the national water census
Post on 16-Jul-2015
32 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
The National Water Census* Part of the Initiative
Overview of the Delaware River
Basin Focus Area Study
Jeffrey M Fischerfischer@usgs.gov
609-771-3953
Delaware River Watershed Forum
October 22, 2014
Objective of the Water Census:
To place technical information and tools in the
hands of stakeholders, allowing them to answer
two primary questions about water availability:
Does the Nation have enough freshwater to meet
both human and ecological needs?
Will this water be present to meet future needs?
Studies provide the technical information for
water availability analyses.
Determine the quantity and timing-characteristics of water, which is
of sufficient quality, to meet human and ecological needs.
Improved Information on Water Cycle
At a scale that can be used locally
Natural• Rainfall
• Streamflow
• Groundwater
• ET
Man Made• Withdrawals
• Storage
• Return Flows
• Infiltration
Provide Enhanced Information On:
Streamflow
Evapotranspiration (ET)
Ecological Flow Needs
Groundwater
Water Use and Consumption
Thermoelectric Power
Irrigation
Public Supply
Information available at:
http://water.usgs.gov/watercensus
Daily ET from Satellite Data
Thermoelectric Consumptive Use
Focus Area Studies
Testing grounds for the National Water Census
State, Local, Regional
Stakeholder Involvement
Surface Water Trends,
Precipitation, etc
Defined Technical
Questions to
be Answered
Eco Flows
Water Use
Water Quality Groundwater
Resources
Global
Change
Delaware Basin Focus Area Study –
Stakeholder Defined Issues
Water Use – Improved acquisition, management, and
integration of water-use and water-supply data.
Robust Hydrologic Model – Evaluate growth of
population centers, effects of land-use change, and
effects of climate variability and climate change on
water resources
Ecological Water Needs – Development of ecological-
flow science for main stem & tributaries.
Evaluate flow alteration effects for ungaged tributaries.
Improve decision support tool on main stem
In last year of 4 year study
Delaware River Basin Water Use
Temporal frameworkBase year 2010
Multiple years as available 2005-2010 NJ and PA
Water-use transactionsWithdrawals
Type of use
Return flows
Interbasin transfers
Aquifer Storage and
Recovery
Data from Four States 26,135 site-specific data
records
single and multiple years
6,343 unique sites
Areal estimatesLivestock, Irrigation, and
Domestic Use
Water Type Count Percent
Groundwater 4,580 72
Surface water 1,001 16
Return flows 762 12
Total Water Use7,800 Mgal/d*
4,900 Mgal/d (70%)
Thermoelectric Power Generation
1,600 Mgal/d (23%)
Public supply and Self-supplied domestic
290 Mgal/d (4%)
Industrial, Commercial, and Mining
200 Mgal/d (3%)
Irrigation, Livestock, and Aquaculture
Data available at HUC12 scale via
web-based tools
* Preliminary results
92%
Surface
Water
Domestic Use
8% Groundwater
Estimating Streamflow
Tool for predicting flow at ungaged basins
based on correlation with historic flow at gaged
sites – Not able to make future predictions
Hydrologic model to evaluate how water
stressors such as population growth, land-use
change, and climate change affect the
availability of water resources – Evaluate Land-
Use and Climate Change Scenarios
Both models are used in ecological flow needs
assessment
Stream-Flow Correlation Results
1960 to present
Preliminary comparisons
between estimated and
observed daily mean
streamflow using
streamgages as ungaged
locations generally are in
good agreement
01418500 Beaver Kill at
Craigie Clair, NY
WATER Hydrologic Model of Delaware Basin
Water Availability Tool for Environmental Resources (WATER)
Based on TOPMODEL rainfall-runoff / water-budget model.
Used as a decision support tool to evaluate how water
stressors such as population growth, land-use change, and
climate change affect the availability of water resources.
Model encompasses the whole non-tidal Delaware River
Basin.
Validated using precipitation, water-use, streamflow, and other
information for the time period 2001 to 2011.
Simulations of future streamflow and water-availability
conditions centered on 2030 and 2060 will incorporate
projected changes in water use, land use, and climate in the
watershed.
WATER – A decision support tool
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
500
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
1-J
an
11
-Jan
21
-Jan
31
-Jan
10
-Feb
20
-Feb
2-M
ar
12
-Mar
22
-Mar
1-A
pr
11
-Ap
r
21
-Ap
r
1-M
ay
11
-May
21
-May
31
-May
10
-Jun
20
-Jun
30
-Jun
Pre
cip
itatio
n (m
m)D
isch
arg
e (
mm
)
2003
Precipitation Record
or Forecast
Simulated Hydrograph
Changed climate Water availability
Validated
Model
Current conditions
Current Condition
Gaged Streams
Flow at
ungaged sites
Land management
and
water allocation
decisions
Landscape
Characterization
Scenarios Potential Uses
Landscape change
Aquatic Invertebrate Data
1,760 sampling points
Sources: PaDEP,
NYDEC, EPA/EMAP
(NRSA) NJDEP, DRBC,
DNREC, PhilWD, NPS,
NAWQA
Method developed to
produce comparable
taxonomic data.
Flow-Ecology Relations
1. Flow– invertebrate responses will be evaluated
based on ecological metrics (e.g., %EPT). We will
identify the response measures that are most
sensitive to hydrology.
2. Regression analysis (e.g., least squares regression,
classification and regression trees, and quantile
regression) will be used to assess relations between
the best subset of biological response measures and
hydrologic variables.
3. Flow-ecology relations developed based on the above
methods will be modified using flow change scenario
input from the WATER model to develop flow-
alteration models.
Tool to Support Ecological
Management on Main-Stem Delaware
Evaluate how different flow scenarios
affect instream habitat for biota
Incorporate a suite of taxa
User-friendly, updateable, etc.
Trout
American eel
River otters
http://denin.udel.edu/news/river-otters-ud-grad-student-
researches-river-otters-class-clowns-animal-kingdom
calphotos.berkeley.edu
Riverweed
Dwarf wedgemussel
DSS Platform – For Main Stem Ecology
Color coded habitat
maps for each scenario
Habitat
suitability
criteria
can be
modified
Equation for displayed
habitat suitability maps
Selection of key species
Display of hydrograph
Velocity
Depth Habitat
Information DeliveryA web application for delivering water availability information at
scales that are relevant to the user
Select the area of
interest.
Generate information
on water accounting
components.
Work with the online
tool to construct your
water budget.
Test Scenarios
Access trend
information.
At Conclusion of the Delaware Water
Census Focus Area Study in 2016
Database of water withdrawal, use, and return flow
information for watersheds
Tool to estimate daily streamflow from 1960 to 2010
for ungaged streams
Hydrologic model of the non-tidal portions of the
watershed tributaries
Flow and aquatic assemblage response relations for
tributaries
An updated Decision Support System for sections of
the main-stem Delaware
Jeff Fischer Fischer@usgs.gov 609-771-3953
top related