25 km) cells is closed through an iterative process operating at a 6 hour timestep. Output fluxes from a number of cells in the basin are combined through one-dimensional flow routing predicated on assumptions of linearity and time invariance. These combinations lead to daily mean streamflow estimates at key locations throughout the basin. This framework is suitable for ingesting daily numerical weather prediction data, and was calibrated using USGS mean daily streamflow data at the Dalles Dam (TDA). Operational streamflow forecasts in the CRB have been active since October 2012. These are 'naturalized' or unregulated forecasts. In 2013, increases of ~2600 m3/s (~48% of

  16. Groundwater Levels for Selected Wells in the Chehalis River Basin, Washington

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fasser, E.T.; Julich, R.J.

    2010-01-01

    Groundwater levels for selected wells in the Chehalis River basin, Washington, are presented on an interactive web-based map to document the spatial distribution of groundwater levels in the study area during late summer 2009. Groundwater level data and well information were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey using standard techniques. The data are stored in the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS), Ground-Water Site-Inventory (GWSI) System.

  17. Interlinking feasibility of five river basins of Rajasthan in India

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sunil Kumar Vyas

    2016-09-01

    Annual surplus water of about 1437 MCM in the river Chambal is going waste and ultimately reaches to sea after creating flood situations in various places in India including Rajasthan, while on the other hand 1077 MCM water is a requirement in the four other basins in Rajasthan i.e. Banas, Banganga, Gambhir and Parbati at 75% dependability. Interlinking and water transfer from Chambal to these four river basins is the prime solution for which 372 km link channel including 9 km tunnel of design capacity of 300 cumec with 64 m lift is required.

  18. Evaluating water policy options in agriculture: a whole-farm study for the broye river basin (switzerland)†

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lehmann, N.; Finger, R.

    2013-01-01

    In this study, we evaluate the impact of an increased volumetric water price and the implementation of a water quota on management decisions, income, income risk and utility of an arable farmer in the Broye River Basin, western Switzerland. We develop a bio-economic whole-farm model, which couples

  19. Simulated and observed 2010 floodwater elevations in selected river reaches in the Pawtuxet River Basin, Rhode Island

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zarriello, Phillip J.; Olson, Scott A.; Flynn, Robert H.; Strauch, Kellan R.; Murphy, Elizabeth A.

    2014-01-01

    Heavy, persistent rains from late February through March 2010 caused severe flooding that set, or nearly set, peaks of record for streamflows and water levels at many long-term streamgages in Rhode Island. In response to this event, hydraulic models were updated for selected reaches covering about 56 river miles in the Pawtuxet River Basin to simulate water-surface elevations (WSEs) at specified flows and boundary conditions. Reaches modeled included the main stem of the Pawtuxet River, the North and South Branches of the Pawtuxet River, Pocasset River, Simmons Brook, Dry Brook, Meshanticut Brook, Furnace Hill Brook, Flat River, Quidneck Brook, and two unnamed tributaries referred to as South Branch Pawtuxet River Tributary A1 and Tributary A2. All the hydraulic models were updated to Hydrologic Engineering Center-River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) version 4.1.0 using steady-state simulations. Updates to the models included incorporation of new field-survey data at structures, high resolution land-surface elevation data, and updated flood flows from a related study. The models were assessed using high-water marks (HWMs) obtained in a related study following the March– April 2010 flood and the simulated water levels at the 0.2-percent annual exceedance probability (AEP), which is the estimated AEP of the 2010 flood in the basin. HWMs were obtained at 110 sites along the main stem of the Pawtuxet River, the North and South Branches of the Pawtuxet River, Pocasset River, Simmons Brook, Furnace Hill Brook, Flat River, and Quidneck Brook. Differences between the 2010 HWM elevations and the simulated 0.2-percent AEP WSEs from flood insurance studies (FISs) and the updated models developed in this study varied with most differences attributed to the magnitude of the 0.2-percent AEP flows. WSEs from the updated models generally are in closer agreement with the observed 2010 HWMs than with the FIS WSEs. The improved agreement of the updated simulated water elevations to

  20. Water-quality assessment of the largely urban blue river basin, Metropolitan Kansas City, USA, 1998 to 2007

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilkison, D.H.; Armstrong, D.J.; Hampton, S.A.

    2009-01-01

    From 1998 through 2007, over 750 surface-water or bed-sediment samples in the Blue River Basin - a largely urban basin in metropolitan Kansas City - were analyzed for more than 100 anthropogenic compounds. Compounds analyzed included nutrients, fecal-indicator bacteria, suspended sediment, pharmaceuticals and personal care products. Non-point source runoff, hydrologic alterations, and numerous waste-water discharge points resulted in the routine detection of complex mixtures of anthropogenic compounds in samples from basin stream sites. Temporal and spatial variations in concentrations and loads of nutrients, pharmaceuticals, and organic wastewater compounds were observed, primarily related to a site's proximity to point-source discharges and stream-flow dynamics. ?? 2009 ASCE.

  1. Optimizing Land and Water Resources for Agriculture in the Krishna River Basin, India

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jain Figueroa, A.; McLaughlin, D.

    2017-12-01

    Many estimates suggest that the world needs a 50% increase in food production to meet the demands of the 2050 global population. Cropland expansion and yield improvements are unlikely to be sufficient and could have adverse environmental impacts. This work focuses on reallocating limited land and water resources to improve efficiency and increase benefits. We accomplish this by combining optimization methods, global data sources, and hydrologic modeling to identify opportunities for increasing crop production of subsistence and/or cash crops, subject to sustainability contraints. Our approach identifies the tradeoffs between the population that can be fed with local resources, revenue from crop exports, and environmental benefit from riparian flows. We focus our case study on India's Krishna river basin, a semi-arid region with a high proportion of subsistence farmers, a diverse crop mix, and increasing stress on water resources.

  2. Boundaries of Consent: Stakeholder Representation in River Basin Management in Mexico and South Africa

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wester, P.; Merrey, D.J.; Lange, M.

    2003-01-01

    Increasing the capacity of water users to influence decision-making is crucial in river basin management reforms. This article assesses emerging forums for river basin management in Mexico and South Africa and concludes that the pace of democratization of water management in both is slow. Mexico is

  3. Hydro-Economic Modeling with Minimum Data Requirements: An Application to the São Francisco River Basin, Brazil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres, M.; Maneta, M.; Vosti, S.; Wallender, W.; Howitt, R.

    2008-12-01

    Policymakers have been charged with the efficient, equitable, and sustainable use of water resources of the São Francisco River Basin (SFRB), Brazil, and also with the promotion of economic growth and the reduction of poverty within the basin. To date, policymakers lack scientific evidence on the potential consequences for growth, poverty alleviation or environmental sustainability of alternative uses of water resources. To address these key knowledge gaps, we have linked a hydrologic and an economic model of agriculture to investigate how economic decisions affect available water, and vice versa. More specifically, the models are used to predict the effects of the application of Brazilian federal surface water use policies on farmer's net revenues and on the hydrologic system. The Economic Model of Agriculture. A spatially explicit, farm-level model capable of accommodating a broad array of farm sizes and farm/farmer characteristics is developed and used to predict the effects of alternative water policies and neighbors' water use patterns on crop mix choice. A production function comprised of seven categories of non-water-related inputs used in agriculture (land, fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, hired labor, family labor and machinery) and four water-related inputs used in agriculture (applied water, irrigation labor, irrigation capital and energy) is estimated. The parameters emerging from this estimated production function are then introduced into a non-linear, net revenue maximization positive mathematical programming algorithm that is used for simulations. The Hydrological Model. MIKE Basin, a semi-distributed hydrology model, is used to calculate water budgets for the SFRB. MIKE Basin calculates discharge at selected nodes by accumulating runoff down the river network; it simulates reservoirs using stage-area-storage and downstream release rule curves. The data used to run the model are discharge to calculate local runoff, precipitation, reference ET, crop

  4. Water-Energy-Food Nexus in a Transboundary River Basin: The Case of Tonle Sap Lake, Mekong River Basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marko Keskinen

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available The water-energy-food nexus is promoted as a new approach for research and policy-making. But what does the nexus mean in practice and what kinds of benefits does it bring? In this article we share our experiences with using a nexus approach in Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake area. We conclude that water, energy and food security are very closely linked, both in the Tonle Sap and in the transboundary Mekong River Basin generally. The current drive for large-scale hydropower threatens water and food security at both local and national scales. Hence, the nexus provides a relevant starting point for promoting sustainable development in the Mekong. We also identify and discuss two parallel dimensions for the nexus, with one focusing on research and analysis and the other on integrated planning and cross-sectoral collaboration. In our study, the nexus approach was particularly useful in facilitating collaboration and stakeholder engagement. This was because the nexus approach clearly defines the main themes included in the process, and at the same time widens the discussion from mere water resource management into the broader aspects of water, energy and food security.

  5. Quantitative analysis of the effect of climate change and human activities on runoff in the Liujiang River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    LI, X.

    2017-12-01

    Abstract: As human basic and strategic natural resources, Water resources have received an unprecedented challenge under the impacts of global climate change. Analyzing the variation characteristics of runoff and the effect of climate change and human activities on runoff could provide the basis for the reasonable utilization and management of water resources. Taking the Liujiang River Basin as the research object, the discharge data of hydrological station and meteorological data at 24 meteorological stations in the Guangxi Province as the basis, the variation characteristics of runoff and precipitation in the Liujiang River Basin was analyzed, and the quantitatively effect of climate change and human activities on runoff was proposed. The results showed that runoff and precipitation in the Liujiang River Basin had an increasing trend from 1964 to 2006. Using the method of accumulative anomaly and the orderly cluster method, the runoff series was divided into base period and change period. BP - ANN model and sensitivity coefficient method were used for quantifying the influences of climate change and human activities on runoff. We found that the most important factor which caused an increase trend of discharges in the Liujiang River Basin was precipitation. Human activities were also important factors which influenced the intra-annual distribution of runoff. Precipitation had a more sensitive influence to runoff variation than potential evaporation in the Liujiang River Basin. Key words: Liujiang River Basin, climate change, human activities, BP-ANN, sensitivity coefficient method

  6. Measurements and modelling of evapotransiration to assess agricultural water productivity in basins with changing land use patterns : a case study in the São Francisco River basin, Brazil

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Castro Teixeira, de A.H.

    2008-01-01

    Key words: Vineyards, mango, energy balance, evapotranspiration, water productivity, Bowen ratio, eddy correlation, water balance, natural vegetation, latent heat flux, sensible heat flux, biomass, water productivity, remote sensing, water management. . The São Francisco River basin in Brazil is

  7. Nutrient mitigation in a temporary river basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tzoraki, Ourania; Nikolaidis, Nikolaos P; Cooper, David; Kassotaki, Elissavet

    2014-04-01

    We estimate the nutrient budget in a temporary Mediterranean river basin. We use field monitoring and modelling tools to estimate nutrient sources and transfer in both high and low flow conditions. Inverse modelling by the help of PHREEQC model validated the hypothesis of a losing stream during the dry period. Soil and Water Assessment Tool model captured the water quality of the basin. The 'total daily maximum load' approach is used to estimate the nutrient flux status by flow class, indicating that almost 60% of the river network fails to meet nitrogen criteria and 50% phosphate criteria. We recommend that existing well-documented remediation measures such as reforestation of the riparian area or composting of food process biosolids should be implemented to achieve load reduction in close conjunction with social needs.

  8. The Cost of Clean Water in the Delaware River Basin (USA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gerald J. Kauffman

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The Delaware River has made a marked recovery in the half-century since the adoption of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC Compact in 1961 and passage of the Federal Clean Water Act amendments during the 1970s. During the 1960s, the DRBC set a 3.5 mg/L dissolved oxygen criterion for the river based on an economic analysis that concluded that a waste load abatement program designed to meet fishable water quality goals would generate significant recreational and environmental benefits. Scientists with the Delaware Estuary Program have recently called for raising the 1960s dissolved oxygen criterion along the Delaware River from 3.5 mg/L to 5.0 mg/L to protect anadromous American shad and Atlantic sturgeon, and address the prospect of rising temperatures, sea levels, and salinity in the estuary. This research concludes, through a nitrogen marginal abatement cost (MAC analysis, that it would be cost-effective to raise dissolved oxygen levels to meet a more stringent standard by prioritizing agricultural conservation and some wastewater treatment investments in the Delaware River watershed to remove 90% of the nitrogen load by 13.6 million kg N/year (30 million lb N/year for just 35% ($160 million of the $449 million total cost. The annual least cost to reduce nitrogen loads and raise dissolved oxygen levels to meet more stringent water quality standards in the Delaware River totals $45 million for atmospheric NOX reduction, $130 million for wastewater treatment, $132 million for agriculture conservation, and $141 million for urban stormwater retrofitting. This 21st century least cost analysis estimates that an annual investment of $50 million is needed to reduce pollutant loads in the Delaware River to raise dissolved oxygen levels to 4.0 mg/L, $150 million is needed for dissolved oxygen levels to reach 4.5 mg/L, and $449 million is needed for dissolved oxygen levels to reach 5.0 mg/L.

  9. Disaggregating Orders of Water Scarcity - The Politics of Nexus in the Wami-Ruvu River Basin, Tanzania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Mdee

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available This article considers the dilemma of managing competing uses of surface water in ways that respond to social, ecological and economic needs. Current approaches to managing competing water use, such as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM and the concept of the water-energy-food nexus do not adequately disaggregate the political nature of water allocations. This is analysed using Mehta’s (2014 framework on orders of scarcity to disaggregate narratives of water scarcity in two ethnographic case studies in the WamiRuvu River Basin in Tanzania: one of a mountain river that provides water to urban Morogoro, and another of a large donor-supported irrigation scheme on the Wami River. These case studies allow us to explore different interfaces in the food-water-energy nexus. The article makes two points: that disaggregating water scarcity is essential for analysing the nexus; and that current institutional frameworks (such as IWRM mask the political nature of the nexus, and therefore do not provide an adequate platform for adjudicating the interfaces of competing water use.

  10. Estimates of ground-water pumpage from the Yakima River Basin aquifer system, Washington, 1960-2000

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vaccaro, J.J.; Sumioka, S.S.

    2006-01-01

    Ground-water pumpage in the Yakima River Basin, Washington, was estimated for eight categories of use for 1960-2000 as part of an investigation to assess groundwater availability in the basin. Methods used, pumpage estimates, reliability of the estimates, and a comparison with appropriated quantities are described. The eight categories of pumpage were public water supply, self-supplied domestic (exempt wells), irrigation, frost protection, livestock and dairy operations, industrial and commercial, fish and wildlife propagation, and ground-water claims. Pumpage estimates were based on methods that varied by the category and primarily represent pumpage for groundwater rights. Washington State Department of Ecology’s digital database has 2,874 active ground-water rights in the basin that can withdraw an annual quantity of about 529,231 acre-feet during dry years. Irrigation rights are for irrigation of about 129,570 acres. All but 220 of the rights were associated with well drillers’ logs, allowing for a spatial representation of the pumpage. Five-hundred and sixty of the irrigation rights were estimated to be standby/reserve rights. During this study, another 30 rights were identified that were not in the digital database. These rights can withdraw an annual quantity of about 20,969 acre-feet; about 6,700 acre-feet of these rights are near but outside the basin. In 1960, total annual pumpage in the basin, excluding standby/reserve pumpage, was about 115,776 acre-feet. By 2000, total annual pumpage was estimated to be 395,096 acre-feet, and excluding the standby/reserve rights, the total was 312,284 acre-feet. Irrigation accounts for about 60 percent of the pumpage, followed by public water supply at about 12 percent. The smallest category of pumpage was for livestock use with pumpage estimated to be 6,726 acre-feet. Total annual pumpage in 2000 was about 430 cubic feet per second, which is about 11 percent of the surface-water demand. Maximum pumpage is in July

  11. Drought assessment in the Dongliao River basin: traditional approaches vs. generalized drought assessment index based on water resources systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weng, B. S.; Yan, D. H.; Wang, H.; Liu, J. H.; Yang, Z. Y.; Qin, T. L.; Yin, J.

    2015-08-01

    Drought is firstly a resource issue, and with its development it evolves into a disaster issue. Drought events usually occur in a determinate but a random manner. Drought has become one of the major factors to affect sustainable socioeconomic development. In this paper, we propose the generalized drought assessment index (GDAI) based on water resources systems for assessing drought events. The GDAI considers water supply and water demand using a distributed hydrological model. We demonstrate the use of the proposed index in the Dongliao River basin in northeastern China. The results simulated by the GDAI are compared to observed drought disaster records in the Dongliao River basin. In addition, the temporal distribution of drought events and the spatial distribution of drought frequency from the GDAI are compared with the traditional approaches in general (i.e., standard precipitation index, Palmer drought severity index and rate of water deficit index). Then, generalized drought times, generalized drought duration, and generalized drought severity were calculated by theory of runs. Application of said runs at various drought levels (i.e., mild drought, moderate drought, severe drought, and extreme drought) during the period 1960-2010 shows that the centers of gravity of them all distribute in the middle reaches of Dongliao River basin, and change with time. The proposed methodology may help water managers in water-stressed regions to quantify the impact of drought, and consequently, to make decisions for coping with drought.

  12. Ecological effects and potential risks of the water diversion project in the Heihe River Basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Mengmeng; Wang, Shuai; Fu, Bojie; Gao, Guangyao; Shen, Qin

    2018-04-01

    To curb the severe ecological deterioration in the lower Heihe River Basin (HRB) in northwest China, a water diversion project was initiated in 2000. A comprehensive analysis of the ecological effects and potential risks associated with the project is needed. We assessed the hydrological and ecological achievements, and also analyzed the potential problems after the project was completed. We found that since the project began the hydrological regime has changed, with more than 57.82% of the upstream water being discharged to the lower reaches on average. As a result, the groundwater level in the lower reaches has risen; the terminal lake has gradually expanded to a maximum area in excess of 50km 2 since 2010, and there has been a significant recovery of vegetation in the riparian zone and the Ejin core oases, which represents the initial rehabilitation of the degraded downstream environment. Additionally, the economy of Ejin has developed spectacularly, with an annual growth rate of 28.06%. However, in the middle reaches, the average groundwater level has continuously declined by a total of 5.8m and significant degradation of the vegetation has occurred along the river course. The discrepancy in the water allocation between the middle and lower reaches has intensified. This highlights the inability of the current water diversion scheme to realize further ecological restoration and achieve sustainable development throughout the whole basin. In future water management programs, we recommend that water allocation is coordinated by considering the basin as an integrated entity and to scientifically determine the size of the midstream farmland and downstream oasis; restrict non-ecological water use in the lower reaches, and jointly dispatch the surface water and groundwater. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Dynamics of meteorological and hydrological droughts in the Neman river basin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rimkus, Egidijus; Stonevičius, Edvinas; Kažys, Justas; Valiuškevičius, Gintaras; Korneev, Vladimir; Pakhomau, Aliaksandr

    2013-01-01

    The analysis of drought dynamics in the Neman river basin allows an assessment of extreme regional climate changes. Meteorological and hydrological warm period droughts were analyzed in this study. Meteorological droughts were identified using the standardized precipitation index, and hydrological droughts using the streamflow drought index. The whole river basin was analyzed over the period from 1961 to 2010. Precipitation data from Vilnius meteorological station (from 1887) and discharge data from Smalininkai (Neman) hydrological station (from 1811) were used for an evaluation of meteorological and hydrological drought recurrence over a long-term period. It was found that the total area dryness has decreased over the last 50 years. A statistically significant increase in standardized precipitation index values was observed in some river sub-basins. An analysis of drought recurrence dynamics showed that there was no indication that the number of dangerous drought was increased. It was determined that the standardized precipitation index cannot successfully identify the hydrological summer droughts in an area where the spring snowmelt forms a large part of the annual flow. In particular, the weak relationship between the indices was recorded in the first half of the summer, when a large part of the river runoff depends on accumulated water during the spring thaw. (letter)

  14. Spatial and temporal changes of water quality, and SWAT modeling of Vosvozis river basin, North Greece.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boskidis, Ioannis; Gikas, Georgios D; Pisinaras, Vassilios; Tsihrintzis, Vassilios A

    2010-09-01

    The results of an investigation of the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of Vosvozis river in Northern Greece is presented. For the purposes of this study, three gaging stations were installed along Vosvozis river, where water quantity and quality measurements were conducted for the period August 2005 to November 2006. Water discharge, temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO) and electrical conductivity (EC) were measured in situ using appropriate equipment. The collected water samples were analyzed in the laboratory for the determination of nitrate, nitrite and ammonium nitrogen, total Kjeldalh nitrogen (TKN), orthophosphate (OP), total phosphorus (TP), COD, and BOD. Agricultural diffuse sources provided the major source of nitrate nitrogen loads during the wet period. During the dry period (from June to October), the major nutrient (N, P) and COD, BOD sources were point sources. The trophic status of Vosvozis river during the monitoring period was determined as eutrophic, based on Dodds classification scheme. Moreover, the SWAT model was used to simulate hydrographs and nutrient loads. SWAT was validated with the measured data. Predicted hydrographs and pollutographs were plotted against observed values and showed good agreement. The validated model was used to test eight alternative scenarios concerning different cropping management approaches. The results of these scenarios indicate that nonpoint source pollution is the prevailing type of pollution in the study area. The SWAT model was found to satisfactorily simulate processes in ephemeral river basins and is an effective tool in water resources management.

  15. Integrating Global Satellite-Derived Data Products as a Pre-Analysis for Hydrological Modelling Studies: A Case Study for the Red River Basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gijs Simons

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available With changes in weather patterns and intensifying anthropogenic water use, there is an increasing need for spatio-temporal information on water fluxes and stocks in river basins. The assortment of satellite-derived open-access information sources on rainfall (P and land use/land cover (LULC is currently being expanded with the application of actual evapotranspiration (ETact algorithms on the global scale. We demonstrate how global remotely sensed P and ETact datasets can be merged to examine hydrological processes such as storage changes and streamflow prior to applying a numerical simulation model. The study area is the Red River Basin in China in Vietnam, a generally challenging basin for remotely sensed information due to frequent cloud cover. Over this region, several satellite-based P and ETact products are compared, and performance is evaluated using rain gauge records and longer-term averaged streamflow. A method is presented for fusing multiple satellite-derived ETact estimates to generate an ensemble product that may be less susceptible, on a global basis, to errors in individual modeling approaches. Subsequently, monthly satellite-derived rainfall and ETact are combined to assess the water balance for individual subcatchments and types of land use, defined using a global land use classification improved based on auxiliary satellite data. It was found that a combination of TRMM rainfall and the ensemble ETact product is consistent with streamflow records in both space and time. It is concluded that monthly storage changes, multi-annual streamflow and water yield per LULC type in the Red River Basin can be successfully assessed based on currently available global satellite-derived products.

  16. Scaling up watershed model parameters: flow and load simulations of the Edisto River Basin, South Carolina, 2007-09

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feaster, Toby D.; Benedict, Stephen T.; Clark, Jimmy M.; Bradley, Paul M.; Conrads, Paul

    2014-01-01

    hydrologic simulations, a visualization tool (the Edisto River Data Viewer) was developed to help assess trends and influencing variable in the stream ecosystem. Incorporated into the visualization tool were the water-quality load models TOPLOAD, TOPLOAD–H, and LOADEST. Because the focus of this investigation was on scaling up the models from McTier Creek, water-quality concentrations that were previously collected in the McTier Creek Basin were used in the water-quality load models.

  17. Climate change impacts on water availability in the Red River Basin and critical areas for future water conservation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zamani Sabzi, H.; Moreno, H. A.; Neeson, T. M.; Rosendahl, D. H.; Bertrand, D.; Xue, X.; Hong, Y.; Kellog, W.; Mcpherson, R. A.; Hudson, C.; Austin, B. N.

    2017-12-01

    Previous periods of severe drought followed by exceptional flooding in the Red River Basin (RRB) have significantly affected industry, agriculture, and the environment in the region. Therefore, projecting how climate may change in the future and being prepared for potential impacts on the RRB is crucially important. In this study, we investigated the impacts of climate change on water availability across the RRB. We used three down-scaled global climate models and three potential greenhouse gas emission scenarios to assess precipitation, temperature, streamflow and lake levels throughout the RRB from 1961 to 2099 at a spatial resolution of 1/10°. Unit-area runoff and streamflow were obtained using the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model applied across the entire basin. We found that most models predict less precipitation in the western side of the basin and more in the eastern side. In terms of temperature, the models predict that average temperature could increase as much as 6°C. Most models project slightly more precipitation and streamflow values in the future, specifically in the eastern side of the basin. Finally, we analyzed the projected meteorological and hydrologic parameters alongside regional water demand for different sectors to identify the areas on the RRB that will need water-environmental conservation actions in the future. These hotspots of future low water availability are locations where regional environmental managers, water policy makers, and the agricultural and industrial sectors must proactively prepare to deal with declining water availability over the coming decades.

  18. Hydrologic effects of potential changes in climate, water use, and land cover in the Upper Scioto River Basin, Ohio

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ebner, Andrew D.; Koltun, G.F.; Ostheimer, Chad J.

    2015-01-01

    This report presents the results of a study to provide information on the hydrologic effects of potential 21st-century changes in climate, water use, and land cover in the Upper Scioto River Basin, Ohio (from Circleville, Ohio, to the headwaters). A precipitation-runoff model, calibrated on the basis of historical climate and streamflow data, was used to simulate the effects of climate change on streamflows and reservoir water levels at several locations in the basin. Two levels of simulations were done. The first level of simulation (level 1) accounted only for anticipated 21st-century changes in climate and operations of three City of Columbus upground reservoirs located in northwest Delaware County, Ohio. The second level of simulation (level 2) accounted for development-driven changes in land cover and water use in addition to changes in climate and reservoir operations.

  19. Optimizing Water Allocation under Uncertain System Conditions for Water and Agriculture Future Scenarios in Alfeios River Basin (Greece—Part B: Fuzzy-Boundary Intervals Combined with Multi-Stage Stochastic Programming Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eleni Bekri

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Optimal water allocation within a river basin still remains a great modeling challenge for engineers due to various hydrosystem complexities, parameter uncertainties and their interactions. Conventional deterministic optimization approaches have given their place to stochastic, fuzzy and interval-parameter programming approaches and their hybrid combinations for overcoming these difficulties. In many countries, including Mediterranean countries, water resources management is characterized by uncertain, imprecise and limited data because of the absence of permanent measuring systems, inefficient river monitoring and fragmentation of authority responsibilities. A fuzzy-boundary-interval linear programming methodology developed by Li et al. (2010 is selected and applied in the Alfeios river basin (Greece for optimal water allocation under uncertain system conditions. This methodology combines an ordinary multi-stage stochastic programming with uncertainties expressed as fuzzy-boundary intervals. Upper- and lower-bound solution intervals for optimized water allocation targets and probabilistic water allocations and shortages are estimated under a baseline scenario and four water and agricultural policy future scenarios for an optimistic and a pessimistic attitude of the decision makers. In this work, the uncertainty of the random water inflows is incorporated through the simultaneous generation of stochastic equal-probability hydrologic scenarios at various inflow positions instead of using a scenario-tree approach in the original methodology.

  20. A reassessment of North American river basin water balances in light of new estimates of mountain snow accumulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wrzesien, M.; Durand, M. T.; Pavelsky, T.

    2017-12-01

    The hydrologic cycle is a key component of many aspects of daily life, yet not all water cycle processes are fully understood. In particular, water storage in mountain snowpacks remains largely unknown. Previous work with a high resolution regional climate model suggests that global and continental models underestimate mountain snow accumulation, perhaps by as much as 50%. Therefore, we hypothesize that since snow water equivalent (one aspect of the water balance) is underestimated, accepted water balances for major river basins are likely wrong, particularly for mountainous river basins. Here we examine water balances for four major high latitude North American watersheds - the Columbia, Mackenzie, Nelson, and Yukon. The mountainous percentage of each basin ranges, which allows us to consider whether a bias in the water balance is affected by mountain area percentage within the watershed. For our water balance evaluation, we especially consider precipitation estimates from a variety of datasets, including models, such as WRF and MERRA, and observation-based, such as CRU and GPCP. We ask whether the precipitation datasets provide enough moisture for seasonal snow to accumulate within the basin and whether we see differences in the variability of annual and seasonal precipitation from each dataset. From our reassessment of high-latitude water balances, we aim to determine whether the current understanding is sufficient to describe all processes within the hydrologic cycle or whether datasets appear to be biased, particularly in high-elevation precipitation. Should currently-available datasets appear to be similarly biased in precipitation, as we have seen in mountain snow accumulation, we discuss the implications for the continental water budget.

  1. Uncertainty in soil physical data at river basin scale – a review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. van der Keur

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available For hydrological modelling studies at the river basin scale, decision makers need guidance in assessing the implications of uncertain data used by modellers as an input to modelling tools. Simulated solute transport through the unsaturated zone is associated with uncertainty due to spatial variability of soil hydraulic properties and derived hydraulic model parameters. In general for modelling studies at the river basin scale spatially available data at various scales must be aggregated to an appropriate scale. Estimating soil properties at unsampled points by means of geostatistical techniques require reliable information on the spatial structure of soil data. In this paper this information is assessed by reviewing current developments in the field of soil physical data uncertainty and adopting a classification system. Then spatial variability and structure is inspected by reviewing experimental work on determining spatial length scales for soil physical (and soil chemical data. Available literature on spatial length scales for soil physical- and chemical properties is reviewed and their use in facilitating change of spatial support discussed. Uncertainty associated to the derivation of hydraulic properties from soil physical properties in this context is also discussed.

  2. The costs of uncoordinated infrastructure management in multi-reservoir river basins

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jeuland, Marc; Baker, Justin; Bartlett, Ryan; Lacombe, Guillaume

    2014-01-01

    Though there are surprisingly few estimates of the economic benefits of coordinated infrastructure development and operations in international river basins, there is a widespread belief that improved cooperation is beneficial for managing water scarcity and variability. Hydro-economic optimization models are commonly-used for identifying efficient allocation of water across time and space, but such models typically assume full coordination. In the real world, investment and operational decisions for specific projects are often made without full consideration of potential downstream impacts. This paper describes a tractable methodology for evaluating the economic benefits of infrastructure coordination. We demonstrate its application over a range of water availability scenarios in a catchment of the Mekong located in Lao PDR, the Nam Ngum River Basin. Results from this basin suggest that coordination improves system net benefits from irrigation and hydropower by approximately 3–12% (or US$12-53 million/yr) assuming moderate levels of flood control, and that the magnitude of coordination benefits generally increases with the level of water availability and with inflow variability. Similar analyses would be useful for developing a systematic understanding of the factors that increase the costs of non-cooperation in river basin systems worldwide, and would likely help to improve targeting of efforts to stimulate complicated negotiations over water resources. (paper)

  3. KE Basin water dispositioning engineering study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hunacek, G.S.; Gahir, S.S.

    1994-01-01

    This engineering study is a feasibility study of KE Basin water treatment to an acceptable level and dispositioning the treated water to Columbia River, ground through ETF or to air through evaporation

  4. Multi-tracer investigation of river and groundwater interactions: a case study in Nalenggele River basin, northwest China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Wei; Su, Xiaosi; Dai, Zhenxue; Yang, Fengtian; Zhu, Pucheng; Huang, Yong

    2017-11-01

    Environmental tracers (such as major ions, stable and radiogenic isotopes, and heat) monitored in natural waters provide valuable information for understanding the processes of river-groundwater interactions in arid areas. An integrated framework is presented for interpreting multi-tracer data (major ions, stable isotopes (2H, 18O), the radioactive isotope 222Rn, and heat) for delineating the river-groundwater interactions in Nalenggele River basin, northwest China. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were undertaken to estimate the bidirectional water exchange associated with small-scale interactions between groundwater and surface water. Along the river stretch, groundwater and river water exchange readily. From the high mountain zone to the alluvial fan, groundwater discharge to the river is detected by tracer methods and end-member mixing models, but the river has also been identified as a losing river using discharge measurements, i.e. discharge is bidirectional. On the delta-front of the alluvial fan and in the alluvial plain, in the downstream area, the characteristics of total dissolved solids values, 222Rn concentrations and δ18O values in the surface water, and patterns derived from a heat-tracing method, indicate that groundwater discharges into the river. With the environmental tracers, the processes of river-groundwater interaction have been identified in detail for better understanding of overall hydrogeological processes and of the impacts on water allocation policies.

  5. Sustainable Land Management in the Lim River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grujic, Gordana; Petkovic, Sava; Tatomir, Uros

    2017-04-01

    In the cross-border belt between Serbia and Montenegro are located more than one hundred torrential water flows that belong to the Lim River Basin. Under extreme climate events they turned into floods of destructive power and great energy causing enormous damage on the environment and socio-economic development in the wider region of the Western Balkans. In addition, anthropogenic factors influence the land instability, erosion of river beds and loss of topsoil. Consequently, this whole area is affected by pluvial and fluvial erosion of various types and intensity. Terrain on the slopes over 5% is affected by intensive degree of erosion, while strong to medium degree covers 70% of the area. Moreover, in the Lim River Basin were built several hydro-energetic systems and accumulations which may to a certain extent successfully regulate the water regime downstream and to reduce the negative impact on the processes of water erosion. However, siltation of accumulation reduces their useful volume and threatens the basic functions (water reservoirs), especially those ones for water supply, irrigation and energy production that have lost a significant part of the usable volume due to accumulated sediments. Facing the negative impacts of climate change and human activities on the process of land degradation in the Lim River basin imposes urgent need of adequate preventive and protective measures at the local and regional level, which can be effectively applied only through enhanced cross-border cooperation among affected communities in the region. The following set of activities were analyzed to improve the actual management of river catchment: Identifying priorities in the spatial planning, land use and water resources management while respecting the needs of local people and the communities in the cross border region; development of cooperation and partnership between the local population, owners and users of real estate (pastures, agricultural land, forests, fisheries

  6. Planning the development of the Mekong river basin

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chomchai, P [Mekong Secretariat, Bangkok (Thailand)

    1992-10-01

    In planning to develop the vast potential of the Mekong river in Southeast Asia, a number of institutional aspects need to be addressed, and the sometimes diverging interests of the riparian countries need to be carefully balanced. The Mekong river is an extremely valuable natural resource: its potential for irrigation, hydropower, navigation, fisheries and related development is more than adequate to raise significantly the standards of living of the people of the lower Mekong basin and in the riparian countries outside the river's catchment area. The Mekong's catchment area of 795 000 km[sup 2] encompasses parts of China and Myanmar, the whole of Laos and Cambodia, one third of Thailand and one fifth of Viet Nam. The population of the Mekong basin is around 100 million, about half of whom live in the lower basin. It could be said that these impoverished inhabitants of the basin depend significantly on the Mekong for an improvement in their livelihood, and this places a heavy responsibility on those involved in developing its water resources. The Mekong Committee, since its establishment in 1957 and in its present interim status since 1977, is dedicated to the co-ordinated development of the basin's resources, on the basis of reasonable and equitable sharing between the riparian states as stated in the Committee's declaration of principles. With the establishment of the Mekon Committee, serious efforts have been made aimed at rational management of water resources use. (author).

  7. The UN System for Environmental-Economic Accounts for Water (SEEA-W and groundwater management: the experience of the Arno River Basin Authority within the PAWA project

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bernardo Mazzanti

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The Pilot Arno Water Accounts (PAWA project was recently funded under the Call “Preparatory Action on Development of Prevention Activities to Halt Desertification in Europe” of the Directorate- General for the Environment of the European Commission to promote preventive actions to manage water scarcity and drought phenomena and to meet one of the main goals under European environmental legislation: the effective and sustainable management of water resources. The partners involved in the implementation of the PAWA project (ISPRA, Arno River Basin Authority, SEMIDE/EMWIS will carry out a pilot initiative in the Arno River Basin, an area severely affected by water scarcity and droughts phenomena and characterized by water withdrawals and land use changes. In the area a large experience about water balance application was already performed, for example in the context of the Water Framework Directive Common Implementation Strategy. Moving from this knowledge, the objective of the project is the definition of water accounting processing based on the UN System of Environmental Economic Accounts for Water, with the final goal to optimize a list of effective measures to face water scarcity phenomena. By the end of project (March 2015 the PAWA partnership aims at preparing physical water stock accounts, using the best available data resulting from field measurements or models, on a monthly step for the period 1999–201. The quality of each dataset will be assessed; tables, maps and graphs will be produced as outputs of the projects in cooperation with local stakeholders and players of the water sector. Furthermore, water accounts will be used to assess the potential impact of various measures related to water resource efficient exploitation in the most vulnerable sub-basins; their tolerability will be tested during workshops with stakeholders. Finally, water efficiency targets for potential future integration into Arno River Basin Management Plan

  8. Presence of e-EDCs in surface water and effluents of pollution sources in Sai Gon and Dong Nai river basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tam Le Thi Minh

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This study aimed to assess the presence of estrogenic endocrine disrupting compounds (e-EDCs including estriol, bisphenol A (BPA, atrazine (ATZ, octylphenol, octylphenol diethoxylate, octylphenol triethoxylate, nonylphenol, Nonylphenol triethoxylate (NPE3, nonylphenol diethoxylate (NPE2 and 17β-estradiol in: (i Sai Gon and Dong Nai river waters which have been major raw water sources for drinking water supply for Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC and neighbouring provinces, and (ii water pollution sources located in their catchment basin. NPE3 and NPE2 were detected in most of the surface water samples. Concentrations of NPE3 were in a range of less than 5.9–235 ng L−1, whereas BPA was detected at significantly high concentrations in the dry season in canals in HCMC. In the upstream of Sai Gon and Dong Nai Rivers, ATZ concentrations were observed at water intake of water treatment plants served for HCMC water supply system. Similarly, high potential risk of NPE2 and NPE3 contamination at Phu Cuong Bridge near Hoa Phu water intake was identified. The significant correlation between NPE2, dissolved organic carbon and total nitrogen was found. Estrogenic equivalent or estrogenic activity of Sai Gon and Dong Nai Rivers was lower than those of the previous studies. Compared with other studies, e-EDCs of pollution in Sai Gon river basin were relatively low.

  9. Simulation of streamflow and water quality in the Red Clay Creek subbasin of the Christina River Basin, Pennsylvania and Delaware, 1994-98

    Science.gov (United States)

    Senior, Lisa A.; Koerkle, Edward H.

    2003-01-01

    The Christina River Basin drains 565 square miles (mi2) in Pennsylvania and Delaware and includes the major subbasins of Red Clay Creek, White Clay Creek, Brandywine Creek, and Christina River. The Red Clay Creek is the smallest of the subbasins and drains an area of 54 mi2. Streams in the Christina River Basin are used for recreation, drinking-water supply, and to support aquatic life. Water quality in some parts of the Christina River Basin is impaired and does not support designated uses of the stream. A multi-agency, waterquality management strategy included a modeling component to evaluate the effects of point and nonpointsource contributions of nutrients and suspended sediment on stream water quality. To assist in nonpointsource evaluation, four independent models, one for each of the four main subbasins of the Christina River Basin, were developed and calibrated using the model code Hydrological Simulation Program?Fortran (HSPF). Water-quality data for model calibration were collected in each of the four main subbasins and in smaller subbasins predominantly covered by one land use following a nonpoint-source monitoring plan. Under this plan, stormflow and base-flow samples were collected during 1998 at 1 site in the Red Clay Creek subbasin and at 10 sites elsewhere in the Christina River Basin.The HSPF model for the Red Clay Creek subbasin simulates streamflow, suspended sediment, and the nutrients, nitrogen and phosphorus. In addition, the model simulates water temperature, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, and plankton as secondary objectives needed to support the sediment and nutrient simulations. For the model, the basin was subdivided into nine reaches draining areas that ranged from 1.7 to 10 mi2. One of the reaches contains a regulated reservoir. Ten different pervious land uses and two impervious land uses were selected for simulation. Land-use areas were determined from 1995 land-use data. The predominant land uses in the Red Clay Creek

  10. Basin of the river Oskil as a tourist-recreational area

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Валентина Клименко

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available At the current stage of Ukraine’s economic development tourism is a priority sector of our country’s economy. Due to the fact that Ukraine has set a high priority goal - to join the European Union, we should pay attention to the conditions of various areas and sectors of our economy, in particular, the quality of tourism services, whether the recreational sector meets European standards. Many economically developed countries make tourism the most important among other sectors to fill the budget and closely monitor the quality of tourist services. Due to the rapid development of the tourism industry in our country the question has arisen as to conformity of recreational facilities conditions with international standards and finding new places of recreation, including water tourism. The aim of the study is to highlight the Oskil River Basin (within Kharkiv region as a tourist and recreational area and the use of the study materials in the learning process. The article deals with problems of insufficiently studied use of the river Oskil basin both as a tourist, and a recreational area. The hydrographic characteristics of the reservoir have been studied to illustrate the conformity of water objects with the standards and requirements of tourist and recreational activities; methods and techniques of water resources assessment have been analyzed for recreation; the river Oskil (within Ukraine and Chervono-Oskil reservoir have been assessed on the possibility of tourist-recreational use. The ways to use the study materials in education have been determined. Recreational potential of the river and the reservoir should not be underestimated. Thus, analyzing resources of the Oskil river basin and Chervono-Oskil reservoir in terms of recreation, we can conclude that the water of the river is not equally suitable for recreational purposes. The river basin can be used as an object of beach-bathing leisure, tourist boating and rafting, sport rafting

  11. The cost of noncooperation in international river basins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tilmant, A.; Kinzelbach, W.

    2012-01-01

    In recent years there has been a renewed interest for water supply enhancement strategies in order to deal with the exploding demand for water in some regions, particularly in Asia and Africa. Within such strategies, reservoirs, especially multipurpose ones, are expected to play a key role in enhancing water security. This renewed impetus for the traditional supply-side approach to water management may indeed contribute to socioeconomic development and poverty reduction if the planning process considers the lessons learned from the past, which led to the recommendations by the World Commission on Dams and other relevant policy initiatives. More specifically, the issues dealing with benefit sharing within an efficient and equitable utilization of water resources are key elements toward the successful development of those river basins. Hence, there is a need for improved coordination and cooperation among water users, sectors, and riparian countries. However, few studies have explicitly tried to quantify, in monetary terms, the economic costs of noncooperation, which we believe to be important information for water managers and policy makers, especially at a time when major developments are planned. In this paper we propose a methodology to assess the economic costs of noncooperation when managing large-scale water resources systems involving multiple reservoirs, and where the dominant uses are hydropower generation and irrigated agriculture. An analysis of the Zambezi River basin, one of the largest river basins in Africa that is likely to see major developments in the coming decades, is carried out. This valuation exercise reveals that the yearly average cost of noncooperation would reach 350 million US$/a, which is 10% of the annual benefits derived from the system.

  12. Development of water facilities in the Santa Ana River Basin, California, 1810-1968: a compilation of historical notes derived from many sources describing ditch and canal companies, diversions, and water rights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, M.B.

    1977-01-01

    This report traces by text, maps, and photographs, the development of the water supply in the Santa Ana River basin from its beginning in 1810 or 1811 to 1968. The value of the report lies in the fact that interpretation of the hydrologic systems in the basin requires knowledge of the concurrent state of development of the water supply, because that development has progressively altered the local regimen of both surface water and ground water. Most of the information for the earlier years was extracted and condensed from an investigation made by W. H. Hall, California State Engineer during the years 1878-87. Hall's study described irrigation development in southern California from its beginning through 1888. Information for the years following 1888 was obtained from the archives of the numerous water companies and water agencies in the Santa Ana River basin and from the various depositories of courthouse, county, and municipal records. The history of water-resources development in the Santa Ana River basin begins with the introduction of irrigation in the area by the Spanish, who settled in southern California in the latter part, of the 18th century. The first irrigation diversion from the Santa Ana River was made in 1810 or 1811 by Jose Antonio Yorba and Juan Pablo Peralta. Irrigation remained a localized practice during the Mexican-Californian, or rancho, period following the separation of Mexico from Spain in 1821. Rancho grantees principally raised cattle, horses, and sheep and irrigated only small· plots of feed grain for their livestock and fruit crops for household use. The breakup of the ranchos through sales to Americans, who were migrating to California in ever-increasing numbers following the acquisition of California by the United States in 1848, marked the beginning of a rapid increase in water use and the beginning of widespread irrigation. Many water companies and water agencies were organized to divert the surface flow of the Santa Ana River and

  13. Uranium concentrations in lake and stream waters and sediments from selected sites in the Susitna River Basin, Alaska

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hill, D.E.

    1977-03-01

    During the summer of 1976, 141 water and 211 sediment samples were taken from 147 locations in the Susitna River basin in Alaska by the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska for the LASL. These samples were taken to provide preliminary information on the uranium concentrations in waters and sediments from the Susitna River basin and to test the analytical methods proposed for the NURE Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance for uranium in Alaska. The uranium determinations resulting from the fluorometric analysis of the water samples and the delayed-neutron counting of the sediment samples are presented. The low levels of uranium in the water samples, many of which were below the detectable limit of the LASL fluorometric technique, indicate that a more sensitive analytical method is needed for the analysis of Alaskan water samples from this area. An overlay showing numbered sample locations and overlays graphically portraying the concentrations of uranium in the water and sediment samples, all at 1:250,000 scale for use with existing USGS topographic sheets, are also provided as plates

  14. The Importance of Water Temperature Fluctuations in Relation to the Hydrological Factor. Case Study – Bistrita River Basin (Romania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cojoc Gianina Maria

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The increase in most components of the climate over the past 50 years, including air and water temperature, is a real phenomenon, as attested by the numerous specialized researches according to IPCC (2013. The water temperature is one of the most important climatic components in analyzing the hydrological regime of the Bistrita River (Romania. The thermal regime of the Bistrita River basin and the frost phenomena associated with the risk factor are particularly important and frequently appear in this area. In recent years, under the Siret Water Basin Administration, this parameter was permanently monitored, so we could do an analysis, which shows that the water temperature fluctuations, influenced by air temperature, lead to the emergence of the ice jam phenomenon. The present study aims to analyze the water temperature, as compared to the air temperature, and the effect of these components on the liquid flow regime (the values were recorded at the hydrological stations on the main course of the Bistrita River. The negative effects resulted from the ice jam phenomenon require developing methods of damage prevention and defense. The frost phenomena recorded after the construction of the Bicaz dam are analyzed in this article

  15. Radioactive parameters of waters of the Syr-Darya river basin on the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Idrisova, S.; Vasiliev, I.A.; Alekhina, V.M.; Mamatibraimov, S.; Orozobakov, T.

    2004-01-01

    Full text: Within the framework of the International Cooperation Program in the sphere of the transboundary monitoring of the rivers between the Republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and the United States of America ( N avruz , ISTC KR-850 Project), in addition, in the Kyrgyz Republic, the isotopic content (isotopic ratio of 234 U/ 238 U=γ ), and the uranium content (CU) in the waters was measured. The isotopic ratio 234 U/ 238 U=γ of the waters of the rivers Naryn and Kara-Daria basins has no anomalous values of 234 U/ 238 U, which indicates the absence of the man-caused uranium in these rivers. The results of determination of the activity ratio of 234 U/ 238 U and uranium content in the Mailuu-Suu river basin are of great interest. In the upper reaches of the Mailuu-Suu river the uranium content is 0.4 10 -6 g/l (0.8 10 -6 g/l in the flood period), in Mailuu-Suu town (after the tailing dump) - (3 †4) 10 -6 g/l, i.e. this value is an order of magnitude higher, and at the border with Uzbekistan - 1.8 ·10 -6 g/l (3.2 ·10 -6 g/l in the period of flooding), which is lower as compared with the town. Correspondently, there are changes in the activity ratio from 1.39 (in the upper reaches of the river) to 1.05 (in the town), and 1.32 (1.12 during the flood period) at the border with Uzbekistan. This situation indicates, first, the enrichment of the waters of the rivers with the man-caused uranium ( γ=1), and its subsequent sorption along the river stream. The obtained results indicate the absence of the man-caused uranium in the whole stream of the Naryn and Kara-Daria rivers on the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic, and lack of noticeable contamination of the waters of the Mailuu-Suu river with the man-caused uranium from the tailing dumps of the Western Mining-Chemical Plant (WMCP, Mailuu-Suu). It also should be noted that the share of the man-caused uranium, transported to Uzbekistan by the Mailuu-Suu river does not exceed 20-30%, and

  16. Informed Decision Making Process for Managing Environmental Flows in Small River Basins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padikkal, S.; Rema, K. P.

    2013-03-01

    Numerous examples exist worldwide of partial or complete alteration to the natural flow regime of river systems as a consequence of large scale water abstraction from upstream reaches. The effects may not be conspicuous in the case of very large rivers, but the ecosystems of smaller rivers or streams may be completely destroyed over a period of time. While restoration of the natural flow regime may not be possible, at present there is increased effort to implement restoration by regulating environmental flow. This study investigates the development of an environmental flow management model at an icon site in the small river basin of Bharathapuzha, west India. To determine optimal environmental flow regimes, a historic flow model based on data assimilated since 1978 indicated a satisfactory minimum flow depth for river ecosystem sustenance is 0.907 m (28.8 m3/s), a value also obtained from the hydraulic model; however, as three of the reservoirs were already operational at this time a flow depth of 0.922 m is considered a more viable estimate. Analysis of daily stream flow in 1997-2006, indicated adequate flow regimes during the monsoons in June-November, but that sections of the river dried out in December-May with alarming water quality conditions near the river mouth. Furthermore, the preferred minimum `dream' flow regime expressed by stakeholders of the region is a water depth of 1.548 m, which exceeds 50 % of the flood discharge in July. Water could potentially be conserved for environmental flow purposes by (1) the de-siltation of existing reservoirs or (2) reducing water spillage in the transfer between river basins. Ultimately environmental flow management of the region requires the establishment of a co-ordinated management body and the regular assimilation of water flow information from which science based decisions are made, to ensure both economic and environmental concerns are adequately addressed.

  17. Simulation of daily streamflow for 12 river basins in western Iowa using the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christiansen, Daniel E.; Haj, Adel E.; Risley, John C.

    2017-10-24

    The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, constructed Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System models to estimate daily streamflow for 12 river basins in western Iowa that drain into the Missouri River. The Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System is a deterministic, distributed-parameter, physical-process-based modeling system developed to evaluate the response of streamflow and general drainage basin hydrology to various combinations of climate and land use. Calibration periods for each basin varied depending on the period of record available for daily mean streamflow measurements at U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging stations.A geographic information system tool was used to delineate each basin and estimate initial values for model parameters based on basin physical and geographical features. A U.S. Geological Survey automatic calibration tool that uses a shuffled complex evolution algorithm was used for initial calibration, and then manual modifications were made to parameter values to complete the calibration of each basin model. The main objective of the calibration was to match daily discharge values of simulated streamflow to measured daily discharge values. The Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System model was calibrated at 42 sites located in the 12 river basins in western Iowa.The accuracy of the simulated daily streamflow values at the 42 calibration sites varied by river and by site. The models were satisfactory at 36 of the sites based on statistical results. Unsatisfactory performance at the six other sites can be attributed to several factors: (1) low flow, no flow, and flashy flow conditions in headwater subbasins having a small drainage area; (2) poor representation of the groundwater and storage components of flow within a basin; (3) lack of accounting for basin withdrawals and water use; and (4) limited availability and accuracy of meteorological input data. The Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System

  18. Surface-water-quality assessment of the lower Kansas River basin, Kansas and Nebraska; results of investigations, 1987-90

    Science.gov (United States)

    Helgesen, J.O.

    1995-01-01

    Surface-water-quality conditions and trends were assessed in the lower Kansas River Basin, which drains about 15,300 square miles of mainly agricultural land in southeast Nebraska and northeast Kansas. On the basis of established water-quality criteria, most streams in the basin were suitable for uses such as public-water supply, irrigation, and maintenance of aquatic life. However, most concerns identified from a previous analysis of available data through 1986 are substantiated by analysis of data for May 1987 through April 1990. Less-than-normal precipitation and runoff during 1987-90 affected surface-water quality and are important factors in the interpretation of results.Dissolved-solids concentrations in the main stem Kansas River during May 1987 through April 1990 commonly exceeded 500 milligrams per liter, which may be of concern for public-water supplies and for the irrigation of sensitive crops. Large concentrations of chloride in the Kansas River are derived from ground water discharging in the Smoky Hill River Basin west of the study unit. Trends of increasing concentrations of some dissolved major ions were statistically significant in the northwestern part of the study unit, which could reflect substantial increases in irrigated acreage.The largest concentrations of suspended sediment in streams during May 1987 through April 1990 were associated with high-density cropland in areas of little local relief and medium-density irrigated cropland in more dissected areas. The smallest concentrations were measured downstream from large reservoirs and in streams draining areas having little or no row-crop cultivation. Mean annual suspended-sediment transport rates in the main stem Kansas River increased substantially in the downstream direction. No conclusions could be reached concerning the relations of suspended-sediment transport, yields, or trends to natural and human factors.The largest sources of nitrogen and phosphorus in the study unit were fertilizer

  19. Hydrogeologic reconnaissance of the San Miguel River basin, southwestern Colorado

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ackerman, D.J.; Rush, F.E.

    1984-01-01

    The San Miguel River Basin encompasses 4,130 square kilometers of which about two-thirds is in the southeastern part of the Paradox Basin. The Paradox Basin is a part of the Colorado Plateaus that is underlain by a thick sequence of evaporite beds of Pennsylvanian age. The rock units that underlie the area have been grouped into hydrogeologic units based on their water-transmitting ability. Evaporite beds of mostly salt are both overlain and underlain by confining beds. Aquifers are present above and below the confining-bed sequence. The principal element of ground-water outflow from the upper aquifer is flow to the San Miguel River and its tributaries; this averages about 90 million cubic meters per year. A water budget for the lower aquifer has only two equal, unestimated elements, subsurface outflow and recharge from precipitation. The aquifers are generally isolated from the evaporite beds by the bounding confining beds; as a result, most ground water has little if any contact with the evaporites. No brines have been sampled and no brine discharges have been identified in the basin. Salt water has been reported for petroleum-exploration wells, but no active salt solution has been identified. (USGS)

  20. Spatio-temporal variation analysis of hydrochemical characteristics in the Luanhe River Basin, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Ying; Li, Xuyong; Wang, Huiliang; Li, Wenzan

    2013-01-01

    The analysis of river pollution and assessment of spatial and temporal variation in hydrochemistry are essential to river water pollution control in the context of rapid economic growth and growing pollution threats in China. In this study, we focused on hydrochemical characteristics of the Luanhe River Basin (China) and evaluation of 12 hydrochemical variables obtained from 32 monitoring stations during 2001-2010. In each study year, the streams were monitored in the three hydrological periods (April, August, and October) to observe differences in the impacts of agricultural activity and rainfall pattern. Multivariate statistical methods were applied to the data set, and the river water hydrochemical characteristics were assessed using the water quality identification index (WQIIM). The results showed that parameters had variable contribution to water quality status in different months except for ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N) and total nitrogen (TN), which were the most important parameters in contributing to water quality variations for all three periods. Results of WQIIM revealed that 18 sites were classified as 'meeting standard' while the other 14 sites were classified as 'not meeting standard', with most of the seriously polluted sites located in urban area, mainly due to discharge of wastewater from domestic and industrial sources. Sites with low pollution level were located primarily in smaller tributaries, whereas sites of medium and high pollution levels were in the main river channel and the larger tributaries. Our findings provide valuable information and guidance for water pollution control and water resource management in the Luanhe River Basin.