From Washington's Yakima River to India's Ganges: Project GREEN Is Connecting.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuechle, Jeff

1993-01-01

Project GREEN (Global Rivers Environmental Education Network) is an international environmental education program empowering students to use science to improve and protect the quality of watersheds. As an integral part of the Yakima School District Environmental Awareness Program, Project GREEN provides educational benefits for both American…

The Suwannee River Hydrologic Observatory: A Subtropical Coastal Plain Watershed in Transition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graham, W. D.

2004-12-01

The Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences (CUAHSI) proposed to establish a network of 5-15 hydrologic observatories (HO's) across North America is to support fundamental research for the hydrologic science community into the next century. These HO's are projected to be 10,000 to 50,000 km2 and will include a broad range of hydrologic, climatic, bio-geochemical and ecosystem processes, including the critical linkages and couplings. This network is envisioned as the natural laboratory for experimental hydrology in support of scientific investigations focused on predictive understanding at a scale that will include both atmospheric- and ecosystem-hydrologic interaction, as well as the hydrologic response to larger-scale climate variation and change. A group of researchers from Florida and Georgia plan to propose the Suwannee River watershed as a Hydrologic Observatory. The Suwannee River flows through a diverse watershed relatively unimpacted by urbanization but in transition to more intense land-use practices. It thus provides excellent opportunities to study the effects of ongoing changes in land use and water supply on varied hydrological processes. Much background information is available on the hydrology, hydrogeology, geology, chemistry, and biology of the watershed. Several major on-going monitoring programs are supported by state and federal agencies. Four characteristics, discussed in greater detail below, make the Suwannee River watershed ideal for a Hydrologic Observatory: Unregulated and rural - The Suwannee River is one of few major rivers in the United States with largely unregulated flow through rural areas and is relatively unimpaired with regard to water quality, leading to its designation as one of twelve National Showcase Watersheds. At Risk and in Transition - Land use is trending toward increased urbanization and intensive agriculture with an apparent coupled increase in nutrient loads and decline in water quality. In addition, population growth is fueling increased groundwater withdrawals from the Floridan aquifer for local consumption affecting water supply. Inter-basin transfers from the lower Suwannee River to south Florida have been suggested as one solution to south Florida's growing water crisis. Three Distinct Hydrologic Regimes - The Suwannee River watershed comprises three distinct but linked hydrologic landscape units. The upper Suwannee River interacts with the surficial aquifer but is largely separated from the Floridan aquifer by a confining unit. The middle Suwannee River interacts with both surficial aquifers and the unconfined karstic Floridan aquifer. The lower Suwannee River discharges to a deltaic estuary as surface water along with diffuse submarine groundwater discharge. Extensive Existing Data Infrastructure - Some discharge data exists from the turn of the 19th century to the present. More recently, the USDA Agricultural Research Service through the Southeast Watershed Research Laboratory (SEWRL) has monitored the Little River watershed in Georgia at the headwaters of the Suwannee River since 1965, and the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) has monitored the Suwannee River watershed in Florida since 1972. Other groups (USGS, Suwannee River Partnership, and individual university investigators) have long worked on specific, local geological, hydrological, and biological problems within the watershed. Contributing Organizations: University of Florida, Florida State University, University of South Florida, University of Central Florida, University of Georgia, USGS, USDA, and SRWMD

INTENSIVE WATERSHED STUDY: THE PATUXENT RIVER BASIN

EPA Science Inventory

This study was one of five intensive watershed studies designed by the Chesapeake Bay Program's Eutrophication Work Group to provide detailed nonpoint source loading rates and ambient water quality data within the Chesapeake Bay drainage area. The study was conducted within the P...

Investigating the Sensitivity of Streamflow and Water Quality to Climate Change and Urbanization in 20 U.S. Watersheds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, T. E.; Weaver, C. P.; Butcher, J.; Parker, A.

2011-12-01

Watershed modeling was conducted in 20 large (15,000-60,000 km2), U.S. watersheds to address gaps in our knowledge of the sensitivity of U.S. streamflow, nutrient (N and P) and sediment loading to potential future climate change, and methodological challenges associated with integrating existing tools (e.g., climate models, watershed models) and datasets to address these questions. Climate change scenarios are based on dynamically downscaled (50x50 km2) output from four of the GCMs used in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th Assessment Report for the period 2041-2070 archived by the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP). To explore the potential interaction of climate change and urbanization, model simulations also include urban and residential development scenarios for each of the 20 study watersheds. Urban and residential development scenarios were acquired from EPA's national-scale Integrated Climate and Land Use Scenarios (ICLUS) project. Watershed modeling was conducted using the Hydrologic Simulation Program-FORTRAN (HSPF) and Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) models. Here we present a summary of results for 5 of the study watersheds; the Minnesota River, the Susquehanna River, the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint, the Salt/Verde/San Pedro, and the Willamette River Basins. This set of results provide an overview of the response to climate change in different regions of the U.S., the different sensitivities of different streamflow and water quality endpoints, and illustrate a number of methodological issues including the sensitivities and uncertainties associated with use of different watershed models, approaches for downscaling climate change projections, and interaction between climate change and other forcing factors, specifically urbanization and changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration.

The Watershed and River Systems Management Program: Decision Support for Water- and Environmental-Resource Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leavesley, G.; Markstrom, S.; Frevert, D.; Fulp, T.; Zagona, E.; Viger, R.

2004-12-01

Increasing demands for limited fresh-water supplies, and increasing complexity of water-management issues, present the water-resource manager with the difficult task of achieving an equitable balance of water allocation among a diverse group of water users. The Watershed and River System Management Program (WARSMP) is a cooperative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) to develop and deploy a database-centered, decision-support system (DSS) to address these multi-objective, resource-management problems. The decision-support system couples the USGS Modular Modeling System (MMS) with the BOR RiverWare tools using a shared relational database. MMS is an integrated system of computer software that provides a research and operational framework to support the development and integration of a wide variety of hydrologic and ecosystem models, and their application to water- and ecosystem-resource management. RiverWare is an object-oriented reservoir and river-system modeling framework developed to provide tools for evaluating and applying water-allocation and management strategies. The modeling capabilities of MMS and Riverware include simulating watershed runoff, reservoir inflows, and the impacts of resource-management decisions on municipal, agricultural, and industrial water users, environmental concerns, power generation, and recreational interests. Forecasts of future climatic conditions are a key component in the application of MMS models to resource-management decisions. Forecast methods applied in MMS include a modified version of the National Weather Service's Extended Streamflow Prediction Program (ESP) and statistical downscaling from atmospheric models. The WARSMP DSS is currently operational in the Gunnison River Basin, Colorado; Yakima River Basin, Washington; Rio Grande Basin in Colorado and New Mexico; and Truckee River Basin in California and Nevada.

Estimation of pollutant loads considering dam operation in Han River Basin by BASINS/Hydrological Simulation Program-FORTRAN.

PubMed

Jung, Kwang-Wook; Yoon, Choon-G; Jang, Jae-Ho; Kong, Dong-Soo

2008-01-01

Effective watershed management often demands qualitative and quantitative predictions of the effect of future management activities as arguments for policy makers and administration. The BASINS geographic information system was developed to compute total maximum daily loads, which are helpful to establish hydrological process and water quality modeling system. In this paper the BASINS toolkit HSPF model is applied in 20,271 km(2) large watershed of the Han River Basin is used for applicability of HSPF and BMPs scenarios. For proper evaluation of watershed and stream water quality, comprehensive estimation methods are necessary to assess large amounts of point source and nonpoint-source (NPS) pollution based on the total watershed area. In this study, The Hydrological Simulation Program-FORTRAN (HSPF) was estimated to simulate watershed pollutant loads containing dam operation and applied BMPs scenarios for control NPS pollution. The 8-day monitoring data (about three years) were used in the calibration and verification processes. Model performance was in the range of "very good" and "good" based on percent difference. The water-quality simulation results were encouraging for this large sizable watershed with dam operation practice and mixed land uses; HSPF proved adequate, and its application is recommended to simulate watershed processes and BMPs evaluation. IWA Publishing 2008.

The watershed and river systems management program

USGS Publications Warehouse

Markstrom, S.L.; Frevert, D.; Leavesley, G.H.; ,

2005-01-01

The Watershed and River System Management Program (WaRSMP), a joint effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), is focused on research and development of decision support systems and their application to achieve an equitable balance among diverse water resource management demands. Considerations include: (1) legal and political constraints; (2) stake holder and consensus-building; (3) sound technical knowledge; (4) flood control, consumptive use, and hydropower; (5) water transfers; (6) irrigation return flows and water quality; (7) recreation; (8) habitat for endangered species; (9) water supply and proration; (10) near-surface groundwater; and (11) water ownership, accounting, and rights. To address the interdisciplinary and multi-stake holder needs of real-time watershed management, WaRSMP has developed a decision support system toolbox. The USGS Object User Interface facilitates the coupling of Reclamation's RiverWare reservoir operations model with the USGS Modular Modeling and Precipitation Runoff Modeling Systems through a central database. This integration is accomplished through the use of Model and Data Management Interfaces. WaRSMP applications include Colorado River Main stem and Gunnison Basin, the Yakima Basin, the Middle Rio Grande Basin, the Truckee-Carson Basin, and the Umatilla Basin.

Cross Cultural Watershed Partners. Activities Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stapp, William B.; And Others

The Global Rivers Environmental Education Network (GREEN) has developed this manual of background information and activities for teachers and students who are interested in adding a cross cultural component to their watershed education program, or who wish to include an environmental context to their cross cultural experience. The instructional…

APPLICATION OF THE HSPF MODEL TO THE SOUTH FORK OF THE BROAD RIVER WATERSHED IN NORTHEASTERN GEORGIA

EPA Science Inventory

The Hydrological Simulation Program-Fortran (HSPF) is a comprehensive watershed model which simulates hydrology and water quality at user-specified temporal and spatial scales. Well-established model calibration and validation procedures are followed when adjusting model paramete...

Updated estimates of long-term average dissolved-solids loading in streams and rivers of the Upper Colorado River Basin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Tillman, Fred D.; Anning, David W.

2014-01-01

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 over 4.5 million acres of farmland, and annually generating about 12 billion kilowatt hours of hydroelectric power. The Upper Colorado River Basin, part of the Colorado River Basin, encompasses more than 110,000 mi2 and is the source of much of more than 9 million tons of dissolved solids that annually flows past the Hoover Dam. High dissolved-solids concentrations in the river are the cause of substantial economic damages to users, primarily in reduced agricultural crop yields and corrosion, with damages estimated to be greater than 300 million dollars annually. In 1974, the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act created the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program to investigate and implement a broad range of salinity control measures. A 2009 study by the U.S. Geological Survey, supported by the Salinity Control Program, used the Spatially Referenced Regressions on Watershed Attributes surface-water quality model to examine dissolved-solids supply and transport within the Upper Colorado River Basin. Dissolved-solids loads developed for 218 monitoring sites were used to calibrate the 2009 Upper Colorado River Basin Spatially Referenced Regressions on Watershed Attributes dissolved-solids model. This study updates and develops new dissolved-solids loading estimates for 323 Upper Colorado River Basin monitoring sites using streamflow and dissolved-solids concentration data through 2012, to support a planned Spatially Referenced Regressions on Watershed Attributes modeling effort that will investigate the contributions to dissolved-solids loads from irrigation and rangeland practices.

Groundwater quality in the Mokelumne, Cosumnes, and American River Watersheds, Sierra Nevada, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fram, Miranda S.; Shelton, Jennifer L.

2018-03-23

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 GAMA Program’s Priority Basin Project assesses the quality of groundwater resources used for drinking water supply and increases public access to groundwater-quality information. In the Mokelumne, Cosumnes, and American River Watersheds of the Sierra Nevada, many rural households rely on private wells for their drinking-water supplies.

THE COMPARISON OF TWO WATERSHEDS USING A WATERSHED NUTRIENT LOADING MODEL

EPA Science Inventory

Monitoring data, collected from the Yaquina River, Oregon, from 1999 through 2002 were used as the basis for developing the nutrient flux model as part of a larger agency program for quantifying nutrient processes. The PNWL nitrate loading model indicates that the nitrate load is...

MODELING OF THE MISSISSIPPI SOUND AND ADJOINING RIVERS, BAYS, AND SHELF WATERS

EPA Science Inventory

The Gulf of Mexico and its coastal watersheds are a complex ecosystem that is receiving negative impacts from human activities both in the Gulf and its watersheds. The Gulf of Mexico Program (GMP), as a multi-agency effort, is working with the Gulf States, citizens, and private ...

Water quality in the Yukon River Basin, Alaska, water years 2006-2008

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schuster, Paul F.; Maracle, Karonhiakta'tie Bryan; Herman-Mercer, Nicole

2010-01-01

The Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council and the U.S. Geological Survey developed a water-quality monitoring program to address a shared interest in the water quality of the Yukon River and its relation to climate. This report contains water-quality data from samples collected in the Yukon River Basin during water years 2006 through 2008. A broad range of chemical analyses from 44 stations throughout the YRB are presented. On August 8, 2009 the USGS signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council representing the culmination of 5 years of dedicated efforts to forge a working collaboration and partnership with expectations of continuing into the foreseeable future. The Memorandum of Understanding may be viewed at http://www.usgs.gov/mou/docs/yritwc_mou.pdf.

Detecting gradual and abrupt changes in water quality time series in response to regional payment programs for watershed services in an agricultural area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Tian; Lu, Yan; Cui, Yanping; Luo, Yabo; Wang, Min; Meng, Wei; Zhang, Kaijie; Zhao, Feifei

2015-06-01

Market-based watershed protection instruments can effectively improve water quality at various catchment scales. Two payments for watershed services (PWS) programs for water quality improvement have been successively implemented in the Huai River catchment and its sub-watershed, the Shaying River catchment, in Henan Province since 2009. To detect changes in water quality in response to PWS schemes, nonparametric statistical approaches were used to analyze gradual and abrupt trends in water quality, focusing on chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N) at 26 monitoring stations in the Huai River watershed during 2006-2013. The nonparametric Mann-Kendall test and the Theil-Sen estimator were used to identify trends and their magnitudes in weekly water quality observations and the Pettitt test was applied to change-point analysis of water quality time series. We found decreasing concentration trends in the weekly water quality data set in this catchment, with water quality at most stations affected by the PWS schemes. The COD and NH3-N concentrations decreased at 26 stations by an average of 0.05 mg/L wk and 0.01 mg/L wk, respectively, from 2006 to 2013. Meanwhile, the mean concentrations of COD and NH3-N decreased at the 26 stations by an average of 18.03 mg/L and 4.82 mg/L, respectively, after the abrupt change points of the time-series trends of these two pollutants. We also estimated annual reductions in COD and NH3-N for each station based on average flow observations using the Theil-Sen approach along with the resulting economic benefits from 2009 to 2010. The COD and NH3-N reductions were 14604.50 and 6213.25 t/y, respectively, in the Huai River catchment in Henan Province. The total economic benefits of reductions in these two pollutants were 769.71 million ¥ in 2009 and 2010, accounting for 0.08% and 0.06%, respectively, of the GDP in the entire Huai River watershed of Henan Province. These results provide new insights into the linkages between PWS programs and water quality improvements at regional and local scales for effective management of water resources.

Hydrologic conditions, stream-water quality, and selected groundwater studies conducted in the Lawrenceville area, Georgia, 2003-2008

USGS Publications Warehouse

Clarke, John S.; Williams, Lester J.

2010-01-01

Hydrologic studies conducted during 2003-2008 as part of the U.S. Geological Survey Cooperative Water Program with the City of Lawrenceville, Georgia, provide important data for the management of water resources. The Cooperative Water Program includes (1) hydrologic monitoring (precipitation, streamflow, and groundwater levels) to quantify baseline conditions in anticipation of expanded groundwater development, (2) surface-water-quality monitoring to provide an understanding of how stream quality is affected by natural (such as precipitation) and anthropogenic factors (such as impervious area), and (3) geologic studies to better understand groundwater flow and hydrologic processes in a crystalline rock setting. The hydrologic monitoring network includes each of the two watersheds projected for groundwater development?the Redland-Pew Creek and upper Alcovy River watersheds?and the upper Apalachee River watershed, which serves as a background or control watershed because of its similar hydrologic and geologic characteristics to the other two watersheds. In each watershed, precipitation was generally greater during 2003-2005 than during 2006-2008, and correspondingly streamflow and groundwater levels decreased. In the upper Alcovy River and Redland-Pew Creek watersheds, groundwater level declines during 2003-2008 were mostly between 2 and 7 feet, with maximum observed declines of as much as 28.5 feet in the upper Alcovy River watershed, and 49.1 feet in the Redland-Pew Creek watershed. Synoptic base-flow measurements were used to locate and quantify gains or losses to streamflow resulting from groundwater interaction (groundwater seepage). In September 2006, seepage gains were measured at five of nine reaches evaluated in the upper Alcovy River watershed, with losses in the other four. The four losing reaches were near the confluence of the Alcovy River and Cedar Creek where the stream gradient is low and bedrock is at or near the land surface. In the Redland-Pew Creek watershed, groundwater seepage gains were observed at each of the 10 reaches measured during September 2008. Continuous specific conductance, temperature, and turbidity data were collected at gage sites located on Pew and Shoal Creeks, which drain about 32 percent of the city area, and at a background site on the Apalachee River located outside the city boundary. Continuous surface-water monitoring data indicate that reduced precipitation during 2006-2008 resulted in lower turbidity and higher stream temperature and specific conductance than in 2003-2005. In comparison to the other two stream sites, water at the Apalachee River site had the lowest mean and median values for specific conductance, and the greatest mean and median values for turbidity during October 2005-December 2008. In addition to continuous water-quality monitoring, samples were collected periodically to determine fecal-coliform bacteria concentrations. None of the individual samples at the three sites exceeded the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GaEPD) limit of 4,000 most probable number of colonies per 100 milliliters (MPN col/100 mL) for November through April. In the Redland-Pew Creek and Shoal Creek watersheds, the GaEPD 30-day geometric mean standard of 200 MPN col/100 mL for May-October was exceeded twice during two sampling periods in May-October 2007 and twice during two sampling periods in May-October 2008. Groundwater studies conducted during 2003-2007 include the collection of borehole geophysical logs from four test wells drilled in the upper Alcovy River watershed to provide insight into subsurface geologic characteristics. A flowmeter survey was conducted in a well south of Rhodes Jordan Park to help assess the interconnection of the well with surface water and the effectiveness of a liner-packer assembly installed to eliminate that interconnection. At that same well, hydraulic packer tests were conducted in the open-hole section of the well, and water samp

Occurrence of pesticides in five rivers of the Mississippi Embayment Study Unit, 1996-98

USGS Publications Warehouse

Coupe, Richard H.

2000-01-01

The occurrence and temporal distribution of more than 80 pesticides and pesticide metabolites were determined in five rivers of the Mississippi Embayment National Water-Quality Assessment study unit from February 1996 through January 1998. More than 230 samples were collected and analyzed during the 2-year study. The five rivers sampled included three rivers with small, primarily agricultural watersheds; one river with a small urban watershed in Memphis, Tennessee; and one large river with mixed land use (row-crop agriculture, pasture, forest, and urban). Pesticides, usually herbicides, were frequently detected in water samples from every river. Insecticides were frequently detected (chlorpyrifos and diazinon in all samples) only in the river that drains the urban watershed. The occurrence of pesticides in surface water varied among the agricultural watersheds as well as between the agricultural and urban watersheds. The pesticides detected in the rivers that drain the agricultural watersheds were related to the major crop types cultivated in the watershed?corn is mostly grown in the northern part of the study unit, whereas cotton and rice are mostly grown in the southern part. The occurrence of pesticides in the Yazoo River, which drains the mixed land-use watershed, was similar to pesticide occurrence in the rivers that drain smaller agricultural watersheds, although concentrations were lower in the Yazoo River. Likewise, simazine, which was detected in all urban stream samples, was also detected in all Yazoo River samples, but in lower concentrations. The aquatic-life criteria for diazinon and chlorpyrifos was exceeded in 24 of 25 and 12 of 25 urban river samples, respectively, but only once or twice in agricultural and mixed-use watershed samples. Atrazine exceeded the aquatic-life criterion in about 20 percent of the samples from each river, particularly in the spring following pesticide application.

Incorporating Climate Change Predictions into Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategies (WRAPS) in the Upper Mississippi River Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burke, M. P.; Foreman, C. S.

2014-12-01

Development of the Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategies (WRAPS) for the Pine and Leech Lake River Watersheds is underway in Minnesota. Project partners participating in this effort include the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), Crow Wing Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), Cass County, and other local partners. These watersheds are located in the Northern Lakes and Forest ecoregion of Minnesota and drain to the Upper Mississippi River. To support the Pine and Leech Lake River WRAPS, watershed-scale hydrologic and water-quality models were developed with Hydrological Simulation Program-FORTRAN (HSPF). The HSPF model applications simulate hydrology (discharge, stage), as well as a number of water quality constituents (sediment, temperature, organic and inorganic nitrogen, total ammonia, organic and inorganic phosphorus, dissolved oxygen and biochemical oxygen demand, and algae) continuously for the period 1995-2009 and provide predictions at points of interest within the watersheds, such as observation gages, management boundaries, compliance points, and impaired water body endpoints. The model applications were used to evaluate phosphorus loads to surface waters under resource management scenarios, which were based on water quality threats that were identified at stakeholder meetings. Simulations of land use changes including conversion of forests to agriculture, shoreline development, and full build-out of cities show a watershed-wide phosphorus increases of up to 80%. The retention of 1.1 inches of runoff from impervious surfaces was not enough to mitigate the projected phosphorus load increases. Changes in precipitation projected by climate change models led to a 20% increase in annual watershed phosphorus loads. The scenario results will inform the implementation strategies selected for the WRAPS.

Watershed models for decision support in the Yakima River basin, Washington

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mastin, M.C.; Vaccaro, J.J.

2002-01-01

A Decision Support System (DSS) is being developed by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Reclamation as part of a long-term project, the Watershed and River Systems Management Program. The goal of the program is to apply the DSS to U.S. Bureau of Reclamation projects in the western United States. The DSS was applied to the Reclamation's Yakima Project in the Yakima River Basin in eastern Washington. An important component of the DSS is the physical hydrology modeling. For the application to the Yakima River Basin, the physical hydrology component consisted of constructing four watershed models using the U.S. Geological Survey's Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System within the Modular Modeling System. The implementation of these models is described. To facilitate calibration of the models, mean annual streamflow also was estimated for ungaged subbasins. The models were calibrated for water years 1950-94 and tested for water years 1995-98. The integration of the models in the DSS for real-time water-management operations using an interface termed the Object User Interface is also described. The models were incorporated in the DSS for use in long-term to short-term planning and have been used in a real-time operational mode since water year 1999.

Estimation of dynamic load of mercury in a river with BASINS-HSPF model

Treesearch

Ying Ouyang; John Higman; Jeff Hatten

2012-01-01

Purpose Mercury (Hg) is a naturally occurring element and a pervasive toxic pollutant. This study investigated the dynamic loads of Hg from the Cedar-Ortega Rivers watershed into the Lower St. Johns River (LSJR), Florida, USA, using the better assessment science integrating point and nonpoint sources (BASINS)-hydrologic simulation program - FORTRAN (HSPF) model....

East Fork Watershed Cooperative: Toward better system-scale ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The East Fork Watershed Cooperative is a group intent on understanding how to best manage water quality in a large mixed-use Midwestern watershed system. The system contains a reservoir that serves as a source of drinking water and is popular for water recreation. The reservoir is experience harmful algal blooms. The system including the reservoir has become a significant case study for EPA ORD research and development. The Cooperative includes affiliates from the USACE, the OHIO EPA, the USGS, the USDA, and local Soil and Water Conservation districts as well as utility operators and water quality protection offices. The presentation includes a description of the water quality monitoring and modeling program in the watershed, followed by the results of using the watershed model to estimate the costs associated with nutrient reduction to Harsha Lake, and then ends with an explanation of temporal changes observed for important factors controlling harmful algae in Harsha Lake and how this lake relates to other reservoirs in the Ohio River Basin. This presentation is an invited contribution to the Ohio River Basin Water Quality Workshop sponsored by the US ACE and the US EPA. The presentation describes the activities of the East Fork Watershed Cooperative and the knowledge it has gained to help better manage a case study watershed system over the last few years. The East Fork of the Little Miami River is the focal watershed. It is a significant tributary to the Lit

Flathead River Focus Watershed Coordinator, 2003-2004 Annual Report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

DuCharme, Lynn

2004-06-01

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) has long been involved with funding of the Cooperative Habitat Protection and Improvement with Private Landowners program in accordance with the Northwest Power Planning Council's (NPPC) Fish & Wildlife Program (Section 7.7). Section 7.7B.1 requires the establishment of ''at least one model watershed coordinator selected by each representative state''. This project was initiated in 1997 with the purpose of fulfilling the NWPCC's watershed program within the Flathead River basin in western Montana. Currently, the Flathead watershed has been radically altered by hydropower and other land uses. With the construction of Hungry Horse, Bigfork and Kerrmore » dams, the Flathead River system has been divided into isolated populations. Bull trout have been listed as threatened by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and westslope cutthroat trout have been petitioned for listing. Many streams in the drainage have been destabilized during recent decades. Past legal and illegal species introductions are also causing problems. This project fosters in-kind, out-of-place mitigation to offset the impacts of hydroelectric power to 72 miles of the South Fork of the Flathead River and its tributaries upstream of Hungry Horse Dam. Key subbasins within the Flathead drainage, which are critical to native species restoration, are experiencing rapid changes in land ownership and management direction. Subdivision and residential development of agricultural and timber lands adjacent to waterways in the drainage pose one of the greatest threats to weak but recoverable stocks of trout species. Plum Creek Timber Company, a major landholder in the Flathead drainage is currently divesting itself of large tracks of its lakeshore and streamside holdings. Growth of small tract development throughout the area and its tributaries is occurring at a record rate. Immediate to short-term action is required to protect stream corridors through many of these areas if cost-effective recovery efforts are to be implemented. In order to adequately address the issues, other segments of society and other (non-BPA) funding sources must be incorporated into the solution. As stated in the 1994 Fish and Wildlife Program (section 7.7), ''Comprehensive watershed management should enhance and expedite implementation of actions by clearly identifying gaps in programs and knowledge, by striving over time to resolve conflicts, and by keying on activities that address priorities''. A watershed coordinator helps to initiate and facilitate efforts for addressing the issues mentioned above and pulling together a plan for mitigation. Local support is essential before local governments and individual citizens are going to allow government initiatives to be implemented.« less

Flathead River Focus Watershed Coordinator, 2002 Annual Report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

DuCharme, Lynn

2003-04-01

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) has long been involved with funding of the Cooperative Habitat Protection and Improvement with Private Landowners program in accordance with the Northwest Power Planning Council's (NPPC) Fish & Wildlife Program (Section 7.7). Section 7.7B.1 requires the establishment of ''at least one model watershed coordinator selected by each representative state''. This project was initiated in 1997 with the purpose of fulfilling the NPPC's watershed program within the Flathead River basin in western Montana. Currently, the Flathead watershed has been radically altered by hydropower and other land uses. With the construction of Hungry Horse, Bigfork and Kerrmore » dams, the Flathead River system has been divided into isolated populations. Bull trout have been listed as threatened by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and westslope cutthroat trout have been petitioned for listing. Many streams in the drainage have been destabilized during recent decades. Past legal and illegal species introductions are also causing problems. This project fosters in-kind, out-of-place mitigation to offset the impacts of hydroelectric power to 72 miles of the South Fork of the Flathead River and its tributaries upstream of Hungry Horse Dam. Key subbasins within the Flathead drainage, which are critical to native species restoration, are experiencing rapid changes in land ownership and management direction. Subdivision and residential development of agricultural and timber lands adjacent to waterways in the drainage pose one of the greatest threats to weak but recoverable stocks of trout species. Plum Creek Timber Company, a major landholder in the Flathead drainage is currently divesting itself of large tracks of its lakeshore and streamside holdings. Growth of small tract development throughout the area and its tributaries is occurring at a record rate. Immediate to short-term action is required to protect stream corridors through many of these areas if cost-effective recovery efforts are to be implemented. In order to adequately address the issues, other segments of society and other (non-BPA) funding sources must be incorporated into the solution. As stated in the 1994 Fish and Wildlife Program (section 7.7), ''Comprehensive watershed management should enhance and expedite implementation of actions by clearly identifying gaps in programs and knowledge, by striving over time to resolve conflicts, and by keying on activities that address priorities''. A watershed coordinator helps to initiate and facilitate efforts for addressing the issues mentioned above and pulling together a plan for mitigation. Local support is essential before local governments and individual citizens are going to allow government initiatives to be implemented.« less

Flathead River Focus Watershed Coordinator, 2004-2005 Annual Report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

DuCharme, Lynn

2006-06-26

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) has long been involved with funding of the Cooperative Habitat Protection and Improvement with Private Landowners program in accordance with the Northwest Power Planning Council's (NPPC) Fish & Wildlife Program (Section 7.7). Section 7.7B.1 requires the establishment of ''at least one model watershed coordinator selected by each representative state''. This project was initiated in 1997 with the purpose of fulfilling the NWPCC's watershed program within the Flathead River basin in western Montana. Currently, the Flathead watershed has been radically altered by hydropower and other land uses. With the construction of Hungry Horse, Bigfork and Kerrmore » dams, the Flathead River system has been divided into isolated populations. Bull trout have been listed as threatened by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and westslope cutthroat trout have been petitioned for listing. Many streams in the drainage have been destabilized during recent decades. Past legal and illegal species introductions are also causing problems. This project fosters in-kind, out-of-place mitigation to offset the impacts of hydroelectric power to 72 miles of the South Fork of the Flathead River and its tributaries upstream of Hungry Horse Dam. Key subbasins within the Flathead drainage, which are critical to native species restoration, are experiencing rapid changes in land ownership and management direction. Subdivision and residential development of agricultural and timber lands adjacent to waterways in the drainage pose one of the greatest threats to weak but recoverable stocks of trout species. Plum Creek Timber Company, a major landholder in the Flathead drainage is currently divesting itself of large tracks of its lakeshore and streamside holdings. Growth of small tract development throughout the area and its tributaries is occurring at a record rate. Immediate to short-term action is required to protect stream corridors through many of these areas if cost-effective recovery efforts are to be implemented. In order to adequately address the issues, other segments of society and other (non-BPA) funding sources must be incorporated into the solution. As stated in the 1994 Fish and Wildlife Program (section 7.7), ''Comprehensive watershed management should enhance and expedite implementation of actions by clearly identifying gaps in programs and knowledge, by striving over time to resolve conflicts, and by keying on activities that address priorities''. A watershed coordinator helps to initiate and facilitate efforts for addressing the issues mentioned above and pulling together a plan for mitigation. Local support is essential before local governments and individual citizens are going to allow government initiatives to be implemented.« less

Flathead River Focus Watershed Coordinator, 2005-2006 Annual Report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

DuCharme, Lynn

2006-05-01

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) has long been involved with funding of the Cooperative Habitat Protection and Improvement with Private Landowners program in accordance with the Northwest Power Planning Council's (NPPC) Fish & Wildlife Program (Section 7.7). Section 7.7B.1 requires the establishment of ''at least one model watershed coordinator selected by each representative state''. This project was initiated in 1997 with the purpose of fulfilling the NWPCC's watershed program within the Flathead River basin in western Montana. Currently, the Flathead watershed has been radically altered by hydropower and other land uses. With the construction of Hungry Horse, Bigfork and Kerrmore » dams, the Flathead River system has been divided into isolated populations. Bull trout have been listed as threatened by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and westslope cutthroat trout have been petitioned for listing. Many streams in the drainage have been destabilized during recent decades. Past legal and illegal species introductions are also causing problems. This project fosters in-kind, out-of-place mitigation to offset the impacts of hydroelectric power to 72 miles of the South Fork of the Flathead River and its tributaries upstream of Hungry Horse Dam. Key subbasins within the Flathead drainage, which are critical to native species restoration, are experiencing rapid changes in land ownership and management direction. Subdivision and residential development of agricultural and timber lands adjacent to waterways in the drainage pose one of the greatest threats to weak but recoverable stocks of trout species. Plum Creek Timber Company, a major landholder in the Flathead drainage is currently divesting itself of large tracks of its lakeshore and streamside holdings. Growth of small tract development throughout the area and its tributaries is occurring at a record rate. Immediate to short-term action is required to protect stream corridors through many of these areas if cost-effective recovery efforts are to be implemented. In order to adequately address the issues, other segments of society and other (non-BPA) funding sources must be incorporated into the solution. As stated in the 1994 Fish and Wildlife Program (section 7.7), ''Comprehensive watershed management should enhance and expedite implementation of actions by clearly identifying gaps in programs and knowledge, by striving over time to resolve conflicts, and by keying on activities that address priorities''. A watershed coordinator helps to initiate and facilitate efforts for addressing the issues mentioned above and pulling together a plan for mitigation. Local support is essential before local governments and individual citizens are going to allow government initiatives to be implemented.« less

Nitrogen Flux in Watersheds: The Role of Soil Distributions and Climate in Nitrogen Flux to the Coastal Ecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Showers, W. J.; Reyes, M. M.; Genna, B. J.

2009-12-01

Quantifying the flux of nitrate from different landscape sources in watersheds is important to understand the increased flux of nitrogen to coastal ecosystems. Recent technological advances in chemical sensor networks has demonstrated that chemical variability in aquatic environments are chronically under-sampled, and that many nutrient monitoring programs with monthly or daily sampling rates are inadequate to characterize the dominate seasonal, daily or semi-diurnal fluxes in watersheds. The RiverNet program has measured the nitrate flux in the Neuse River Basin, NC on a 15 minute interval over the past eight years. Significant diurnal variation has been observed in nitrate concentrations during high and low flow periods associated with waste water treatment plants in urban watersheds that are not present in agricultural watersheds. Discharge and N flux in the basin also has significant inter-annual variations associated with El Nino oscillations modified by the North Atlantic oscillation. Positive JMA and NAO indexes are associated with increased groundwater levels, nutrient fluxes, and estuary fish kills. To understand how climate oscillation affect discharge and nutrient fluxes, we have monitored runoff/drainages and groundwater inputs adjacent to a large waste application field over the past 4 years, and used the nitrate inputs as a tracer. Surface water run off is well correlated to precipitation patterns and is the largest nutrient flux into the river. Groundwater inputs are variable spatially and temporally, and are controlled by geology and groundwater levels. Hydric soil spatial distributions are an excellent predictor of nutrient transport across landscapes, and is related to the distribution of biogeochemical “hotspots” The isotopic composition of oxygen and nitrogen in dissolved nitrate indicate that sources change with discharge state, and that atmospherically deposited nitrogen is only important to river fluxes in forested and urban watersheds. These results also indicate that the contribution of wastewater treatment plants from urban watersheds has been greatly under-estimated in current models. Prediction of future changes in discharge and nutrient flux by the modeling of climate oscillations has important implications for water resources policy and drought management for public policy and utility managers.

Modeling and Analysis of the Water Cycle: Seasonal and Event Variability at the Walnut River Research Watershed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, M. A.; Miller, N. L.; Sale, M. J.; Springer, E. P.; Wesely, M. L.; Bashford, K. E.; Conrad, M. E.; Costigan, K. R.; Kemball-Cook, S.; King, A. W.; Klazura, G. E.; Lesht, B. M.; Machavaram, M. V.; Sultan, M.; Song, J.; Washington-Allen, R.

2001-12-01

A multi-laboratory Department of Energy (DOE) team (Argonne National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory) has begun an investigation of hydrometeorological processes at the Whitewater subbasin of the Walnut River Watershed in Kansas. The Whitewater sub-basin is viewed as a DOE long-term hydrologic research watershed and resides within the well-instrumented Atmospheric Radiation Measurement/Cloud Radiation Atmosphere Testbed (ARM/CART) and the proposed Arkansas-Red River regional hydrologic testbed. The focus of this study is the development and evaluation of coupled regional to watershed scale models that simulate atmospheric, land surface, and hydrologic processes as systems with linkages and feedback mechanisms. This pilot is the precursor to the proposed DOE Water Cycle Dynamics Prediction Program. An important new element is the introduction of water isotope budget equations into mesoscale and hydrologic modeling. Two overarching hypotheses are part of this pilot study: (1) Can the predictability of the regional water balance be improved using high-resolution model simulations that are constrained and validated using new water isotope and hydrospheric water measurements? (2) Can water isotopic tracers be used to segregate different pathways through the water cycle and predict a change in regional climate patterns? Initial results of the pilot will be presented along with a description and copies of the proposed DOE Water Cycle Dynamics Prediction Program.

[Influence of land use change on dissolved organic carbon export in Naoli River watershed. Northeast China].

PubMed

Yin, Xiao-min; Lyu, Xian-guo; Liu, Xing-tu; Xue, Zhen-shan

2015-12-01

The present study was conducted to evaluate the influence of land use change on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) export in Naoli River watershed, Northeast China. Seasonal variation of DOC concentrations of the river water and its relationship with land use in the whole watershed and 100 m riparian zone at the annual average scale were analyzed using the method of field sampling, laboratory analysis, GIS and statistics analysis. The results showed that the concentrations of DOC under base flow conditions in spring and summer were significantly higher than that in fall in the study watershed. The seasonal trend of DOC concentrations in wetland-watersheds was similar to that in all the sub-watersheds, while significantly different from that in non-wetland watersheds. On the annual average scale, percentage of wetland in the whole watershed and paddy field in the 100 m riparian zone had positive relationship with the DOC concentration in the river water, while percentage of forest in the whole watershed had negative relationship with it (P < 0.05). It indicated that wetland in the sub-watershed played a significant role in the seasonal variation of DOC in river water of Naoli River watershed. Wetland in the watershed and paddy field in the 100 m riparian zone significantly promoted DOC export, while forest alleviated it. Land use change in the watershed in the past few decades dramatically changed the DOC balance of river water.

Estimating Nitrogen Loading in the Wabash River Subwatershed Using a GIS Schematic Processing Network in Support of Sustainable Watershed Management Planning

EPA Science Inventory

The Wabash River is a tributary of the Ohio River. This river system consists of headwaters and small streams, medium river reaches in the upper Wabash watershed, and large river reaches in the lower Wabash watershed. A large part of the river system is situated in agricultural a...

The Kings River Experimental Watersheds: new findings about headwater streams of the southern Sierra Nevada

Treesearch

Carolyn Hunsaker

2013-01-01

The Kings River Experimental Watersheds (KREW) study was designed to (1) characterize the variability in watershed attributes considered important to understanding processes and health of headwater streams and forest watersheds and (2) evaluate forest restoration treatments. The KREW is a paired watershed experiment located in the headwaters of the Kings River Basin...

The Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Model (WEBMOD): A TOPMODEL application developed within the Modular Modeling System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Webb, R. M.; Wolock, D. M.; Linard, J. I.; Wieczorek, M. E.

2004-12-01

Process-based flow and transport simulation models can help increase understanding of how hydrologic flow paths affect biogeochemical mixing and reactions in watersheds. This presentation describes the Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Model (WEBMOD), a new model designed to simulate water and chemical transport in both pristine and agricultural watersheds. WEBMOD simulates streamflow using TOPMODEL algorithms and also simulates irrigation, canopy interception, snowpack, and tile-drain flow; these are important processes for successful multi-year simulations of agricultural watersheds. In addition, the hydrologic components of the model are linked to the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) geochemical model PHREEQC such that solute chemistry for the hillslopes and streams also are computed. Model development, execution, and calibration take place within the USGS Modular Modeling System. WEBMOD is being validated at ten research watersheds. Five of these watersheds are nearly pristine and comprise the USGS Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budget (WEBB) Program field sites: Loch Vale, Colorado; Trout Lake, Wisconsin; Sleepers River, Vermont; Panola Mountain, Georgia; and the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico. The remaining five watersheds contain intensely cultivated fields being studied by USGS National Water Quality Assessment Program: Merced River, California; Granger Drain, Washington; Maple Creek, Nebraska; Sugar Creek, Indiana; and Morgan Creek, Delaware. Model calibration improved understanding of observed variations in soil moisture, solute concentrations, and stream discharge at the five WEBB watersheds and is now being set up to simulate the processes at the five agricultural watersheds that are now ending their first year of data collection.

Development of total maximum daily loads for bacteria impaired watershed using the comprehensive hydrology and water quality simulation model.

PubMed

Kim, Sang M; Brannan, Kevin M; Zeckoski, Rebecca W; Benham, Brian L

2014-01-01

The objective of this study was to develop bacteria total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for the Hardware River watershed in the Commonwealth of Virginia, USA. The TMDL program is an integrated watershed management approach required by the Clean Water Act. The TMDLs were developed to meet Virginia's water quality standard for bacteria at the time, which stated that the calendar-month geometric mean concentration of Escherichia coli should not exceed 126 cfu/100 mL, and that no single sample should exceed a concentration of 235 cfu/100 mL. The bacteria impairment TMDLs were developed using the Hydrological Simulation Program-FORTRAN (HSPF). The hydrology and water quality components of HSPF were calibrated and validated using data from the Hardware River watershed to ensure that the model adequately simulated runoff and bacteria concentrations. The calibrated and validated HSPF model was used to estimate the contributions from the various bacteria sources in the Hardware River watershed to the in-stream concentration. Bacteria loads were estimated through an extensive source characterization process. Simulation results for existing conditions indicated that the majority of the bacteria came from livestock and wildlife direct deposits and pervious lands. Different source reduction scenarios were evaluated to identify scenarios that meet both the geometric mean and single sample maximum E. coli criteria with zero violations. The resulting scenarios required extreme and impractical reductions from livestock and wildlife sources. Results from studies similar to this across Virginia partially contributed to a reconsideration of the standard's applicability to TMDL development.

EVALUATING POINT-NONPOINT SOURCE WATER QUALITY TRADING IN A RARITAN RIVER BASIN SUB-WATERSHED

EPA Science Inventory

This project addresses water quality issues in the Raritan River Basin of New Jersey. It will build upon an existing study that determined the technical feasibility of implementing a point-nonpoint source water quality trading program in the Basin. Water quality trading is ...

Loads of nitrate, phosphorus, and total suspended solids from Indiana watersheds

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bunch, Aubrey R.

2016-01-01

Transport of excess nutrients and total suspended solids (TSS) such as sediment by freshwater systems has led to degradation of aquatic ecosystems around the world. Nutrient and TSS loads from Midwestern states to the Mississippi River are a major contributor to the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic Zone, an area of very low dissolved oxygen concentration in the Gulf of Mexico. To better understand Indiana’s contribution of nutrients and TSS to the Mississippi River, annual loads of nitrate plus nitrite as nitrogen, total phosphorus, and TSS were calculated for nine selected watersheds in Indiana using the load estimation model, S-LOADEST. Discrete water-quality samples collected monthly by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s Fixed Stations Monitoring Program from 2000–2010 and concurrent discharge data from the U. S. Geological Survey streamflow gages were used to create load models. Annual nutrient and TSS loads varied across Indiana by watershed and hydrologic condition. Understanding the loads from large river sites in Indiana is important for assessing contributions of nutrients and TSS to the Mississippi River Basin and in determining the effectiveness of best management practices in the state. Additionally, evaluation of loads from smaller upstream watersheds is important to characterize improvements at the local level and to identify priorities for reduction.

Kootenai River Focus Watershed Coordination, 2004-2005 Annual Report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kootenai River Network,

2005-07-01

The Kootenai River Network (KRN) was contracted by the Bonneville Power Administration; PPA Project Number 96087200 for the period June 1, 2004 to May 31, 2005 to provide Kootenai River basin watershed coordination services. The prime focus of the KRN Watershed Coordination Program is coordinating projects and disseminating information related to watershed improvement and education and outreach with other interest groups in the Kootenai River basin. The KRN willingly shares its resources with these groups. The 2004-2005 BPA contract extended the original Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks contract, which was transferred to the Kootenai River Network through a Memorandum ofmore » Understanding in November 2001. The KRN objectives of this contract were carried out by one half-time Watershed Coordinator position in Montana-Idaho (Nancy Zapotocki) and one half-time Watershed Coordination team in British Columbia (Laura and Jim Duncan). Nancy Zapotocki was hired as the KRN US Watershed Coordinator in July 2004. Her extensive work experience in outreach and education and watershed planning complements the Duncans in British Columbia. To continue rejuvenating and revitalizing the KRN, the Board conducted a second retreat in November 2004. The first retreat took place in November 2003. Board and staff members combined efforts to define KRN goals and ways of achieving them. An Education and Outreach Plan formulated by the Watershed Coordinators was used to guide much of the discussions. The conclusions reached during the retreat specified four ''flagship'' projects for 2005-2006, to: (1) Provide leadership and facilitation, and build on current work related to the TMDL plans and planning efforts on the United States side of the border. (2) Continue facilitating trans-boundary British Columbia projects building on established work and applying the KRN model of project facilitation to other areas of the Kootenai basin. (3) Finalize and implement the KRN Education and Outreach plan. (4) Use GIS mapping to prioritize US and BC projects and prioritize education and outreach efforts. The KRN established Kootenay River Network-BC as a registered Society and are pursuing charitable status for this sister organization. Having an organization in both the US and Canada will allow the KRN to apply for and to manage funds as well as to coordinate education and outreach workshops, seminars and tours with greater ease. The recent accomplishments by the Joseph Creek Community Action Team in Cranbrook demonstrate the significant trans-boundary abilities of the KRN. On May 26, 2005, KRN received a prestigious Watershed Stewardship award from the Montana Watershed Coordination Council, which represents over 80 watershed groups in the State of Montana. The award was presented by Governor Brian Schweitzer in the rotunda of the State Capital building in Helena Montana.« less

Turbidity and total suspended solid concentration dynamics in streamflow from California oak woodland watersheds

Treesearch

David J. Lewis; Kenneth W. Tate; Randy A. Dahlgren; Jacob Newell

2002-01-01

Resource agencies, private landowners, and citizen monitoring programs utilize turbidity (water clarity) measurements as a water quality indicator for total suspended solids (TSS – mass of solids per unit volume) and other constituents in streams and rivers. The dynamics and relationships between turbidity and TSS are functions of watershed-specific factors and...

River network and watershed morphology analysis with potential implications towards basin classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bugaets, Andrey; Gartsman, Boris; Bugaets, Nadezhda

2013-04-01

Generally, the investigation of river network composition and watersheds morphology (fluvial geomorphology), constituting one of the key patterns of land surface, is a fundamental question of Earth Sciences. Recent ideas in this research field are the equilibrium and optimal, in the sense of minimum energy expenditure, river network evolution under constant or slowly varying conditions (Rodriguez-Iturbe, Rinaldo, 1997). It follows to such network behavior as self-similarity, self-affinity and self-organization. That is to say, under relatively stable conditions the river systems tend to some "good composed" form and vice-versa. Lately appearing global free available detailed DEM covers involve new possibilities in this research field. We develop new methodology and program package for river network structure and watershed morphology detailed analysis on the base of ArcMap tools. Different characteristics of river network (e.g. ordering, coefficients of Horton's laws, Shannon entropy, fractal dimension) and basin morphology (e.g. diagrams of average elevation, slope, width and energy index against distance to outlet along streams) could be calculated to find a good indicators of intensity and non-equilibrium of watershed evolution. Watersheds are non-conservative systems in which energy is dissipated by transporting water and sediment in geomorphic adjustment of the slopes and channels. The problem of estimating the amount of energy expenditure associated with overcoming surface and system resistance is extremely complicated to solve. A simplification on a river network scale is to consider energy expenditure to be primarily associated with friction of the fluid. We propose a new technique to analyze the catchment landforms based on so-called "energy function" that is a distribution of total energy index against distance from outlet. As potential energy of water on the hillslopes is transformed into kinetic energy of the flowing fluid-sediment mixture in the runoff process, the energy is dissipated from the system. The rate of energy dissipation is defined as the work that a fluid element needs to perform to overcome friction at the unit area. Appling the product of local slope and watershed area, i.e. calculating the total energy index at the different distance from outlet, one gets the watershed "energy function" E(x). Application results indicate that the proposed method could be used for watersheds classification, regionalization and paleoreconstructions. NASA-SRTM DEM of 3" resolution has been employed to analyze the 24 watersheds within Amur River Basin with area 20-70 thousand km2 (7-8 order). The study was carried out, in particular, to assess the limitation of SRTM DEM data, especially in flat terrains. The study also revealed that some of regularities investigated are described satisfactorily by well-known simplest model of drainage networks, so-called Peano's basin.

Water resources of the Snake River watershed, east-central Minnesota

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lindholm, Gerald F.; Helgesen, J.O.; Broussard, W.L.; Ericson, D.W.

1974-01-01

The Snake River, which drains an area of about 1,030 square miles, originates in an extensive area of peat bogs in the northern part of the watershed. It flows southward across gently rolling glacial terrain in which the major relief is near the river. Near the southern boundary of the watershed, the Snake River turns eastward to its confluence with the St. Croix River. The northwest half of the watershed is heavily forested, whereas much of the southeast half has been cleared. The largest communities in the watershed, Mora and Pine City, had 1970 populations of 2,582 and 2,143, respectively.

Modeling Peak Discharge within the Marengo River Watershed: Lessons for Restoration in the Saint Louis River Watershed

EPA Science Inventory

To more fully understand the hydrologic condition of the Marengo River Watershed, and to map specific locations most likely to have increased discharge and flow velocity (leading to more erosion and higher sediment loads) we modeled peak discharge for 35 different sub-watersheds ...

Red Alder (Alnus rubra) Distribution Influences Nitrate Discharge to Coastal Estuaries: Comparison of Two Oregon Watersheds

EPA Science Inventory

We determined nutrient export from the Yaquina and Alsea Rivers as part of a larger program for evaluating nutrient sources to coastal waters. The Yaquina and Alsea data indicated that one river typically contained twice the amount of dissolved nitrate-N, although temperature, co...

75 FR 9380 - Cooperative Conservation Partners Initiative; Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-02

... Corporation Cooperative Conservation Partners Initiative; Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Program AGENCY...: Notice of request for proposals through the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative... (FY) 2010 for up to $50 million in the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative (CCPI) and $25...

Annual Report Card Shows Water Quality Improvements in Parts of the Mystic River Watershed in 2017

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in collaboration with the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA), announced its annual Water Quality Report Card on the Mystic River watershed for 2017.

Annual Report Card Shows Water Quality Improvements in Parts of the Mystic River Watershed

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Each year, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in collaboration with the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA), issues a Water Quality Report Card on water quality in the Mystic River watershed.

Hydrologic data for the Obed River watershed, Tennessee

USGS Publications Warehouse

Knight, Rodney R.; Wolfe, William J.; Law, George S.

2014-01-01

The Obed River watershed drains a 520-square-mile area of the Cumberland Plateau physiographic region in the Tennessee River basin. The watershed is underlain by conglomerate, sandstone, and shale of Pennsylvanian age, which overlie Mississippian-age limestone. The larger creeks and rivers of the Obed River system have eroded gorges through the conglomerate and sandstone into the deeper shale. The largest gorges are up to 400 feet deep and are protected by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act as part of the Obed Wild and Scenic River, which is managed by the National Park Service. The growing communities of Crossville and Crab Orchard, Tennessee, are located upstream of the gorge areas of the Obed River watershed. The cities used about 5.8 million gallons of water per day for drinking water in 2010 from Lake Holiday and Stone Lake in the Obed River watershed and Meadow Park Lake in the Caney Fork River watershed. The city of Crossville operates a wastewater treatment plant that releases an annual average of about 2.2 million gallons per day of treated effluent to the Obed River, representing as much as 10 to 40 percent of the monthly average streamflow of the Obed River near Lancing about 35 miles downstream, during summer and fall. During the past 50 years (1960–2010), several dozen tributary impoundments and more than 2,000 small farm ponds have been constructed in the Obed River watershed. Synoptic streamflow measurements indicate a tendency towards dampened high flows and slightly increased low flows as the percentage of basin area controlled by impoundments increases.

Long term acroecosystem research in the Southern Plains

Treesearch

Jean L. Steiner; Patrick J. Starks; Jurgen Garbrecht; Daniel Moriasi; Paul Bartholomew; Jim Neel; Kenneth E. Turner; Brian Northup

2016-01-01

The Southern Plains (SP) site of the Long Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) network is headquartered at the USDA-ARS Grazinglands Research Laboratory (GRL) in El Reno, Oklahoma. The GRL was established in 1948. A long-term watershed and climate research program was established in the Little Washita River Experimental Watershed (LWREW) in 1961 and in the Fort Cobb...

The Mystic River Watershed Initiative Steering Committee Purpose and Structure

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Mystic River Watershed Initiative (MRWI) works to improve water quality and public access to open spaces in the Mystic River watershed. The MRWI Steering Committee meets regularly to discuss key issues and priority actions related to this initiative.

Temporal changes in nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations with comparisons to conservation practices and agricultural activities in the Lower Grand River, Missouri and Iowa, and selected watersheds, 1969–2015

USGS Publications Warehouse

Krempa, Heather M.; Flickinger, Allison K.

2017-08-01

This report presents the results of a cooperative study by the U.S. Geological Survey and Missouri Department of Natural Resources to estimate total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations at monitoring sites within and near the Lower Grand River hydrological unit. The primary objectives of the study were to quantify temporal changes in TN and TP concentrations and compare those concentrations to conservation practices and agricultural activities. Despite increases in funding during 2011–15 for conservation practices in the Lower Grand River from the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative, decreases in flow-normalized TN and TP concentrations during this time at the long-term Grand River site were less than at other long-term sites, which did not receive funding from the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative. The relative differences in the magnitude of flow-normalized TN and TP concentrations among long-term sites are directly related to the amount of agricultural land use within the watershed. Significant relations were determined between nitrogen from cattle manure and flow-normalized TN concentrations at selected long-term sites, indicating livestock manure may be a substantial source of nitrogen within the selected long-term site watersheds. Relations between flow-normalized TN and TP concentrations with Conservation Reserve Program acres and with nitrogen and phosphorus from commercial fertilizer indicate that changes in these factors alone did not have a substantial effect on stream TN and TP concentrations; other landscape activities, runoff, within-bank nutrients that are suspended during higher streamflows, or a combination of these have had a greater effect on stream TN and TP concentrations; or there is a lag time that is obscuring relations. Temporal changes in flow-adjusted TN and TP concentrations were not substantial at Lower Grand River Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative sites, indicating factors besides stream variability did not have substantial effects on TN and TP concentrations. Flow-weighted TN and TP concentrations at Lower Grand River Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watershed Initiative sites increase with increasing streamflow, which indicates runoff, within-bank nutrients that are suspended during higher streamflows, or both, have more effect on stream TN and TP concentrations than consistent point sources or groundwater sources. Timing of TN and TP concentration increases compared to streamflow increases indicate that nitrogen and phosphorus loads are more strongly related to streamflow than to a particular period of the year, indicating that runoff, within-bank nutrients that are suspended during higher streamflows, or both are a substantial source of nutrients regardless of timing.

Protect and Restore Red River Watershed, 2007-2008 Annual Report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bransford, Stephanie

2009-05-04

The Nez Perce Tribe Department of Fisheries Resource Management, Watershed Division approaches watershed restoration with a ridge-top to ridge-top approach. The Nez Perce Tribe (NPT) and the Nez Perce National Forest (NPNF) have formed a partnership in completing watershed restoration activities, and through this partnership more work is accomplished by sharing funding and resources in our effort. The Nez Perce Tribe began watershed restoration projects within the Red River Watershed of the South Fork Clearwater River in 2001. Progress has been made in restoring the watershed through road decommissioning and culvert replacement. From completing a watershed assessment to two NEPAmore » efforts and a final stream restoration design, we will begin the effort of restoring the mainstem channel of Red River to provide spawning and rearing habitat for anadromous and resident fish species. Roads have been surveyed and prioritized for removal or improvement as well as culverts being prioritized for replacement to accommodate fish passage throughout the watershed. Another major, and extremely, important component of this project is the Red River Meadow Conservation Easement. We have begun the process of pursuing a conservation easement on approximately 270 acres of prime meadow habitat (Red River runs through this meadow and is prime spawning and rearing habitat).« less

Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration Project

Treesearch

Steve Culver; Cindy Dean; Fred Patten; Jim Thinnes

2001-01-01

The Upper South Platte Basin is a critical watershed in Colorado. Nearly 80 percent of the water used by the 1.5 million Denver metropolitan residents comes from or is transmitted through this river drainage. The Colorado Unified Watershed Assessment identified the Upper South Platte River as a Category 1 watershed in need of restoration. Most of the river basin is...

All Property is Riverfront Property: The Raindrop App and FLOW Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carter, T.; Miss, M.; Kirn, M.; Niyogi, D.; Bachta, E.; Steckel, J.

2011-12-01

Rivers in the United States are essential to sustain lives of both nonhuman species and of human societies. Urban areas rely heavily upon their nearby rivers and watersheds for their survival and yet citizens are often unaware of inextricable linkages between societal and river functions. One way to overcome this lack of awareness is by exploring new avenues for engagement with the general public. In this project, we use three fields for this engagement (science, art, and technology) to produce a river awareness tool that creates connections between citizens and their watersheds through visceral and technological interfaces. The target area is the White River watershed, which is entirely contained within the state of Indiana and encompasses nearly 30,000 km2 in the central and southern portions of the state including the metropolitan region of Indianapolis. We developed a mobile device application called "Raindrop" that uses geographic information systems (GIS) and mobile device GPS technology to map a raindrop's path from a user's home to the river and identifies the various flow paths and pollutant constituents transported by this water along the way. Physical markers along the White River designed by an artist on the project team allows for the virtual features of the application to be grounded in physical space. The use of Raindrop to connect users with their urban watershed is shown to have significant promise for widespread application. A number of key advantages of using this technology over traditional forms of outreach are enumerated below. First, by collaborating with a nationally renowned artist both in the design of the application and for physical markers, the audience for Raindrop is greatly expanded and interesting dynamics between the scientific and artist members of the general public are developed. Second, in urban areas the use of mobile devices and handheld Web technology are ubiquitous and thus the information can be conveyed to an audience in a form that is familiar and relevant. By pulling the mobile device users into physical spaces along the river, the experience is enhanced further. Finally, the ability to concisely display essential watershed, weather, and climate information using iconography, predefined data analysis, and dynamic programming allows for the application to run quickly and usability to be optimized. Future work will focus on end user evaluation and replicability in other urban watersheds around the country.

Quantification of BMPs Selection and Spatial Placement Impact on Water Quality Controlling Plans in Lower Bear River Watershed, Utah

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salha, A. A.; Stevens, D. K.

2016-12-01

The aim of the watershed-management program in Box Elder County, Utah set by Utah Division of Water Quality (UDEQ) is to evaluate the effectiveness and spatial placement of the implemented best-management practices (BMP) for controlling nonpoint-source contamination at watershed scale. The need to evaluate the performance of BMPs would help future policy and program decisions making as desired end results. The environmental and costs benefits of BMPs in Lower Bear River watershed have seldom been measured beyond field experiments. Yet, implemented practices have rarely been evaluated at the watershed scale where the combined effects of variable soils, climatic conditions, topography and land use/covers and management conditions may significantly change anticipated results and reductions loads. Such evaluation requires distributed watershed models that are necessary for quantifying and reproducing the movement of water, sediments and nutrients. Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is selected as a watershed level tool to identify contaminant nonpoint sources (critical zones) and areas of high pollution risks. Water quality concerns have been documented and are primarily attributed to high phosphorus and total suspended sediment concentrations caused by agricultural and farming practices (required load is 460 kg/day of total phosphorus based on 0.075 mg/l and an average of total suspended solids of 90 mg/l). Input data such as digital elevation model (DEM), land use/Land cover (LULC), soils, and climate data for 10 years (2000-2010) is utilized along with observed water quality at the watershed outlet (USGS) and some discrete monitoring points within the watershed. Statistical and spatial analysis of scenarios of management practices (BMP's) are not implemented (before implementation), during implementation, and after BMP's have been studied to determine whether water quality of the two main water bodies has improved as required by the LBMR watershed's TMDL and if the BMPs are cost-effectively targeting the critical zones.

Analysis of sensitivity of simulated recharge to selected parameters for seven watersheds modeled using the precipitation-runoff modeling system

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ely, D. Matthew

2006-01-01

Recharge is a vital component of the ground-water budget and methods for estimating it range from extremely complex to relatively simple. The most commonly used techniques, however, are limited by the scale of application. One method that can be used to estimate ground-water recharge includes process-based models that compute distributed water budgets on a watershed scale. These models should be evaluated to determine which model parameters are the dominant controls in determining ground-water recharge. Seven existing watershed models from different humid regions of the United States were chosen to analyze the sensitivity of simulated recharge to model parameters. Parameter sensitivities were determined using a nonlinear regression computer program to generate a suite of diagnostic statistics. The statistics identify model parameters that have the greatest effect on simulated ground-water recharge and that compare and contrast the hydrologic system responses to those parameters. Simulated recharge in the Lost River and Big Creek watersheds in Washington State was sensitive to small changes in air temperature. The Hamden watershed model in west-central Minnesota was developed to investigate the relations that wetlands and other landscape features have with runoff processes. Excess soil moisture in the Hamden watershed simulation was preferentially routed to wetlands, instead of to the ground-water system, resulting in little sensitivity of any parameters to recharge. Simulated recharge in the North Fork Pheasant Branch watershed, Wisconsin, demonstrated the greatest sensitivity to parameters related to evapotranspiration. Three watersheds were simulated as part of the Model Parameter Estimation Experiment (MOPEX). Parameter sensitivities for the MOPEX watersheds, Amite River, Louisiana and Mississippi, English River, Iowa, and South Branch Potomac River, West Virginia, were similar and most sensitive to small changes in air temperature and a user-defined flow routing parameter. Although the primary objective of this study was to identify, by geographic region, the importance of the parameter value to the simulation of ground-water recharge, the secondary objectives proved valuable for future modeling efforts. The value of a rigorous sensitivity analysis can (1) make the calibration process more efficient, (2) guide additional data collection, (3) identify model limitations, and (4) explain simulated results.

Elevation-derived watershed basins and characteristics for major rivers of the conterminous United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Poppenga, S.K.; Worstell, B.B.

2008-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Center Topographic Science Project has developed elevation-derived watershed basins and characteristics for major rivers of the conterminous United States. Watershed basins are delineated upstream from the mouth of major rivers by using the hydrologic connectivity of the Elevation Derivatives for National Applications (EDNA) seamless database. Watershed characteristics are quantified by integrating ancillary geospatial datasets, including land cover, population, slope, and topography, with elevation-derived watershed boundaries. The results are published in an online EDNA Watershed Atlas at http://edna.usgs.gov/watersheds. The atlas serves as a framework for evaluating and analyzing the physical, biological, and anthropogenic status of watersheds.

Arizona watershed framework in the Verde River watershed

Treesearch

Ren Northrup

2000-01-01

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, Water Quality Division drafted a six-step approach to guide its staff and local participants in developing and implementing watershed management plans. From January 1999 through June 2000, the draft Arizona Statewide Watershed Framework will be tested in Arizona's Verde River watershed. This concept proofing...

Changing Regulations of COD Pollution Load of Weihe River Watershed above TongGuan Section, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Lei; Liu, WanQing

2018-02-01

TongGuan Section of Weihe River Watershed is a provincial section between Shaanxi Province and Henan Province, China. Weihe River Watershed above TongGuan Section is taken as the research objective in this paper and COD is chosen as the water quality parameter. According to the discharge characteristics of point source pollutions and non-point source pollutions, a method—characteristic section load (CSLD) method is suggested and point and non-point source pollution loads of Weihe River Watershed above TongGuan Section are calculated in the rainy, normal and dry season in 2013. The results show that the monthly point source pollution loads of Weihe River Watershed above TongGuan Section discharge stably and the monthly non-point source pollution loads of Weihe River Watershed above TongGuan Section change greatly and the non-point source pollution load proportions of total pollution load of COD decrease in the rainy, wet and normal period in turn.

Using CSLD Method to Calculate COD Pollution Load of Wei River Watershed above Huaxian Section, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Lei; Song, JinXi; Liu, WanQing

2017-12-01

Huaxian Section is the last hydrological and water quality monitoring section of Weihe River Watershed. Weihe River Watershed above Huaxian Section is taken as the research objective in this paper and COD is chosen as the water quality parameter. According to the discharge characteristics of point source pollutions and non-point source pollutions, a new method to estimate pollution loads—characteristic section load(CSLD) method is suggested and point source pollution and non-point source pollution loads of Weihe River Watershed above Huaxian Section are calculated in the rainy, normal and dry season in the year 2007. The results show that the monthly point source pollution loads of Weihe River Watershed above Huaxian Section discharge stably and the monthly non-point source pollution loads of Weihe River Watershed above Huaxian Section change greatly and the non-point source pollution load proportions of total pollution load of COD decrease in the normal, rainy and wet period in turn.

Agroforestry systems in the Sonora River Watershed, Mexico: An example of effective land stewardship

Treesearch

Diego Valdez-Zamudio; Peter F. Ffolliot

2000-01-01

The Sonora River watershed is located in the central part of the state of Sonora,Mexico, and is one of the most important watersheds in the region. Much of the state's economy depends on the natural resources, products, and productive activities developed in this watershed. Many natural areas along the river and its tributaries have been converted to a large...

Sensitivity, Calibration, and Validation of SWAT in the Choptank River Basin

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The value of watershed-scale, water quality models to ecosystem management is increasingly evident as more programs adopt these tools to help assess the effectiveness of different management scenarios on the environment. The USDA-Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) is one such program whi...

Publically accessible decision support system of the spatially referenced regressions on watershed attributes (SPARROW) model and model enhancements in South Carolina

Treesearch

Celeste Journey; Anne B. Hoos; David E. Ladd; John W. brakebill; Richard A. Smith

2016-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Quality Assessment program has developed a web-based decision support system (DSS) to provide free public access to the steady-stateSPAtially Referenced Regressions On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) model simulation results on nutrient conditions in streams and rivers and to offer scenario testing capabilities for...

Nutrients discharged to the Mississippi River from eastern Iowa watersheds, 1996-1997

USGS Publications Warehouse

Becher, Kent D.; Schnoebelen, Douglas J.; Akers, Kimberlee K.

2000-01-01

The introduction of nutrients from chemical fertilizer, animal manure, wastewater, and atmospheric deposition to the eastern Iowa environment creates a large potential for nutrient transport in watersheds. Agriculture constitutes 93 percent of all land use in eastern Iowa. As part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Assessment Program, water samples were collected (typically monthly) from six small and six large watersheds in eastern Iowa between March 1996 and September 1997. A Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to determine land use and quantify inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus within the study area. Streamliow from the watersheds is to the Mississippi River. Chemical fertilizer and animal manure account for 92 percent of the estimated total nitrogen and 99.9 percent of the estimated total phosphorus input in the study area. Total nitrogen and total phosphorus loads for 1996 were estimated for nine of the 12 rivers and creeks using a minimum variance unbiased estimator model. A seasonal pattern of concentrations and loads was observed. The greatest concentrations and loads occur in the late spring to early summer in conjunction with row-crop fertilizer applications and spring nmoff and again in the late fall to early winter as vegetation goes into dormancy and additional fertilizer is applied to row-crop fields. The three largest rivers in eastern Iowa transported an estimated total of 79,000 metric tons of total nitrogen and 6,800 metric tons of total phosphorus to the Mississippi River in 1996. The estimated mass of total nitrogen and total phosphorus transported to the Mississippi River represents about 19 percent of all estimated nitrogen and 9 percent of all estimated phosphorus input to the study area.

Prescribed burning in the Kings River Ecosystem Project Area: lessons learned

Treesearch

David S. McCandliss

2002-01-01

The prescribed fire program on the Sierra National Forest is in its infancy. Prescription burning was initiated in 1994 in two 32,000-acre watersheds in the Kings River District of the Sierra National Forest. Primary objectives are to return fire to a more historical role in forest ecosystems and to provide opportunities for scientists from the Pacific Southwest...

Building multi-country collaboration on watershed ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Community-based watershed resilience programs that bridge public health and environmental outcomes often require cross-boundary, multi-country collaboration. The CRESSIDA project, led by the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) and supported by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), forwards a resilience-focused approach for Western Balkan communities in the Drini and Drina river watersheds with the goal of safeguarding public health and the environment. The initial phases of this project give a contextualized example of how to advance resilience-driven environmental health goals in Western Balkan communities, and experience within the region has garnered several theme areas that require focus in order to promote a holistic watershed management program. In this paper, using CRESSIDA as a case study, we show (1) how watershed projects designed with resilience-driven environmental health goals can work in context, (2) provide data surrounding contextualized problems with resilience and suggest tools and strategies for the implementation of projects to address these problems, and (3) explore how cross-boundary foci are central to the success of these approaches in watersheds that comprise several countries. Published in the journal, Reviews on Environmental Health.

Concentrations, fluxes, and yields of nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended sediment in the Illinois River basin, 1996-2000

USGS Publications Warehouse

Terrio, Paul J.

2006-01-01

Concentrations, spatial and temporal variations, and fluxes of nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended sediment were determined for 16 streams in the Illinois River Basin, Illinois from October 1996 through September 2000. Water samples were collected through the National Water-Quality Assessment's Lower Illinois River Basin (LIRB) and Upper Illinois River Basin (UIRB) Study Units on a monthly to weekly frequency from watersheds representing predominantly agricultural and urban land, as well as areas of mixed land-use. Streams in agricultural watersheds had high concentrations and fluxes of nitrate nitrogen, whereas streams in predominantly urban watersheds had high concentrations (above background levels) of ammonia nitrogen, organic nitrogen, and phosphorus. Median concentrations of nitrate nitrogen and total phosphorus were similar at the two Illinois River sampling stations (Illinois River at Ottawa, Ill. and Illinois River at Valley City, Ill.) that represented the downstream points of the UIRB and LIRB Study Units, respectively, and integrated multiple land-use areas. Concentrations of nitrogen were typically highest in the spring and lowest in the fall in agricultural watersheds, but highest in the winter in urban watersheds. Phosphorus concentrations in urban watersheds were highest in the fall and winter, but there was minimal seasonal variation in phosphorus concentrations in agricultural watersheds. Concentrations of nitrate and total nitrogen were affected primarily by non-point sources and hydrologic factors such as streamflow, storm intensity, watershed configuration, and soil permeability, whereas concentrations of phosphorus were affected largely by point-source contributions that typically have little seasonal variation. Seasonal variation in hydrologic conditions was an important factor for seasonal variation in nutrient concentration. Fluxes and yields of nitrogen and phosphorus forms varied substantially throughout the Illinois River Basin, and yields of specific nutrient forms were determined primarily by upstream land uses. Yields of nitrate nitrogen were highest in predominantly agricultural watersheds, whereas yields of phosphorus and ammonia nitrogen were highest in urban watersheds with wastewater effluent contributions. Yields of both total nitrogen and total phosphorus were similar at the two Illinois River stations representing the integrated UIRB and LIRB Study Units. Concentrations of suspended sediment ranged from 1 to 3,110 milligrams per liter (mg/L), with median concentrations generally higher in the UIRB. Suspended-sediment concentrations were highest and most variable in the LaMoine River Basin. The median concentration of suspended sediment in the Illinois River at Valley City, Ill. (155 mg/L) was twice as high as that at Ottawa, Ill. (80 mg/L). Fluxes of suspended sediment generally corresponded to watershed size and yields from agricultural watersheds were larger than yields from urban watersheds. The flux in the Illinois River at Valley City, Ill. (4,880,000 tons per year) was approximately four times the flux in the Illinois River at Ottawa, Ill. (1,060,000 tons per year).

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN DISSOLVED NITROGEN AND LANDUSE/LANDCOVER AT TWO SPATIAL SCALES IN THE CALAPOOIA RIVER WATERSHED, OREGON

EPA Science Inventory

The Calapooia River, a major tributary to the Willamette River in Oregon, provides an outstanding opportunity to study dynamics of dissolved nitrogen (DN) in a multiple landuse watershed. The watershed is typical of many found in the Willamette basin, with National Forest land i...

Impacts of reforestation upon sediment load and water outflow in the Lower Yazoo River Watershed, Mississippi

Treesearch

Ying Ouyang; Theodor D. Leininger; Matt Moran

2013-01-01

Among the world’s largest coastal and river basins, the Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley (LMRAV)is one of the most disturbed by human activities. This study ascertained the impacts of reforestation on water outflow attenuation (i.e., water flow out of the watershed outlet) and sediment load reduction in the Lower Yazoo River Watershed (LYRW) within the LMRAV...

The distribution of phosphorus in Popes Creek, VA, and in the Pocomoke River, MD: Two watersheds with different land management practices in the Chesapeake Bay Basin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Simon, N.S.; Bricker, O.P.; Newell, W.; McCoy, J.; Morawe, R.

2005-01-01

This paper compares phosphorus (P) concentrations in sediments from two watersheds, one with, and one without, intensive animal agriculture. The watersheds are in the coastal plain of the Chesapeake Bay and have similar physiographic characteristics. Agriculture in the Pocomoke River, MD, watershed supplied 2.7 percent of all broiler chickens produced in the USA in 1997. Poultry litter is an abundant, local source of manure for crops. Broiler chickens are not produced in the Popes Creek, VA, watershed and poultry manure is, therefore, not a major source of fertilizer. The largest concentrations of P in sediment samples are found in floodplain and main-stem bottom sediment in both watersheds. Concentrations of total P and P extracted with 1N HCl are significantly larger in main-stem bottom sediments from the Pocomoke River than in main-stem bottom sediments from Popes Creek. Larger concentrations of P are associated with what are potentially redox sensitive iron oxyhydroxides in sediment samples from the Pocomoke River watershed than are associated with what are potentially redox sensitive iron oxyhydroxides in sediment samples from the Popes Creek watershed. Data for P and iron (Fe) concentrations in sediments from the Popes Creek watershed provide a numerical framework (baseline) with which to compare P and Fe concentrations in sediment from the Pocomoke River watershed. ?? Springer 2005.

An adaptive watershed management assessment based on watershed investigation data.

PubMed

Kang, Min Goo; Park, Seung Woo

2015-05-01

The aim of this study was to assess the states of watersheds in South Korea and to formulate new measures to improve identified inadequacies. The study focused on the watersheds of the Han River basin and adopted an adaptive watershed management framework. Using data collected during watershed investigation projects, we analyzed the management context of the study basin and identified weaknesses in water use management, flood management, and environmental and ecosystems management in the watersheds. In addition, we conducted an interview survey to obtain experts' opinions on the possible management of watersheds in the future. The results of the assessment show that effective management of the Han River basin requires adaptive watershed management, which includes stakeholders' participation and social learning. Urbanization was the key variable in watershed management of the study basin. The results provide strong guidance for future watershed management and suggest that nonstructural measures are preferred to improve the states of the watersheds and that consistent implementation of the measures can lead to successful watershed management. The results also reveal that governance is essential for adaptive watershed management in the study basin. A special ordinance is necessary to establish governance and aid social learning. Based on the findings, a management process is proposed to support new watershed management practices. The results will be of use to policy makers and practitioners who can implement the measures recommended here in the early stages of adaptive watershed management in the Han River basin. The measures can also be applied to other river basins.

Mystic River Watershed

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Information on the efforts of the US EPA, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the municipalities within the Mystic River Watershed and nongovernmental organizations to improve the water quality of the Mystic River.

Development of EOS-aided procedures for the determination of the water balance of hydrologic budget of a large watershed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Congalton, Russell G.; Thomas, Randall W.; Zinke, Paul J.

1986-01-01

Work focused on the acquisition of remotely sensed data for the 1985 to 1986 hydrogolic year; continuation of the field measurement program; continued acquisition and construction of passive microwave remote sensing instruments; a compilation of data necessary for an initial water balance computation; and participation with the EOS Simulataneity Team in reviewing the Feather River watershed as a possible site for a simultaneity experiment.

Measuring watershed runoff capability with ERTS data. [Washita River Basin, Oklahoma

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blanchard, B. J.

1974-01-01

Parameters of most equations used to predict runoff from an ungaged area are based on characteristics of the watershed and subject to the biases of a hydrologist. Digital multispectral scanner, MSS, data from ERTS was reduced with the aid of computer programs and a Dicomed display. Multivariate analyses of the MSS data indicate that discrimination between watersheds with different runoff capabilities is possible using ERTS data. Differences between two visible bands of MSS data can be used to more accurately evaluate the parameters than present subjective methods, thus reducing construction cost due to overdesign of flood detention structures.

Influence of riparian and watershed alterations on sandbars in a Great Plains river

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fischer, Jeffrey M.; Paukert, Craig P.; Daniels, M.L.

2014-01-01

Anthropogenic alterations have caused sandbar habitats in rivers and the biota dependent on them to decline. Restoring large river sandbars may be needed as these habitats are important components of river ecosystems and provide essential habitat to terrestrial and aquatic organisms. We quantified factors within the riparian zone of the Kansas River, USA, and within its tributaries that influenced sandbar size and density using aerial photographs and land use/land cover (LULC) data. We developed, a priori, 16 linear regression models focused on LULC at the local, adjacent upstream river bend, and the segment (18–44 km upstream) scales and used an information theoretic approach to determine what alterations best predicted the size and density of sandbars. Variation in sandbar density was best explained by the LULC within contributing tributaries at the segment scale, which indicated reduced sandbar density with increased forest cover within tributary watersheds. Similarly, LULC within contributing tributary watersheds at the segment scale best explained variation in sandbar size. These models indicated that sandbar size increased with agriculture and forest and decreased with urban cover within tributary watersheds. Our findings suggest that sediment supply and delivery from upstream tributary watersheds may be influential on sandbars within the Kansas River and that preserving natural grassland and reducing woody encroachment within tributary watersheds in Great Plains rivers may help improve sediment delivery to help restore natural river function.

Wetland storage to reduce flood damages in the Red River

Treesearch

Steven Shultz

2000-01-01

The restoration of previously drained wetlands to store water was not found to be an economically feasible strategy to reduce flood related damages in two sub-watersheds of the Red River Valley (the Maple River Watershed in North Dakota, and the Wild Rice Watershed of Minnesota). Restoring wetlands, while providing full ecological services, was less feasible, even...

USDA-ARS Southeast Watershed Laboratory at Tifton, GA:Index Site Design for the Suwannee Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bosch, D.; Strickland, T.; Sheridan, J.; Lowrance, R.; Truman, C.; Hubbard, R.; Potter, T.; Wauchope, D.; Vellidis, G.; Thomas, D.

2001-12-01

The Southeast Watershed Hydrology Research Center (SEWHRC) was established in 1966 by order of the U.S. Senate "to identify and characterize those elements that control the flow of water from watersheds in the southeast". A 129 sq.mi. area within the headwaters of Little River Watershed (LRW) in central south Georgia was instrumented to provide data for evaluating and characterizing Coastal Plain hydrologic processes and for development and testing of prediction methodologies for use in ungaged watersheds in regions of low topographic relief. Pesticide analytical capabilities were added in 1976, and inorganic chemistry and sediment transport research were expanded. In 1980, the Center was renamed as the Southeast Watershed Research Laboratory (SEWRL), and laboratories were constructed for nutrient analysis and soil physics. A pesticide analysis laboratory was constructed in 1987. In the early 1990s, a hydraulics laboratory was established for sediment and chemical transport studies, and research on riparian buffers was expanded. The SEWRL research program continues to focus on hydrologic and environmental concerns. Major components of the program are hydrology, pesticides behavior, buffer systems, animal waste management, erosion, remote sensing of watershed condition, and relationships between site-specific agricultural management (BMPs) and small-to-large watershed response. SEWRL's program will be expanded over the next five years to include two additional watersheds comparable in size and instrumentation to the LRW; nesting the LRW within the full Little River drainage and subsequently...all three watersheds within the full Suwannee Basin; and mapping and quantifying irrigation water removals within the Suwannee Basin. We will instrument the three intensive study watersheds and the full Suwannee Basin to provide real-time characterization of precipitation, soil moisture, hydrologic flow, and water quality at a range of spatial and temporal scales. We will couple this information with research on BMP improvement in order to evaluate the relationships between land use, weather and climate, water quantity, water quality, and the impacts of BMP implementation on agricultural profitability. The specific objectives of this expansion are to develop: (a) conceptual understanding of responses in natural resource and environmental systems based on physical, chemical, and biological processes; (b) methodologies to direct optimal use of soil and water resources in the production of quality food and fiber while maintaining short- and long-term productivity requirements, ecosystem stability, and environmental quality; and (c) models and information based systems to guide responsible management decisions for action and regulatory agencies at field, farm, and small and large watershed scales.

Spatial variation of dissolved organic matter composition and characteristics in an urbanized watershed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsieh, C.; Li, M.

2013-12-01

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is a chemically complex mixture of organic polymers that plays an important role in river ecosystems and originates from various sources. Some DOMs are autochthonous originating through phytoplankton and microbial activity in situ. On the other hand, some DOMs are allochthonous which are transported to river from the surrounding watershed by natural or anthropogenic activities. The studies of DOM in river are usually conducted at the watershed scale; however, factors of local spatial scale affecting DOM composition also need to take into consideration for the study of DOM in an urbanized watershed. Through increasing urbanization, changes in a watershed occur not only in land use patterns but also in river channel characteristics. The objective of this study is to investigate effects of different river channel characteristics and patterns on changes in DOM source and composition. In this study, we chose three tributaries of Tamsui river in Taiwan according to its land use pattern and river channel characteristics. At each sub-basin, river water samples were sampled from three study sites. River water DOM was measured by using optical measurements of UV absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. Water samples were also collected for laboratory analysis of different water quality parameters. From our study sites, they are from three sub-basins which are in the similar physical environments but with different river channel types: the highly channelized Keelung river, the less channelized Xindian river, and less channelized Dahan river with five human-made wetlands. From the upstream to the urbanized downstream, composition of DOM showed variation among different sampled sites. In all three sub-basins, the trends of 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) and suspended solids (SS) are also different. The changes in DOM source and composition as well as different water quality parmaters occur at the local spatial-scale depended on their river channel characters in urbanized watersheds. Based on our result, it indicates river channel characters which can have effects on biogeochemical processes of DOM. This knowledge can help us in understanding biogeochemical processes controlled or manipulated by anthropogenic activities at different spatial scales, and help us to make an integrative river health management in a watershed.

Linking the watershed to the schoolshed: teaching sustainable development in K-12 with the Chester RIver Watershed Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trembanis, A. C.; Levin, D.; Seidel, J.

2012-12-01

The Chester River has been the subject of ongoing scientific studies in response to both the Clean Water Act and the EPA's Chesapeake Bay Program initiatives. The Upper, Middle, and Lower Chester are on the Maryland Department of Environment's list of "impaired waters". The Chester River Watershed (CRW) Observatory is lead by the Center for Environment & Society at Washington College. Eight clusters representing 22 public and private K-12 schools in the CRW provide the sampling sites distributed throughout the watershed. Weather stations will be installed at these sites allowing monitoring of the watershed's microclimate. Each cluster will be assigned a Basic Observation Buoy (BOB), an easy to assemble inexpensive buoy platform for real-time water column and atmospheric condition measurements. The BOBs are fitted with a data sonde to collect similar data parameters (e.g. salinity, temperature) as the main stem Chesapeake Bay buoys do. These assets will be deployed and the data transmitted to the Chester River Geographic Information System site for archival and visual display. Curriculum already developed for the Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System by the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office will be adapted to the Chester River Watershed. Social issues of water sustainability will be introduced using the Watershed Game (Northland NEMO ®). During 2011 NOAA's Chesapeake Bay Office completed curriculum projects including Chesapeake Exploration, Build-a-Buoy (BaBs) and Basic Observation Buoys (BOBs). These engaging projects utilize authentic data and hands-on activities to demonstrate the tools scientists use to understand system interactions in the Bay. Chesapeake Exploration is a collection of online activities that provides teachers and students with unprecedented access to Bay data. Students are guided through a series of tasks that explore topics related to the interrelation between watersheds, land-use, weather, water quality, and living resources. The BaBs and BOBs (developed by Levin) engage students in the building and testing of buoys to monitor the environment. Additional hands on science activities include the Levin developed ROVs-in-a-bucket project that Trembanis has incorporated into the University of Delaware high school summer science camp TIDE (Teaching an Interest in Delaware's Estuary) http://www.ceoe.udel.edu/tide/ in which 12-15 high school students annually participate in groups working to design, build, and operate a simple remotely operated vehicle in a series of real work simulation activities such as responding to an oil spill. The new CRW network will be the focus for formal and informal learning partnerships between schools in the watershed. Professional development opportunities for Chester River watershed teachers focus on the use of sensors, utilization of GIS in the classroom, and other resources that become available as shared teaching resources. Federal, state, regional, and local users in government, private industry, and educational venues from grades k-16 will be able to observe the trends and learn together the most prudent ways to sustain and conserve natural resources.

Spatial distribution and output characteristics of nonpoint source pollution in the Dongjiang River basin in south China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rong, Q. Q.; Su, M. R.; Yang, Z. F.; Cai, Y. P.; Yue, W. C.; Dang, Z.

2018-02-01

In this research, the Dongjiang River basin was taken as the study area to analyze the spatial distribution and output characteristics of nonpoint source pollution, based on the export coefficient model. The results showed that the annual total nitrogen and phosphorus (i.e. TN and TP) loads from the Dongjiang River basin were 67916114.6 and 7215279.707 kg, respectively. Residents, forestland and pig were the main contributors for the TN load in the Dongjiang River basin, while residents, forestland and rainfed croplands were the three largest contributors for the TP load. The NPS pollution had a significant spatial variation in this area. The pollution loads overall decreased from the northeast to the southwest part of the basin. Also, the pollution loads from the gentle slope area were larger than those from steep slope areas. Among the ten tributary watersheds in the Dongjiang River basin, the TN and TP loads from the Hanxi River watershed were the largest. On the contrary, the Gongzhuang River watershed contributed least to the total pollution loads of the Dongjiang River basin. For the average pollution load intensities, Hanxi River watershed was still the largest. However, the smallest average TN and TP load intensities were in the Xinfeng River watershed.

Understanding Sediment Processes of Los Laureles Canyon in the Binational Tijuana River Watershed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Yongping; Biggs, Trent; Liden, Douglas

2015-04-01

Tijuana River Basin originates in Mexico and drains 4465 km2 into the Tijuana River Estuary National Research Reserve, a protected coastal wetland in California that supports 400 species of birds. Excessive erosion in Tijuana during storms produces sediment loads that bury native vegetation and block the tidal channels. Erosion also threatens human life, causing roads and houses in Mexico to collapse and the Tijuana River Valley in the U.S. to flood. Government agencies in US and Mexico spend millions annually to remove sediment. The EPA-SEMARNAT Border 2020 program identified the reduction of sediment to the Tijuana Estuary as a high priority. Gully formation on unpaved roads, channel erosion, and sheetwash and rill erosion from vacant lots in Tijuana are the primary sources of sediment (Biggs et al, 2009). Because 73% of the watershed is located in Mexico, the problem is likely to worsen as Tijuana continues to urbanize. EPA, with support from USDA, San Diego State University, and CICESE, is developing a model to estimate the sediment loss from a sub-basin of the watershed (Los Laureles Canyon) under existing conditions and under future development. This study will evaluate the reduction/prevention of sediment loss from green infrastructure projects, sediment basins, road paving, and conservation easements.

AmeriFlux US-Wlr Walnut River Watershed (Smileyburg)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cook, David; Coulter, Richard L.

2016-01-01

This is the AmeriFlux version of the carbon flux data for the site US-Wlr Walnut River Watershed (Smileyburg). Site Description - The Walnut River Watershed site rests on a C3/C4 mixed grassland, tallgrass prairie grazed by cattle. The land is owned by a local farmer and the land is leased on a year-to-year basis.

Fena Valley Reservoir watershed and water-balance model updates and expansion of watershed modeling to southern Guam

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rosa, Sarah N.; Hay, Lauren E.

2017-12-01

In 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense’s Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program, initiated a project to evaluate the potential impacts of projected climate-change on Department of Defense installations that rely on Guam’s water resources. A major task of that project was to develop a watershed model of southern Guam and a water-balance model for the Fena Valley Reservoir. The southern Guam watershed model provides a physically based tool to estimate surface-water availability in southern Guam. The U.S. Geological Survey’s Precipitation Runoff Modeling System, PRMS-IV, was used to construct the watershed model. The PRMS-IV code simulates different parts of the hydrologic cycle based on a set of user-defined modules. The southern Guam watershed model was constructed by updating a watershed model for the Fena Valley watersheds, and expanding the modeled area to include all of southern Guam. The Fena Valley watershed model was combined with a previously developed, but recently updated and recalibrated Fena Valley Reservoir water-balance model.Two important surface-water resources for the U.S. Navy and the citizens of Guam were modeled in this study; the extended model now includes the Ugum River watershed and improves upon the previous model of the Fena Valley watersheds. Surface water from the Ugum River watershed is diverted and treated for drinking water, and the Fena Valley watersheds feed the largest surface-water reservoir on Guam. The southern Guam watershed model performed “very good,” according to the criteria of Moriasi and others (2007), in the Ugum River watershed above Talofofo Falls with monthly Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency statistic values of 0.97 for the calibration period and 0.93 for the verification period (a value of 1.0 represents perfect model fit). In the Fena Valley watershed, monthly simulated streamflow volumes from the watershed model compared reasonably well with the measured values for the gaging stations on the Almagosa, Maulap, and Imong Rivers—tributaries to the Fena Valley Reservoir—with Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency values of 0.87 or higher. The southern Guam watershed model simulated the total volume of the critical dry season (January to May) streamflow for the entire simulation period within –0.54 percent at the Almagosa River, within 6.39 percent at the Maulap River, and within 6.06 percent at the Imong River.The recalibrated water-balance model of the Fena Valley Reservoir generally simulated monthly reservoir storage volume with reasonable accuracy. For the calibration and verification periods, errors in end-of-month reservoir-storage volume ranged from 6.04 percent (284.6 acre-feet or 92.7 million gallons) to –5.70 percent (–240.8 acre-feet or –78.5 million gallons). Monthly simulation bias ranged from –0.48 percent for the calibration period to 0.87 percent for the verification period; relative error ranged from –0.60 to 0.88 percent for the calibration and verification periods, respectively. The small bias indicated that the model did not consistently overestimate or underestimate reservoir storage volume.In the entirety of southern Guam, the watershed model has a “satisfactory” to “very good” rating when simulating monthly mean streamflow for all but one of the gaged watersheds during the verification period. The southern Guam watershed model uses a more sophisticated climate-distribution scheme than the older model to make use of the sparse climate data, as well as includes updated land-cover parameters and the capability to simulate closed depression areas.The new Fena Valley Reservoir water-balance model is useful as an updated tool to forecast short-term changes in the surface-water resources of Guam. Furthermore, the now spatially complete southern Guam watershed model can be used to evaluate changes in streamflow and recharge owing to climate or land-cover changes. These are substantial improvements to the previous models of the Fena Valley watershed and Reservoir. Datasets associated with this report are available as a U.S. Geological Survey data release (Rosa and Hay, 2017; DOI:10.5066/F7HH6HV4).

Factors affecting the occurrence of saugers in small, high-elevation rivers near the western edge of the species' natural distribution

USGS Publications Warehouse

Amadio, C.J.; Hubert, W.A.; Johnson, Kevin; Oberlie, D.; Dufek, D.

2005-01-01

Factors affecting the occurrence of saugers Sander canadensis were studied throughout the Wind River basin, a high-elevation watershed (> 1,440 m above mean sea level) on the western periphery of the species' natural distribution in central Wyoming. Adult saugers appeared to have a contiguous distribution over 170 km of streams among four rivers in the watershed. The upstream boundaries of sauger distribution were influenced by summer water temperatures and channel slopes in two rivers and by water diversion dams that created barriers to upstream movement in the other two rivers. Models that included summer water temperature, maximum water depth, habitat type (pool or run), dominant substrate, and alkalinity accounted for the variation in sauger occurrence across the watershed within the areas of sauger distribution. Water temperature was the most important basin-scale habitat feature associated with sauger occurrence, and maximum depth was the most important site-specific habitat feature. Saugers were found in a larger proportion of pools than runs in all segments of the watershed and occurred almost exclusively in pools in upstream segments of the watershed. Suitable summer water temperatures and deep, low-velocity habitat were available to support saugers over a large portion of the Wind River watershed. Future management of saugers in the Wind River watershed, as well as in other small river systems within the species' native range, should involve (1) preserving natural fluvial processes to maintain the summer water temperatures and physical habitat features needed by saugers and (2) assuring that barriers to movement do not reduce upstream boundaries of populations.

Modeling of Soil Erosion by IntErO model: The Case Study of the Novsicki Potok Watershed, of the Prokletije high mountains of Montenegro

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spalevic, Velibor; Al-Turki, Ali M.; Barovic, Goran; Leandro Naves Silva, Marx; Djurovic, Nevenka; Soares Souza, Walisson; Veloso Gomes Batista, Pedro; Curovic, Milic

2016-04-01

The application of soil conservation programs to combat erosion and sedimentation are significantly contributing to the protection of the natural resources. Watershed management practices include the assessment of Physical-Geographical, Climate, Geological, Pedological characteristics, including the analysis of Land Use of the regions concerned. The policy makers are increasingly looking for the different land uses and climatic scenarios that can be used for valuable projections for watershed management. To increase knowledge about those processes, use of hydrological and soil erosion models is needed and that is allowing quantification of soil redistribution and sediment productions. We focused on soil erosion processes in one of Northern Montenegrin mountain watersheds, the Novsicki Potok Watershed of the Polimlje River Basin, using modeling techniques: the IntErO model for calculation of runoff and soil loss. The model outcomes were validated through measurements of lake sediment deposition at the Potpec hydropower plant dam. Our findings indicate a medium potential of soil erosion risk. With 464 m³ yr-1 of annual sediment yield, corresponding to an area-specific sediment yield of 270 m³km-2 yr-1, the Novsicki Potok drainage basin belongs to the Montenegrin basins with the medium sediment discharge; according to the erosion type, it is surface erosion. The value of the Z coefficient was calculated on 0.403, what indicates that the river basin belongs to 3rd destruction category (of five). Our results suggest that the calculated peak discharge from the river basin was 82 m3s-1 for the incidence of 100 years. According to our analysis there is a possibility for large flood waves to appear in the studied river basin. With this research we, to some extent, improved the knowledge on the status of sediment yield and runoff of the river basins of Montenegro, where the map of Soil erosion is still not prepared. The IntErO model we used in this study is relatively novel concept and is highly recommended for soil erosion modelling in other river basins similar to the studied watershed, because of its simple identification of critical areas affected by the soil loss caused by soil erosion.

Socioeconomic issues for the Bear River Watershed Conservation Land Area Protection Plan

USGS Publications Warehouse

Thomas, Catherine Cullinane; Huber, Christopher; Gascoigne, William; Koontz, Lynne

2012-01-01

The Bear River Watershed Conservation Area is located in the Bear River Watershed, a vast basin covering fourteen counties across three states. Located in Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho, the watershed spans roughly 7,500 squares miles: 1,500 squares miles in Wyoming; 2,700 squares miles in Idaho; and 3,300 squares miles in Utah (Utah Division of Water Resources, 2004). Three National Wildlife Refuges are currently contained within the boundary of the BRWCA: the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Utah, the Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Idaho, and the Cokeville Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Wyoming. In 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a Preliminary Project Proposal and identified the Bear River Watershed Conservation Area as having high-value wildlife habitat. This finding initiated the Land Protection Planning process, which is used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to study land conservation opportunities including adding lands to the National Wildlife Refuge System. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes to include part of the Bear River Watershed Conservation Area in the Refuge System by acquiring up to 920,000 acres of conservation easements from willing landowners to maintain landscape integrity and habitat connectivity in the region. The analysis described in this report provides a profile of the social and economic conditions in the Bear River Watershed Conservation Area and addresses social and economic questions and concerns raised during public involvement in the Land Protection Planning process.

Holocene River Dynamics, Climate Change and Floodwater Farming in the Watersheds of the Pamir and Tien Shan Mountains of Inner Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Macklin, M. G.; Panyushkina, I. P.; Toonen, W. H. J.

2014-12-01

The Ili, Syr Dayra and Amu Dayra rivers of Inner Asia are emerging as critical areas for the development of irrigation-based agriculture in the ancient world. Following research by Russian archaeologists in the 1970s it is evident that these watersheds had flourishing riverine civilizations comparable to those in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley. But unlike these areas where the relationship between Holocene river dynamics, climate change and floodwater farming is increasingly underpinned by radiometric dating, the alluvial archaeology of Inner Asia is significantly under researched. To address this, a major multi-disciplinary research program was begun in 2011 centred on the Talgar catchment, a south-bank tributary of the Ili river, southeast Kazakhstan. Building on archaeological excavations and surveys conducted over the past 20 years, we have undertaken one of the most detailed investigations of Holocene people-river environment interactions in Inner Asia. River development has been reconstructed over the last 20,000 years and human settlement histories from the Eneolithic to the Medieval period documented. Periods of Holocene river aggradation and high water levels in Lake Balkhash and Aral Sea correspond with cooler and wetter neoglacial episodes while river entrenchment and floodplain soil development are associated with warmer and drier conditions. Floodwater farming in the Talgar river reached its acme in the late Iron Age (400-200 cal. BC) with more than 60 settlement sites and 550 burial mounds. This corresponds to a period of reduced flood flows, river stability and glacier retreat in the Tien Shan headwaters. A new hydroclimatic-based model for the spatial and temporal dynamics of floodwater farming in the Ili, Syr Dayra and Amu Dayra watersheds is proposed, which explains the large scale expansion (down-river) and contraction (up-river) of settlements since the first use of irrigation in the Neolithic through to the late Medieval period.

Compilation of watershed models for tributaries to the Great Lakes, United States, as of 2010, and identification of watersheds for future modeling for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

USGS Publications Warehouse

Coon, William F.; Murphy, Elizabeth A.; Soong, David T.; Sharpe, Jennifer B.

2011-01-01

As part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) during 2009–10, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) compiled a list of existing watershed models that had been created for tributaries within the United States that drain to the Great Lakes. Established Federal programs that are overseen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) are responsible for most of the existing watershed models for specific tributaries. The NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) uses the Large Basin Runoff Model to provide data for the management of water levels in the Great Lakes by estimating United States and Canadian inflows to the Great Lakes from 121 large watersheds. GLERL also simulates streamflows in 34 U.S. watersheds by a grid-based model, the Distributed Large Basin Runoff Model. The NOAA National Weather Service uses the Sacramento Soil Moisture Accounting model to predict flows at river forecast sites. The USACE created or funded the creation of models for at least 30 tributaries to the Great Lakes to better understand sediment erosion, transport, and aggradation processes that affect Federal navigation channels and harbors. Many of the USACE hydrologic models have been coupled with hydrodynamic and sediment-transport models that simulate the processes in the stream and harbor near the mouth of the modeled tributary. Some models either have been applied or have the capability of being applied across the entire Great Lakes Basin; they are (1) the SPAtially Referenced Regressions On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) model, which was developed by the USGS; (2) the High Impact Targeting (HIT) and Digital Watershed models, which were developed by the Institute of Water Research at Michigan State University; (3) the Long-Term Hydrologic Impact Assessment (L–THIA) model, which was developed by researchers at Purdue University; and (4) the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model, which was developed by the National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. During 2010, the USGS used the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) to create a hydrologic model for the Lake Michigan Basin to assess the probable effects of climate change on future groundwater and surface-water resources. The Water Availability Tool for Environmental Resources (WATER) model and the Analysis of Flows In Networks of CHannels (AFINCH) program also were used to support USGS GLRI projects that required estimates of streamflows throughout the Great Lakes Basin. This information on existing watershed models, along with an assessment of geologic, soils, and land-use data across the Great Lakes Basin and the identification of problems that exist in selected tributary watersheds that could be addressed by a watershed model, was used to identify three watersheds in the Great Lakes Basin for future modeling by the USGS. These watersheds are the Kalamazoo River Basin in Michigan, the Tonawanda Creek Basin in New York, and the Bad River Basin in Wisconsin. These candidate watersheds have hydrogeologic, land-type, and soil characteristics that make them distinct from each other, but that are representative of other tributary watersheds within the Great Lakes Basin. These similarities in the characteristics among nearby watersheds will enhance the usefulness of a model by improving the likelihood that parameter values from a previously modeled watershed could reliably be used in the creation of a model of another watershed in the same region. The software program Hydrological Simulation Program–Fortran (HSPF) was selected to simulate the hydrologic, sedimentary, and water-quality processes in these selected watersheds. HSPF is a versatile, process-based, continuous-simulation model that has been used extensively by the scientific community, has the ongoing technical support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and USGS, and provides a means to evaluate the effects that land-use changes or management practices might have on the simulated processes.

Priority River Metrics for Urban Residents of the Santa Cruz River Watershed

EPA Science Inventory

Indicator selection is a persistent question in river and stream assessment and management. We employ qualitative research techniques to identify features of rivers and streams important to urban residents recruited from the general public in the Santa Cruz watershed. Interviews ...

Timber markets and marketing in the Monocacy River watershed of Maryland and Pennsylvania

Treesearch

George E. Doverspike; James C. Rettie; Harry W., Jr. Camp

1951-01-01

The Maryland Department of State Forests and Parks, cooperating with the locally organized Monocacy River Watershed Council, has requested the Northeastern Forest Experiment Station to undertake a study of the forest resource of that watershed. The objective is to provide information that will be helpful in conserving watershed values and in promoting better management...

PATHOGEN TRANSPORT AND FATE MODELING IN THE UPPER SALEM RIVER WATERSHED USING SWAT MODEL - PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLE

EPA Science Inventory

Simulation of the fate and transport of pathogen contamination was conducted with SWAT for the Upper Salem River Watershed, located in Salem County, New Jersey. This watershed is 37 km² and land uses are predominantly agricultural. The watershed drains to a 32 km str...

Upper Washita River experimental watersheds: Sediment Database

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Improving the scientific understanding of the effectiveness of watershed conservation practices and floodwater-retardation structures to control floods and soil erosion is one of the primary objectives for sediment studies in the upper Washita River Experimental Watersheds. This paper summarizes se...

Watershed Education for Sustainable Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stapp, William B.

2000-01-01

Presents information on the Global Rivers Environmental Education Network (GREEN), which is a global communication system for analyzing watershed usage and monitoring the quality and quantity of river water. Describes GREEN's watershed educational model and strategies and international development. (Contains 67 references.) (Author/YDS)

Fish Passage Assessment: Big Canyon Creek Watershed, Technical Report 2004.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Christian, Richard

2004-02-01

This report presents the results of the fish passage assessment as outlined as part of the Protect and Restore the Big Canyon Creek Watershed project as detailed in the CY2003 Statement of Work (SOW). As part of the Northwest Power Planning Council's Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program (FWP), this project is one of Bonneville Power Administration's (BPA) many efforts at off-site mitigation for damage to salmon and steelhead runs, their migration, and wildlife habitat caused by the construction and operation of federal hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River and its tributaries. The proposed restoration activities within the Big Canyonmore » Creek watershed follow the watershed restoration approach mandated by the Fisheries and Watershed Program. Nez Perce Tribal Fisheries/Watershed Program vision focuses on protecting, restoring, and enhancing watersheds and treaty resources within the ceded territory of the Nez Perce Tribe under the Treaty of 1855 with the United States Federal Government. The program uses a holistic approach, which encompasses entire watersheds, ridge top to ridge top, emphasizing all cultural aspects. We strive toward maximizing historic ecosystem productive health, for the restoration of anadromous and resident fish populations. The Nez Perce Tribal Fisheries/Watershed Program (NPTFWP) sponsors the Protect and Restore the Big Canyon Creek Watershed project. The NPTFWP has the authority to allocate funds under the provisions set forth in their contract with BPA. In the state of Idaho vast numbers of relatively small obstructions, such as road culverts, block thousands of miles of habitat suitable for a variety of fish species. To date, most agencies and land managers have not had sufficient, quantifiable data to adequately address these barrier sites. The ultimate objective of this comprehensive inventory and assessment was to identify all barrier crossings within the watershed. The barriers were then prioritized according to the amount of habitat blocked at each site and the fish life history stages impacted. This assessment protocol will hopefully prove useful to other agencies and become a model for use in other watersheds.« less

Trend analyses of sediment data for the DEC project

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rebich, Richard Allen

1995-01-01

Daily stream discharge, suspended-sediment concentration, and suspended-sediment discharge data were collected at eight sites in six watersheds of the Demonstration Erosion Control project in the Yazoo River Basin in north-central Mississippi during the period July 1985 through September 1991. The project is part of an ongoing interagency program of planning, design, construction, monitoring, and evaluation to alleviate flooding, erosion, sedimentation, and water-quality problems for watersheds located in the bluff hills upstream of the Mississippi River alluvial plain. This paper presents preliminary results of trend analyses for stream discharge and sediment data for the eight project sites. More than 550 stream discharge measurements and 20,000 suspended-sediment samples have been collected at the eight sites since 1985.

Development and implications of a sediment budget for the upper Elk River watershed, Humboldt County

Treesearch

Lee H. MacDonald; Michael W. Miles; Shane Beach; Nicolas M. Harrison; Matthew R. House; Patrick Belmont; Ken L. Ferrier

2017-01-01

A number of watersheds on the North Coast of California have been designated as sediment impaired under the Clean Water Act, including the 112 km2 upper Elk River watershed that flows into Humboldt Bay just south of Eureka. The objectives of this paper are to: 1) briefly explain the geomorphic context and anthropogenic uses of the Elk River...

Hydrologic land use classification of the Patuxent River watershed using remotely sensed data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dallam, W. C.; Rango, A.; Shima, L.

1975-01-01

The Patuxent River Watershed is located in central Maryland between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. and is approximately 2330 sq km in area and 175 km long. This region is now at a critical point because of major concerns such as water management and quality, flooding and land use within the watershed. Data from the NASA-directed LANDSAT and Earth Resources Aircraft Programs were used to provide a new dimension in information collection and processing for the management of watersheds. Digital data from LANDSAT-1 were analyzed along with selected IR photography from U-2 flight number 74-060B taken 28 April 1974, which was digitized in three channels. Processing of the data was accomplished using a multispectral analysis system. Land use themes consisting of surface water, wetlands, forest, residential, cropland/pasture, urban, and extractive were developed and delineated through the watershed. Area measurements of watershed themes were obtained and will serve as a calibration input to a deterministic hydrologic model on a sub-watershed. Using the derived residential and urban theme areas from LANDSAT an estimated basin imperviousness was also calculated. Thematic maps were produced at 1:62,500 scale. Floodprone areas were also classified and delineated at a scale of 1:24,000. Comparison with standard floodprone area maps at the same scale have indicated a few areas of discrepancy. Such information can be used for updating or checking floodprone area boundaries as well as monitoring changes in floodplain areas.

Genetic structure of Columbia River redband trout populations in the Kootenai River drainage, Montana, revealed by microsatellite and allozyme loci

USGS Publications Warehouse

Knudsen, K.-L.; Muhlfeld, C.C.; Sage, G.K.; Leary, R.F.

2002-01-01

We describe the genetic divergence among 10 populations of redband trout Oncorhynchus mykiss gairdneri from the upper Columbia River drainage. Resident redband trout from two watersheds in the Kootenai River drainage and hatchery stocks of migratory Kamloops redband trout from Kootenay Lake, British Columbia, were analyzed using allele frequency data from microsatellite and allozyme loci. The Kamloops populations have significantly different allele frequencies from those of the Kootenai River drainage. Of the total genetic variation detected in the resident redband trout, 40.7% (microsatellites) and 15.5% (allozymes) were due to differences between populations from the two Kootenai River watersheds. The divergence among populations within each watershed, however, was less than 3.5% with both techniques. Our data indicate that watershed-specific broodstocks of redband trout are needed by fisheries managers for reintroduction or the supplementation of populations at risk of extinction.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ke, Yinghai; Coleman, Andre M.; Diefenderfer, Heida L.

We delineated 8 watersheds contributing to previously defined river reaches within the 1,468-km2 historical floodplain of the tidally influenced lower Columbia River and estuary. We assessed land-cover change at the watershed, reach, and restoration site scales by reclassifying remote-sensing data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Coastal Change Analysis Program’s land cover/land change product into forest, wetland, and urban categories. The analysis showed a 198.3 km2 loss of forest cover during the first 6 years of the Columbia Estuary Ecosystem Restoration Program, 2001–2006. Total measured urbanization in the contributing watersheds of the estuary during the full 1996-2006 change analysismore » period was 48.4 km2. Trends in forest gain/loss and urbanization differed between watersheds. Wetland gains and losses were within the margin of error of the satellite imagery analysis. No significant land cover change was measured at restoration sites, although it was visible in aerial imagery, therefore, the 30-m land-cover product may not be appropriate for assessment of early-stage wetland restoration. These findings suggest that floodplain restoration sites in reaches downstream of watersheds with decreasing forest cover will be subject to increased sediment loads, and those downstream of urbanization will experience effects of increased impervious surfaces on hydrologic processes.« less

Public involvement and consensus building in the Verde River Watershed in central Arizona

Treesearch

Tom Bonomo

1996-01-01

Currently an organization called the Verde Watershed Association is the central point for consensus building and public involvement in water issues in the Verde River Watershed. The association is the out growth of efforts towards the resolution of watershed issues without passing new laws, initiating regulations, or entering the win-lose arena of litigation. The...

Calculating NH3-N pollution load of wei river watershed above Huaxian section using CSLD method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Lei; Song, JinXi; Liu, WanQing

2018-02-01

Huaxian Section is the last hydrological and water quality monitoring section of Weihe River Watershed. So it is taken as the research objective in this paper and NH3-N is chosen as the water quality parameter. According to the discharge characteristics of point source pollutions and non-point source pollutions, a new method to estimate pollution loads—characteristic section load (CSLD)method is suggested and point source pollution and non-point source pollution loads of Weihe River Watershed above Huaxian Section are calculated in the rainy, normal and dry season in the year 2007. The results show that the monthly point source pollution loads of Weihe River Watershed above Huaxian Section discharge stably and the monthly non-point source pollution loads of Weihe River Watershed above Huaxian Section change greatly. The non-point source pollution load proportions of total pollution load of NH3-N decrease in the normal, rainy and wet period in turn.

Assessment of runoff and sediment yields using the AnnAGNPS model in a Three-Gorge watershed of China.

PubMed

Hua, Lizhong; He, Xiubin; Yuan, Yongping; Nan, Hongwei

2012-05-01

Soil erosion has been recognized as one of the major threats to our environment and water quality worldwide, especially in China. To mitigate nonpoint source water quality problems caused by soil erosion, best management practices (BMPs) and/or conservation programs have been adopted. Watershed models, such as the Annualized Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollutant Loading model (AnnAGNPS), have been developed to aid in the evaluation of watershed response to watershed management practices. The model has been applied worldwide and proven to be a very effective tool in identifying the critical areas which had serious erosion, and in aiding in decision-making processes for adopting BMPs and/or conservation programs so that cost/benefit can be maximized and non-point source pollution control can be achieved in the most efficient way. The main goal of this study was to assess the characteristics of soil erosion, sediment and sediment delivery of a watershed so that effective conservation measures can be implemented. To achieve the overall objective of this study, all necessary data for the 4,184 km(2) Daning River watershed in the Three-Gorge region of the Yangtze River of China were assembled. The model was calibrated using observed monthly runoff from 1998 to 1999 (Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency of 0.94 and R(2) of 0.94) and validated using the observed monthly runoff from 2003 to 2005 (Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency of 0.93 and R(2) of 0.93). Additionally, the model was validated using annual average sediment of 2000-2002 (relative error of -0.34) and 2003-2004 (relative error of 0.18) at Wuxi station. Post validation simulation showed that approximately 48% of the watershed was under the soil loss tolerance released by the Ministry of Water Resources of China (500 t·km(-2)·y(-1)). However, 8% of the watershed had soil erosion of exceeding 5,000 t·km(-2)·y(-1). Sloping areas and low coverage areas are the main source of soil loss in the watershed.

Assessment of Runoff and Sediment Yields Using the AnnAGNPS Model in a Three-Gorge Watershed of China

PubMed Central

Hua, Lizhong; He, Xiubin; Yuan, Yongping; Nan, Hongwei

2012-01-01

Soil erosion has been recognized as one of the major threats to our environment and water quality worldwide, especially in China. To mitigate nonpoint source water quality problems caused by soil erosion, best management practices (BMPs) and/or conservation programs have been adopted. Watershed models, such as the Annualized Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollutant Loading model (AnnAGNPS), have been developed to aid in the evaluation of watershed response to watershed management practices. The model has been applied worldwide and proven to be a very effective tool in identifying the critical areas which had serious erosion, and in aiding in decision-making processes for adopting BMPs and/or conservation programs so that cost/benefit can be maximized and non-point source pollution control can be achieved in the most efficient way. The main goal of this study was to assess the characteristics of soil erosion, sediment and sediment delivery of a watershed so that effective conservation measures can be implemented. To achieve the overall objective of this study, all necessary data for the 4,184 km2 Daning River watershed in the Three-Gorge region of the Yangtze River of China were assembled. The model was calibrated using observed monthly runoff from 1998 to 1999 (Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency of 0.94 and R2 of 0.94) and validated using the observed monthly runoff from 2003 to 2005 (Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency of 0.93 and R2 of 0.93). Additionally, the model was validated using annual average sediment of 2000–2002 (relative error of −0.34) and 2003–2004 (relative error of 0.18) at Wuxi station. Post validation simulation showed that approximately 48% of the watershed was under the soil loss tolerance released by the Ministry of Water Resources of China (500 t·km−2·y−1). However, 8% of the watershed had soil erosion of exceeding 5,000 t·km−2·y−1. Sloping areas and low coverage areas are the main source of soil loss in the watershed. PMID:22754480

Biogeochemistry of the Penobscot River watershed, Maine, USA: nutrient export patterns for carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus.

PubMed

Cronan, Christopher S

2012-07-01

Watershed exports of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, major solutes, and suspended sediments were examined during five water years in the Penobscot River basin, which forms part of the Gulf of Maine watershed. Mean annual exports of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the Penobscot River were 58 kg C ha(-1) year(-1), whereas cumulative yearly watershed flux of DOC during the study period ranged from 8.6 to 16.1 × 10(10) g C year(-1) and averaged 11.7 × 10(10) g C year(-1). Watershed exports of total soluble N (TN) and total soluble P in the Penobscot River averaged 1.9 and 0.02 kg ha(-1) year(-1), respectively. Companion studies in two other major Maine rivers indicated that mean annual exports of DOC and TN in the Androscoggin River were 40 kg C ha(-1) year(-1) and 2.0 kg N ha(-1) year(-1), whereas exports in the Kennebec River were 43 kg C ha(-1) year(-1) and 2.2 kg N ha(-1) year(-1). Extrapolation of results from this investigation and a previous complementary study indicates that estuaries and coastal waters in the Gulf of Maine receive at least 1.0 × 10(10) g N year(-1) and 2.5 × 10(11) g C year(-1) in combined runoff from the four largest Maine river basins. Soluble exports of Ca + Mg + Na minus wet deposition inputs of cations in the Penobscot system were approximately 1,840 mol(c) ha(-1) year(-1), which represents a minimum estimate of cation denudation from the watershed. Based on its low N and P export rates, the Penobscot River watershed represents an example of reference conditions for use as a benchmark in ecological assessments of river water quality restoration or impairment. In addition, the biogeochemical metrics from this study provide an historical baseline for analysis of future trends in nutrient exports from the Penobscot watershed as a function of changing climatic and land use patterns.

Manure nutrient management effects in the Leon River Watershed

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Leon River Watershed (LRW) in central Texas is a Benchmark and Special Emphasis watershed within the Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) located in central Texas. Model simulations from 1977 through 2006 were used to evaluate six manure nutrient management scenarios that reflect reali...

Trends in annual, seasonal, and monthly streamflow characteristics at 227 streamgages in the Missouri River watershed, water years 1960-2011

USGS Publications Warehouse

Norton, Parker A.; Anderson, Mark T.; Stamm, John F.

2014-01-01

The Missouri River and its tributaries are an important resource that serve multiple uses including agriculture, energy, recreation, and municipal water supply. Understanding historical streamflow characteristics provides relevant guidance to adaptive management of these water resources. Streamflow records in the Missouri River watershed were examined for trends in time series of annual, seasonal, and monthly streamflow. A total of 227 streamgages having continuous observational records for water years 1960–2011 were examined. Kendall’s tau nonparametric test was used to determine statistical significance of trends in annual, seasonal, and monthly streamflow. A trend was considered statistically significant for a probability value less than or equal to 0.10 that the Kendall’s tau value equals zero. Significant trends in annual streamflow were indicated for 101 out of a total of 227 streamgages. The Missouri River watershed was divided into six watershed regions and trends within regions were examined. The western and the southern parts of the Missouri River watershed had downward trends in annual streamflow (56 streamgages), whereas the eastern part of the watershed had upward trends in streamflow (45 streamgages). Seasonal and monthly streamflow trends reflected prevailing annual streamflow trends within each watershed region.

Dissolved Organic Matter Composition and Export from U.S. Rivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aiken, G.; Butman, D. E.; Spencer, R. G.; Raymond, P.

2012-12-01

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) chemistry and flux are potentially useful indicators of watershed characteristics, climate influences on watershed hydrology and soils, and changes associated with water and land resource management. Organic source materials, watershed geochemistry, oxidative processes and hydrology strongly influence the nature and reactivity of DOM in aquatic systems. The molecules that comprise DOM, in turn, control a number of environmental processes important for ecosystem function including light penetration and photochemistry, microbial activity, mineral dissolution/precipitation, and the transport and reactivity of hydrophobic compounds and metals. In particular, aromatic molecules derived from higher plants exert strong controls on aquatic photochemistry, and on the transport and biogeochemistry of metals. Assessment of DOM composition and transport, therefore, can provide a basis for understanding watershed processes and biogeochemistry of rivers and streams. Here we present results of a multi-year study designed to assess the seasonal and spatial variability of DOM quantity and quality for 15 large North American river basins. Samples were collected from the mouths of the rivers using a sampling program designed to capture hydrologic and seasonal variability of DOM export. DOM concentrations and composition, based on DOM fractionation on XAD resins, chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) parameters (ultraviolet /visible absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy), specific compound analyses, and DO14C content varied greatly both between sites and seasonally within a given site. DOM in these rivers exhibited a wide range of concentration and carbon specific ultra-violet absorbance at 254 nm (SUVA254), an optical measurement that is an indicator of DOM aromatic carbon content. In almost all systems, CDOM optical parameters correlated strongly with DOC concentration and hydrophobic organic acid (HPOA) content (aquatic humic substances). In particular, SUVA254 was found to correlate strongly with the proportion of HPOA and Δ14C. Relationships between dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration and absorbance for individual rivers were quite variable due to differences in the fraction of non-chromophoric DOM. Notably, the relationship between UV absorption coefficients and DOC concentration for four rivers that drain arid regions and/or are heavily influenced by impoundments were statistically weak.although similar trends for these rivers were not observed for Δ14C. Basins with high discharge, high density of vegetation cover, and low population densities exported younger, more aromatic DOM. Conversely, old DOM was exported from low discharge watersheds draining arid regions and watersheds impacted by high population densities. While individual watershed characteristics control DOC concentrations, CDOM parameters and DO14C content, overall discharge dominated the flux of both CDOM and DO14C to coastal waters. The link between the nature and reactivity of DOM and its optical properties can be exploited to provide powerful monitoring tools to assess the impacts of climate change, land-use change, and management practices on overall water quality and on DOM transport and transformation.

Using LiDAR datasets to improve HSPF water quality modeling in the Red River of the North Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burke, M. P.; Foreman, C. S.

2013-12-01

The Red River of the North Basin (RRB), located in the lakebed of ancient glacial Lake Agassiz, comprises one of the flattest landscapes in North America. The topography of the basin, coupled with the Red River's direction of flow from south to north results in a system that is highly susceptible to flooding. The magnitude and frequency of flood events in the RRB has prompted several multijurisdictional projects and mitigation efforts. In response to the devastating 1997 flood, an International Joint Commission sponsored task force established the need for accurate elevation data to help improve flood forecasting and better understand risks. This led to the International Water Institute's Red River Basin Mapping Initiative, and the acquisition LiDAR Data for the entire US portion of the RRB. The resulting 1 meter bare earth digital elevation models have been used to improve hydraulic and hydrologic modeling within the RRB, with focus on flood prediction and mitigation. More recently, these LiDAR datasets have been incorporated into Hydrological Simulation Program-FORTRAN (HSPF) model applications to improve water quality predictions in the MN portion of the RRB. RESPEC is currently building HSPF model applications for five of MN's 8-digit HUC watersheds draining to the Red River, including: the Red Lake River, Clearwater River, Sandhill River, Two Rivers, and Tamarac River watersheds. This work is being conducted for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) as part of MN's statewide watershed approach to restoring and protecting water. The HSPF model applications simulate hydrology (discharge, stage), as well as a number of water quality constituents (sediment, temperature, organic and inorganic nitrogen, total ammonia, organic and inorganic phosphorus, dissolved oxygen and biochemical oxygen demand, and algae) continuously for the period 1995-2009 and are formulated to provide predictions at points of interest within the watersheds, such as observation gages, management boundaries, compliance points, and impaired water body endpoints. Incorporation of the LiDAR datasets has been critical to representing the topographic characteristics that impact hydrologic and water quality processes in the extremely flat, heavily drained sub-basins of the RRB. Beyond providing more detailed elevation and slope measurements, the high resolution LiDAR datasets have helped to identify drainage alterations due to agricultural practices, as well as improve representation of channel geometry. Additionally, when available, LiDAR based hydraulic models completed as part of the RRB flood mitigation efforts, are incorporated to further improve flow routing. The MPCA will ultimately use these HSPF models to aid in Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) development, permit development/compliance, analysis of Best Management Practice (BMP) implementation scenarios, and other watershed planning and management objectives. LiDAR datasets are an essential component of the water quality models build for the watersheds within the RRB and would greatly benefit water quality modeling efforts in similarly characterized areas.

Temporal variations in baseflow for the Little River Experimental Watershed in South Georgia

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Hydrology is the driving force of sediment, nutrient, and pesticide movement. Separation of streamflow hydrographs into rapid surface runoff and baseflow can vastly improve our understanding of watershed processes. Data collected at the Little River Experimental Watershed (LREW) in the South Atlanti...

Cryptosporidium Source Tracking in the Potomac River Watershed

EPA Science Inventory

To better characterize the presence of Cryptosporidium in the Potomac River watershed, a PCR-based genotyping tool was used to analyze 64 base-flow and 28 storm-flow samples from five sites within the watershed. These sites included two water treatment plant intakes as well as t...

Cryptosporidium source tracking in the Potomac River watershed - MCEARD

EPA Science Inventory

To better characterize Cryptosporidium in the Potomac River watershed, a PCR-based genotyping tool was used to analyze 64 base-flow and 28 storm-flow samples from five sites within the watershed. These sites included two water treatment plant intakes as well as three upstream si...

Temporal variation in spatial sources of discharge in a large watershed

EPA Science Inventory

We examined how the spatial configuration of source areas for runoff varied over time in a watershed contaminated with mercury in order to understand processes governing material loading to rivers. Source areas within the Fox River watershed (Wisconsin, USA) were mapped for indiv...

Isotopic Clues on Factors Controlling Geochemical Fluxes From Large Watersheds in Eastern Canada

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosa, E.; Helie, J.; Ghaleb, B.; Hillaire-Marcel, C.; Gaillardet, J.

2008-12-01

A monitoring and monthly sampling program of the Nelson, Ottawa, St. Lawrence, La Grande and Great Whale rivers was started in September 2007. It provides information on the seasonality and sources of geochemical fluxes into the Hudson Bay and the North Atlantic from watersheds covering more than 2.6 106 km2 of the eastern Canadian boreal domain. Measurements of pH and alkalinity, analyses of major ions, strontium and dissolved silica, 2H and 18O of water, concentrations and isotopic properties of dissolved organic and inorganic carbon (13C) and uranium (234U/238U) were performed. Lithology more than latitudinal climatic gradients controls the river geochemistry. Rivers draining silicate terrains show lower dissolved U concentrations but greater 234U/238U disequilibria than rivers draining carbonates (average of 1.38 vs. 1.23). Groundwater supplies might exert some control on these U- isotope signatures. No clear seasonality is observed in 234U/238U ratios, but U concentrations are correlated to dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in most rivers. Rivers draining carbonates present higher total dissolved carbon concentrations and higher 13C-contents in dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), in response to the dissolution of soil carbonates. DOC/DIC ratios above 2.4 are observed in rivers draining silicates; their lower 13C-DIC content directly reflects the organic matter oxidation in soils. Total dissolved solids are one order of magnitude or more greater in rivers draining carbonates, showing the strong difference in chemical weathering rates according to the geological setting. The stability in chemical fluxes and water isotopic compositions in the La Grande River, which hosts hydroelectric reservoirs covering more than 12 000 km2, indicates that it is the most buffered hydrological system among the investigated watersheds. Seasonal fluctuations are observed elsewhere, with maximum geochemical fluxes during the spring snowmelt. 2H-18O content of river water appears to be the only parameter presenting a strong latitudinal and climatic gradient (independent of lithology).

Watershed Watch: Using undergraduate student-driven inquiry-based research projects as a means of engaging undeclared students in the biogeosciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rock, B. N.; Hale, S.; Graham, K.; Hayden, L. B.

2009-12-01

Watershed Watch (NSF 0525433) engages early undergraduate students from two-year and four-year colleges in student-driven full inquiry-based instruction in the biogeosciences. Program goals for Watershed Watch are to test if inquiry-rich student-driven projects sufficiently engage undeclared students (or noncommittal STEM majors) to declare a STEM major (or remain with their STEM major). The program is a partnership between two four-year campuses - the University of New Hampshire (UNH), and Elizabeth City State University (ECSU, in North Carolina); and two two-year campuses - Great Bay Community College (GBCC, in New Hampshire) and the College of the Albemarle (COA, in North Carolina). The program focuses on two watersheds: the Merrimack Ricer Watershed in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and the Pasquotank River Watershed in Virginia and North Carolina. Both the terrestrial and aquatic components of both watersheds are evaluated using the student-driven projects. A significant component of this program is an intensive two-week Summer Research Institute (SRI), in which undeclared freshmen and sophomores investigate various aspects of their local watershed. Two Summer Research Institutes have been held on the UNH campus (2006 and 2008) and two on the ECSU campus (2007 and 2009). Students develop their own research questions and study design, collect and analyze data, and produce a scientific oral or poster presentation on the last day of the SRI. The course objectives, curriculum and schedule are presented as a model for dissemination for other institutions and programs seeking to develop inquiry-rich programs or courses designed to attract students into biogeoscience disciplines. Data from self-reported student feedback indicate the most important factors explaining high-levels of student motivation and research excellence in the program are: 1) working with committed, energetic, and enthusiastic faculty mentors, and 2) faculty mentors demonstrating high degrees of teamwork and coordination. The past four Summer Research Institutes have engaged over 100 entry-level undergraduate students in the process of learning science by doing it, and approximately 50% of those participating have declared majors in a wide range of science fields. A total of eight Watershed Watch students have presented findings from their SRI research projects at AGU meetings in 2007, 2008, and 2009. This presentation will highlight the lessons learned over the past four years in the Watershed Watch program.

Water quality of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint and Ocmulgee river basins related to flooding from Tropical Storm Alberto; pesticides in urban and agricultural watersheds, and nitrate and pesticides in ground water, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hippe, D.J.; Wangsness, D.J.; Frick, E.A.; Garrett, J.W.

1994-01-01

This report presents preliminary water-quality information from three studies that are part of the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River basin and the adjacent Ocmulgee River basin. During the period July 3-7, 1994, heavy rainfall from tropical storm Alberto caused record flooding on the Ocmulgee and Flint Rivers and several of their tributaries. Much of the nitrogen load transported during the flooding was as organic nitrogen generally derived from organic detritus, rather than nitrate derived from other sources, such as fertilizer. More than half the mean annual loads of total phosphorus and organic nitrogen were trans- ported in the Flint and Ocmulgee Rivers during the flood. Fourteen herbicides, five insecticides, and one fungicide were detected in floodwaters of the Ocmulgee, Flint, and Apalachicola Rivers. In a second study, water samples were collected at nearly weekly intervals from March 1993 through April 1994 from one urban and two agricultural watersheds in the ACF River basin, and analyzed for 84 commonly used pesticides. More pesticides were detected and at generally higher concentrations in water from the urban watershed than the agricultural water- sheds, and a greater number of pesticides were persistent throughout much of the year in the urban watershed. Simazine exceeded U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drinking-water standards in one of 57 samples from the urban watershed. In a third study, 38 wells were installed in surficial aquifers adjacent to and downgradient of farm fields within agricultural areas in the southern ACF River basin. Even though regional aquifers are generally used for irrigation and domestic- and public-water supplies, degradation of water quality in the surficial aquifers serves as an early warning of potential contamination of regional aquifers. Nitrate concentrations were less than 3 mg/L as N (indicating minimal effect of human activities) in water from about two-thirds of the wells. Water from the remaining wells had elevated nitrate con- centrations, probably the result of human activity. Nitrate concentrations in two of these wells exceeded EPA drinking-water standards. Water samples from eight wells had pesticide concentrations above method detection limits. With the exception of two samples for shallow ground-water wells and one surface-water sample from the urban watershed, concentrations of nitrate nitrogen and detected pesticides were below EPA standards and guidelines for drinking water. However, concentrations of the insecticides chlorpyrifos, carbaryl, and diazinon in the surface-water samples approached or exceeded guidelines for protection of aquatic life.

Land Use and Climate Alter Carbon Dynamics in Watersheds of Chesapeake Bay

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaushal, S.; Duan, S.; Grese, M.; Pennino, M. J.; Belt, K. T.; Findlay, S.; Groffman, P. M.; Mayer, P. M.; Murthy, S.; Blomquist, J.

2011-12-01

There have been long-term changes in the quantity of organic carbon in streams and rivers globally. Shifts in the quality of organic carbon due to environmental changes may also impact downstream ecosystem metabolism and fate and transport of contaminants. We investigated long-term impacts of land use and hydrologic variability on organic carbon transport in watersheds of the Baltimore Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site and large rivers of the Chesapeake Bay. In small and medium-sized watersheds of the Baltimore LTER site, urban land use increased organic carbon concentrations in streams several-fold compared to forest and agricultural watersheds. Enzymatic activities of stream microbes were significantly altered across watershed land use during a record wet year. During the wet year, short-term bioassays showed that bioavailable dissolved organic carbon varied seasonally, but comprised a substantial proportion of the dissolved organic carbon pool. Similarly, measurements of biochemical oxygen demand across hydrologic variability suggest that reactive organic carbon export from small and medium-sized urban watersheds during storms can be substantial. At a larger regional scale, major tributaries such as the Potomac, Susquehanna, Patuxent, and Choptank rivers also showed similar variability as smaller watersheds in quantity and quality of organic carbon based on land use and climate. There were distinct isotopic values of d13C of particulate organic matter and fluorescence excitation emission matrices for rivers influenced by different land uses. Stable isotopic values of d13C of particulate organic matter and fluorescence excitation emission matrices showed marked seasonal changes in organic matter quality during spring floods in the Potomac River at Washington D.C. Across watershed size, there appeared to be differences in seasonal cycles of organic carbon quality and this may have been based on the degree of hydrologic connectivity between watersheds and streams and rivers. Overall, our results suggest that land use and climate can alter quantity and quality of carbon delivered from coastal watersheds and this may have impacts on downstream estuarine ecosystem processes.

Spatio-temporal variations in age structures of a partially re-established population of northern river otters (Lontra canadensis)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Barrett, Dominic A.; Leslie, David M.

2012-01-01

Examination of age structures and sex ratios is useful in the management of northern river otters (Lontra canadensis) and other furbearers. Reintroductions and subsequent recolonizations of river otters have been well documented, but changes in demographics between expanding and established populations have not been observed. As a result of reintroduction efforts, immigration from Arkansas and northeastern Texas, and other efforts, river otters have become partially reestablished throughout eastern and central Oklahoma. Our objective was to examine age structures of river otters in Oklahoma and identify trends that relate to space (watersheds, county) and time (USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service county trapping records). We predicted that river otters in western areas of the state were younger than river otters occurring farther east. From 2005–2007, we obtained salvaged river otter carcasses from federal and state agencies, and we live-captured other river otters using leg hold traps. Seventy-two river otters were sampled. Overall, sex ratios were skewed toward females (1F∶0.8M), but they did not differ among spatiotemporal scales examined. Teeth were removed from salvaged and live-captured river otters (n  =  63) for aging. One-year old river otters represented the largest age class (30.2%). Proportion of juveniles (<1 y old) in Oklahoma (19.0%) was less than other states. Mean age of river otters decreased from east-to-west in the Arkansas River and its tributaries. Mean age of river otters differed between the Canadian River Watershed (0.8 y) and the Arkansas River Watershed (2.9 y) and the Canadian River Watershed and the Red River Watershed (2.4 y). Proportion of juveniles did not differ among spatiotemporal scales examined. Similar to age structure variations in other mammalian carnivores, colonizing or growing western populations of river otters in Oklahoma contained younger ages than more established eastern populations.

Quantifying Japanese Residents' Preferences for Public Meetings in Watershed Decision-Making Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sakagami, Masaji; Ohno, Tomohiko; Tanaka, Takuya

2010-01-01

In this article, we quantified Japanese residents' potential preferences for public participation, specifically public meetings, concerning regional environmental issues in Yodo River watershed decision-making process. We conducted a choice experiments (CE) survey in the Yodo River watershed in Japan. Our findings confirmed that residents assign a…

American River Watershed Investigation, California. Reconnaisance Report

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-01-01

studies, and (4) identification of a non-federal sponsor for the feasibility study. The primary study area included the lower American River between Nimbus...FEMA), is r’esponsible for administering the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).. A basic goal of the NFIP is the identification of flood plain...RESERVO]R - RE:QUIRED FLOOD COVfIROL SPACI (1,000 ac--ft) Level of Protection Total Flood Folsom Flood New Upstream (Return Period - Storage Storage 2

Remote sensing applications to resource problems in South Dakota

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Myers, V. I. (Principal Investigator)

1981-01-01

The procedures used as well as the results obtained and conclusions derived are described for the following applications of remote sensing in South Dakota: (1) sage grouse management; (2) censusing Canada geese; (3) monitoring grasshopper infestation in rangeland; (4) detecting Dutch elm disease in an urban environment; (5) determining water usage from the Belle Fourche River; (6) resource management of the Lower James River; and (7) the National Model Implantation Program: Lake Herman watershed.

South Fork Salmon River Watershed Restoration, 2008-2009 Annual Report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Reaney, Mark D.

2009-04-15

The watershed restoration work elements within the project area, the South Fork Salmon River Watershed, follow the watershed restoration approach adopted by the Nez Perce Tribe Department of Fisheries Resource Management (DFRM) - Watershed Division. The vision of the Nez Perce Tribe DFRM-Watershed Division focuses on protecting, restoring, and enhancing watersheds and treaty resources within the ceded territory of the Nez Perce Tribe under the Treaty of 1855 with the United States Federal Government. The program uses a holistic approach, which encompasses entire watersheds, ridge top to ridge top, emphasizing all cultural aspects and strategies that rely on natural fishmore » production and healthy river ecosystems. The Nez Perce Tribe DFRM-Watershed Division strives towards maximizing historic ecosystem productivity and health for the restoration of anadromous and resident fish populations and the habitat on which all depend on for future generations Originally, this project was funded to create a step/pool stream channel that was appropriate to restore fish passage where the 'Glory Hole Cascade' is currently located at the Stibnite Mine. Due to unforeseen circumstances at the time, the project is unable to move forward as planned and a request for a change in scope of the project and an expansion of the geographic area in which to complete project work was submitted. No additional funds were being requested. The ultimate goal of this project is to work with the holistic, ridge top to ridge top approach to protect and restore the ecological and biological functions of the South Fork Salmon River Watershed to assist in the recovery of threatened and endangered anadromous and resident fish species. FY 2008 Work Elements included two aquatic organism passage (AOP) projects to restore habitat connectivity to two fish-bearing tributaries to the East Fork South Fork Salmon River, Salt and Profile Creeks. The Work Elements also included road survey and assessment activities that move toward road decommissioning to reduce sediment delivery to spawning gravels and rearing habitats by reducing sedimentation from road related, man-made sources. For FY08, the project included the design and implementation of two fish barrier replacement structures mentioned above, the Salt and Profile Creek Bridges. These work elements were to be implemented on Valley County easements within the Payette National Forest. The existing culverts are full or partial barriers to most aquatic life species and all juvenile anadromous and resident fish species. Implementation will reconnect 9.34 miles of habitat, and provide natural stream channels to facilitate complete passage for all aquatic life forms. All designs were completed and a construction subcontract was awarded to construct free span, pre-cast concrete bridges. For 2008, the project statement of work also included all the necessary work elements to manage, coordinate, plan, and develop continuing strategies for restoration and protection activities.« less

Watershed System Model: The Essentials to Model Complex Human-Nature System at the River Basin Scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xin; Cheng, Guodong; Lin, Hui; Cai, Ximing; Fang, Miao; Ge, Yingchun; Hu, Xiaoli; Chen, Min; Li, Weiyue

2018-03-01

Watershed system models are urgently needed to understand complex watershed systems and to support integrated river basin management. Early watershed modeling efforts focused on the representation of hydrologic processes, while the next-generation watershed models should represent the coevolution of the water-land-air-plant-human nexus in a watershed and provide capability of decision-making support. We propose a new modeling framework and discuss the know-how approach to incorporate emerging knowledge into integrated models through data exchange interfaces. We argue that the modeling environment is a useful tool to enable effective model integration, as well as create domain-specific models of river basin systems. The grand challenges in developing next-generation watershed system models include but are not limited to providing an overarching framework for linking natural and social sciences, building a scientifically based decision support system, quantifying and controlling uncertainties, and taking advantage of new technologies and new findings in the various disciplines of watershed science. The eventual goal is to build transdisciplinary, scientifically sound, and scale-explicit watershed system models that are to be codesigned by multidisciplinary communities.

Hydrologic Responses to Projected Climate Change in Ecologically-Vulnerable Watersheds of the Gulf Coast, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neupane, R. P.; Ficklin, D. L.; Knouft, J.

2017-12-01

Climate change is likely to have significant effects on the water cycle of the Gulf Coast watersheds in the United States, which contain some of the highest levels of biodiversity of all freshwater systems in North America. Understanding potential hydrologic responses to continued climate change in these watersheds is important for management of water resources and to sustain ecological diversity. We used the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to simulate hydrologic processes and estimate the potential hydrological changes for the mid-21st century (2050s) and the late-21st century (2080s) in the Mobile River, Apalachicola River, and Suwannee River watersheds located in the Gulf Coast, USA. These estimates were based on downscaled future climate projections from 20 Global Circulation Models (GCMs) under two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs 4.5 and 8.5). Models were calibrated and validated using observed data from 58, 19, and 14 streamflow gauges in the Mobile River, Apalachicola River, and Suwannee River watersheds, respectively. Evaluation indices including the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), coefficient of determination (R2), and refined index of agreement (dr) were used to assess model quality. The mean values derived during calibration (NSE=0.68, R2=0.77, and dr=0.73) and validation (NSE=0.70, R2=0.78, and dr=0.74) of all watersheds indicated that the models performed well at simulating monthly streamflow. Our simulation results indicated an overall increase in mean annual streamflow for all the watersheds with a maximum increase in discharge of 28.6% for the Suwannee River watershed for RCP 4.5 during the 2080s, which is associated with a 6.8% increase in precipitation during the same time period. We observed an overall warming (4.2oC) with an increase in future precipitation (3.8%) in all watersheds during the 2080s under the worst-case RCP 8.5 scenario compared to the historical time period. Despite an increase in future precipitation, surface runoff in the Suwannee River watershed was lower than might be expected due to a large portion of wetlands ( 28% of total area) acting as buffers to capture overland flows. These outcomes are expected to help in making better-informed decisions for future water resources and ecosystem management in the Gulf Coast region during the coming century.

EVALUATING THE WATER QUALITY EFFECTIVENESS OF WATERSHED-SCALE SOURCE WATER PROTECTION PROGRAMS

EPA Science Inventory

The US EPA Office of Research and Development, the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) and the Upper Big Walnut Creek Quality Partnership created a collaborative team of eleven agencies and universities to develop a methodology for evaluating the effectiveness...

Direct and indirect atmospheric deposition of PCBs to the Delaware River watershed.

PubMed

Totten, Lisa A; Panangadan, Maya; Eisenreich, Steven J; Cavallo, Gregory J; Fikslin, Thomas J

2006-04-01

Atmospheric deposition can be an important source of PCBs to aquatic ecosystems. To develop the total maximum daily load (TMDL) for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) for the tidal Delaware River (water-quality Zones 2-5), estimates of the loading of PCBs to the river from atmospheric deposition were generated from seven air-monitoring sites along the river. This paper presents the atmospheric PCB data from these sites, estimates direct atmospheric deposition fluxes, and assesses the importance of atmospheric deposition relative to other sources of PCBs to the river. Also, the relationship between indirect atmospheric deposition and PCB loads from minor tributaries to the Delaware River is discussed. Data from these sites revealed high atmospheric PCB concentrations in the Philadelphia/Camden urban area and lower regional background concentrations in the more remote areas. Wet, dry particle, and gaseous absorption deposition are estimated to contribute about 0.6, 1.8, and 6.5 kg year-(-1) sigmaPCBs to the River, respectively, exceeding the TMDL of 0.139 kg year(-1) by more than an order of magnitude. Penta-PCB watershed fluxes were obtained by dividing the tributary loads by the watershed area. The lowest of these watershed fluxes are less than approximately 1 ng m(-2) day(-1) for penta-PCB and probably indicates pristine watersheds in which PCB loads are dominated by atmospheric deposition. In these watersheds, the pass-through efficiency of PCBs is estimated to be on the order of 1%.

Nitrogen management challenges in major watersheds of South America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bustamante, Mercedes M. C.; Martinelli, Luiz Antonio; Pérez, Tibisay; Rasse, Rafael; Ometto, Jean Pierre H. B.; Siqueira Pacheco, Felipe; Rafaela Machado Lins, Silvia; Marquina, Sorena

2015-06-01

Urbanization and land use changes alter the nitrogen (N) cycle, with critical consequences for continental freshwater resources, coastal zones, and human health. Sewage and poor watershed management lead to impoverishment of inland water resources and degradation of coastal zones. Here we review the N contents of rivers of the three most important watersheds in South America: the Amazon, La Plata, and Orinoco basins. To evaluate potential impacts on coastal zones, we also present data on small- and medium-sized Venezuelan watersheds that drain into the Caribbean Sea and are impacted by anthropogenic activities. Median concentrations of total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) were 325 μg L-1 and 275 μg L-1 in the Amazon and Orinoco basins, respectively, increasing to nearly 850 μg L-1 in La Plata Basin rivers and 2000 μg L-1 in small northern Venezuelan watersheds. The median TDN yield of Amazon Basin rivers (approximately 4 kg ha-1 yr-1) was larger than TDN yields of undisturbed rivers of the La Plata and Orinoco basins; however, TDN yields of polluted rivers were much higher than those of the Amazon and Orinoco rivers. Organic matter loads from natural and anthropogenic sources in rivers of South America strongly influence the N dynamics of this region.

Feasibility of estimate sediment yield in the non-sediment monitoring station area - A case study of Alishan River watershed,Taiwan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, ChiaChi; Chan, HsunChuan; Jia, YaFei; Zhang, YaoXin

2017-04-01

Due to the steep topography, frail geology and concentrated rainfall in wet season, slope disaster occurred frequently in Taiwan. In addition, heavy rainfall induced landslides in upper watersheds. The sediment yield on the slopeland affects the sediment transport in the river. Sediment deposits on the river bed reduce the river cross section and change the flow direction. Furthermore, it generates risks to residents' lives and property in the downstream. The Taiwanese government has been devoting increasing efforts on the sedimentary management issues and on reduction in disaster occurrence. However, due to the limited information on the environmental conditions in the upper stream, it is difficult to set up the sedimentary monitoring equipment. This study used the upper stream of the Qingshuei River, the Alishan River, as a study area. In August 2009, Typhoon Morakot caused the sedimentation of midstream and downstream river courses in the Alishan River. Because there is no any sediment monitoring stations within the Alishan River watershed, the sediment yield values are hard to determine. The objective of this study is to establish a method to analyze the event-landslide sediment transport in the river on the upper watershed. This study numerically investigated the sediment transport in the Alishan River by using the KINEROS 2 model developed by the United States Department of Agriculture and the CCHE1D model developed by the National Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering. The simulated results represent the morphology changes in the Alishan River during the typhoon events. The results consist of a critical strategy reference for the sedimentary management for the Alishan River watershed.

Water resources of the Minnesota River-Hawk Creek watershed, southwestern Minnesota

USGS Publications Warehouse

Van Voast, Wayne A.; Broussard, W.L.; Wheat, D.E.

1972-01-01

The Minnesota River – Hawk Creek watershed is located in southwestern Minnesota. The watershed has an area of 1,479 square miles and is drained along its southwestern edge by the Minnesota River (Minnesota Division of Waters, 1959). The major watercourse within the watershed is Hawk Creek, having a drainage area of 510 square miles. Other, shorter streams drain into the Minnesota River but are mostly ephemeral. The watershed has a gently undulating land surface formed on glacial deposits. Directly underlying the glacial deposits in most of the area are Cretaceous sedimentary rocks. Paleozoic and Precambrian rocks are also locally in contact with overlying glacial deposits. Beds of sand and gravel buried at various depths within the glacial deposits are generally thin and discomtinuous but are the most accessible and widely used aquifers in the watershed. Beds of poorly consolidated sandstone in the Cretaceous rocks are locally good aquifers, generally yielding softer water, but in lesser quantities, than aquifers in the overlying glacial deposits. In the eastern part of the watershed, aquifers in Paleozoic and Precambrian sedimentary rocks are capable of high yields to wells and contain water of similar quality to water in the overlying Cretaceous and glacial deposits.

Topographic Features of Malyy Naryn River Watershed Based on Different Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, M.; Chen, L.; Cui, Y.; Zhang, M.

2018-04-01

This paper researched the influence on the topographical characteristics of watersheds by setting different catchment area thresholds based on different data sets, namely ZY3 DSM, SRTM DEM and ASTER GDEM. Slope, hypsometric integral, river network density and river network discrepancy are analyzed and compared. The results are as follows: a) Three data sets all can express the same rough terrain characteristics and the same degree of watershed topography development; b) ZY3 DSM can reflect terrain information over the Malyy Naryn River watershed in most detail and it has the best expression effect on the terrain among the three data sets of ZY3 DSM, SRTM DEM and ASTER GDEM, followed by SRTM DEM, and the effect of ASTER GDEM is the worst; c) The similarity of river networks extracted by ZY3 DSM and SRTM DEM is the highest, and the similarity between ZY3 DSM and ASTER GDEM is the lowest one.

Analysis of water quality in the Blue River watershed, Colorado, 1984 through 2007

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bauch, Nancy J.; Miller, Lisa D.; Yacob, Sharon

2014-01-01

Water quality of streams, reservoirs, and groundwater in the Blue River watershed in the central Rocky Mountains of Colorado has been affected by local geologic conditions, historical hard-rock metal mining, and recent urban development. With these considerations, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Summit Water Quality Committee, conducted a study to compile historical water-quality data and assess water-quality conditions in the watershed. To assess water-quality conditions, stream data were primarily analyzed from October 1995 through December 2006, groundwater data from May 1996 through September 2004, and reservoir data from May 1984 through November 2007. Stream data for the Snake River, upper Blue River, and Tenmile Creek subwatersheds upstream from Dillon Reservoir and the lower Blue River watershed downstream from Dillon Reservoir were analyzed separately. (The complete abstract is provided in the report)

Priority River Metrics for Residents of an Urbanized Arid Watershed

EPA Science Inventory

What indicators to use is a persistent question in river and stream assessment and management. We employ qualitative research techniques to identify features of rivers and streams important to the general public in an urbanized watershed of the Southwestern U.S. Transcriptions an...

Watershed planning, implementation and assessment: the May River Watershed Action Plan case study

Treesearch

Kimberly W. Jones; Christopher L. Ellis; Jeremy S. Ritchie

2016-01-01

Prior to exponential growth in the early to mid-2000s, the Town of Bluffton, SC was one square mile; as of 2015, it is approximately 55 square miles. Associated with this growth was a shellfish harvesting closure for nearly onethird of the May River in 2009. The Town and its partners developed and began to implement the May River Watershed Action Plan in 2011. The plan...

Parameterization and Uncertainty Analysis of SWAT model in Hydrological Simulation of Chaohe River Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jie, M.; Zhang, J.; Guo, B. B.

2017-12-01

As a typical distributed hydrological model, the SWAT model also has a challenge in calibrating parameters and analysis their uncertainty. This paper chooses the Chaohe River Basin China as the study area, through the establishment of the SWAT model, loading the DEM data of the Chaohe river basin, the watershed is automatically divided into several sub-basins. Analyzing the land use, soil and slope which are on the basis of the sub-basins and calculating the hydrological response unit (HRU) of the study area, after running SWAT model, the runoff simulation values in the watershed are obtained. On this basis, using weather data, known daily runoff of three hydrological stations, combined with the SWAT-CUP automatic program and the manual adjustment method are used to analyze the multi-site calibration of the model parameters. Furthermore, the GLUE algorithm is used to analyze the parameters uncertainty of the SWAT model. Through the sensitivity analysis, calibration and uncertainty study of SWAT, the results indicate that the parameterization of the hydrological characteristics of the Chaohe river is successful and feasible which can be used to simulate the Chaohe river basin.

Hydrogeochemical studies of historical mining areas in the Humboldt River basin and adjacent areas, northern Nevada

USGS Publications Warehouse

Nash, J. Thomas

2005-01-01

The study area comprises the Humboldt River Basin and adjacent areas, with emphasis on mining areas relatively close to the Humboldt River. The basin comprises about 16,840 mi2 or 10,800,000 acres. The mineral resources of the Humboldt Basin have been investigated by many scientists over the past 100 years, but only recently has our knowledge of regional geology and mine geology been applied to the understanding and evaluation of mining effects on water and environmental quality. The investigations reported here apply some of the techniques and perspectives developed in the Abandoned Mine Lands Initiative (AMLI) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), a program of integrated geological-hydrological-biological-chemical studies underway in the Upper Animas River watershed in Colorado and the Boulder River watershed in, Montana. The goal of my studies of sites and districts is to determine the character of mining-related contamination that is actively or potentially a threat to water quality and to estimate the potential for natural attenuation of that contamination. These geology-based studies and recommendations differ in matters of emphasis and data collection from the biology-based assessments that are the cornerstone of environmental regulations.

Effect of variable annual precipitation and nutrient input on nitrogen and phosphorus transport from two Midwestern agricultural watersheds

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Precipitation patterns and nutrient inputs impact transport of nitrate (NO3-N) and phosphorus (TP) from Midwest watersheds. Nutrient concentrations and yields from two subsurface-drained watersheds, the Little Cobb River (LCR) in southern Minnesota and the South Fork Iowa River (SFIR) in northern Io...

COMPOSITIONAL LANDSCAPE METRICS AND LANDCOVER CONNECTIVITY MEASURES FOR THE SUB-WATERSHEDS OF THE UPPER SAN PEDRO RIVER 1997

EPA Science Inventory

Various compositional landscape metrics and landcover connectivity measures for the sub-watersheds of the Upper San Pedro River. Metrics were computed using the ATtILA v.3.03 ArcView extension. Inputs included the sub-watershed coverage obtained from the USDA-ARS-SWRC in Tucson,...

A COMPREHENSIVE NONPOINT SOURCE FIELD STUDY FOR SEDIMENT, NUTRIENTS, AND PATHOGENS IN THE SOUTH FORK BROAD RIVER WATERSHED IN NORTHEAST GEORGIA

EPA Science Inventory

This technical report provides a description of the field project design, quality control, the sampling protocols and analysis methodology used, and standard operating procedures for the South Fork Broad River Watershed (SFBR) Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) project. This watersh...

78 FR 73186 - Wallowa-Whitman National Forests, Oregon; Lower Imnaha Rangeland Analysis

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-05

... Creek, Cow Creek, and a portion of the Snake River watersheds of the Hells Canyon National Recreation... associated watersheds downstream of the Imnaha River Bridge ``Cow Creek Bridge'', and watersheds from Deep... allotments: Cow Creek, Lone Pine, Rhodes Creek, and Toomey, all of which are in Wallowa County, Oregon. This...

ASSESSING THE QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF DEPRESSIONAL WETLANDS IN THE REDWOOD RIVER WATERSHED UTILIZING A PROBABILISTIC SURVEY DESIGN

EPA Science Inventory

Located in southwestern Minnesota, the Redwood River watershed lies within an area of the Prairie Pothole Region where land use is predominantly a mixture of row crop and livestock agriculture. In 2003 the condition of emergent depressional wetlands in this watershed was assesse...

EVALUATING THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN NUTRIENT AND SEDIMENT DYNAMICS, ECOLOGY AND LAND USE IN THE LITTLE MIAMI RIVER WATERSHED

EPA Science Inventory

The goal of this project, and associated research, is to establish thresholds for ecological response to land use and disturbance in agricultural and mixed land use watersheds within the Little Miami River Watershed. A secondary goal is to develop tools and insights that will aid...

Evaluation of a method for comparing phosphorus loads from barnyards and croplands in Otter Creek Watershed, Wisconsin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wierl, Judy A.; Giddings, Elise M.P.; Bannerman, Roger T.

1998-01-01

Control of phosphorus from rural nonpoint sources is a major focus of current efforts to improve and protect water resources in Wisconsin and is recommended in almost every priority watershed plan prepared for the State's Nonpoint Source (NFS) Program. Barnyards and crop- lands usually are identified as the primary rural sources of phosphorus. Numerous questions have arisen about which of these two sources to control and about the method currently being used by the NFS program to compare phosphorus loads from barnyards and croplands. To evaluate the method, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). in cooperation with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, used phosphorus-load and sediment-load data from streams and phosphorus concentrations in soils from the Otter Creek Watershed (located in the Sheboygan River Basin: fig. 1) in conjunction with two computer-based models. 

National Dam Safety Program. Onondaga Dam (Inventory Number NY 794), Oswego River Basin, Onondaga County, New York. Phase I Inspection Report.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-06-30

Onondag Darn IC^Tjr 50 DO.GWAO1%Q I /W0 (Inventory Numiber NY 794), Oswego River , Basin , Onondage County, New York.Phs IS.DISR)UTI!4 TAY- I Inspection...Dam: Onondaga Dam ID. No. NY 794 State Located: New York County: Onondaga Watershed: Oswego River Basin Stream: Onondaga Creek Date of Inspection...CL E E C4)S0. 0. w CD 2. > C CD C C I 0 0 PHASE I INSPECTION REPORT ONONDAGA DAM I.D. NO NY 794 OSWEGO RIVER BASIN ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK SECTION 1

Weathering, landscape equilibrium, and carbon in four watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico: Chapter H in Water quality and landscape processes of four watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stallard, Robert F.; Murphy, Sheila F.; Stallard, Robert F.

2012-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey's Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets (WEBB) program research in eastern Puerto Rico involves a double pair-wise comparison of four montane river basins, two on granitic bedrock and two on fine-grained volcaniclastic bedrock; for each rock type, one is forested and the other is developed. A confounding factor in this comparison is that the developed watersheds are substantially drier than the forested (runoff of 900–1,600 millimeters per year compared with 2,800–3,700 millimeters per year). To reduce the effects of contrasting runoff, the relation between annual runoff and annual constituent yield were used to estimate mean-annual yields at a common, intermediate mean-annual runoff of 1,860 millimeters per year. Upon projection to this intermediate runoff, the ranges of mean-annual yields among all watersheds became more compact or did not substantially change for dissolved bedrock, sodium, silica, chloride, dissolved organic carbon, and calcium. These constituents are the primary indicators of chemical weathering, biological activity on the landscape, and atmospheric inputs; the narrow ranges indicate little preferential influence by either geology or land cover. The projected yields of biologically active constituents (potassium, nitrate, ammonium ion, phosphate), and particulate constituents (suspended bedrock and particulate organic carbon) were considerably greater for developed landscapes compared with forested watersheds, consistent with the known effects of land clearing and human waste inputs. Equilibrium rates of combined chemical and physical weathering were estimated by using a method based on concentrations of silicon and sodium in bedrock, river-borne solids, and river-borne solutes. The observed rates of landscape denudation greatly exceed rates expected for a dynamic equilibrium, except possibly for the forested watershed on volcaniclastic rock. Deforestation and agriculture can explain the accelerated physical erosion in the two developed watersheds. Because there has been no appreciable deforestation, something else, possibly climate or forest-quality change, must explain the accelerated erosion in the forested watersheds on granitic rocks. Particulate organic carbon yields are closely linked to sediment yields. This relation implies that much of the particulate organic carbon transport in the four rivers is being caused by this enhanced erosion aided by landslides and fast carbon recovery. The increase in particulate organic carbon yields over equilibrium is estimated to range from 300 kilomoles per square kilometer per year (6 metric tons carbon per square kilometer per year) to 1,700 kilomoles per square kilometer per year (22 metric tons carbon per square kilometer per year) and is consistent with human-accelerated particulate-organic-carbon erosion and burial observed globally. There is no strong evidence of human perturbation of silicate weathering in the four study watersheds, and differences in dissolved inorganic carbon are consistent with watershed geology. Although dissolved organic carbon is slightly elevated in the developed watersheds, that elevation is not enough to unambiguously demonstrate human causes; more work is needed. Accordingly, the dissolved organic carbon and dissolved inorganic carbon yields of tropical rivers, although large, are of secondary importance in the study of the anthropgenically perturbed carbon cycle.

Adaptive cover crop implementation and evaluation in the Chesapeake Bay watersheds

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Four years of applied research, led by the USDA-ARS Choptank River Conservation Reserve Assessment Project (CEAP), have demonstrated that satellite remote sensing, used in combination with cost-share program farm implementation records, can provide a powerful tool for evaluating the nutrient conserv...

Incorporating uncertainty into the ranking of SPARROW model nutrient yields from Mississippi/Atchafalaya River basin watersheds

USGS Publications Warehouse

Robertson, Dale M.; Schwarz, Gregory E.; Saad, David A.; Alexander, Richard B.

2009-01-01

Excessive loads of nutrients transported by tributary rivers have been linked to hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Management efforts to reduce the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico and improve the water quality of rivers and streams could benefit from targeting nutrient reductions toward watersheds with the highest nutrient yields delivered to sensitive downstream waters. One challenge is that most conventional watershed modeling approaches (e.g., mechanistic models) used in these management decisions do not consider uncertainties in the predictions of nutrient yields and their downstream delivery. The increasing use of parameter estimation procedures to statistically estimate model coefficients, however, allows uncertainties in these predictions to be reliably estimated. Here, we use a robust bootstrapping procedure applied to the results of a previous application of the hybrid statistical/mechanistic watershed model SPARROW (Spatially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes) to develop a statistically reliable method for identifying “high priority” areas for management, based on a probabilistic ranking of delivered nutrient yields from watersheds throughout a basin. The method is designed to be used by managers to prioritize watersheds where additional stream monitoring and evaluations of nutrient-reduction strategies could be undertaken. Our ranking procedure incorporates information on the confidence intervals of model predictions and the corresponding watershed rankings of the delivered nutrient yields. From this quantified uncertainty, we estimate the probability that individual watersheds are among a collection of watersheds that have the highest delivered nutrient yields. We illustrate the application of the procedure to 818 eight-digit Hydrologic Unit Code watersheds in the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River basin by identifying 150 watersheds having the highest delivered nutrient yields to the Gulf of Mexico. Highest delivered yields were from watersheds in the Central Mississippi, Ohio, and Lower Mississippi River basins. With 90% confidence, only a few watersheds can be reliably placed into the highest 150 category; however, many more watersheds can be removed from consideration as not belonging to the highest 150 category. Results from this ranking procedure provide robust information on watershed nutrient yields that can benefit management efforts to reduce nutrient loadings to downstream coastal waters, such as the Gulf of Mexico, or to local receiving streams and reservoirs.

[Evaluation on the eco-economic benefits of small watershed in Beijing mountainous area: a case of Yanqi River watershed].

PubMed

Xiao, Hui-Jie; Wei, Zi-Gang; Wang, Qing; Zhu, Xiao-Bo

2012-12-01

Based on the theory of harmonious development of ecological economy, a total of 13 evaluation indices were selected from the ecological, economic, and social sub-systems of Yanqi River watershed in Huairou District of Beijing. The selected evaluation indices were normalized by using trapezoid functions, and the weights of the evaluation indices were determined by analytic hierarchy process. Then, the eco-economic benefits of the watershed were evaluated with weighted composite index method. From 2004 to 2011, the ecological, economic, and social benefits of Yanqi River watershed all had somewhat increase, among which, ecological benefit increased most, with the value changed from 0.210 in 2004 to 0.255 in 2011 and an increment of 21.5%. The eco-economic benefits of the watershed increased from 0.734 in 2004 to 0.840 in 2011, with an increment of 14.2%. At present, the watershed reached the stage of advanced ecosystem, being in beneficial circulation and harmonious development of ecology, economy, and society.

Merrimack River Watershed Communities

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Listing of all communities included in each of the hydrologic unit code (HUC) 8, 10, and 12 boundaries for the Merrimack River Watershed and city locations for the EPA water quality monitoring stations.

Permafrost Mobilization from the Watershed to the Colville River Delta: Evidence from Biomarkers and 14C Ramped Pyrolysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, X.; Bianchi, T. S.; Cui, X.; Rosenheim, B. E.; Ping, C. L.; Kanevskiy, M. Z.; Hanna, A. M.; Allison, M. A.

2016-12-01

As temperatures in the Arctic rise abnormally fast, permafrost in the region is vulnerable to extensive thawing. This could release previously frozen organic carbon (OC) into the contemporary carbon cycle, giving a positive feedback on global warming. Recent research has found the presence of particulate permafrost in rivers, deltas, and continental shelves in the Arctic, but little direct evidence exists on the mechanism of transportation of previously frozen soils from watershed to the coast. The Colville River in northern Alaska is the largest North American Arctic River with a continuous permafrost within its watershed. Previous work has found evidence for the deposition of previously frozen soils in the Colville River delta (Schreiner et al., 2014). Here, we compared the bulk organic carbon thermal properties, ages of soils and river and delta sediments from the Colville River drainage system using 14C Ramped Pyrolysis and chemical biomarkers. Our data show that deep permafrost soils as well as river and delta sediments had similar pyrograms and biomarker signatures, reflecting transport of soils from watershed to the delta. Surface soil had pyrograms indicative of less stable (more biodegradable) OC than deeper soil horizons. Similarity in pyrograms of deep soils and river sediment indicated the limited contribution of surface soils to riverine particulate OC inputs. Sediments in the delta showed inputs of yedoma (ice-rich syngenetic permafrost with large ice wedges) from the watershed sources (e.g., river bank erosion) in addition to peat inputs, that were largely from coastal erosion.

N2O EMISSIONS FROM STREAMS IN THE NEUSE RIVER WATERSHED, NORTH CAROLINA

EPA Science Inventory

The paper presents N₂O emission data from 11 sites in the Neuse River watershed. Emissions were measured using a static surface enclosure technique deployed on eight sites on the main river channel and three tributary sites. Ancillary data collected included dissolved ...

Dissolved organic matter composition of Arctic rivers: Linking permafrost and parent material to riverine carbon

USGS Publications Warehouse

O’Donnell, Jonathan A.; Aiken, George R.; Swanson, David K.; Santosh, Panda; Butler, Kenna D.; Baltensperger, Andrew P.

2016-01-01

Recent climate change in the Arctic is driving permafrost thaw, which has important implications for regional hydrology and global carbon dynamics. Permafrost is an important control on groundwater dynamics and the amount and chemical composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) transported by high-latitude rivers. The consequences of permafrost thaw for riverine DOM dynamics will likely vary across space and time, due in part to spatial variation in ecosystem properties in Arctic watersheds. Here we examined watershed controls on DOM composition in 69 streams and rivers draining heterogeneous landscapes across a broad region of Arctic Alaska. We characterized DOM using bulk dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration, optical properties, and chemical fractionation and classified watersheds based on permafrost characteristics (mapping of parent material and ground ice content, modeling of thermal state) and ecotypes. Parent material and ground ice content significantly affected the amount and composition of DOM. DOC concentrations were higher in watersheds underlain by fine-grained loess compared to watersheds underlain by coarse-grained sand or shallow bedrock. DOC concentration was also higher in rivers draining ice-rich landscapes compared to rivers draining ice-poor landscapes. Similarly, specific ultraviolet absorbance (SUVA254, an index of DOM aromaticity) values were highest in watersheds underlain by fine-grained deposits or ice-rich permafrost. We also observed differences in hydrophobic organic acids, hydrophilic compounds, and DOM fluorescence across watersheds. Both DOC concentration and SUVA254 were negatively correlated with watershed active layer thickness, as determined by high-resolution permafrost modeling. Together, these findings highlight how spatial variations in permafrost physical and thermal properties can influence riverine DOM.

Determination of predevelopment denudation rates of an agricultural watershed (Cayaguas River, Puerto Rico) using in-situ-produced 10Be in river-borne quartz

USGS Publications Warehouse

Brown, E.T.; Stallard, R.F.; Larsen, M.C.; Bourles, D.L.; Raisbeck, G.M.; Yiou, F.

1998-01-01

Accurate estimates of watershed denudation absent anthropogenic effects are required to develop strategies for mitigating accelerated physical erosion resulting from human activities, to model global geochemical cycles, and to examine interactions among climate, weathering, and uplift. We present a simple approach to estimate predevelopment denudation rates using in-situ-produced cosmogenic 10Be in fluvial sediments. Denudation processes in an agricultural watershed (Cayaguas River Basin, Puerto Rico) and a matched undisturbed watershed (Icacos River Basin) were compared using 10Be concentrations in quartz for various size fractions of bed material. The coarse fractions in both watersheds bear the imprint of long subsurface residence times. Fine material from old shallow soils contributes little, however, to the present-day sediment output of the Cayaguas. This confirms the recent and presumably anthropogenic origin of the modern high denudation rate in the Cayaguas Basin and suggests that pre-agricultural erosional conditions were comparable to those of the present-day Icacos.

Integrated investigations of environmental effects of historical mining in the Animas River Watershed, San Juan County, Colorado

USGS Publications Warehouse

Church, Stan E.; Von Guerard, Paul; Finger, Susan E.

2007-01-01

This publication comprises a Volume Contents of chapters (listed below) and a CD-ROM of data (contents shown in column at right). The Animas River watershed in southwest Colorado is one of many watersheds in the western United States where historical mining has left a legacy of acid mine drainage and elevated concentrations of potentially toxic trace elements in surface streams. U.S. Geological Survey scientists have completed a major assessment of the environmental effects of historical mining in the Animas River watershed focusing on the area upstream of Silverton, Colo.?the Mineral Creek, Cement Creek, and upper Animas River basins. The study demonstrated how the watershed approach can be used to assess and rank mining-affected sites for possible cleanup. The study was conducted in collaboration with State and Federal land-management agencies and regional stakeholders groups. This book is available for purchase at Information Services, U.S. Geological Survey (1-888-ASK-USGS).

Relating nutrient and herbicide fate with landscape features and characteristics of 15 subwatersheds in the Choptank River Watershed

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Choptank River is an estuary and tributary on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay; it drains portions of the Delmarva Peninsula, located within the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Its watershed is an ARS Benchmark Watershed in the Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP). M...

COMPOSITIONAL LANDSCAPE METRICS AND LANDCOVER CONNECTIVITY MEASURES FOR THE SUB-WATERSHEDS OF THE UPPER SAN PEDRO RIVER 1973

EPA Science Inventory

Various compositional landscape metrics and landcover connectivity measures for the sub-watersheds of the Upper San Pedro River. Metrics were computed using the ATtILA v3.03 ArcView extension. Inputs included the sub-watershed coverage obtained from the USDA-ARS-SWRC in Tucson, A...

Upper Washita River experimental watersheds: Land cover data sets (1974-2007) for two southwestern Oklahoma agricultural watersheds

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A retrospective land cover analysis covering the time period from the early 1970s to early 1990s was conducted to gain a sense of the dynamics of land cover changes on the Little Washita River and Fort Cobb Reservoir experimental watersheds (LWREW, FCREW), located in southwestern Oklahoma. This stu...

How can water quality be improved when the urban waste water directive has been fulfilled? A case study of the Lot river (France).

PubMed

Garnier, Josette; Ramarson, Antsiva; Thieu, Vincent; Némery, Julien; Théry, Sylvain; Billen, Gilles; Coynel, Alexandra

2018-04-01

The Lot river, a major tributary of the downstream Garonne river, the largest river on the Northern side of the Pyrenees Mountains, was intensively studied in the 1970s. A pioneering program called "Lot Rivière Claire" provided a diagnosis of water quality at the scale of the whole watershed and proposed an ambitious program to manage nutrient pollution and eutrophication largely caused by urban wastewater releases. Later on, the implementation of European directives from 1991 to 2000 resulted in the nearly complete treatment of point sources of pollution in spite of a doubling of the basin's population. At the outlet of the Lot river, ammonium and phosphate contamination which respectively peaked to 1 mg N-NH 4 L -1 and 0.3 mg P-PO 4 L -1 in the 1980s returned to much lower levels in recent years (0.06 mg N-NH 4 L -1 and 0.02 mg P-PO 4 L -1 ), a reduction by a factor 15. However, during this time, nitrate contamination has regularly increased since the 1980s, from 0.5 to 1.2 mg N-NO 3 L -1 in average, owing to the intensification of agriculture and livestock farming. Application of the Riverstrahler model allowed us to simulate the water quality of the Lot drainage network for the 2002-2014 period. We showed that, with respect to algal requirements, phosphorus and silica are well balanced, but nitrogen remains largely in excess over phosphorus and silica. This imbalance can be problematic for the ecological status of the water bodies. Using the model, for simulating various scenarios of watershed management, we showed that improvement of urban wastewater treatment would not result in any significant change in the river's water quality. Even though arable land occupies a rather limited fraction of the watershed area, only the adoption of better farming practices or more radical changes in the agro-food system could reverse the trend of increasing nitrate contamination.

Water resources of the Yellow Medicine River Watershed, Southwestern Minnesota

USGS Publications Warehouse

Novitzki, R.P.; Van Voast, Wayne A.; Jerabek, L.A.

1969-01-01

The Yellow Medicine and Minnesota Rivers are the major sources of surface water. For physiographic regions – Upland Plain, Slope, Lowland Plain, and Minnesota River Flood Plain – influence surface drainage, and the flow of ground water through the aquifers. The watershed comprises 1070 square miles, including the drainage basin of the Yellow Medicine River (665 square miles) and 405 square miles drained by small streams tributary to the Minnesota River.

Hydrogeology of the upper and middle Verde River watersheds, central Arizona

USGS Publications Warehouse

Blasch, Kyle W.; Hoffmann, John P.; Graser, Leslie F.; Bryson, Jeannie R.; Flint, Alan L.

2006-01-01

The upper and middle Verde River watersheds in central Arizona are primarily in Yavapai County, which in 1999 was determined to be the fastest growing rural county in the United States; by 2050 the population is projected to more than double its current size (132,000 in 2000). This study combines climatic, surface-water, ground-water, water-chemistry, and geologic data to describe the hydrogeologic systems within the upper and middle Verde River watersheds and to provide a conceptual understanding of the ground-water flow system. The study area includes the Big Chino and Little Chino subbasins in the upper Verde River watershed and the Verde Valley subbasin in the middle Verde Rive watershed...more...A geochemical mixing model was used to quantify fractions of ground-water sources to the Verde River from various parts of the study area. Most of the water in the uppermost 0.2 mile of the Verde River is from the Little Chino subbasin, and the remainder is from the Big Chino subbasin. Discharge from a system of springs increases base flow to about 17 cubic feet per second within the next 2 miles of the river. Ground water that discharges at these springs is derived from the western part of the Coconino Plateau, from the Big Chino subbasin, and from the Little Chino subbasin. More...

Workshop to transfer VELMA watershed model results to ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

An EPA Western Ecology Division (WED) watershed modeling team has been working with the Snoqualmie Tribe Environmental and Natural Resources Department to develop VELMA watershed model simulations of the effects of historical and future restoration and land use practices on streamflow, stream temperature, and other habitat characteristics affecting threatened salmon populations in the 100 square mile Tolt River watershed in Washington state. To date, the WED group has fully calibrated the watershed model to simulate Tolt River flows with a high degree of accuracy under current and historical conditions and practices, and is in the process of simulating long-term responses to specific watershed restoration practices conducted by the Snoqualmie Tribe and partners. On July 20-21 WED Researchers Bob McKane, Allen Brookes and ORISE Fellow Jonathan Halama will be attending a workshop at the Tolt River site in Carnation, WA, to present and discuss modeling results with the Snoqualmie Tribe and other Tolt River watershed stakeholders and land managers, including the Washington Departments of Ecology and Natural Resources, U.S. Forest Service, City of Seattle, King County, and representatives of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. The workshop is being co-organized by the Snoqualmie Tribe, EPA Region 10 and WED. The purpose of this 2-day workshop is two-fold. First, on Day 1, the modeling team will perform its second site visit to the watershed, this time focus

Trends in Surface-Water Nitrate-N Concentrations and Loads from Predominantly-Forested Watersheds of the Chesapeake Bay Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eshleman, K. N.

2011-12-01

Water quality monitoring data from streams and rivers provide the "gold standard" by which progress toward achieving real reductions in nutrient loadings to Chesapeake Bay must ultimately be assessed. The most recent trend results posted at the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) website reveal that a substantial percentage of tributaries are now showing long-term declines in flow-adjusted concentrations of nutrients and sediments: 22 sites showed statistically significant (p < 0.05) downward trends (1985-2010) in flow-adjusted concentrations, two sites showed upward trends, and eight sites showed no trend. Based on the data, the CBP has drawn the following conclusion: "At many monitored locations, long-term trends indicate that management actions, such as pollution controls for improved wastewater treatment plants and practices to reduce nutrients on farms and suburban lands, have reduced concentrations of nitrogen." But could this conclusion be pre-mature? I recently undertook a comparable analysis of long-term nitrate-N trends for a different group of watersheds (all located in the Chesapeake Bay watershed with long data records); this group includes nine watersheds that are predominantly (i.e., >75%) forested, plus five other Potomac River subwatersheds added for comparison. Based on comparable data and analytical methods to those used by CBP partners and USGS, 13 of the 14 sites-including both Potomac River stations (Chain Bridge at Washington DC and Hancock, Maryland)-showed statistically significant decreasing linear trends in annual flow-weighted nitrate-N concentration. Only one station-the heavily agricultural Upper Monocacy River-did not show a statistically significant (p < 0.05) trend. Five of the predominantly-forested watersheds also showed statistically significant decreasing trends in annual nitrate-N loads, and none of the stations showed a trend in annual runoff presumably due to high inter-annual hydroclimatological variability. While the largest absolute changes in nitrate-N concentration corresponded to the least forested watersheds, the largest percentage changes in nitrate-N concentration were actually observed for those watersheds with the greatest percentages of forestland. This result suggests that the natural dynamics of forests may be playing a very important (and under-appreciated) role in improving water quality throughout the Bay watershed. A second interesting finding was that the statistically significant reductions in annual nitrate-N concentration at the Potomac River RIM station could be entirely explained by commensurate improvements at the upstream (Hancock) station; in fact, no trend in nitrate-N concentration associated with the eastern portion of the basin was found (after subtracting out the influence of the upstream portion). Additional research is needed to understand why nitrogen retention by forested lands may be increasing and thus helping restore water quality throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The results also have obvious implications for meeting local water quality goals as well as the basin-wide goal of the Chesapeake Bay TMDL for nitrogen.

REGIONAL ASSESSMENT OF FISH HEALTH: A PROTOTYPE METHODOLOGY AND CASE STUDY FOR THE ALBEMARLE-PAMLICO RIVER BASIN, NORTH CAROLINA

EPA Science Inventory

BASE (Basin-Scale Assessments for Sustainable Ecosystems) is a research program developed by the Ecosystems Research Division of the National Exposure Research Laboratory to explore and formulate approaches for assessing the sustainability of ecological resources within watershed...

HABITAT AND WATER QUALITY PROTECTION THROUGH GULLY RESTORATION MX974885

EPA Science Inventory

Weeks Bay is a sub-estuary of Mobile Bay, a Gulf of Mexico Program priority area. Fish River is the main tributary of Weeks Bay and in this watershed gullies have formed due to a combination of soil types, heavy rain events and agricultural practices. This project was completed...

Environmental Education through Watershed Studies: Budd/Deschutes Project GREEN.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Lisa Bryce

1992-01-01

Describes the development and current status of the Global Rivers Environmental Education Network, cited as an exemplary Environmental Education program in the Pacific northwest. It is an international educational effort that provides a means for improving local and global water quality through hands-on monitoring and local problem solving for…

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Perkin, Joshuah S.; Troia, Matthew J.; Shaw, Dustin C. R.

Stream fish distributions are commonly linked to environmental disturbances affecting terrestrial landscapes. In Great Plains prairie streams, the independent and interactive effects of watershed impoundments and land cover changes remain poorly understood despite their prevalence and assumed contribution to declining stream fish diversity. We used structural equation models and fish community samples from third-order streams in the Kansas River and Arkansas River basins of Kansas, USA to test the simultaneous effects of geographic location, terrestrial landscape alteration, watershed impoundments and local habitat on species richness for stream-associated and impoundment-associated habitat guilds. Watershed impoundment density increased from west to east inmore » both basins, while per cent altered terrestrial landscape (urbanisation + row-crop agriculture) averaged ~50% in the west, declined throughout the Flint Hills ecoregion and increased (Kansas River basin ~80%) or decreased (Arkansas River basin ~30%) to the east. Geographic location had the strongest effect on richness for both guilds across basins, supporting known zoogeography patterns. In addition to location, impoundment species richness was positively correlated with local habitat in both basins; whereas stream-species richness was negatively correlated with landscape alterations (Kansas River basin) or landscape alterations and watershed impoundments (Arkansas River basin). These findings suggest that convergences in the relative proportions of impoundment and stream species (i.e., community structure) in the eastern extent of both basins are related to positive effects of increased habitat opportunities for impoundment species and negative effects caused by landscape alterations (Kansas River basin) or landscape alterations plus watershed impoundments (Arkansas River basin) for stream species.« less

Lateral carbon export in the Mississippi River Basin, integrating fluxes from the headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stackpoole, S. M.; Crawford, J.; Santi, L. M.; Stets, E.; Sebestyen, S. D.; Wilson, S.; Striegl, R. G.

2017-12-01

Large-scale river studies have documented that lateral fluxes are an important component of the global carbon cycle. This study focuses on river lateral C fluxes for the Mississippi River Basin (MRB), the largest river in North America. Our lateral river C fluxes are based on data from 23 nested watersheds within the Upper MRB, for water years 2015 and 2016. The study area covers 170,000 km2 and is comprised of both catchment <10 km2 and intermediate-scale watersheds (20,000 to 40,000 km2) in Wisconsin and Minnesota, USA. Total alkalinity yields (flux derived by drainage area) ranged from 0 to 16 g C m2 yr-1 and dissolved organic C (DOC) yields ranged from 1 to 13 g C m2 yr-1. In comparison, published estimates for Mississippi River export to the Gulf of Mexico, estimated at St. Francisville, LA, were 16 g C m-2 yr-1 for alkalinity and 0.6 g m2 yr-1 for DOC. In the Upper MRB, alkalinity yields had a significant negative relationship with DOC yields (R2 = 0.53, p-value<0.0001), and alkalinity yields were significantly higher in basins where the lithology was dominated by carbonates and the land-use was >50% agriculture. There was significant inter-annual variability in the total C fluxes, and the increase in discharge in 2016 relative to 2015 increased the proportion of DOC:alkalinity for watersheds with higher forest and wetland coverage. The integration of these recent C flux estimates for the Upper MRB integrated with the fluxes estimated from the USGS long-term monitoring program dataset provide a comprehensive analysis of alkalinity and DOC fluxes for the entire basin. These results, which represent C fluxes across a gradient of lithology, soil type, and land use, will be used to address questions related to our understanding of carbon sources, transport, and loss that can be applied to other river systems.

Application of an Environmental Decision Support System to a Water Quality Trading Program Affected by Surface Water Diversions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Obropta, Christopher C.; Niazi, Mehran; Kardos, Josef S.

2008-12-01

Environmental decision support systems (EDSSs) are an emerging tool used to integrate the evaluation of highly complex and interrelated physicochemical, biological, hydrological, social, and economic aspects of environmental problems. An EDSS approach is developed to address hot-spot concerns for a water quality trading program intended to implement the total maximum daily load (TMDL) for phosphorus in the Non-Tidal Passaic River Basin of New Jersey. Twenty-two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) spread throughout the watershed are considered the major sources of phosphorus loading to the river system. Periodic surface water diversions to a major reservoir from the confluence of two key tributaries alter the natural hydrology of the watershed and must be considered in the development of a trading framework that ensures protection of water quality. An EDSS is applied that enables the selection of a water quality trading framework that protects the watershed from phosphorus-induced hot spots. The EDSS employs Simon’s (1960) three stages of the decision-making process: intelligence, design, and choice. The identification of two potential hot spots and three diversion scenarios enables the delineation of three management areas for buying and selling of phosphorus credits among WWTPs. The result shows that the most conservative option entails consideration of two possible diversion scenarios, and trading between management areas is restricted accordingly. The method described here is believed to be the first application of an EDSS to a water quality trading program that explicitly accounts for surface water diversions.

Hydrology, Water Quality, and Surface- and Ground-Water Interactions in the Upper Hillsborough River Watershed, West-Central Florida

USGS Publications Warehouse

Trommer, J.T.; Sacks, L.A.; Kuniansky, E.L.

2007-01-01

A study of the Hillsborough River watershed was conducted between October 1999 through September 2003 to characterize the hydrology, water quality, and interaction between the surface and ground water in the highly karstic uppermost part of the watershed. Information such as locations of ground-water recharge and discharge, depth of the flow system interacting with the stream, and water quality in the watershed can aid in prudent water-management decisions. The upper Hillsborough River watershed covers a 220-square-mile area upstream from Hillsborough River State Park where the watershed is relatively undeveloped. The watershed contains a second order magnitude spring, many karst features, poorly drained swamps, marshes, upland flatwoods, and ridge areas. The upper Hillsborough River watershed is subdivided into two major subbasins, namely, the upper Hillsborough River subbasin, and the Blackwater Creek subbasin. The Blackwater Creek subbasin includes the Itchepackesassa Creek subbasin, which in turn includes the East Canal subbasin. The upper Hillsborough River watershed is underlain by thick sequences of carbonate rock that are covered by thin surficial deposits of unconsolidated sand and sandy clay. The clay layer is breached in many places because of the karst nature of the underlying limestone, and the highly variable degree of confinement between the Upper Floridan and surficial aquifers throughout the watershed. Potentiometric-surface maps indicate good hydraulic connection between the Upper Floridan aquifer and the Hillsborough River, and a poorer connection with Blackwater and Itchepackesassa Creeks. Similar water level elevations and fluctuations in the Upper Floridan and surficial aquifers at paired wells also indicate good hydraulic connection. Calcium was the dominant ion in ground water from all wells sampled in the watershed. Nitrate concentrations were near or below the detection limit in all except two wells that may have been affected by fertilizer or animal waste. Wells at the Blackwater Creek and Hillsborough River at State Road 39 transects showed little seasonal variation in dissolved organic carbon. Dissolved organic carbon concentrations, however, were greater during the wet season than during the dry season at the Hillsborough River Tract transect, indicating some influence from surface-water sources. During dry periods, streamflow in the upper Hillsborough River was sustained by ground water from the underlying Upper Floridan aquifer. During wet periods, streamflow had additional contributions from runoff, and release of water from extensive riverine wetlands, and by overflow from the Withlacoochee River. In contrast, streamflow in Blackwater and Itchepackesassa Creeks was less constant, with many no-flow days occurring during dry periods. During wet season storm events, streamflow peaks occur more rapidly because there is greater confinement between the surficial deposits and the Upper Floridan aquifer, and these creeks have been highly channelized, leaving less of the adjacent wetlands intact. During dry periods, Blackwater Creek is dry upstream from its confluence with Itchepackesassa Creek, and all downstream flow is from Itchepackesassa Creek. Much of the dry season flow in Itchepackesassa Creek originates from a treated wastewater effluent outfall located on East Canal. Long-term streamflow at the Hillsborough River and Blackwater Creek stations was greater than the discharge observed during the study period. Water quality in the upper Hillsborough River is influenced by ground-water discharge. The chemical composition of water from Blackwater Creek, Itchepackesassa Creek, and East Canal was more variable because there was less ground-water discharge to these creeks than to the upper Hillsborough River, and because of the influence of wastewater effluent. Strontium isotope data indicated that the source of the water at all Hillsborough River sites during the dry season was the Oli

Temporal trends in water-quality constituent concentrations and annual loads of chemical constituents in Michigan watersheds, 1998–2013

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hoard, Christopher J.; Fogarty, Lisa R.; Duris, Joseph W.

2018-02-21

In 1998, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Geological Survey began the Water Chemistry Monitoring Program for select streams in the State of Michigan. Objectives of this program were to provide assistance with (1) statewide water-quality assessments, (2) the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permitting process, and (3) water-resource management decisions. As part of this program, water-quality data collected from 1998 to 2013 were analyzed to identify potential trends for select constituents that were sampled. Sixteen water-quality constituents were analyzed at 32 stations throughout Michigan. Trend analysis on the various water-quality data was done using either the uncensored Seasonal Kendall test or through Tobit regression. In total, 79 trends were detected in the constituents analyzed for 32 river stations sampled for the study period—53 downward trends and 26 upward trends were detected. The most prevalent trend detected throughout the State was for ammonia, with 11 downward trends and 1 upward trend estimated.In addition to trends, constituent loads were estimated for 31 stations from 2002 to 2013 for stations that were sampled 12 times per year. Loads were computed using the Autobeale load computation program, which used the Beale ratio estimator approach to estimate an annual load. Constituent loads were the largest in large watershed streams with the highest annual flows such as the Saginaw and Grand Rivers. Likewise, constituent loads were the smallest in smaller tributaries that were sampled as part of this program such as the Boardman and Thunder Bay Rivers.

Developing a top-down land-use management procedure for fish habitat enhancement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiang, Li-Chi; Lin, Yu-Pin; Wu, Chen-Huan

2013-04-01

Land-use change can influence stream ecosystem and alter instream physical, chemical and biological habitat. For example, urbanization usually contributes to increasing sediment loadings to streams and inappropriate agricultural management results in degradation of stream water quality. Watershed model is an effective way to forecast the watershed response to different land-use change scenarios. We developed a top-down approach from the watershed scale to the microscale by combining the habitat model, land-use change model and watershed hydrological model. This approach can assist land-use planner to make optimal decisions with fish habitat enhancement. The study was conducted in Datuan Stream, located in Tamsui District, New Taipei City and the target species is monk goby (Sicyopterus japonicus). The spatially explicit land-use change model, CLUE-s was first applied to project several future land-use scenarios and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was then applied to simulate streamflow for different land-use scenarios. The simulated streamflow were used as input data for simulating river habitat, where Habitat Suitability Analysis is one of the most important processes. The relationship between target species and multiple environmental factors of habitat was first developed using the Habitat suitability index (HSI). In this study, we used fish presence probabilities for each velocity and water depth to establish different HSI functions under 4 flow conditions (slack, riffle, pool and run) using genetic programming (GP). The physical habitat model, River 2D, was then applied to simulate the river section and calculate weighted usable area (WUA). Based on the WUA results for different land-use scenarios, we further evaluated the relationships between WUA and land-use/landscape patterns using a spatial pattern analysis program, Fragstats. The results showed that by using the habitat model for classified flows, the habitat suitability curve which reflects different activities of fish (ex: spawning, preying) is more practical. Moreover, the proposed land-use management procedure can be useful for future land-use planning with fish habitat conservation.

The Contribution of Oil Sands Industry Related Atmospheric THg and MeHg Deposition to Rivers of the Athabasca Oil Sands Region of Canada

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wasiuta, V. L.; Cooke, C. A.; Kirk, J.; Chambers, P. A.; Alexander, A. C.; Rooney, R. C.

2017-12-01

Rapid development of Oil Sands deposits in northern Alberta (Canada) raises concerns about human health and environmental impacts. We present results from a three-year study of winter-time atmospheric deposition of total mercury (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) in six tributary watersheds of the Athabasca River. Seasonal snowpack THg and MeHg concentrations were obtained from spring-time sampling throughout the oil sands region. Winter-time Hg loads were then modeled at watershed and sub-basin scales using ArcGIS geostatistical kriging. To determine the potential impacts of snowmelt on aquatic ecosystems, six rivers were sampled at high frequency over 2012 to 2014 ice-free seasons. Hydrologic year (HY) and first discharge peak loads were then calculated from linear extrapolation of measured concentrations and mean daily discharge. Results showed high THg and MeHg loads from atmospheric deposition around regional upgrading facilities with loads diminishing outwards. This reflects the large proportion of particle bound Hg with a short atmospheric residence time, and deposition close to emission sources. Snowpacks within the six watersheds contained substantial proportions of tributary river THg and MeHg loads. For example, HY2014 snowpacks contained 24 to 46 % of river MeHg loads. All rivers showed a large proportion of HY loads discharged, within a few weeks, in the spring first discharge peak. HY2014 snowpack MeHg loads were greater than river loads in the first discharge peak for all watersheds except the High Hills. This first discharge peak is important as it occurs during critical growth periods for aquatic life. Large differences in tributary river THg and MeHg loads suggest factors other than atmospheric deposition and watershed scale contributed to the load. Considerably higher THg and MeHg snowpack loads in the Muskeg Watershed relative to river export suggest substantial losses to catchment soils or wetlands during snowmelt. Evaluation of factors that could contribute to the large differences in watershed Hg discharge, include proportion of wetlands along with different wetland classes, scale of industrial development, and development hydrologic connectivity. The consequence of long-term Hg loading to wetland ecosystems has yet to be assessed.

Relating stream microbial ecology to land-use in the Choptank River Watershed

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Choptank River is an estuary and tributary on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay whose mouth is a tidal embayment that spans 2057 km2. Approximately 60% of land use in the Choptank River Watershed is agricultural, with large acreages of corn (Zea mays), soybean (Glycine max), wheat (Tritic...

LONG-TERM CHANGES IN WATERSHED NUTRIENT INPUTS AND RIVERINE EXPORTS IN THE NEUSE RIVER, NORTH CAROLINA. (U915590)

EPA Science Inventory

We compared patterns of historical watershed nutrient inputs with in-river nutrient loads for the Neuse River, NC. Basin-wide sources of both nitrogen and phosphorus have increased substantially during the past century, marked by a sharp increase in the last 10 years resulting...

Impact of Watershed Development on Sediment Transport and Seasonal Flooding in the Main Stream of the Mekong River

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kameyama, S.; Nohara, S.; Sato, T.; Fujii, Y.; Kudo, K.

2009-12-01

The Mekong River watershed is undergoing rapid economic progress and population growth, raising conflicts between watershed development and environmental conservation. A typical conflict is between the benefits of dam construction versus the benefits of watershed ecological services. In developed countries, this conflict is changing to a coordinated search for outcomes that are mutually acceptable to all stakeholders. In the Mekong River, however, government policy gives priority to watershed development for ensuring steady energy supplies. Since the 1990s, a series of dams called “the Mekong Cascade” have been under construction. Dam construction has multiple economic values as electric power supply, irrigation water, flood control, etc. On the other hand, the artificial flow discharge controls of dam moderate seasonal hydrologic patterns of the Asian monsoon region. Dam operations can change the sediment transport regime and river structure. Furthermore, their impacts on watershed ecosystems and traditional economic activities of fisheries and agriculture in downstream areas may be severe. We focus on dam impacts on spatio-temporal patterns of sediment transport and seasonal flood in riparian areas downstream from Mekong River dams. Our study river section is located on 100 km down stream from the Golden Triangle region of Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand. We selected a 10-km section in this main channel to simulate seasonal flooding. We modeled the river hydrology in the years 1991 and 2002, before and after the Manwan dam construction (1986-1993). For this simulation, we adapted three models (distributed runoff model, 1-D hydrological model, and 2-D flood simulation with sediment movement algorithm.) Input data on river structure, water velocity, and flow volume were acquired from field survey data in November 2007 and 2008. In the step of parameter decision, we adopted the shuffled complex evolution method. To validate hydrologic parameters, we used annual water level data observed in Chiang Sean and Luang Prabang. To calculate sediment flux volume, we employed a Load-Quantity equation using total suspended solids data from monthly water sampling and flow discharge volumes over 13 months. To evaluate the impact of dam construction and watershed development, we inputted the same year of precipitation data using two watershed conditions with different parameters. Our results from the 1-D model displayed a seasonal delay of water flooding time after summer rainy season and an increase in sediment transport volume from September to October. In the flood simulation by the 2-D model, most of the annual sediment transport was concentrated from July to October. The spatial pattern of sediment dynamics was dependent largely on river structure including river meander shape, river bottom elevation, and geometry of the riparian zone. Our study approaches and simulation results show promise for beginning a quantitative assessment approach to cross-boundary environmental issues in the Mekong River watershed.

Photo Gallery from the Los Angeles River Watershed (California)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Photo gallery of the Los Angeles River Watershed area of the Urban Waters Federal Partnership (UWFP) reconnects urban communities with their waterways by improving coordination among federal agencies and collaborating with community-led efforts.

Riparian and upland vegetation on the Kings River Experimental Watershed, Sierra Nevada, California

Treesearch

Christopher R. Dolanc; Carolyn T. Hunsaker

2007-01-01

The Kings River Experimental Watershed (KREW) is a watershed-level study on headwater streams in the Sierra Nevada, California. Eight perennial streams, from 1500 m (4920 ft) to 2490 m (8170 ft) elevation, have been instrumented and collecting data since 2002. Component research areas of the study include stream flow, water chemistry, sediment, soil chemistry, stream...

Use of a metolachlor metabolite (MESA) to assess agricultural nitrate-n fate and transport in choptank river watershed, Maryland USA

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A majority of streams in the Chesapeake Bay watershed have been rated as poor or very poor based on biological assessments. The Choptank River estuary, a Bay tributary on the eastern shore, is an example, where crop production in upland areas of the watershed contribute significant loads of nutrien...

Development of Land Segmentation, Stream-Reach Network, and Watersheds in Support of Hydrological Simulation Program-Fortran (HSPF) Modeling, Chesapeake Bay Watershed, and Adjacent Parts of Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia

USGS Publications Warehouse

Martucci, Sarah K.; Krstolic, Jennifer L.; Raffensperger, Jeff P.; Hopkins, Katherine J.

2006-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Chesapeake Bay Program Office, Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin, Maryland Department of the Environment, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science are collaborating on the Chesapeake Bay Regional Watershed Model, using Hydrological Simulation Program - FORTRAN to simulate streamflow and concentrations and loads of nutrients and sediment to Chesapeake Bay. The model will be used to provide information for resource managers. In order to establish a framework for model simulation, digital spatial datasets were created defining the discretization of the model region (including the Chesapeake Bay watershed, as well as the adjacent parts of Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia outside the watershed) into land segments, a stream-reach network, and associated watersheds. Land segmentation was based on county boundaries represented by a 1:100,000-scale digital dataset. Fifty of the 254 counties and incorporated cities in the model region were divided on the basis of physiography and topography, producing a total of 309 land segments. The stream-reach network for the Chesapeake Bay watershed part of the model region was based on the U.S. Geological Survey Chesapeake Bay SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced Regressions On Watershed attributes) model stream-reach network. Because that network was created only for the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the rest of the model region uses a 1:500,000-scale stream-reach network. Streams with mean annual streamflow of less than 100 cubic feet per second were excluded based on attributes from the dataset. Additional changes were made to enhance the data and to allow for inclusion of stream reaches with monitoring data that were not part of the original network. Thirty-meter-resolution Digital Elevation Model data were used to delineate watersheds for each stream reach. State watershed boundaries replaced the Digital Elevation Model-derived watersheds where coincident. After a number of corrections, the watersheds were coded to indicate major and minor basin, mean annual streamflow, and each watershed's unique identifier as well as that of the downstream watershed. Land segments and watersheds were intersected to create land-watershed segments for the model.

Composite measures of watershed health from a water quality perspective.

PubMed

Mallya, Ganeshchandra; Hantush, Mohamed; Govindaraju, Rao S

2018-05-15

Water quality data at gaging stations are typically compared with established federal, state, or local water quality standards to determine if violations (concentrations of specific constituents falling outside acceptable limits) have occurred. Based on the frequency and severity of water quality violations, risk metrics such as reliability, resilience, and vulnerability (R-R-V) are computed for assessing water quality-based watershed health. In this study, a modified methodology for computing R-R-V measures is presented, and a new composite watershed health index is proposed. Risk-based assessments for different water quality parameters are carried out using identified national sampling stations within the Upper Mississippi River Basin, the Maumee River Basin, and the Ohio River Basin. The distributional properties of risk measures with respect to water quality parameters are reported. Scaling behaviors of risk measures using stream order, specifically for the watershed health (WH) index, suggest that WH values increased with stream order for suspended sediment concentration, nitrogen, and orthophosphate in the Upper Mississippi River Basin. Spatial distribution of risk measures enable identification of locations exhibiting poor watershed health with respect to the chosen numerical standard, and the role of land use characteristics within the watershed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Restoring a stream, restoring a community-urban watershed restoration fosters community improvement

USGS Publications Warehouse

Thomas, Catherine Cullinane; Myrick, Elizabeth

2013-01-01

The Anacostia Watershed lies within the Chesapeake By drainage basin, and is one of the most urban watersheds within the basin. According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, the watershed spans over 175 square miles\tbetween Maryland and the District of Columbia and is considered by many to be one of the most\tdegraded waterways in the United States. Watts Branch is a tributary stream\tof the Anacostia River, and flows\tinto the Potomac River which eventually\tempties into the Chesapeake Bay

A National Strategy is Needed to Prevent the Coming Water War: The Mississippi River Watershed Shows Us Why

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-03-01

200 words ) The Mississippi River watershed is currently managed as six separate basins including the Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Arkansas, and...that Congress set in 1896 when they gave the USACE authorization to maintain a 9 foot deep by 250 foot wide channel from Cairo to the mouth of the...Sea-level rise will impact the watershed. As the sea-level rises over time, it puts pressure on the outflow of the watershed at the mouth of the

Special Flood Hazard Evaluation Report, Maumee River, Defiance and Paulding Counties, Ohio

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-01-01

into the Flood Flow Frequency Analysis (FFFA) computer program (Reference 3) to determine the discharge-frequency relationship for the Maumee River...although the flood may occur in any year. It is based on statistical analysis of streamflow records available for the watershed and analysis of rainfall...C) K) K4 10 ERFODBUDR .S ryEgne itit ufI N - FODA ONAYSEIA LO AADEAUTO 6 ? -F -C )I= ~ - %E )tvXJ. AE LO LVTO MAMERVE CROS SECIONLOCAION DEFINCEAND

Phosphorus losses from an irrigated watershed in the northwestern United States: case study of the upper snake rock watershed.

PubMed

Bjorneberg, David L; Leytem, April B; Ippolito, James A; Koehn, Anita C

2015-03-01

Watersheds using surface water for irrigation often return a portion of the water to a water body. This irrigation return flow often includes sediment and nutrients that reduce the quality of the receiving water body. Research in the 82,000-ha Upper Snake Rock (USR) watershed from 2005 to 2008 showed that, on average, water diverted from the Snake River annually supplied 547 kg ha of total suspended solids (TSS), 1.1 kg ha of total P (TP), and 0.50 kg ha of dissolved P (DP) to the irrigation tract. Irrigation return flow from the USR watershed contributed 414 kg ha of TSS, 0.71 kg ha of TP, and 0.32 kg ha of DP back to the Snake River. Significantly more TP flowed into the watershed than returned to the Snake River, whereas there was no significant difference between inflow and return flow loads for TSS and DP. Average TSS and TP concentrations in return flow were 71 and 0.12 mg L, respectively, which exceeded the TMDL limits of 52 mg L TSS and 0.075 mg L TP set for this section of the Snake River. Monitoring inflow and outflow for five water quality ponds constructed to reduce sediment and P losses from the watershed showed that TSS concentrations were reduced 36 to 75%, but DP concentrations were reduced only 7 to 16%. This research showed that continued implementation of conservation practices should result in irrigation return flow from the USR watershed meeting the total maximum daily load limits for the Snake River. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Modeling Fate and Transport of Fecal Coliform Bacteria Using SWAT 2005 (Case Study: Jajrood River Watershed, Iran)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maghrebi, M.; Tajrishy, M.

2010-12-01

Jajrood River watershed is one of the main drinking water resources of the capital city of Tehran, Iran. In addition it has been available as many recreational usages especially in the warm months. As a result of being located near one of the crowded cities of the world, a variety of microbial pollutions is commonly perceived in the Jajrood River. Among them, there are strong concerns about fecal coliform bacteria concentration. This article aimed to model fate and transport of fecal coliform bacteria in Jajrood River watershed using Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model version 2005. Potential pollutant sources in the study area were detected and quantified for modeling purposes. In spite of being lack of knowledge about bacteria die-off rate in small river bodies, as well as in other watershed-based forms, fecal coliform bacteria die-off rates were estimated using both laboratory and field data investigations with some simplifications. The SWAT model was calibrated over an extended time period (1997-2002) for this watershed. The river flow calibrated using SUFI-2 software and resulted in a very good outputs (R2=0.82, E=0.81). Furthermore SWAT model was validated over January 2003 to September 2005 in the study area and has resulted in good outputs (R2=0.61, E=0.57). This research illustrates SWAT 2005 capability to model fecal coliform bacteria in a populated watershed, and deals with most of watershed microbial pollution sources that are usually observed in developing countries. Fecal coliform concentration simulation results were mostly in the same order in comparison with real data. However, Differences were judged to be related to lack of input data. In this article different aspects of SWAT capabilities for modeling of fecal coliform bacteria concentration will be reviewed and it will present new insights in bacteria modeling procedures especially for mountainous, high populated and small sized watersheds.

Impact of Yangtze River Water Transfer on the Water Quality of the Lixia River Watershed, China

PubMed Central

Ma, Xiaoxue; Wang, Lachun; Wu, Hao; Li, Na; Ma, Lei; Zeng, Chunfen; Zhou, Yi; Yang, Jun

2015-01-01

To improve water quality and reduce the negative impacts of sudden inputs of water pollution in the Lixia River watershed, China, a series of experimental water transfers from the Yangtze River to the Lixia River were conducted from 2 December 2006 to 7 January 2007. Water samples were collected every six days at 55 monitoring sites during this period. Eight water parameters (water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), chemical oxygen demand (COD), potassium permanganate index (CODMn), ammonia nitrogen (NH4 +-N), electrical conductivity (EC), and water transparency (WT)) were analyzed to determine changes in nutrient concentrations during water transfers. The comprehensive pollution index (Pi) and single-factor (Si) evaluation methods were applied to evaluate spatio-temporal patterns of water quality during water transfers. Water quality parameters displayed different spatial and temporal distribution patterns within the watershed. Water quality was improved significantly by the water transfers, especially for sites closer to water intake points. The degree of improvement is positively related to rates of transfer inflow and drainage outflow. The effects differed for different water quality parameters at each site and at different water transfer times. There were notable decreases in NH4 +-N, DO, COD, and CODMn across the entire watershed. However, positive effects on EC and pH were not observed. It is concluded that freshwater transfers from the Yangtze River can be used as an emergency measure to flush pollutants from the Lixia River watershed. Improved understanding of the effects of water transfers on water quality can help the development and implementation of effective strategies to improve water quality within this watershed. PMID:25835525

Predicting effects of environmental change on river inflows to ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Estuarine river watersheds provide valued ecosystem services to their surrounding communities including drinking water, fish habitat, and regulation of estuarine water quality. However, the provisioning of these services can be affected by changes in the quantity and quality of river water, such as those caused by altered landscapes or shifting temperatures or precipitation. We used the ecohydrology model, VELMA, in the Trask River watershed to simulate the effects of environmental change scenarios on estuarine river inputs to Tillamook Bay (OR) estuary. The Trask River watershed is 453 km2 and contains extensive agriculture, silviculture, urban, and wetland areas. VELMA was parameterized using existing spatial datasets of elevation, soil type, land use, air temperature, precipitation, river flow, and water quality. Simulated land use change scenarios included alterations in the distribution of the nitrogen-fixing tree species Alnus rubra, and comparisons of varying timber harvest plans. Scenarios involving spatial and temporal shifts in air temperature and precipitation trends were also simulated. Our research demonstrates the utility of ecohydrology models such as VELMA to aid in watershed management decision-making. Model outputs of river water flow, temperature, and nutrient concentrations can be used to predict effects on drinking water quality, salmonid populations, and estuarine water quality. This modeling effort is part of a larger framework of

River-Based Experiential Learning: the Bear River Fellows Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosenberg, D. E.; Shirley, B.; Roark, M. F.

2012-12-01

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Outdoor Recreation, and Parks and Recreation programs at Utah State University (USU) have partnered to offer a new, unique river-based experiential learning opportunity for undergraduates called the Bear River Fellows Program. The program allows incoming freshmen Fellows to experience a river first hand during a 5-day/4-night river trip on the nearby Bear River two weeks before the start of their first Fall semester. As part of the program, Fellows will navigate the Bear River in canoes, camp along the banks, interact with local water and environmental managers, collect channel cross section, stream flow, vegetation cover, and topological complexity data, meet other incoming freshmen, interact with faculty and graduate students, develop boating and leadership skills, problem solve, and participate as full members of the trip team. Subsequently, Fellows will get paid as undergraduate researchers during their Fall and Spring Freshman semesters to analyze, synthesize, and present the field data they collect. The program is a collaborative effort between two USU academic units and the (non-academic) division of Student Services and supports a larger National Science Foundation funded environmental modelling and management project for the lower Bear River, Utah watershed. We have advertised the program via Facebook and emails to incoming USU freshmen, received 35 applications (60% women), and accepted 5 Fellows into the program (3 female and 2 male). The river trip departs August 14, 2012. The poster will overview the Bear River Fellows Program and present qualitative and preliminary outcomes emerging from the trip and Fellows' work through the Fall semester with the field data they collect. We will also undertake more rigorous and longer longitudinal quantitative evaluation of Program outcomes (for example, in problem-solving and leadership) both in Spring 2013 and in subsequent 2013 and 2014 offerings of the program.

Five hydrologic and landscape databases for selected National Wildlife Refuges in the Southeastern United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Buell, Gary R.; Gurley, Laura N.; Calhoun, Daniel L.; Hunt, Alexandria M.

2017-06-12

This report serves as metadata and a user guide for five out of six hydrologic and landscape databases developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to describe data-collection, data-reduction, and data-analysis methods used to construct the databases and provides statistical and graphical descriptions of the databases. Six hydrologic and landscape databases were developed: (1) the Cache River and White River National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) and contributing watersheds in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, (2) the Cahaba River NWR and contributing watersheds in Alabama, (3) the Caloosahatchee and J.N. “Ding” Darling NWRs and contributing watersheds in Florida, (4) the Clarks River NWR and contributing watersheds in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi, (5) the Lower Suwannee NWR and contributing watersheds in Georgia and Florida, and (6) the Okefenokee NWR and contributing watersheds in Georgia and Florida. Each database is composed of a set of ASCII files, Microsoft Access files, and Microsoft Excel files. The databases were developed as an assessment and evaluation tool for use in examining NWR-specific hydrologic patterns and trends as related to water availability and water quality for NWR ecosystems, habitats, and target species. The databases include hydrologic time-series data, summary statistics on landscape and hydrologic time-series data, and hydroecological metrics that can be used to assess NWR hydrologic conditions and the availability of aquatic and riparian habitat. Landscape data that describe the NWR physiographic setting and the locations of hydrologic data-collection stations were compiled and mapped. Categories of landscape data include land cover, soil hydrologic characteristics, physiographic features, geographic and hydrographic boundaries, hydrographic features, and regional runoff estimates. The geographic extent of each database covers an area within which human activities, climatic variation, and hydrologic processes can potentially affect the hydrologic regime of the NWRs and adjacent areas. The hydrologic and landscape database for the Cache and White River NWRs and contributing watersheds in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma has been described and documented in detail (Buell and others, 2012). This report serves as a companion to the Buell and others (2012) report to describe and document the five subsequent hydrologic and landscape databases that were developed: Chapter A—the Cahaba River NWR and contributing watersheds in Alabama, Chapter B—the Caloosahatchee and J.N. “Ding” Darling NWRs and contributing watersheds in Florida, Chapter C—the Clarks River NWR and contributing watersheds in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi, Chapter D—the Lower Suwannee NWR and contributing watersheds in Georgia and Florida, and Chapter E—the Okefenokee NWR and contributing watersheds in Georgia and Florida.

Assessing the relation of USDA conservation expenditures to suspended sediment reductions in an Iowa watershed.

PubMed

Villarini, Gabriele; Schilling, Keith E; Jones, Christopher S

2016-09-15

From 1936 to 2010, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) agencies spent $293.7 billion (value adjusted for inflation at the 2009 level) on conservation programs. Of these expenditures, $75.2 billion (26%) were allocated for technical assistance (TA; it is related to costs associated with USDA field staff providing their expert advice to farmers) and $218.5 billion (74%) for financial assistance (FA; monetary incentives for farmers to adopt conservation programs). A major environmental goal of these programs was to reduce soil erosion and sediment leaving the land. In this study, we correlate expenditures on FA and TA programs to a unique long (1937-2009) record of total suspended solids (TSS) and sediment load (SL) for the Raccoon River at Van Meter, Iowa. Study results suggest that three predictors (rainfall, TA and FA) are important in explaining the temporal changes in annual TSS and SL and provide evidence that USDA expenditures helped reduce TSS and SL in the Raccoon River. TA was more effective than FA in reducing TSS levels in the watershed. Our empirical model represents an initial, broad-scale attempt to correlate conservation expenditures to a specific water quality outcome, although more work is needed to disentangle the impacts associated with other unexplored factors. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modeling and assessing nitrogen delivery in the Calapooia River Watershed, and the impact of small streams delivery on downstream watershed

EPA Science Inventory

The Calapooia River is a major tributary to the Willamette River in western Oregon, which is characterized by a mountainous forested upland and a flat agricultural lowland. Here we report on a modeling study of watershed’s N budget, and quantify the influence of different...

Declining sediment loads from Redwood Creek and the Klamath River, north coastal California

Treesearch

Randy D. Klein; Jeffrey K. Anderson

2012-01-01

River basin sediment loads are affected by several factors, with flood magnitude and watershed erosional stability playing dominant and dynamic roles. Long-term average sediment loads for northern California river basins have been computed by several researchers by several methods. However, characterizing the dynamic nature of climate and watershed stability requires...

Water resources of the Pomme de Terre River Watershed, West-central Minnesota

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cotter, R.D.; Bidwell, L.E.

1966-01-01

The watershed is underlain by water-bearing glacial drift, cretaceous rocks, and Precambrian crystalline rocks.  It is an elongate basin 92 miles long and has a drainage area of 977 square miles.  The Pomme de Terre River flows within an outwash valley discharging into the Minnesota River at Marsh Lake.

Building Virtual Watersheds: A Global Opportunity to Strengthen Resource Management and Conservation.

PubMed

Benda, Lee; Miller, Daniel; Barquin, Jose; McCleary, Richard; Cai, TiJiu; Ji, Y

2016-03-01

Modern land-use planning and conservation strategies at landscape to country scales worldwide require complete and accurate digital representations of river networks, encompassing all channels including the smallest headwaters. The digital river networks, integrated with widely available digital elevation models, also need to have analytical capabilities to support resource management and conservation, including attributing river segments with key stream and watershed data, characterizing topography to identify landforms, discretizing land uses at scales necessary to identify human-environment interactions, and connecting channels downstream and upstream, and to terrestrial environments. We investigate the completeness and analytical capabilities of national to regional scale digital river networks that are available in five countries: Canada, China, Russia, Spain, and United States using actual resource management and conservation projects involving 12 university, agency, and NGO organizations. In addition, we review one pan-European and one global digital river network. Based on our analysis, we conclude that the majority of the regional, national, and global scale digital river networks in our sample lack in network completeness, analytical capabilities or both. To address this limitation, we outline a general framework to build as complete as possible digital river networks and to integrate them with available digital elevation models to create robust analytical capabilities (e.g., virtual watersheds). We believe this presents a global opportunity for in-country agencies, or international players, to support creation of virtual watersheds to increase environmental problem solving, broaden access to the watershed sciences, and strengthen resource management and conservation in countries worldwide.

Building Virtual Watersheds: A Global Opportunity to Strengthen Resource Management and Conservation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benda, Lee; Miller, Daniel; Barquin, Jose; McCleary, Richard; Cai, TiJiu; Ji, Y.

2016-03-01

Modern land-use planning and conservation strategies at landscape to country scales worldwide require complete and accurate digital representations of river networks, encompassing all channels including the smallest headwaters. The digital river networks, integrated with widely available digital elevation models, also need to have analytical capabilities to support resource management and conservation, including attributing river segments with key stream and watershed data, characterizing topography to identify landforms, discretizing land uses at scales necessary to identify human-environment interactions, and connecting channels downstream and upstream, and to terrestrial environments. We investigate the completeness and analytical capabilities of national to regional scale digital river networks that are available in five countries: Canada, China, Russia, Spain, and United States using actual resource management and conservation projects involving 12 university, agency, and NGO organizations. In addition, we review one pan-European and one global digital river network. Based on our analysis, we conclude that the majority of the regional, national, and global scale digital river networks in our sample lack in network completeness, analytical capabilities or both. To address this limitation, we outline a general framework to build as complete as possible digital river networks and to integrate them with available digital elevation models to create robust analytical capabilities (e.g., virtual watersheds). We believe this presents a global opportunity for in-country agencies, or international players, to support creation of virtual watersheds to increase environmental problem solving, broaden access to the watershed sciences, and strengthen resource management and conservation in countries worldwide.

Watershed and longitudinal monitoring events

Treesearch

Harold Harbert; Steven Blackburn

2016-01-01

Georgia Adopt-A-Stream partners annually with many organizations, universities and watershed groups to conduct sampling events with volunteers at a watershed level. These monitoring events range from one-day snapshots to week-long paddle trips. One-day sampling events, also called “Blitzs,” River Adventures and River Rendezvous, generally target 20-50 sites within a...

Environmental relations between inland rice culture and the Cooper and Wando River watersheds, South Carolina

Treesearch

Hayden R. Smith

2016-01-01

This study explains the geographical importance of the Cooper and Wando River watersheds, located east of Charleston (SC), in relation to inland rice cultivation during the colonial and antebellum periods. By focusing on the geological formation of this watershed, this paper will explain the connection between this plantation enterprise and the natural environment. The...

Carbon and nutrient contents in soils from the Kings River Experimental Watersheds, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California

Treesearch

D.W. Johnson; C.T. Hunsaker; D.W. Glass; B.M. Rau; B.A. Roath

2011-01-01

Soil C and nutrient contents were estimated for eight watersheds in two sites (one high elevation, Bull, and one low elevation, Providence) in the Kings River Experimental Watersheds in the western Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Eighty-seven quantitative pits were dug to measure soil bulk density and total rock content, while three replicate surface samples...

Sources of nitrate yields in the Mississippi River Basin.

PubMed

David, Mark B; Drinkwater, Laurie E; McIsaac, Gregory F

2010-01-01

Riverine nitrate N in the Mississippi River leads to hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Several recent modeling studies estimated major N inputs and suggested source areas that could be targeted for conservation programs. We conducted a similar analysis with more recent and extensive data that demonstrates the importance of hydrology in controlling the percentage of net N inputs (NNI) exported by rivers. The average fraction of annual riverine nitrate N export/NNI ranged from 0.05 for the lower Mississippi subbasin to 0.3 for the upper Mississippi River basin and as high as 1.4 (4.2 in a wet year) for the Embarras River watershed, a mostly tile-drained basin. Intensive corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] watersheds on Mollisols had low NNI values and when combined with riverine N losses suggest a net depletion of soil organic N. We used county-level data to develop a nonlinear model ofN inputs and landscape factors that were related to winter-spring riverine nitrate yields for 153 watersheds within the basin. We found that river runoff times fertilizer N input was the major predictive term, explaining 76% of the variation in the model. Fertilizer inputs were highly correlated with fraction of land area in row crops. Tile drainage explained 17% of the spatial variation in winter-spring nitrate yield, whereas human consumption of N (i.e., sewage effluent) accounted for 7%. Net N inputs were not a good predictor of riverine nitrate N yields, nor were other N balances. We used this model to predict the expected nitrate N yield from each county in the Mississippi River basin; the greatest nitrate N yields corresponded to the highly productive, tile-drained cornbelt from southwest Minnesota across Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. This analysis can be used to guide decisions about where efforts to reduce nitrate N losses can be most effectively targeted to improve local water quality and reduce export to the Gulf of Mexico.

Assessing SWAT’s Performance in the Kaskaskia River Watershed as Influenced by the Number of Calibration Stations Used

EPA Science Inventory

The Future Midwestern Landscapes (FML) project is part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new Ecosystem Services Research Program, undertaken to examine the variety of ways in which landscapes affect human well-being. The goal of the FML project is to quantify curren...

Multi-Variable and Multi-Site Calibration and Validation of SWAT for Water Quality in the Kaskaskia River Watershed

EPA Science Inventory

The Future Midwest Landscape (FML) project is part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new Ecosystem Services Research Program, undertaken to examine the variety of ways in which landscapes that include crop lands, conservation areas, wetlands, lakes and streams affect ...

Water quality and shellfish sanitation. [Patuxent and Choptank River watersheds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eisenberg, M.

1978-01-01

The use of remote sensing techniques for collecting bacteriological, physical, and chemical water quality data, locating point and nonpoint sources of pollution, and developing hydrological data was found to be valuable to the Maryland program if it could be produced effectively and rapidly with a minimum amount of ground corroboration.

Are Streams in the Southwestern Ozarks Underfit? Applying Dury's model to the Illinois River Watershed in Arkansas.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shepherd, S. L.; Davis, R. K.; Dixon, J. C.; Cothren, J. D.

2008-12-01

George H. Dury (1964) proposed eight theoretical combinations of stream pattern and valley pattern that represent underfit streams; claiming underfit is a climate induced condition caused by a significant decrease in channel forming discharge. One combination was defined by the Osage River in the northeastern Ozark Plateaus of Missouri. Osage underfit streams fail to meander within a meandering valley. The mean channel meander wavelength and channel width of the stream is much less than the valley resulting in valley-stream ratios of up to 40:1 in contrast to his expected values of approximately 11:1. Dury's model is generally applied to the entire Ozarks including the Illinois River watershed without field data support. The Illinois River is located on the western flank of the Ozark Plateaus physiographic region on the Springfield Plateau which has different lithology than the Salem Plateau where the Osage River is located. To test the assumption that streams in the Illinois River watershed are underfit a combination of field, map, and GIS data were collected. Geomorphic surveys of ten reaches along eight first order streams were completed. The average stream widths of the ten reaches were compared to valley widths measured from USGS 1:24000 Quadrangle maps. The valley to stream ratios ranged from 1 to 15. Forested watersheds exhibited the highest width ratios, ranging from 12 to 15, while ratios in urban and agricultural watersheds were less than 2. This finding is consistent with observed changes in stream morphology caused by anthropogenic influences. To extrapolate to the larger watershed thirteen valley and stream widths along the Illinois River and two higher order tributaries, Osage Creek and Clear Creek, were measured from USGS maps. These ratios ranged from 2.8 to 5.7. Additionally, stream and valley wavelengths are being analyzed in a GIS using the USGS medium resolution hydrology data set and a LiDAR derived 8 m DEM for the watershed. These data suggest it is invalid to apply the Osage underfit model to this watershed. These findings are being validated with additional stream and valley width measurements in the field along the first order streams, Osage Creek, Clear Creek, and the Illinois River.

Agro-hydrologic landscapes in the Upper Mississippi and Ohio River basins.

PubMed

Schilling, Keith E; Wolter, Calvin F; McLellan, Eileen

2015-03-01

A critical part of increasing conservation effectiveness is targeting the "right practice" to the "right place" where it can intercept pollutant flowpaths. Conceptually, these flowpaths can be inferred from soil and slope characteristics, and in this study, we developed an agro-hydrologic classification to identify N and P loss pathways and priority conservation practices in small watersheds in the U.S. Midwest. We developed a GIS framework to classify 11,010 small watersheds in the Upper Mississippi and Ohio River basins based on soil permeability and slope characteristics of agricultural cropland areas in each watershed. The amount of cropland in any given watershed varied from <10 to >60 %. Cropland areas were classified into five main categories, with slope classes of <2, 2-5, and >5 %, and soil drainage classes of poorly and well drained. Watersheds in the Upper Mississippi River basin (UMRB) were dominated by cropland areas in low slopes and poorly drained soils, whereas less-intensively cropped watersheds in Wisconsin and Minnesota (in the UMRB) and throughout the Ohio River basin were overwhelmingly well drained. Hydrologic differences in cropped systems indicate that a one-size-fits-all approach to conservation selection will not work. Consulting the classification scheme proposed herein may be an appropriate first-step in identifying those conservation practices that might be most appropriate for small watersheds in the basin.

Impacts of Land Use Change on the Natural Flow Regime: A Case Study in the Meramec River Watershed in Eastern Missouri, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, C. L.; Knouft, J.; Chu, M.

2017-12-01

The natural flow regime within a watershed can be considered as the expected temporal patterns of streamflow variation in the absence of human impacts. While ecosystems have evolved to function under these conditions, the natural flow regime of most rivers has been significantly altered by human activities. Land use change, including the development of agriculture and urbanization, is a primary cause of the loss of natural flow regimes. These changes have altered discharge volume, timing, and variability, and consequently affected the structure and functioning of river ecosystems. The Meramec River watershed is located in east central Missouri and changes in land use have been the primary factor impacting flow regimes across the watershed. In this study, a watershed model, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), was developed to simulate a long-term time series of streamflow (1978-2014) within the watershed. Model performance was evaluated using statistical metrics and graphical technique including R-squared, Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency, cumulative error, and 1:1-ratio comparison between observed and simulated variables. The calibrated and validated SWAT model was then used to quantify the responses of the watershed when it was a forested natural landscape. An Indicator of Hydrologic Alteration (IHA) approach was applied to characterize the flow regime under the current landcover conditions as well as the simulated natural flow regime under the no land use change scenario. Differences in intra- and inter-annual ecologically relevant flow metrics were then compared using SWAT model outputs in conjunction with the IHA approach based on model outputs from current and no land use change conditions. This study provides a watershed-scale understanding of effects of land use change on a river's flow variability and provides a framework for the development of restoration plans for heavily altered watersheds.

Kootenai River Focus Watershed Coordination, 2003-2004 Annual Report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kootenai River Network,

2006-02-01

The Kootenai River Network (KRN) was contracted by the Bonneville Power Administration; PPA Project Number 96087200 for the period June 1, 2003 to May 31, 2004 to provide Kootenai River basin watershed coordination services. The prime focus of the KRN is coordinating activities and disseminating information related to watershed improvement and education and outreach with other interest groups in the Kootenai River basin. To this end, the KRN primarily focuses on maintaining communication networks among private and public watershed improvement groups in the Columbia River Basin. The KRN willing shares its resources with these groups. The 2003-2004 BPA contract extendedmore » the original Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks contract, which was transferred to the Kootenai River Network through a Memorandum of Understanding in November 2001. The KRN objectives of this contract were carried out through Watershed Coordinator position. The highly successful Kootenai River Network Annual General Meeting in Bonners Ferry in May 2003 demonstrated the tremendous gains that the Kootenai River Network has made in trans-boundary networking of watershed issues and accomplishments. The Annual General Meeting included seventy five participants representing more than forty US and Canadian citizen groups, tribes, first nations, agencies, ministries, businesses and private land owners from Montana, British Columbia, Idaho and Alberta. The International Restoration Tour in July 2004 featured the Grave Creek and Therriault Wetlands restoration projects in Montana and the Sand Creek and Wolf Creek restoration projects in British Columbia. The tour was attended by more than thirty people representing US and Canadian Federal and State/Provincial agencies, schools, colleges, conservation groups, private land owners, consultants, tribes, first nations, and politicians. These exciting trans-boundary successes encouraged the KRN to establish half-time Watershed Coordinator positions in both the United States and Canada. In September 2004 Kim Laub was hired as US-Watershed Coordinator and Jim and Laura Duncan were hired as Canadian Watershed Coordinators. To rejuvenate and revitalize the KRN, the Board conducted a strategic thinking and planning meeting in November 2004. All Board, staff and Advisory members participated in a combined effort to clearly define the goals of the KRN and to design ways of achieving those goals. Affirming and integrating board policy was a primary focus and it included writing accurate job descriptions for all KRN positions. KRN committee goals, the BPA contract and the Statement of Work plan were reviewed to establish future directions for a complex organization.« less

Fish assemblages and environmental correlates in least-disturbed streams of the upper Snake River basin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Maret, T.R.; Robinson, C.T.; Minshall, G.W.

1997-01-01

Fish assemblages and environmental variables were evaluated from 37 least-disturbed, 1st- through 6th-order streams and springs in the upper Snake River basin, western USA. Data were collected as part of the efforts by the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Assessment Program and the Idaho State University Stream Ecology Center to characterize aquatic biota and associated habitats in least-disturbed coldwater streams. Geographically, the basin comprises four ecoregions. Environmental variables constituting various spatial scales, from watershed characteristics to in stream habitat measures, were used to examine distribution patterns in fish assemblages. Nineteen fish species in the families Salmonidae, Cottidae, Cyprinidae, and Catostemidae were collected. Multivariate analyses showed high overlap in stream fish assemblages among the ecoregions. Major environmental factors determining species distributions in the basin were stream gradient, watershed size, conductivity, and percentage of the watershed covered by forest. Lowland streams (below 1,600 m in elevation), located mostly in the Snake River Basin/High Desert ecoregion, displayed different fish assemblages than upland streams (above 2,000 m elevation) in the Northern Rockies, Middle Rockies, and Northern Basin and Range ecoregions. For example, cotrids were not found in streams above 2,000 m in elevation. In addition, distinct fish assemblages were found in tributaries upstream and downstream from the large waterfall, Shoshone Falls, on the Snake River. Fish metrics explaining most of the variation among sites included the total number of species, number of native species, number of salmonid species, percent introduced species, percent cottids, and percent salmonids. Springs also exhibited different habitat conditions and fish assemblages than streams. The data suggest that the evolutionary consequences of geographic features and fish species introductions transcend the importance of ecoregion boundaries on fish distributions in the upper Snake River basin.

Modelling of the estimated contributions of different sub-watersheds and sources to phosphorous export and loading from the Dongting Lake watershed, China.

PubMed

Hou, Ying; Chen, Weiping; Liao, Yuehua; Luo, Yueping

2017-11-03

Considerable growth in the economy and population of the Dongting Lake watershed in Southern China has increased phosphorus loading to the lake and resulted in a growing risk of lake eutrophication. This study aimed to reveal the spatial pattern and sources of phosphorus export and loading from the watershed. We applied an export coefficient model and the Dillon-Rigler model to quantify contributions of different sub-watersheds and sources to the total phosphorus (TP) export and loading in 2010. Together, the upper and lower reaches of the Xiang River watershed and the Dongting Lake Area contributed 60.9% of the TP exported from the entire watershed. Livestock husbandry appeared to be the largest anthropogenic source of TP, contributing more than 50% of the TP exported from each secondary sub-watersheds. The actual TP loading to the lake in 2010 was 62.9% more than the permissible annual TP loading for compliance with the Class III water quality standard for lakes. Three primary sub-watersheds-the Dongting Lake Area, the Xiang River, and the Yuan River watersheds-contributed 91.2% of the total TP loading. As the largest contributor among all sources, livestock husbandry contributed nearly 50% of the TP loading from the Dongting Lake Area and more than 60% from each of the other primary sub-watersheds. This study provides a methodology to identify the key sources and locations of TP export and loading in large lake watersheds. The study can provide a reference for the decision-making for controlling P pollution in the Dongting Lake watershed.

Occurrence and distribution of fecal indicator bacteria, and physical and chemical indicators of water quality in streams receiving discharge from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and vicinity, North-Central Texas, 2008

USGS Publications Warehouse

Harwell, Glenn R.; Mobley, Craig A.

2009-01-01

This report, done by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with Dallas/Fort Worth International (DFW) Airport in 2008, describes the occurrence and distribution of fecal indicator bacteria (fecal coliform and Escherichia [E.] coli), and the physical and chemical indicators of water quality (relative to Texas Surface Water Quality Standards), in streams receiving discharge from DFW Airport and vicinity. At sampling sites in the lower West Fork Trinity River watershed during low-flow conditions, geometric mean E. coli counts for five of the eight West Fork Trinity River watershed sampling sites exceeded the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality E. coli criterion, thus not fully supporting contact recreation. Two of the five sites with geometric means that exceeded the contact recreation criterion are airport discharge sites, which here means that the major fraction of discharge at those sites is from DFW Airport. At sampling sites in the Elm Fork Trinity River watershed during low-flow conditions, geometric mean E. coli counts exceeded the geometric mean contact recreation criterion for seven (four airport, three non-airport) of 13 sampling sites. Under low-flow conditions in the lower West Fork Trinity River watershed, E. coli counts for airport discharge sites were significantly different from (lower than) E. coli counts for non-airport sites. Under low-flow conditions in the Elm Fork Trinity River watershed, there was no significant difference between E. coli counts for airport sites and non-airport sites. During stormflow conditions, fecal indicator bacteria counts at the most downstream (integrator) sites in each watershed were considerably higher than counts at those two sites during low-flow conditions. When stormflow sample counts are included with low-flow sample counts to compute a geometric mean for each site, classification changes from fully supporting to not fully supporting contact recreation on the basis of the geometric mean contact recreation criterion. All water temperature measurements at sampling sites in the lower West Fork Trinity River watershed were less than the maximum criterion for water temperature for the lower West Fork Trinity segment. Of the measurements at sampling sites in the Elm Fork Trinity River watershed, 95 percent were less than the maximum criterion for water temperature for the Elm Fork Trinity River segment. All dissolved oxygen concentrations were greater than the minimum criterion for stream segments classified as exceptional aquatic life use. Nearly all pH measurements were within the pH criterion range for the classified segments in both watersheds, except for those at one airport site. For sampling sites in the lower West Fork Trinity River watershed, all annual average dissolved solids concentrations were less than the maximum criterion for the lower West Fork Trinity segment. For sampling sites in the Elm Fork Trinity River, nine of the 13 sites (six airport, three non-airport) had annual averages that exceeded the maximum criterion for that segment. For ammonia, 23 samples from 12 different sites had concentrations that exceeded the screening level for ammonia. Of these 12 sites, only one non-airport site had more than the required number of exceedances to indicate a screening level concern. Stormflow total suspended solids concentrations were significantly higher than low-flow concentrations at the two integrator sites. For sampling sites in the lower West Fork Trinity River watershed, all annual average chloride concentrations were less than the maximum annual average chloride concentration criterion for that segment. For the 13 sampling sites in the Elm Fork Trinity River watershed, one non-airport site had an annual average concentration that exceeded the maximum annual average chloride concentration criterion for that segment.

Assessment of the Efficiency of Sediment Deposition Reduction in the Zengwen River Watershed in Taiwan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, M.; Tan, H. N.; Lo, W. C.; Tsai, C. T.

2015-12-01

The river upstream of watersheds in Taiwan is very steep, where soil and rock are often unstable so that the river watershed typically has the attribute of high sand yield and turbid runoff due to the excessive erosion in the heavy rainfall seasons. If flood water overflows the river bank, it would lead to a disaster in low-altitude plains. When flood retards or recesses, fine sediment would deposit. Over recent decades, many landslides arise in the Zengwen river watershed due to climate changes, earthquakes, and typhoons. The rocks and sands triggered by these landslides would move to the river channel through surface runoff, which may induce sediment disasters and also render an impact on the stability and sediment transport of the river channel. The risk of the sediment disaster could be reduced by implementing dredging works. However, because of the nature of the channel, the dredged river sections may have sediment depositions back; thus, causing an impact on flood safety. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of dredged works from the perspectives of hydraulic, sediment transport, and flood protection to achieve the objective of both disaster prevention and river bed stability. We applied the physiographic soil erosion-deposition (PSED) model to simulate the sediment yield, the runoff, and sediment transport rate of the Zengwen river watershed corresponding to one-day rainstorms of the return periods of 25, 50, and 100 year. The potential of sediment deposition and erosion in the river sections of the Zengwen river could be simulated by utilizing the alluvial river-movable bed two dimensional (ARMB-2D) model. The results reveal that the tendency for the potential of river sediment deposition and erosion obtained from these two models is agreeable. Furthermore, in order to evaluate the efficiency of sediment deposition reduction, two quantized values, the rate of sediment deposition reduction and the ratio of sediment deposition reduction were utilized. According to the simulation results obtained from the PESD and ARMB-2D models, the river sections with severe sediment depositions and high efficiency of sediment deposition reduction will be referred to as the dredging-to-be areas.

Nutrients in Streams and Rivers Across the Nation -- 1992-2001

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mueller, David K.; Spahr, Norman E.

2006-01-01

Nutrient compounds of nitrogen and phosphorus were investigated in streams and rivers sampled as part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. Nutrient data were collected in 20 NAWQA study units during 1992-95, 16 study units during 1996-98, and 15 study units during 1999-2001. To facilitate comparisons among sampling sites with variable sampling frequency, daily loads were determined by using regression models that relate constituent transport to streamflow and time. Model results were used to compute mean annual loads, yields, and concentrations of ammonia, nitrate, total nitrogen, orthophosphate, and total phosphorus, which were compared among stream and river sampling sites. Variations in the occurrence and distribution of nutrients in streams and rivers on a broad national scale reflect differences in the sources of nutrient inputs to the upstream watersheds and in watershed characteristics that affect movement of those nutrients. Sites were classified by watershed size and by land use in the upstream watershed: agriculture, urban, and undeveloped (forest or rangeland). Selection of NAWQA urban sites was intended to avoid effects of major wastewater-treatment plants and other point sources, but in some locations this was not feasible. Nutrient concentrations and yields generally increased with anthropogenic development in the watershed. Median concentrations and yields for all constituents at sites downstream from undeveloped areas were less than at sites downstream from agricultural or urban areas. Concentrations of ammonia, orthophosphate, and total phosphorus at agricultural and urban sites were not significantly different; however, concentrations of nitrate and total nitrogen were higher at agricultural than at urban sites. Total nitrogen concentrations at agricultural sites were higher in areas of high nitrogen input or enhanced transport, such as irrigation or artificial drainage that can rapidly move water from cropland to streams (Midwest, Northern Plains, and western areas of the United States). Concentrations were lower in the Southeast, where more denitrification occurs during transport of nitrogen compounds in shallow ground water. At urban sites, high concentrations of ammonia and orthophosphate were more prevalent downstream from wastewater-treatment plants. At sites with large watersheds and high mean-annual streamflow ('large-watershed' sites), concentrations of most nutrients were significantly less than at sites downstream from agricultural or urban areas. Total nitrogen concentrations at large-watershed sites were higher in Midwest agricultural areas and lower in the Western United States, where agricultural and urban development is less extensive. Total phosphorus concentrations at large-watershed sites were higher in areas of greater potential erosion and low overall runoff such as the arid areas in the West. Although not as distinct as seasonal patterns of streamflow, geographic patterns of seasonally high and low concentrations of total nitrogen and total phosphorus were identified in the data. Seasonal patterns in concentrations of total nitrogen generally mirror seasonal patterns in streamflow in the humid Eastern United States but are inverse to seasonal patterns in streamflow in the semiarid interior West. Total phosphorus concentrations typically have the opposite regional relation with streamflow; high concentrations coincide with high streamflows in the interior West. In the NAWQA Program, sites downstream from relatively undeveloped areas were selected to provide a baseline for comparison to sites with potential effects of urban development and agriculture. Concentrations of nitrate, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus at NAWQA undeveloped sites were found to be greater than values reported by other studies for conditions of essentially no development (background conditions). Concentrations at NAWQA undeveloped sites represent conditions

National Program of Inspection of Non-Federal Dams, Tennessee. Jennings Creek Watershed Dam Number 15 (Inventory Number TN 08705), Cumberland River Basin, near North Springs, Jackson County, Tennessee. Phase I Investigation Report,

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-06-01

acres (0.766 mi2 ). Major soil types in the watershed include Bodine, Mountview, Delrose, Dickson, and Mimosa . The drainage area is mountainous and...Bodine, Mountview, Delrose, Dickson, Mimosa c. Average slope - 40% d. Land use - Woods, pasture, few roads, and isolated structures e. Runoff from...490 acres (0.766 mi2) B. Average Channel Slope 2% C. Average Land Slope 40% D. Hydrologic Soil Group 90% C (Dickson, Mimosa ) E. Time of Concentration

The Charles River, Eastern Massachusetts: Scientific Information in Support of Environmental Restoration

USGS Publications Warehouse

Weiskel, Peter K.

2007-01-01

Human activity has profoundly altered the Charles River and its watershed over the past 375 years. Restoration of environmental quality in the watershed has become a high priority for private- and public-sector organizations across the region. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs worked together to coordinate the efforts of the various organizations. One result of this initiative has been a series of scientific studies that provide critical information concerning some of the major hydrologic and ecological concerns in the watershed. These studies have focused upon: * Streamflows - Limited aquifer storage, growing water demands, and the spread of impervious surfaces are some of the factors exacerbating low summer streamflows in headwater areas of the watershed. Coordinated management of withdrawals, wastewater returns, and stormwater runoff could substantially increase low streamflows in the summer. Innovative approaches to flood control, including preservation of upstream wetland storage capacity and construction of a specially designed dam at the river mouth, have greatly reduced flooding in the lower part of the watershed in recent decades. * Water quality - Since the mid-1990s, the bacterial quality of the Charles River has improved markedly, because discharges from combined sewer overflows and the number of illicit sewer connections to municipal storm drains have been reduced. Improved management of stormwater runoff will likely be required, however, for full attainment of State and Federal water-quality standards. Phosphorus inputs from a variety of sources remain an important water-quality problem. * Fish communities and habitat quality - The Charles River watershed supports a varied fish community of about 20 resident and migratory species. Habitat conditions for fish and other aquatic species have improved in many parts of the river system in recent years. However, serious challenges remain, including the control of nutrients, algae, and invasive plants, mitigation of dam impacts, addressing remaining sources of bacteria to the river, and remediation of contaminated bottom habitat and the nontidal salt wedge in the lower river.

Coastal watershed management across an international border in the Tijuana River watershed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernandez, Linda

2005-05-01

The paper develops and applies a game theoretic model of upstream and downstream countries to examine cooperative and noncooperative strategies of a common watershed. The application to the Tijuana River watershed shared by the United States and Mexico provides quantification of the strategies for internalizing water quality externalities to upstream and downstream originating from sedimentation. Results show that different transfer payments, such as the Chander/Tulkens cost sharing rule and the Shapley value, imply the size of the existing transfer from downstream to upstream could increase the amount currently allocated.

pyLIDEM: A Python-Based Tool to Delineate Coastal Watersheds Using LIDAR Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Banion, R.; Alameddine, I.; Gronewold, A.; Reckhow, K.

2008-12-01

Accurately identifying the boundary of a watershed is one of the most fundamental and important steps in any hydrological assessment. Representative applications include defining a study area, predicting overland flow, estimating groundwater infiltration, modeling pollutant accumulation and wash-off rates, and evaluating effectiveness of pollutant mitigation measures. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program, the most comprehensive water quality management program in the United States (US), is just one example of an application in which accurate and efficient watershed delineation tools play a critical role. For example, many impaired water bodies currently being addressed through the TMDL program drain small coastal watersheds with relatively flat terrain, making watershed delineation particularly challenging. Most of these TMDL studies use 30-meter digital elevation models (DEMs) that rarely capture all of the small elevation changes in coastal watersheds, leading to errors not only in watershed boundary delineation, but in subsequent model predictions (such as watershed runoff flow and pollutant deposition rate predictions) for which watershed attributes are key inputs. Manually delineating these low-relief coastal watersheds through the use of expert knowledge of local water flow patterns, often produces relatively accurate (and often more accurate) watershed boundaries as compared to the boundaries generated by the 30-meter DEMs. Yet, manual delineation is a costly and time consuming procedure that is often not opted for. There is a growing need, therefore, particularly to address the ongoing needs of the TMDL program (and similar environmental management programs), for software tools which can utilize high resolution topography data to more accurately delineate coastal watersheds. Here, we address this need by developing pyLIDEM (python LIdar DEM), a python-based tool which processes bare earth high-resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data, generates fine scale DEMs, and delineates watershed boundaries for a given pour point. Because LIDAR data are typically distributed in large sets of predefined tiles, our tool is capable of combining only the minimum number of bare earth LIDAR tiles required to delineate a watershed of interest. Our tool then processes the LIDAR data into Triangulated Irregular Networks, generates DEMs at user- specified cell sizes, and creates the required files needed to delineate watersheds within ArcGIS. To make pyLIDEM more accessible to the modeling community, we have bundled it within an ArcGIS toolbox, which also allows users to run it directly from an ArcGIS platform. We assess pyLIDEM functionality and accuracy by delineating several impaired small coastal watersheds in the Newport River Estuary in Eastern North Carolina using LIDAR data collected for the North Carolina Flood Mapping Program. We then compare the pyLIDAR-based watershed boundaries with those generated manually and with those generated using the 30-meter DEMs, and find that the pyLIDAR-based boundaries are more accurate than the 30-meter DEMs, and provide a significant time savings compared to manual delineation, particularly in cases where multiple watersheds need to be delineated for a single project.

Regional groundwater characteristics and hydraulic conductivity based on geological units in Korean peninsula

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Y.; Suk, H.

2011-12-01

In this study, about 2,000 deep observation wells, stream and/or river distribution, and river's density were analyzed to identify regional groundwater flow trend, based on the regional groundwater survey of four major river watersheds including Geum river, Han river, Youngsan-Seomjin river, and Nakdong river in Korea. Hydrogeologial data were collected to analyze regional groundwater flow characteristics according to geological units. Additionally, hydrological soil type data were collected to estimate direct runoff through SCS-CN method. Temperature and precipitation data were used to quantify infiltration rate. The temperature and precipitation data were also used to quantify evaporation by Thornthwaite method and to evaluate groundwater recharge, respectively. Understanding the regional groundwater characteristics requires the database of groundwater flow parameters, but most hydrogeological data include limited information such as groundwater level and well configuration. In this study, therefore, groundwater flow parameters such as hydraulic conductivities or transmissivities were estimated using observed groundwater level by inverse model, namely PEST (Non-linear Parameter ESTimation). Since groundwater modeling studies have some uncertainties in data collection, conceptualization, and model results, model calibration should be performed. The calibration may be manually performed by changing parameters step by step, or various parameters are simultaneously changed by automatic procedure using PEST program. In this study, both manual and automatic procedures were employed to calibrate and estimate hydraulic parameter distributions. In summary, regional groundwater survey data obtained from four major river watersheds and various data of hydrology, meteorology, geology, soil, and topography in Korea were used to estimate hydraulic conductivities using PEST program. Especially, in order to estimate hydraulic conductivity effectively, it is important to perform in such a way that areas of same or similar hydrogeological characteristics should be grouped into zones. Keywords: regional groundwater, database, hydraulic conductivity, PEST, Korean peninsular Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Radioactive Waste Management of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the Korea government Ministry of Knowledge Economy (2011T100200152)

Chromophoric dissolved organic matter export from U.S. rivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spencer, Robert G. M.; Aiken, George R.; Dornblaser, Mark M.; Butler, Kenna D.; Holmes, R. Max; Fiske, Greg; Mann, Paul J.; Stubbins, Aron

2013-04-01

Chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) fluxes and yields from 15 major U.S. rivers draining an assortment of terrestrial biomes are presented. A robust relationship between CDOM and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) loads is established (e.g., a350 versus DOC; r2 = 0.96, p < 0.001). Calculated CDOM yields are also correlated to watershed percent wetland (e.g. a350; r2 = 0.81, p < 0.001) providing a method for the estimation of CDOM export from ungauged watersheds. A large variation in CDOM yields was found across the rivers. The two rivers in the north-eastern U.S. (Androscoggin and Penobscot), the Edisto draining into the South Atlantic Bight, and some rivers draining into the Gulf of Mexico (Atchafalaya and Mobile) exhibit the highest CDOM yields, linked to extensive wetlands in these watersheds. If the Edisto CDOM yield is representative of other rivers draining into the South Atlantic Bight, this would result in a CDOM load equivalent to that of the Mississippi from a region of approximately 10% of the Mississippi watershed, indicating the importance of certain regions with respect to the role of terrigenous CDOM in ocean color budgets.

Macroinvertebrate and algal community sample collection methods and data collected at selected sites in the Eagle River watershed, Colorado, 2000-07

USGS Publications Warehouse

Zuellig, Robert E.; Bruce, James F.

2010-01-01

State and local agencies are concerned about the effects of increasing urban development and human population growth on water quality and the biological condition of regional streams in the Eagle River watershed. In response to these needs, the U.S. Geological Survey initiated a study in cooperation with the Colorado River Water Conservation District, Eagle County, Eagle River Water and Sanitation District, Upper Eagle Regional Water Authority, Colorado Department of Transportation, City of Aurora, Town of Eagle, Town of Gypsum, Town of Minturn, Town of Vail, Vail Resorts, Colorado Springs Utilities, Denver Water, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. As part of this study, previously collected macroinvertebrate and algal data from the Eagle River watershed were compiled. This report includes macroinvertebrate data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and(or) the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service from 73 sites from 2000 to 2007 and algal data collected from up to 26 sites between 2000 and 2001 in the Eagle River watershed. Additionally, a brief description of the sample collection methods and data processing procedures are presented.

Chromophoric dissolved organic matter export from U.S. rivers

USGS Publications Warehouse

Spencer, Robert G. M.; Aiken, George R.; Dornblaser, Mark M.; Butler, Kenna D.; Holmes, R. Max; Fiske, Greg; Mann, Paul J.; Stubbins, Aron

2013-01-01

Chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) fluxes and yields from 15 major U.S. rivers draining an assortment of terrestrial biomes are presented. A robust relationship between CDOM and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) loads is established (e.g., a350 versus DOC; r2 = 0.96, p < 0.001). Calculated CDOM yields are also correlated to watershed percent wetland (e.g. a350; r2 = 0.81, p < 0.001) providing a method for the estimation of CDOM export from ungauged watersheds. A large variation in CDOM yields was found across the rivers. The two rivers in the north-eastern U.S. (Androscoggin and Penobscot), the Edisto draining into the South Atlantic Bight, and some rivers draining into the Gulf of Mexico (Atchafalaya and Mobile) exhibit the highest CDOM yields, linked to extensive wetlands in these watersheds. If the Edisto CDOM yield is representative of other rivers draining into the South Atlantic Bight, this would result in a CDOM load equivalent to that of the Mississippi from a region of approximately 10% of the Mississippi watershed, indicating the importance of certain regions with respect to the role of terrigenous CDOM in ocean color budgets.

Annual compilation and analysis of hydrologic data for Calaveras Creek, San Antonio River basin, Texas 1970

USGS Publications Warehouse

Reddy, D.R.

1971-01-01

The U.S. Soil Conservation Service is actively engaged in the installation of flood and soil erosion reducing measures in Texas under the authority of "The Flood Control Act of 1936 and 1944" and ''Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act" (Public Law 566), as amended. The Soil Conservation Service has found a total of approximately 3,500 floodwater-retarding structures to be physically and economically feasible in Texas. As of September 30, 1970, 1,439 of these structures had been built. This watershed-development program will have varying but important effects on the natural surface- and ground-water resources of river basins, especially where a large number of the floodwater-retarding structures are built. Basic hydrologic data under natural and developed conditions are needed to appraise the effects of the structures on the yield and mode of occurrence of runoff.

Annual compilation and analysis of hydrologic data for Honey Creek, Trinity River Basin, Texas, 1969

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sansom, J.N.

1971-01-01

The U.S. Soil Conservation Service is actively engaged in the installation of flood and soil erosion reducing measures in Texas under the authority of ''The Flood Control Act of 1936 and 1944" and ''Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act" (Public Law 566), as amended. The Soil Conservation Service has found a total of approximately 3,500 floodwater-retarding structures to be physically and economically feasible in Texas. As of September 30, 1969, 1,355 of these structures had been built. This watershed-development program will have varying but important effects on the natural surface- and ground-water resources of river basins, especially where a large number of the floodwater-retarding structures are built. Basic hydrologic data under natural and developed conditions are needed to appraise the effects of the structures on the yield and mode of occurrence of runoff .

Sediment Management at the Watershed Level

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-08-01

al. 2005). Trimble examined ten river basins (1,000 to 7,500 mi2 ) and found that the sediment yield averaged about six percent. He attributed the...importance of storage and remobilization in controlling sediment yield from the 139 mi2 Coon Creek watershed in Wisconsin. Trimble prepared sediment...Federal government in 1984, DHP activities targeted sixteen watersheds comprising 2,625 mi2 within the Yazoo River Basin in the Lower Mississippi

Watershed analysis of the Salmon River watershed, Washington : hydrology

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bidlake, William R.

2003-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey analyzed selected hydrologic conditions as part of a watershed analysis of the Salmon River watershed, Washington, conducted by the Quinault Indian Nation. The selected hydrologic conditions were analyzed according to a framework of hydrologic key questions that were identified for the watershed. The key questions were posed to better understand the natural, physical, and biological features of the watershed that control hydrologic responses; to better understand current streamflow characteristics, including peak and low flows; to describe any evidence that forest harvesting and road construction have altered frequency and magnitude of peak and low flows within the watershed; to describe what is currently known about the distribution and extent of wetlands and any impacts of land management activities on wetlands; and to describe how hydrologic monitoring within the watershed might help to detect future hydrologic change, to preserve critical ecosystem functions, and to protect public and private property.

Scenario analysis of the impacts of socioeconomic development on phosphorous export and loading from the Dongting Lake watershed, China.

PubMed

Hou, Ying; Chen, Weiping; Liao, Yuehua; Luo, Yueping

2017-12-01

Socioeconomic development in lake watersheds is closely related with lake nutrient pollution. As the second largest freshwater lake in China, the Dongting Lake has been experiencing an increase in nutrient loading and a growing risk of eutrophication. This study aimed to reveal the likely impacts of the socioeconomic development of the Dongting Lake watershed on the phosphorous pollution in the lake. We estimated the contributions from different sources and sub-watersheds to the total phosphorous (TP) export and loading from the Dongting Lake watershed under two most likely socioeconomic development scenarios. Moreover, we predicted the likely permissible and actual TP loadings to the Dongting Lake. Under both two scenarios, three secondary sub-watersheds-the upper and lower reaches of the Xiang River watershed and the Dongting Lake Area-are expected to dominate the contribution to the TP export from the Dongting Lake watershed in 2020. Three primary sub-watersheds-the Dongting Lake Area, the Xiang River, and the Yuan River watersheds-are predicted to be the major contributors to the TP loading from the entire watershed. The two scenarios are expected to have a slight difference in TP export and lake TP loading. Livestock husbandry is expected to be the predominant anthropogenic TP source in each of the sub-watersheds under both scenarios. Compared to 2010, permissible TP loading is not expected to increase but actual TP loading is predicted to grow significantly in 2020. Our study provides methodologies to identify the key sources and regions of lake nutrient loading from watersheds with complex socioeconomic context, and to reveal the potential influences of socioeconomic development on nutrient pollution in lake watersheds.

Imbalance of Nature due to Contaminant Loads in the Culiacan River Watershed, Sinaloa, México

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García Páez, F.; Ley-Aispuro, E.

2013-05-01

The Culiacan River discharges runoff from a large agricultural watershed into the wetlands at Ensenada de Pabellones ranked as a priority marine region of Mexico due to its high biodiversity and the economic importance of its fishing resources. This research estimated potential contaminant loads for BOD5, TSS, N and P from stormwater runoff and associated land use in the watershed. Previous studies had demonstrated the imbalance of nature due to land use change causing contamination by heavy metals, pesticides, sediment, phosphorus and eutrophication (Lopez and Osuna, 2002; Green and Paez, 2004, Gonzalez et al., 2006; Osuna et al., 2007). The methodology included: Characterizing the watershed according to land use, soil, vegetation, annual runoff and population density by sub-watershed; estimating the potential contaminant load and annual average concentrations of contaminants using the PLOAD program, comparing the result with monitored contaminant concentrations; and identifying the impact of pollutant loads in the watershed and coastal ecosystems and proposing management strategies to reduce or reverse the imbalance of nature caused by contamination in the Culiacan River watershed. Calculated contaminant loads in tonne/year were 13,682.4 of BOD5; 503,621.8 of TSS; 5,975.7 of N and 1,789.1 of P. The Tamazula and Humaya rivers watersheds provide 72% of the total load of BOD5, 68.5% of TSS, 77.6% of N and 62.7% of P discharged to the wetlands. Monitored results include: 89% of temperature observations were above 21°C, which is stressful to aquatic life due to a subsequent decrease in dissolved oxygen; 100% of the observations of P exceeded the ecological criteria for water quality; 71.5% of the observations for DO from 2001 to 2011, were above the ecological criteria for protection of aquatic life and 91.5% met the criteria for use in drinking water; 100% of the observations for BOD5 values remained in the range of Excellent to Good; 22% of the observations for the TSS were above 70 mg/L while no observation was above the ecological criteria of quality of water (500 mg/L) and 11% of the measured values of pH did not meet the ecological criteria. The imbalance of nature in this basin is due to agriculture which generates typical water pollutants including sediment due to soil erosion; nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, resulting from the application of fertilizers and animal waste; bacteria; organic matter and insecticides with a definite impact on the quality of surface and groundwater. Conflicts arising from agricultural production and environmental quality have increased in recent decades due to agro-chemicals being a source of environmental pollution (Falconer and Hodge, 2000). Recommended strategies to reduce the imbalance include: protection of all areas of high ecological value, reuse of treated wastewater, implementation of Low Impact Design and Development and 50% reduction of contaminant loads in priority watersheds, through riparian restoration and rehabilitation of rivers and their tributaries using Best Management Practices (BMP's).

Hydrologic description of the Braden River watershed, west-central Florida

USGS Publications Warehouse

DelCharco, M.J.; Lewelling, B.R.

1997-01-01

The Braden River watershed drains an 83-square mile area in west-central Florida and is the largest tributary to the Manatee River. The hydrology of the Braden River was altered in 1936 when the city of Bradenton created Ward Lake, a reservoir with an 838-foot broad-crested weir 6 miles upstream from the mouth. In 1985 the reservoir, which is the sole source of drinking water for the city of Bradenton, was expanded and supplies an annual average of 5.7 million gallons of water per day. The Braden River can be hydrologically divided into three distinct sections that include an 8.6-mile reach of naturally incised, free-flowing channel; a 6.4-mile reach of impounded river created by the Ward Lake reservoir and weir; and a 6-mile reach of tidal estuary. Ten first-order and two second-order tributaries that flow into the Braden River were examined in this report. The Braden River watershed is dominated by low topographic relief. The two physiographic zones that contain the Braden River watershed, the Gulf Coast Lowlands and De Soto Plain, are both poorly drained and have numerous depressional features. The climate is subtropical with an annual average rainfall of 56 inches, annual average temperatures of 72 degrees Fahrenheit, and estimated annual lake evaporation of 52 inches. The soil series in the watershed are predominantly Myakka-Cassia and the EauGallie-Floridana; these series are characterized as nearly level and poorly drained soils. Land use within the watershed is the fastest changing characteristic that affects the hydrology of the system. The western half of the watershed is typically urban and includes parts of the city of Bradenton. Land use in the eastern half of the watershed is predominantly agricultural, but the explosive population growth of the area is driving the development of medium to high-density residential communities. The three major aquifers underlying the Braden River watershed are the surficial, intermediate, and Floridan aquifer systems. The surficial aquifer generally is underlain in places by a clay layer that enhances the ground-water flow of the surficial aquifer to surface-water bodies. The intermediate aquifer system has discontinuous water-bearing units, but retards ground-water movement between the surficial and Floridan aquifer system. The Floridan aquifer system consists of the Upper and Lower Floridan aquifers separated by a middle confining unit. The Upper Floridan aquifer is the primary source for ground-water withdrawals in the watershed and has, at times, heads 20 feet higher than land-surface elevation. Discharge over the Ward Lake weir into the tidal estuary was measured using volumetric and standard discharge measurement techniques. Annual mean flow for water years 1993 and 1994 were 59.7 and 57.3 cubic feet per second, respectively. Weir coefficients, calculated from discharge measurements, ranged from 0.023 to 2.99, depending on the head of water over the weir, and the method of determining length of flow on the weir. Weir coefficients calculated from the theoretical rating ranged from 0.032 to 3.11. No significant seepage was found around the ends of the weir, and no leakage was detected through the weir.

Sources and Delivery of Nutrients to the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico from Streams in the South-Central United States1

PubMed Central

Rebich, Richard A; Houston, Natalie A; Mize, Scott V; Pearson, Daniel K; Ging, Patricia B; Evan Hornig, C

2011-01-01

Abstract SPAtially Referenced Regressions On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) models were developed to estimate nutrient inputs [total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP)] to the northwestern part of the Gulf of Mexico from streams in the South-Central United States (U.S.). This area included drainages of the Lower Mississippi, Arkansas-White-Red, and Texas-Gulf hydrologic regions. The models were standardized to reflect nutrient sources and stream conditions during 2002. Model predictions of nutrient loads (mass per time) and yields (mass per area per time) generally were greatest in streams in the eastern part of the region and along reaches near the Texas and Louisiana shoreline. The Mississippi River and Atchafalaya River watersheds, which drain nearly two-thirds of the conterminous U.S., delivered the largest nutrient loads to the Gulf of Mexico, as expected. However, the three largest delivered TN yields were from the Trinity River/Galveston Bay, Calcasieu River, and Aransas River watersheds, while the three largest delivered TP yields were from the Calcasieu River, Mermentau River, and Trinity River/Galveston Bay watersheds. Model output indicated that the three largest sources of nitrogen from the region were atmospheric deposition (42%), commercial fertilizer (20%), and livestock manure (unconfined, 17%). The three largest sources of phosphorus were commercial fertilizer (28%), urban runoff (23%), and livestock manure (confined and unconfined, 23%). PMID:22457582

Surface- and ground-water characteristics in the Upper Truckee River and Trout Creek watersheds, South Lake Tahoe, California and Nevada, July-December 1996

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rowe, T.G.; Allander, Kip K.

2000-01-01

The Upper Truckee River and Trout Creek watersheds, South Lake Tahoe, California and Nevada, were studied from July to December 1996 to develop a better understanding of the relation between surface water and ground water. Base flows at 63 streamflow sites were measured in late September 1996 in the Upper Truckee River and Trout Creek watersheds. Most reaches of the main stem of the Upper Truckee River and Trout Creek had gaining or steady flows, with one losing reach in the mid-section of each stream. Twenty-seven of the streamflow sites measured in the Upper Truckee River watershed were on 14 tributaries to the main stem of the Upper Truckee River. Sixteen of the 40 streamflow sites measured in the Upper Truckee River watershed had no measurable flow. Streamflow in Upper Truckee River watershed ranged from 0 to 11.6 cubic feet per second (ft3/s). The discharge into Lake Tahoe from the Upper Truckee River was 11.6 ft3/s, of which, 40 percent of the flow was from ground-water discharge into the main stem, 40 percent was from tributary inflows, and the remaining 20 percent was the beginning flow. Gains from or losses to ground water along streams ranged from a 1.4 cubic feet per second per mile (ft3/s/mi) gain to a 0.5 ft3/s/mi loss along the main stem. Fourteen of the streamflow sites measured in the Trout Creek watershed were on eight tributaries to the main stem of Trout Creek. Of the 23 streamflow sites measured in the Trout Creek watershed, only one site had no flow. Flows in the Trout Creek watershed ranged from zero to 23.0 ft3/s. Discharge into Lake Tahoe from Trout Creek was 23.0 ft3/s, of which, about 5 percent of the flow was from ground-water discharge into the main stem, 75 percent was from tributary inflows, and the remaining 20 percent was the beginning flow. Ground-water seepage rates ranged from a 1.4 ft3/s/mi gain to a 0.9 ft3/s/mi loss along the main stem. Specific conductances measured during the seepage run in September 1996 increased in a downstream direction in the main stem of the Upper Truckee River and remained relatively constant in the main stem of Trout Creek. Water temperatures measured during the seepage run also increased in a downstream direction in both watersheds. Depths to ground water measured at 62 wells in the study area were used with the results of the seepage run to produce a water-level map in the Upper Truckee River and Trout Creek watersheds. Ground-water levels ranged from 1.3 to 69.8 feet below land surface. In the upper sections of the watersheds ground-water flow is generally toward the main stems of Upper Truckee River and Trout Creek, whereas in the lower sections, ground-water flow generally parallels the two streams and flows toward Lake Tahoe. The altitude of ground water between Lake Tahoe and Highway 50 was nearly the same as the lake-surface altitude from July to November 1996. This suggests ground-water discharge beneath the Upper Truckee River and Trout Creek drainages directly to Lake Tahoe was minimal and that much of the ground-water discharge was to the channels of the Upper Truckee River and Trout Creek upstream from Highway 50. Hydraulic gradients ranged from near zero to 1,400 feet per mile. Samples were collected at six surface-water-quality and eight ground-water-quality sites from July through mid-December 1996. Specific conductance of the ground-water-quality sites was higher than that of the surface-water-quality sites. Water temperature and pH median values were similar between ground-water-quality and surface-water-quality sites but ground water had greater variation in pH and surface water had greater variation in water temperature. Ground-water nutrient concentrations were generally higher than those in streams except for bioreactive iron.

Stressor Identification in An Agricultural Watershed: Little Floyd River, Iowa (Final)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA announced the availability of the final report, Stressor Identification in An Agricultural Watershed: Little Floyd River, Iowa. This assessment demonstrates that, even when there are many candidate causes and uncertainties are substantial, the probable causes of bio...

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

PubMed

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.

Determination of Water Quality Status at Sampean Watershed Bondowoso Residence Using Storet Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sugiyarto; Hariono, B.; Destarianto, P.; Nuruddin, M.

2018-01-01

Sampean watershed has an important social and economic function for the people surroundings. Sampean watershed wich cover Bondowoso and Situbondo residence is an urban watershed that has strategic value for national context needs special traetment. Construction activity at upper and lower course of Sampean watershed is highly intensive and growth of inhabitant also increase. The change of land utilization and increase of settlement area at upper, midlle, and lower course caused polutant infiltration to Sampean river watershed so it has impact on water quality. The source of pollution at Sampean river comes from domestic waste, industrial waste, agricultural waste and animal husbandry waste. The purpose of this research is to determine load of pollution and analize the pollution load carrying capacity at Sampean watershed. The data used in this research are rainfall, river flow rate and water quality at 6 certain points within 3 years during 2014 until 2016. The method to determine overall pollution rate is STORET (Storage and Retrieval of Water Quality Data System) method. The analysis results for the first, second, third and forth grade are -24 (moderate quality), -12 (moderate quality), -2 (good quality), and 0 (good quality) respectively.

Riverine Response of Sulfate to Declining Atmospheric Sulfur Deposition in Agricultural Watersheds.

PubMed

David, Mark B; Gentry, Lowell E; Mitchell, Corey A

2016-07-01

Sulfur received extensive study as an input to terrestrial ecosystems from acidic deposition during the 1980s. With declining S deposition inputs across the eastern United States, there have been many studies evaluating ecosystem response, with the exception of agricultural watersheds. We used long-term (22 and 18 yr) sulfate concentration data from two rivers and recent (6 yr) data from a third river to better understand cycling and transport of S in agricultural, tile-drained watersheds. Sulfate concentrations and yields steadily declined in the Embarras (from ∼10 to 6 mg S L) and Kaskaskia rivers (from 7 to 3.5 mg S L) during the sampling period, with an overall -23.1 and -12.8 kg S ha yr balance for the two watersheds. There was evidence of deep groundwater inputs of sulfate in the Salt Fork watershed, with a much smaller input to the Embarras and none to the Kaskaskia. Tiles in the watersheds had low sulfate concentrations (<10 mg S L), similar to the Kaskaskia River, unless the field had received some form of S fertilizer. A multiple regression model of runoff (cm) and S deposition explained much of the variation in Embarras River sulfate ( = 0.86 and 0.80 for concentrations and yields; = 46). Although atmospheric deposition was much less than outputs (grain harvest + stream export of sulfate), riverine transport of sulfate reflected the decline in inputs. Watershed S balances suggest a small annual depletion of soil organic S pools, and S fertilization will likely be needed at some future date to maintain crop yields. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Water quality trading opportunities in two sub-watersheds in the northern Lake Okeechobee watershed.

PubMed

Corrales, Juliana; Naja, G Melodie; Bhat, Mahadev G; Miralles-Wilhelm, Fernando

2017-07-01

For decades, the increase of nutrient enrichment has threatened the ecological integrity and economic sustainability of many rivers, lakes, and coastal waters, including Lake Okeechobee, the second largest freshwater lake in the contiguous United States. Water quality trading programs have been an area of active development to both, reduce nutrient pollution and minimize abatement costs. The objective of this study was to apply a comprehensive modeling framework, integrating a hydrologic-water quality model with an economic model, to assess and compare the cost-effectiveness of a water quality trading program over a command-and-control approach in order to reduce phosphorus loadings to Lake Okeechobee. The Upper Kissimmee (UK) and Taylor Creek/Nubbin Slough (TCNS) sub-watersheds, identified as major sources of total phosphorus (TP) loadings to the lake, were selected for this analysis. The effect of different caps on the market potential was assessed while considering four factors: the least-cost abatement solutions, credit prices, potential cost savings, and credit supply and demand. Hypothetical trading scenarios were also developed, using the optimal caps selected for the two sub-watersheds. In both sub-watersheds, a phosphorus credit trading program was less expensive than the conventional command-and-control approach. While attaining cost-effectiveness, keeping optimal credit prices, and fostering market competition, phosphorus reduction targets of 46% and 32% were selected as the most appropriate caps in the UK and TCNS sub-watersheds, respectively. Wastewater treatment facilities and urban areas in the UK, and concentrated animal feeding operations in the TCNS sub-watershed were identified as potential credit buyers, whereas improved pastures were identified as the major credit sellers in both sub-watersheds. The estimated net cost savings resulting from implementing a phosphorus trading program in the UK and TCNS sub-watersheds were 76% ($ 34.9 million per year) and 45% ($ 3.2 million per year), respectively. It is important to note that the realization of the environmental and economic benefits of this market-based alternative is also contingent on other important factors, such as the market structure, the specific program rules, the risk perception, and the education and outreach to develop trusted relationships among regulatory agencies, the public sector, and other stakeholders. Nevertheless, this research provided the foundation for stakeholders to better understand whether water quality trading has the potential to work in the Lake Okeechobee watershed and to facilitate the development of a pilot program. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using isotope, hydrochemical methods and energy-balance modelling to estimate contribution of different components to flow forming process in a high-altitude catchment (Dzhancuat river basin case study)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rets, Ekaterina; Loshakova, Nadezhda; Chizhova, Julia; Kireeva, Maria; Frolova, Natalia; Tokarev, Igor; Budantseva, Nadine; Vasilchuk, Yurij

2016-04-01

A multicomponent structure of sources of river runoff formation is characteristic of high-altitude territories: ice and firn melting; seasonal snow melting on glacier covered and non-glacier area of a watershed; liquid precipitation; underground waters. In addition, each of these components can run off the watershed surface in different ways. Use of isotopic, hydrochemical methods and energy balance modelling provides possibility to estimate contribution of different components to river runoff that is an essential to understand the mechanism of flow formation in mountainious areas. A study was carried out for Dzhancuat river basin that was chosen as representative for North Caucasus in course of the International Hydrological Decade. Complex glaciological, hydrological and meteorological observation have been carried in the basin since 1965. In years 2013-2015 the program also included daily collecting of water samples on natural stable isotopes on the Dzhancuat river gauging station, and sampling water nourishment sources (ice, snow, firn, liquid precipitation) within the study area. More then 800 water samples were collected. Application of an energy balance model of snow and ice melt with distributed parameters provided an opportunity to identify Dzhancuat river runoff respond to glaciers melt regime and seasonal redistribution of melt water. The diurnal amplitude of oscillation of the Dzhakuat river runoff in the days without precipitation is formed by melting at almost snow-free areas of the Dzhancuat glacier tongues. Snowmelt water from the non-glacierized part contributes to the formation of the next day runoff. A wave of snow and firn melt in upper zones of glacier flattens considerably during filtration through snow and run-off over the surface and in the body of the glacier. This determines a general significant inertia of the Dzhacuat river runoff. Some part of melt water is stored into natural regulating reservoirs of the watershed that supply the Dzhancuat river flow during the winter period. Due to complexity of water flow nourishment structure in alpine conditions a solution of ion and d18O balance equation was carried out for seasons, when it is possible to neglect some of the components in order to reach a needed amount of variables. A substantial excess of d18O content in spring snow and liquid precipitation over winter snow, ice and firn allowed to distinguish these components in the Dzhancuat river runoff in June and August. Unlike d18O mineralization is a nonconservative characteristic, it can show how the water ran down the watershed: over a glacier surface and then through stream channels or over a non-glacier surface, filtrating through comminuted surficial deposits. A solution of conductivity balance equation provide possibility to identify a base flow component in the Dzhancuat river runoff in August and to separate an on-glacier snow melt component from snow melt on non-glacier part of the watershed. The study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Project № 16-35-60042), Russian Scientific fund (Project № 14-17-00766, 14-27-00083)

Impacts of future climate change on river discharge based on hydrological inference: A case study of the Grand River Watershed in Ontario, Canada.

PubMed

Li, Zhong; Huang, Guohe; Wang, Xiuquan; Han, Jingcheng; Fan, Yurui

2016-04-01

Over the recent years, climate change impacts have been increasingly studied at the watershed scale. However, the impact assessment is strongly dependent upon the performance of the climatic and hydrological models. This study developed a two-step method to assess climate change impacts on water resources based on the Providing Regional Climates for Impacts Studies (PRECIS) modeling system and a Hydrological Inference Model (HIM). PRECIS runs provided future temperature and precipitation projections for the watershed under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change SRES A2 and B2 emission scenarios. The HIM based on stepwise cluster analysis is developed to imitate the complex nonlinear relationships between climate input variables and targeted hydrological variables. Its robust mathematical structure and flexibility in predictor selection makes it a desirable tool for fully utilizing various climate modeling outputs. Although PRECIS and HIM cannot fully cover the uncertainties in hydro-climate modeling, they could provide efficient decision support for investigating the impacts of climate change on water resources. The proposed method is applied to the Grand River Watershed in Ontario, Canada. The model performance is demonstrated with comparison to observation data from the watershed during the period 1972-2006. Future river discharge intervals that accommodate uncertainties in hydro-climatic modeling are presented and future river discharge variations are analyzed. The results indicate that even though the total annual precipitation would not change significantly in the future, the inter-annual distribution is very likely to be altered. The water availability is expected to increase in Winter while it is very likely to decrease in Summer over the Grand River Watershed, and adaptation strategies would be necessary. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Indigenous Waters: Applying the SWAT Hydrological Model to the Lumbee River Watershed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Painter, J.; Singh, N.; Martin, K. L.; Vose, J. M.; Wear, D. N.; Emanuel, R. E.

2016-12-01

Hydrological modeling can reveal insight about how rainfall becomes streamflow in a watershed comprising heterogeneous soils, terrain and land cover. Modeling can also help disentangle predicted impacts of climate and land use change on hydrological processes. We applied a hydrological model to the Lumbee River watershed, also known as the Lumber River Watershed, in the coastal plain of North Carolina (USA) to better understand how streamflow may be impacted by predicted climate and land use change in the mid-21st century. The Lumbee River flows through a predominantly Native American community, which may be affected by changing water resources during this period. The long-term goal of our project is to predict the effects of climate and land use change on the Lumbee River watershed and on the Native community that relies upon the river. We applied the Soil & Water Assessment Tool for ArcGIS (ArcSWAT), which was calibrated to historical climate and USGS streamflow data during the late 20th century, and we determined frequency distributions for key model parameters that best predicted streamflow during this time period. After calibrating and validating the model during the historical period, we identified land use and climate projections to represent a range of future conditions in the watershed. Specifically, we selected downscaled climate forcing data from four general circulation models running the RCP8.5 scenario. We also selected land use projections from a cornerstone scenario of the USDA Forest Service's Southern Forest Futures Project. This presentation reports on our methods for propagating parameter and climatic uncertainty through model predictions, and it reports on spatial patterns of land use change predicted by the cornerstone scenario.

Detection of Hydrologic Response at the River Basin Scale Caused by Land Use Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCormick, B. C.; Eshleman, K. N.; Griffith, J. L.; Townsend, P. A.

2008-05-01

The 187.5 km2 Georges Creek watershed, located on the Appalachian Plateau in western Maryland (USA), has experienced significant land use change due to surface mining of bituminous coal. We estimate that over 17% of the Georges Creek watershed is being actively surface-mined or was mined and reclaimed previously. The adjacent Savage River watershed (127.2 km2) is completely unaffected by surface mining. Both watersheds have long (>60 year) streamflow records maintained by USGS that were analyzed as part of this project, using Savage River as a control. Temporal analysis of the moments of the flood frequency distributions using a moving-window technique indicated that climatic variability affected both watersheds equally. Normalizing annual maximum flows by antecedent streamflow and causative precipitation allowed trends in the Georges Creek watershed flooding response to become more evident. An analysis of sixteen contemporary warm season storm events based on hourly streamflow and NEXRAD Stage III derived precipitation data provided clear evidence of differences in watershed response to rainfall. Georges Creek events (normalized by basin area and precipitation) are, on average, characterized by slightly greater (7%) peak runoff and shorter (3 hr) centroid lags than Savage River, even though the opposite was expected considering relative basin areas. These differences in stormflow response are most likely attributable to differences in current land use in the basins, particularly the large area of reclaimed minelands in Georges Creek. Interestingly, we found that Georges Creek events produce, on average, only 2/3 of the stormflow volume as Savage River, apparently due to infiltration of water into abandoned deep mine workings and an associated trans-basin drainage system that dates to the early 20th century. Long-term trend analysis at the river basin scale using empirical hydrologic methods is thus complicated by climatic variability and the legacy of deep mining in this system.

Wind River Watershed Restoration: 1999 Annual Report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Connolly, Patrick J.

This document represents work conducted as part of the Wind River Watershed Restoration Project during its first year of funding through the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). The project is a comprehensive effort involving public and private entities seeking to restore water quality and fishery resources in the basin through cooperative actions. Project elements include coordination, watershed assessment, restoration, monitoring, and education. Entities involved with implementing project components are the Underwood Conservation District (UCD), USDA Forest Service (USFS), U.S. Geological Survey--Columbia River Research Lab (USGS-CRRL), and WA Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW). Following categories given in the FY1999 Statement ofmore » Work, the broad categories, the related objectives, and the entities associated with each objective (lead entity in boldface) were as follows: Coordination--Objective 1: Coordinate the Wind River watershed Action Committee (AC) and Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) to develop a prioritized list of watershed enhancement projects. Monitoring--Objective 2: Monitor natural production of juvenile, smolt, and adult steelhead in the Wind River subbasin. Objective 3: Evaluate physical habitat conditions in the Wind River subbasin. Assessment--Objective 4: Assess watershed health using an ecosystem-based diagnostic model that will provide the technical basis to prioritize out-year restoration projects. Restoration--Objective 5: Reduce road related sediment sources by reducing road densities to less than 2 miles per square mile. Objective 6: Rehabilitate riparian corridors, flood plains, and channel morphology to reduce maximum water temperatures to less than 61 F, to increase bank stability to greater than 90%, to reduce bankfull width to depth ratios to less than 30, and to provide natural levels of pools and cover for fish. Objective 7: Maintain and evaluate passage for adult and juvenile steelhead at artificial barriers. Education--Objective 8: Promote watershed stewardship among students, the community, private landowners, and local governments. Progress towards six of eight of these objectives is described within nine separate reports included in a four-volume document.« less

Conservation efforts and possibilities for increased collaboration in the Santa Cruz River watershed

Treesearch

Claire A. Zugmeyer; Emily M. Brott

2013-01-01

Attendees of the annual Santa Cruz River Researchers’ Day meetings have identified a need to expand collaboration, partnership, and sharing of lessons learned across the watershed. To help guide this interest, Sonoran Institute organized a symposium on 2 May 2012 entitled “Santa Cruz River Conservation.” The symposium had simultaneous Spanish/English translation and...

Multiscale Modeling of Radioisotope Transfers in Watersheds, Rivers, Reservoirs and Ponds of Fukushima Prefecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheleznyak, M.; Kivva, S.; Nanba, K.; Wakiyama, Y.; Konoplev, A.; Onda, Y.; Gallego, E.; Papush, L.; Maderych, V.

2015-12-01

The highest densities of the radioisotopes in fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi NPP in March 2011 were measured at the north eastern part of Fukushima Prefecture. The post-accidental aquatic transfer of cesium -134/137 includes multiscale processes: wash-off from the watersheds in solute and with the eroded soil, long-range transport in the rivers, deposition and resuspension of contaminated sediments in reservoirs and floodplains. The models of EU decision support system RODOS are used for predicting dynamics of 137Cs in the Fukushima surface waters and for assessing efficiency of the remediation measures. The transfer of 137Cs through the watershed of Niida River was simulated by DHSVM -R model that includes the modified code of the distributed hydrological and sediment transport model DHSVM (Lettenmayer, Wigmosta et al.) and new module of radionuclide transport. DHSMV-R was tested by modelling the wash-off from the USLE experimental plots in Fukushima prefecture. The model helps to quantify the influence of the differentiators of Fukushima and Chernobyl watersheds, - intensity of extreme precipitation and steepness of watershed, on the much higher values of the ratio "particulated cesium /soluted cesium" in Fukushima rivers than in Chernobyl rivers. Two dimensional model COASTOX and three dimensional model THREETOX are used to simulate the fate of 137Cs in water and sediments of reservoirs in the Manogawa River, Otagawa River, Mizunashigawa River, which transport 137Cs from the heavy contaminated watersheds to the populated areas at the Pacific coast. The modeling of the extreme floods generated by typhoons shows the resuspension of the bottom sediments from the heavy contaminated areas in reservoirs at the mouths of inflowing rivers at the peaks of floods and then re-deposition of 137Cs downstream in the deeper areas. The forecasts of 137Cs dynamics in bottom sediments of the reservoirs were calculated for the set of the scenarios of the sequences of the high floods of the next years. MOIRA -LAKE model of long term radioisotopes transfer in water, bottom sediment and fish was used for the assessments of the efficiency of the bottom sediment dredging for the remediation of the irrigation ponds at Okuma town.

A parsimonious approach to estimate PAH concentrations in river sediments of anthropogenically impacted watersheds.

PubMed

Schwientek, Marc; Rügner, Hermann; Scherer, Ulrike; Rode, Michael; Grathwohl, Peter

2017-12-01

The contamination of riverine sediments and suspended matter with hydrophobic pollutants is typically associated with urban land use. However, it is rarely related to the sediment supply of the watershed, because sediment yield data are often missing. We show for a suite of watersheds in two regions of Germany with contrasting land use and geology that the contamination of suspended particles with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) can be explained by the ratio of inhabitants residing within the watershed and the watershed's sediment yield. The modeling of sediment yields is based on the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE2015, Panagos et al., 2015) and the sediment delivery ratio (SDR). The applicability of this approach is demonstrated for watersheds ranging in size from 1.4 to 3000km 2 . The approach implies that the loading of particles with PAH can be assumed as time invariant. This is indicated by additional long-term measurements from sub-watersheds of the upper River Neckar basin, Germany. The parsimonious conceptual approach allows for reasonable predictions of the PAH loading of suspended sediments especially at larger scales. Our findings may easily be used to estimate the vulnerability of river systems to particle-associated urban pollutants with similar input pathways as the PAH or to indicate if contaminant point sources such as sites of legacy pollution exist in a river basin. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Three decadal inputs of total organic carbon from four major coastal river basins to the summer hypoxic zone of the Northern Gulf of Mexico.

PubMed

He, Songjie; Xu, Y Jun

2015-01-15

This study investigated long-term (1980-2009) yields and variability of total organic carbon (TOC) from four major coastal rivers in Louisiana entering the Northern Gulf of Mexico where a large-area summer hypoxic zone has been occurring since the middle 1980s. Two of these rivers drain agriculture-intensive (>40%) watersheds, while the other two rivers drain forest-pasture dominated (>50%) watersheds. The study found that these rivers discharged a total of 13.0×10(4)t TOC annually, fluctuating from 5.9×10(4) to 22.8×10(4)t. Seasonally, the rivers showed high TOC yield during the winter and early spring months, corresponding to the seasonal trend of river discharge. While river hydrology controlled TOC yields, land use has played an important role in fluxes, seasonal variations, and characteristics of TOC. The findings fill in a critical information gap of quantity and quality of organic carbon transport from coastal watersheds to one of the world's largest summer hypoxic zones. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Water-quality data and Escherichia coli predictions for selected karst catchments of the upper Duck River watershed in central Tennessee, 2007–10

USGS Publications Warehouse

Murphy, Jennifer C.; Farmer, James; Layton, Alice

2016-06-13

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Tennessee Duck River Development Agency, monitored water quality at several locations in the upper Duck River watershed between October 2007 and September 2010. Discrete water samples collected at 24 sites in the watershed were analyzed for water quality, and Escherichia coli (E. coli) and enterococci concentrations. Additional analyses, including the determination of anthropogenic-organic compounds, bacterial concentration of resuspended sediment, and bacterial-source tracking, were performed at a subset of sites. Continuous monitoring of streamflow, turbidity, and specific conductance was conducted at seven sites; a subset of sites also was monitored for water temperature and dissolved oxygen concentration. Multiple-regression models were developed to predict instantaneous E. coli concentrations and loads at sites with continuous monitoring. This data collection effort, along with the E. coli models and predictions, support analyses of the relations among land use, bacteria source and transport, and basin hydrology in the upper Duck River watershed.

Pequonnock River Basin, Bridgeport, Connecticut. Forest Lake Dam CT 00078. Phase I Inspection Report. National Dam Inspection Program.

DTIC Science & Technology

1978-08-01

Legislation for the protection of wet lands has come too late for this watershed and the remaining small wet lands, if retained, have little value...Ridge Mountains of Central Virginia, 11.55" in Westminister , Maryland and 13" in Steuben County, Pennsylvania. HYDRAULIC ANALYSIS LAKE FOREST Due to

Assessment of Runoff and Sediment Yields Using the AnnAGNPS Model from the Daning River Watershed in Three-Gorge Area of China

EPA Science Inventory

Soil erosion has been recognized as one of the major threats to our environment and water quality worldwide, especially in China. To mitigate nonpoint source water quality problems caused by soil erosion, best management practices (BMPs) and/or conservation programs have been ado...

Development of Load Duration Curve System in Data Scarce Watersheds Based on a Distributed Hydrological Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

WANG, J.

2017-12-01

In stream water quality control, the total maximum daily load (TMDL) program is very effective. However, the load duration curves (LDC) of TMDL are difficult to be established because no sufficient observed flow and pollutant data can be provided in data-scarce watersheds in which no hydrological stations or consecutively long-term hydrological data are available. Although the point sources or a non-point sources of pollutants can be clarified easily with the aid of LDC, where does the pollutant come from and to where it will be transported in the watershed cannot be traced by LDC. To seek out the best management practices (BMPs) of pollutants in a watershed, and to overcome the limitation of LDC, we proposed to develop LDC based on a distributed hydrological model of SWAT for the water quality management in data scarce river basins. In this study, firstly, the distributed hydrological model of SWAT was established with the scarce-hydrological data. Then, the long-term daily flows were generated with the established SWAT model and rainfall data from the adjacent weather station. Flow duration curves (FDC) was then developed with the aid of generated daily flows by SWAT model. Considering the goal of water quality management, LDC curves of different pollutants can be obtained based on the FDC. With the monitored water quality data and the LDC curves, the water quality problems caused by the point or non-point source pollutants in different seasons can be ascertained. Finally, the distributed hydrological model of SWAT was employed again to tracing the spatial distribution and the origination of the pollutants of coming from what kind of agricultural practices and/or other human activities. A case study was conducted in the Jian-jiang river, a tributary of Yangtze river, of Duyun city, Guizhou province. Results indicate that this kind of method can realize the water quality management based on TMDL and find out the suitable BMPs for reducing pollutant in a watershed.

Research on Coupling Method of Watershed Initial Water Rights Allocation in Daling River

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, J.; Fengping, W.

2016-12-01

Water scarcity is now a common occurrence in many countries. The situation of watershed initial water rights allocation has caused many benefit conflicts among regions and regional water sectors of domestic and ecology environment and industries in China. This study aims to investigate the method of watershed initial water rights allocation in the perspective of coupling in Daling River Watershed taking provincial initial water rights and watershed-level governmental reserved water as objects. First of all, regarding the allocation subsystem of initial water rights among provinces, this research calculates initial water rights of different provinces by establishing the coupling model of water quantity and quality on the principle of "rewarding efficiency and penalizing inefficiency" based on the two control objectives of water quantity and quality. Secondly, regarding the allocation subsystem of watershed-level governmental reserved water rights, the study forecasts the demand of watershed-level governmental reserved water rights by the combination of case-based reasoning and water supply quotas. Then, the bilaterally coupled allocation model on water supply and demand is designed after supply analysis to get watershed-level governmental reserved water rights. The results of research method applied to Daling River Watershed reveal the recommended scheme of watershed initial water rights allocation based on coordinated degree criterion. It's found that the feasibility of the iteration coupling model and put forward related policies and suggestions. This study owns the advantages of complying with watershed initial water rights allocation mechanism and meeting the control requirements of water quantity, water quality and water utilization efficiency, which help to achieve the effective allocation of water resources.

Fuzzy Multicriteria Decision Analysis for Adaptive Watershed Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, N.

2006-12-01

The dramatic changes of societal complexity due to intensive interactions among agricultural, industrial, and municipal sectors have resulted in acute issues of water resources redistribution and water quality management in many river basins. Given the fact that integrated watershed management is more a political and societal than a technical challenge, there is a need for developing a compelling method leading to justify a water-based land use program in some critical regions. Adaptive watershed management is viewed as an indispensable tool nowadays for providing step-wise constructive decision support that is concerned with all related aspects of the water consumption cycle and those facilities affecting water quality and quantity temporally and spatially. Yet the greatest challenge that decision makers face today is to consider how to leverage ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty to their competitive advantage of management policy quantitatively. This paper explores a fuzzy multicriteria evaluation method for water resources redistribution and subsequent water quality management with respect to a multipurpose channel-reservoir system--the Tseng- Wen River Basin, South Taiwan. Four fuzzy operators tailored for this fuzzy multicriteria decision analysis depict greater flexibility in representing the complexity of various possible trade-offs among management alternatives constrained by physical, economic, and technical factors essential for adaptive watershed management. The management strategies derived may enable decision makers to integrate a vast number of internal weirs, water intakes, reservoirs, drainage ditches, transfer pipelines, and wastewater treatment facilities within the basin and bring up the permitting issue for transboundary diversion from a neighboring river basin. Experience gained indicates that the use of different types of fuzzy operators is highly instructive, which also provide unique guidance collectively for achieving the overarching goals of sustainable development on a regional scale.

Compilation of hydrologic data, Little Elm Creek, Trinity River basin, Texas, 1968

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

1972-01-01

The U.S. Soil Conservation Service is actively engaged in the installation of flood and soil erosion reducing measures in Texas under the authority of "The Flood Control Act ot 1936 and 1944" and ''Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act" (Public Law 566), as amended. In June 1968, the Soil Conservation Service estimated approximately 3,500 structures to be physically and economically feasible for installation in Texas. As of September 30, 1968, 1,271 of these structures had been built. This watershed-development program will have varying but important effects on the surface- and ground-water resources of river basins, especially where a large number of the floodwater-retarding structures are built. Basic hydrologic data are needed to appraise the effects of the structures on water yield and the mode of occurrence of runoff. Hydrologic investigations of these small watersheds were begun by the Geological Survey in 1951 and are now being made in 11 areas (fig. 1). These studies are being made in cooperation with t he Texas Water Development Board, the Soil Conservation Service, the San Antonio River Authority, the city of Dallas, and the Tarrant County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1. The 11 study areas were choson to sample watersheds having different rainfall, topography, geology, and soils. In four of the study areas (Mukewater, North, Little Elm, and Pin Oak Creeks), streamflow and rainfall records were collected prior to construction of the floodwater-retarding structures, thus affording the opportunity for analyses to the conditions before and after" development. Structures have now been built in three of these study areas. A summary of the development of the floodwater-retarding structures on each study area as of September 30, 1968, is shown in table 1.

What does atmospheric nitrogen contribute to the Gulf of Mexico area of oxygen depletion?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rabalais, N. N.

2017-12-01

The northern Gulf of Mexico influenced by the freshwater discharge and nutrient loads of the Mississippi River watershed is the location of the world's second largest human-caused area of coastal hypoxia. Over 500 more anthropogenic `dead zones' exist in coastal waters. The point source inputs within the Mississippi River watershed account for about ten per cent of the total nitrogen inputs to the Mississippi River, with the remaining being nonpoint source. Atmospheric nitrogen makes up about sixteen per cent of the nonpoint source input of nitrogen. Most of the NOx is generated within the Ohio River watershed from the burning of fossil fuels. Some remains to be deposited into the same watershed, but the airshed deposits much of the NOx along the U.S. eastern seaboard, including Chesapeake Bay, which also has a hypoxia problem. Most of the volatilized ammonia is produced from fertilizers or manure within the upper Mississippi River watershed, is deposited within a localized airshed, and is not airborne long distances like the NOx. The atmospheric nitrogen input to the coastal waters affected by hypoxia is considered to be minimal. In the last half century, the nitrogen load from the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico has increased 300 percent. During this period, low oxygen bottom-waters have developed in the coastal waters and worsened coincident with the increase in the nitrogen load. The 31-yr average size of the bottom-water hypoxia area in the Gulf of Mexico is 13,800 square kilometers, well over the 5,000 square kilometers goal of the Mississippi River Nutrient/Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force. Knowing the amounts and sources of excess nutrients to watersheds with adjacent coastal waters experiencing eutrophication and hypoxia is important in the management strategies to reduce those nutrients and improve water quality.

Vulnerability Assessment of Natural Disasters for Small and Mid-Sized Streams due to Climate Change and Stream Improvement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, D.; Jun, H. D.; Kim, S.

2012-04-01

Vulnerability assessment plays an important role in drawing up climate change adaptation plans. Although there are some studies on broad vulnerability assessment in Korea, there have been very few studies to develop and apply locally focused and specific sector-oriented climate change vulnerability indicators. Especially, there has seldom been any study to investigate the effect of an adaptation project on assessing the vulnerability status to climate change for fundamental local governments. In order to relieve adverse effects of climate change, Korean government has performed the project of the Major Four Rivers (Han, Geum, Nakdong and Yeongsan river) Restoration since 2008. It is expected that water level in main stream of 4 rivers will be dropped through this project, but flood effect will be mainly occurred in small and mid-sized streams which flows in main stream. Hence, we examined how much the project of the major four rivers restoration relieves natural disasters. Conceptual framework of vulnerability-resilience index to climate change for the Korean fundamental local governments is defined as a function of climate exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. Then, statistical data on scores of proxy variables assumed to comprise climate change vulnerability for local governments are collected. Proxy variables and estimated temporary weights of them are selected by surveying a panel of experts using Delphi method, and final weights are determined by modified Entropy method. Developed vulnerability-resilience index was applied to Korean fundamental local governments and it is calculated under each scenario as follows. (1) Before the major four rivers restoration, (2) 100 years after represented climate change condition without the major four rivers restoration, (3) After the major four rivers restoration without representing climate change (this means present climate condition) and (4) After the major four rivers restoration and 100 years after represented climate change condition. In the results of calculated vulnerability-resilience index of each scenario, it can be noticed that vulnerability of watersheds which are located near main stream of four rivers is alleviated, but because of climate change, vulnerability is getting high in most watersheds. Also, considering future climate change and river restoration, vulnerability of several watersheds is relieved by river restoration. Acknowledges This work was funded by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in Korea Program under Grant NEMA-10-NH-04.

Spatially-Distributed Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Framework to Control Phosphorus from Agricultural Diffuse Pollution.

PubMed

Geng, Runzhe; Wang, Xiaoyan; Sharpley, Andrew N; Meng, Fande

2015-01-01

Best management practices (BMPs) for agricultural diffuse pollution control are implemented at the field or small-watershed scale. However, the benefits of BMP implementation on receiving water quality at multiple spatial is an ongoing challenge. In this paper, we introduce an integrated approach that combines risk assessment (i.e., Phosphorus (P) index), model simulation techniques (Hydrological Simulation Program-FORTRAN), and a BMP placement tool at various scales to identify the optimal location for implementing multiple BMPs and estimate BMP effectiveness after implementation. A statistically significant decrease in nutrient discharge from watersheds is proposed to evaluate the effectiveness of BMPs, strategically targeted within watersheds. Specifically, we estimate two types of cost-effectiveness curves (total pollution reduction and proportion of watersheds improved) for four allocation approaches. Selection of a ''best approach" depends on the relative importance of the two types of effectiveness, which involves a value judgment based on the random/aggregated degree of BMP distribution among and within sub-watersheds. A statistical optimization framework is developed and evaluated in Chaohe River Watershed located in the northern mountain area of Beijing. Results show that BMP implementation significantly (p >0.001) decrease P loss from the watershed. Remedial strategies where BMPs were targeted to areas of high risk of P loss, deceased P loads compared with strategies where BMPs were randomly located across watersheds. Sensitivity analysis indicated that aggregated BMP placement in particular watershed is the most cost-effective scenario to decrease P loss. The optimization approach outlined in this paper is a spatially hierarchical method for targeting nonpoint source controls across a range of scales from field to farm, to watersheds, to regions. Further, model estimates showed targeting at multiple scales is necessary to optimize program efficiency. The integrated model approach described that selects and places BMPs at varying levels of implementation, provides a new theoretical basis and technical guidance for diffuse pollution management in agricultural watersheds.

Climate, wildfire, and erosion ensemble foretells more sediment in western USA watersheds

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sankey, Joel B.; Kreitler, Jason R.; Hawbaker, Todd; McVay, Jason L.; Miller, Mary Ellen; Mueller, Erich R.; Vaillant, Nicole M.; Lowe, Scott E.; Sankey, Temuulen T.

2017-01-01

The area burned annually by wildfires is expected to increase worldwide due to climate change. Burned areas increase soil erosion rates within watersheds, which can increase sedimentation in downstream rivers and reservoirs. However, which watersheds will be impacted by future wildfires is largely unknown. Using an ensemble of climate, fire, and erosion models, we show that post-fire sedimentation is projected to increase for nearly nine-tenths of watersheds by > 10% and for more than one-third of watersheds by > 100% by the 2041 to 2050 decade in the western USA. The projected increases are statistically significant for more than eight-tenths of the watersheds. In the western USA, many human communities rely on water from rivers and reservoirs that originates in watersheds where sedimentation is projected to increase. Increased sedimentation could negatively impact water supply and quality for some communities, in addition to affecting stream channel stability and aquatic ecosystems.

MANAGEMENT OF DIFFUSE POLLUTION IN AGRICULTURAL WATERSHEDS: LESSONS FROM THE MINNESOTA RIVER BASIN. (R825290)

EPA Science Inventory

Abstract

The Minnesota River (Minnesota, USA) receives large non-point source pollutant loads. Complex interactions between agricultural, state agency, environmental groups, and issues of scale make watershed management difficult. Subdividing the basin's 12 major water...

Automated riverine landscape characterization: GIS-based tools for watershed-scale research, assessment, and management

EPA Science Inventory

River systems consist of hydrogeomorphic patches (HPs) that emerge at multiple spatiotemporal scales. Functional process zones (FPZs) are HPs that exist at the river valley scae and are important strata for fraing whole-watershed research questions and management plans. Hierarchi...

PUTTING SCIENCE INTO ACTION: FISH-HABITAT RELATIONSHIPS IN PACIFIC NORTHWEST STREAMS

EPA Science Inventory

The Calapooia River, a major tributary to the Willamette River in Oregon, provides an outstanding opportunity to study dynamics of dissolved nitrogen (DN) in a multiple landuse watershed. The watershed is typical of many found in the Willamette basin, with National Forest land i...

Geochemical baseline level and function and contamination of phosphorus in Liao River Watershed sediments of China.

PubMed

Liu, Shaoqing; Wang, Jing; Lin, Chunye; He, Mengchang; Liu, Xitao

2013-10-15

The quantitative assessment of P contamination in sediments is a challenge due to sediment heterogeneity and the lacking of geochemical background or baseline levels. In this study, a procedure was proposed to determine the average P background level and P geochemical baseline level (GBL) and develop P geochemical baseline functions (GBF) for riverbed sediments of the Liao River Watershed (LRW). The LRW has two river systems - the Liao River System (LRS) and the Daliao River System (DRS). Eighty-eight samples were collected and analyzed for P, Al, Fe, Ca, organic matter, pH, and texture. The results show that Fe can be used as a better particle-size proxy to construct the GBF of P (P (mg/kg) = 39.98 + 166.19 × Fe (%), R(2) = 0.835, n = 66). The GBL of P was 675 mg/kg, while the average background level of P was 355 mg/kg. Noting that many large cities are located in the DRS watershed, most of the contaminated sites were located within the DRS and the riverbed sediments were more contaminated by P in the DRS watershed than in the LRS watershed. The geochemical background and baseline information of P are of great importance in managing P levels within the LRW. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Watershed analysis

Treesearch

Alan Gallegos

2002-01-01

Watershed analyses and assessments for the Kings River Sustainable Forest Ecosystems Project were done on about 33,000 acres of the 45,500-acre Big Creek watershed and 32,000 acres of the 85,100-acre Dinkey Creek watershed. Following procedures developed for analysis of cumulative watershed effects (CWE) in the Pacific Northwest Region of the USDA Forest Service, the...

Climate Change Impact on Water Balance at the Chipola River Watershed in Florida

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Griffen, J. M.; Chen, X.; Wang, D.; Hagen, S. C.

2013-12-01

As the largest tributary to the Apalachicola River, the Chipola River originates in southern Alabama, flows through the Florida Panhandle and drains into the Gulf of Mexico. The Chipola watershed is located in an intermediate climate environment with an aridity index of approximately 1.0. However, climate change affects the hydrologic cycle of Chipola River watershed at various temporal and spatial scales. Studying the effects of climate variations is of great importance for water and environmental management purposes in this watershed. This research is mainly focused on assessing climate change impact on the partitioning of rainfall and the following runoff generation in Chipola watershed, from long-term mean annual to inter-annual and to seasonal and monthly scales. A comprehensive water balance model at inter-annual scale is built in this study based on Budyko's framework, two-stage runoff theory and proportionality hypothesis. The inter-annual scale model considers the impact of storage change, seasonality and landscape controls, which are normally assumed to be negligible on a long-term scale. The model is applied to the Chipola River Watershed in Florida to project future water balance pattern with the input from a Regional Climate Model projection. Based on the projection results: evaporation will increase in the future in all 12 months; runoff will increase only in dry months of July to October, while significantly decrease in wet months of December to April; storage change will increase in wet months of January to April, while decrease in the dry months of August to November.

Modeling urbanized watershed flood response changes with distributed hydrological model: key hydrological processes, parameterization and case studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Y.

2017-12-01

Urbanization is the world development trend for the past century, and the developing countries have been experiencing much rapider urbanization in the past decades. Urbanization brings many benefits to human beings, but also causes negative impacts, such as increasing flood risk. Impact of urbanization on flood response has long been observed, but quantitatively studying this effect still faces great challenges. For example, setting up an appropriate hydrological model representing the changed flood responses and determining accurate model parameters are very difficult in the urbanized or urbanizing watershed. In the Pearl River Delta area, rapidest urbanization has been observed in China for the past decades, and dozens of highly urbanized watersheds have been appeared. In this study, a physically based distributed watershed hydrological model, the Liuxihe model is employed and revised to simulate the hydrological processes of the highly urbanized watershed flood in the Pearl River Delta area. A virtual soil type is then defined in the terrain properties dataset, and its runoff production and routing algorithms are added to the Liuxihe model. Based on a parameter sensitive analysis, the key hydrological processes of a highly urbanized watershed is proposed, that provides insight into the hydrological processes and for parameter optimization. Based on the above analysis, the model is set up in the Songmushan watershed where there is hydrological data observation. A model parameter optimization and updating strategy is proposed based on the remotely sensed LUC types, which optimizes model parameters with PSO algorithm and updates them based on the changed LUC types. The model parameters in Songmushan watershed are regionalized at the Pearl River Delta area watersheds based on the LUC types of the other watersheds. A dozen watersheds in the highly urbanized area of Dongguan City in the Pearl River Delta area were studied for the flood response changes due to urbanization, and the results show urbanization has big impact on the watershed flood responses. The peak flow increased a few times after urbanization which is much higher than previous reports.

Summer water use by mixed-age and young forest stands, Mattole River, northern California, U.S.A

Treesearch

Andrew Stubblefield; Max Kaufman; Greg Blomstrom; John Rogers

2012-01-01

Resource managers have noted a decline in summer flow levels in the last decade in the Mattole River watershed, Humboldt County, California. Reduced river flows pose a threat to endangered coho and chinook salmon in the watershed, as stream heating is inversely proportional to discharge. While the cause of the reduced flow is unclear, several factors have been cited:...

Loads of suspended sediment and nutrients from local nonpoint sources to the tidal Potomac River and Estuary, Maryland and Virginia, 1979-81 water years

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hickman, R. Edward

1987-01-01

Loads of suspended sediment, phosphorus, nitrogen, biochemical oxygen demand, and dissolved silica discharged to the tidal Potomac River and Estuary during the !979-81 water years from three local nonpoint sources have been calculated. The loads in rain falling directly upon the tidal water surface and from overflows of the combined sewer system of the District of Columbia were determined from available information. Loads of materials in the streamflow from local watersheds draining directly to the tidal Potomac River and Estuary downstream from Chain Bridge in Washington, D.C., were calculated from samples of streamflow leaving five monitored watersheds. Average annual yields of substances leaving three urban watersheds (Rock Creek and the Northwest and Northeast Branches of the Anacostia River) and the rural Saint Clements Creek watershed were calculated either by developing relationships between concentration and streamflow or by using the mean of measured concentrations. Yields calculated for the 1979-81 water years are up to 2.3 times period-of-record yields because of greater than average streamflow and stormflow during this 3-year period. Period-of-record yields of suspended sediment from the three urban watersheds and the Saint Clements Creek watershed do not agree with yields reported by other studies. The yields from the urban watersheds are 17 to 51 percent of yields calculated using sediment-concentration data collected during the 1960-62 water years. Previous studies suggest that this decrease is at least partly due to the imposition of effective sediment controls at construction sites and to the construction of two multipurpose reservoirs. The yield calculated for the rural Saint Clements Creek watershed is at least twice the yields calculated for other rural watersheds, a result that may be due to most of the samples of this stream being taken during the summer of the 1981 water year, a very dry period. Loads discharged from all local tributary watersheds to the tidal Potomac River and Estuary during the 1979-81 water years were calculated by applying to the unsampled watersheds the yields determined for the monitored watersheds. The resulting loads are 2.7 million megagrams of suspended sedi- ment, 3,100 megagrams of phosphorus, 14,000 megagrams of nitrogen, 74,000 megagrams of ultimate biochemical oxygen demand, and 68,000 megagrams of dissolved silica. The value for the load of sediment is probably an overestimate because the sediment yield calculated for the Saint Clements Creek watershed does not appear to be representative of rural watersheds. Summed, the loads discharged from all local nonpoint sources (local tributary watersheds, rainfall, and combined sewer overflows) to the tidal Potomac River and Estuary during the 1979-81 water years are 2.7 million megagrams of suspended sediment, 3,300 megagrams of phosphorus, 18,000 megagrams of nitrogen, 78,000 megagrams of ultimate biochemical oxygen demand, and 69,000 megagrams of dissolved silica. These loads accounted for 17 to 38 percent of the loads discharged by major sources during this period.

Groundwater quality in the Central Sierra Nevada, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fram, Miranda S.; 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. Two small watersheds of the Fresno and San Joaquin Rivers in the Central Sierra Nevada constitute one of the study units being evaluated.

Groundwater quality in the Southern Sierra Nevada, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fram, Miranda S.; 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. The Tehachapi-Cummings Valley and Kern River Valley basins and surrounding watersheds in the Southern Sierra Nevada constitute one of the study units being evaluated.

Questa baseline and pre-mining ground-water quality investigation. 10. Geologic influences on ground and surface waters in the lower Red River watershed, New Mexico

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ludington, Steve; Plumlee, Geoff; Caine, Jonathan S.; Bove, Dana; Holloway, JoAnn; Livo, Eric

2005-01-01

Introduction: This report is one in a series that presents results of an interdisciplinary U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study of ground-water quality in the lower Red River watershed prior to open-pit and underground molybdenite mining at Molycorp's Questa mine. The stretch of the Red River watershed that extends from just upstream of the town of Red River, N. Mex., to just above the town of Questa includes several mineralized areas in addition to the one mined by Molycorp. Natural erosion and weathering of pyrite-rich rocks in the mineralized areas has created a series of erosional scars along this stretch of the Red River that contribute acidic waters, as well as mineralized alluvial material and sediments, to the river. The overall goal of the USGS study is to infer the premining ground-water quality at the Molycorp mine site. An integrated geologic, hydrologic, and geochemical model for ground water in the mineralized-but unmined-Straight Creek drainage (a tributary of the Red River) is being used as an analog for the geologic, geochemical, and hydrologic conditions that influenced ground-water quality and quantity in the Red River drainage prior to mining. This report provides an overall geologic framework for the Red River watershed between Red River and Questa, in northern New Mexico, and summarizes key geologic, mineralogic, structural and other characteristics of various mineralized areas (and their associated erosional scars and debris fans) that likely influence ground- and surface-water quality and hydrology. The premining nature of the Sulphur Gulch and Goat Hill Gulch scars on the Molycorp mine site can be inferred through geologic comparisons with other unmined scars in the Red River drainage.

Water quality and hydrology of the Silver River Watershed, Baraga County, Michigan, 2005-08

USGS Publications Warehouse

Weaver, Thomas L.; Sullivan, Daniel J.; Rachol, Cynthia M.; Ellis, James M.

2010-01-01

The Silver River Watershed comprises about 69 square miles and drains part of northeastern Baraga County, Michigan. For generations, tribal members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community have hunted and fished in the watershed. Tribal government and members of Keweenaw Bay Indian Community are concerned about the effect of any development within the watershed, which is rural, isolated, and lightly populated. For decades, the area has been explored for various minerals. Since 2004, several mineral-exploration firms have been actively investigating areas within the watershed; property acquisition, road construction, and subsurface drilling have taken place close to tributary streams of the Silver River. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, conducted a multi-year water-resources investigation of the Silver River Watershed during 2005-08. Methods of investigation included analyses of streamflow, water-quality sampling, and ecology at eight discrete sites located throughout the watershed. In addition, three continuous-record streamgages located within the watershed provided stage, discharge, specific conductance, and water-temperature data on an hourly basis. Water quality of the Silver River Watershed is typical of many streams in undeveloped areas of Upper Michigan. Concentrations of most analytes typically were low, although several exceeded applicable surface-water-quality standards. Seven samples had concentrations of copper that exceeded the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality standards for wildlife, and one sample had concentrations of cyanide that exceeded the same standards. Concentrations of total mercury at all eight sampling sites exceeded the Great Lakes Basin water-quality standard, but the ratio of methylmercury to total mercury was similar to the 5 to 10 percent found in most natural waters. Concentrations of arsenic and chromium in bed sediments were near the threshold-effect concentration. A qualitative ecological assessment of fishes and macroinvertebrates showed that intolerant salmonids were present at most sampled sites, and macroinvertebrate communities were indicative of near-excellent or excellent conditions at all eight sites. This baseline information will aid in an ongoing monitoring effort designed to protect the water resources of the

Sources and Delivery of Nutrients to the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico from Streams in the South-Central United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rebich, R.A.; Houston, N.A.; Mize, S.V.; Pearson, D.K.; Ging, P.B.; Evan, Hornig C.

2011-01-01

SPAtially Referenced Regressions On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) models were developed to estimate nutrient inputs [total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP)] to the northwestern part of the Gulf of Mexico from streams in the South-Central United States (U.S.). This area included drainages of the Lower Mississippi, Arkansas-White-Red, and Texas-Gulf hydrologic regions. The models were standardized to reflect nutrient sources and stream conditions during 2002. Model predictions of nutrient loads (mass per time) and yields (mass per area per time) generally were greatest in streams in the eastern part of the region and along reaches near the Texas and Louisiana shoreline. The Mississippi River and Atchafalaya River watersheds, which drain nearly two-thirds of the conterminous U.S., delivered the largest nutrient loads to the Gulf of Mexico, as expected. However, the three largest delivered TN yields were from the Trinity River/Galveston Bay, Calcasieu River, and Aransas River watersheds, while the three largest delivered TP yields were from the Calcasieu River, Mermentau River, and Trinity River/Galveston Bay watersheds. Model output indicated that the three largest sources of nitrogen from the region were atmospheric deposition (42%), commercial fertilizer (20%), and livestock manure (unconfined, 17%). The three largest sources of phosphorus were commercial fertilizer (28%), urban runoff (23%), and livestock manure (confined and unconfined, 23%). ?? 2011 American Water Resources Association. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Streamflow and water-quality data for selected watersheds in the Lake Tahoe basin, California and Nevada, through September 1998

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rowe, T.G.; Saleh, D.K.; Watkins, S.A.; Kratzer, C.R.

2002-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, and the University of California, Davis-Tahoe Research Group, has monitored tributaries in the Lake Tahoe Basin since 1988. This monitoring has characterized streamflow and has determined concentrations of nutrients and suspended sediment, which may have contributed to loss of clarity in Lake Tahoe. The Lake Tahoe Interagency Monitoring Program was developed to collect water-quality data in the basin. In 1998, the tributary-monitoring program included 41 water-quality stations in 14 of the 63 watersheds totaling half the area tributary to Lake Tahoe. The monitored watershed areas range from 1.08 square miles for First Creek to 56.5 square miles for the Upper Truckee River.Annual and unit runoff for 20 primary and secondary streamflow gaging stations in 10 selected watersheds are described. Water years 1988-98 were used to compare runoff data. The Upper Truckee River at South Lake Tahoe, Calif., had the highest annual runoff and Logan House Creek near Glenbrook, Nev., had the lowest. Blackwood Creek near Tahoe City, Calif., had the highest unit runoff and Logan House Creek had the lowest. The highest instantaneous peak flow was recorded at Upper Truckee River at South Lake Tahoe during the January 2, 1997, flood event.Certain water-quality measurements were made in the field. Ranges and median values of those measurements are described for 41 stations. Water temperature ranged from 0 to 23?C. Specific conductance ranged from 13 to 900 microsiemens per centimeter at 25?C. pH ranged from 6.7 to 10.6. Dissolved-oxygen concentrations ranged from 5.2 to 12.6 mg/L and from 70 to 157 percent of saturation.Loads, yields, and trends of nutrients and suspended sediment during water years 1988-98 at the streamflow gaging stations also are described. The Upper Truckee River at South Lake Tahoe had the largest median monthly load for five of the six measured nutrients and of suspended sediment, while Trout Creek at South Lake Tahoe had the largest median monthly load for the remaining nutrient. Logan House Creek near Glenbrook had the smallest median monthly loads for all nutrients and suspended sediment. Seasonal load summaries at selected stations showed nutrient and suspended-sediment loads were greatest in the spring months of April, May and June and least in the summer months of July, August, and September. Monthly load comparisons also were described for five watersheds with multiple stations.Incline Creek had the highest combined rank for all nutrients and sediment. Incline Creek had the largest monthly yields for dissolved nitrite plus nitrate nitrogen and soluble reactive phosphorus. Third Creek had the second highest combined rank and had the largest monthly yields for total nitrogen, total phosphorus, biologically reactive iron, and suspended sediment. Edgewood Creek had the largest monthly yield for dissolved ammonia nitrogen. Logan House Creek had the lowest combined rank and the smallest monthly yields for all nutrients and sediment.Trends in concentrations are either decreasing or not significant for all nutrients in all sampled watersheds, with the exception of biologically reactive iron. Biologically reactive iron and suspended sediment show an increasing trend in three watersheds and decreasing or no significant trend in the other seven watersheds.

Linked Hydrologic-Hydrodynamic Model Framework to Forecast Impacts of Rivers on Beach Water Quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, E. J.; Fry, L. M.; Kramer, E.; Ritzenthaler, A.

2014-12-01

The goal of NOAA's beach quality forecasting program is to use a multi-faceted approach to aid in detection and prediction of bacteria in recreational waters. In particular, our focus has been on the connection between tributary loads and bacteria concentrations at nearby beaches. While there is a clear link between stormwater runoff and beach water quality, quantifying the contribution of river loadings to nearshore bacterial concentrations is complicated due to multiple processes that drive bacterial concentrations in rivers as well as those processes affecting the fate and transport of bacteria upon exiting the rivers. In order to forecast potential impacts of rivers on beach water quality, we developed a linked hydrologic-hydrodynamic water quality framework that simulates accumulation and washoff of bacteria from the landscape, and then predicts the fate and transport of washed off bacteria from the watershed to the coastal zone. The framework includes a watershed model (IHACRES) to predict fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) loadings to the coastal environment (accumulation, wash-off, die-off) as a function of effective rainfall. These loadings are input into a coastal hydrodynamic model (FVCOM), including a bacteria transport model (Lagrangian particle), to simulate 3D bacteria transport within the coastal environment. This modeling system provides predictive tools to assist local managers in decision-making to reduce human health threats.

Water resources of the Roseau River Watershed, Northwestern Minnesota

USGS Publications Warehouse

Winter, Thomas C.; Maclay, R.W.; Pike, G.M.

1967-01-01

This report is a general appraisal of the water resources in the Roseau River watershed unit. Detailed studies of water movement through the ground-water reservoir are needed for more exact determination of the amount of water immediately available and the specific effects of water-management practices.

EPA Awards $91,000 Environmental Education Grant to Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council in Providence, R.I.

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded a $91,000 environmental education grant to the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council in Providence, R.I. to work on a two-year effort to educate K-12 students in greater Providence about environmental

Listening to the River: Final Evaluation Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robles, Dawn; Mitchell, Heather; Horsch, Elizabeth; St. John, Mark

2010-01-01

"Listening to the River" (LTTR) is a watershed science education project funded by the National Science Foundation. The project aims to deliver watershed education experiences in and around Traverse City, Michigan, and also to develop a model that can be replicated in other locations. Inverness Research was contracted by the…

NUTRIENT CONCENTRATIONS IN FLOWING WATERS OF THE SOUTH FORK BROAD RIVER, GEORGIA WATERSHED

EPA Science Inventory

The South Fork Broad River (SFBR) drains about 635 km2 of the Georgia Piedmont. The SFBR watershed is primarily rural and undeveloped although the human population increased by about 25% between 1990 and 2000. Forestry and agriculture are the main land uses. Agriculture consis...

NUTRIENT SOUIRCES, TRANSPORT, AND FATE IN COUPLED WATERSHED-ESTUARINE SYSTEMS OF COASTAL ALABAMA

EPA Science Inventory

The processes regulating sources, transport, and fate of nutrients were studied in 3 coupled watershed-estuarine systems that varied mainly by differences in the dominant land use-land cover (LULC), i.e. Weeks Bay -- agriculture, Dog River -- urban, and Fowl River -- forest. Mea...

Human and bovine viruses in the Milwaukee river watershed: hydrologically relevant representation and relations with environmental variables

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

To examine the occurrence, hydrologic variability, and seasonal variability of human and bovine viruses in surface water, three stream locations were monitored in the Milwaukee River watershed in Wisconsin, USA, from February 2007 through June 2008. Monitoring sites included an urban subwatershed, ...

Simulation of relationship between river discharge and sediment yield in the semi-arid river watersheds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khaleghi, Mohammad Reza; Varvani, Javad

2018-02-01

Complex and variable nature of the river sediment yield caused many problems in estimating the long-term sediment yield and problems input into the reservoirs. Sediment Rating Curves (SRCs) are generally used to estimate the suspended sediment load of the rivers and drainage watersheds. Since the regression equations of the SRCs are obtained by logarithmic retransformation and have a little independent variable in this equation, they also overestimate or underestimate the true sediment load of the rivers. To evaluate the bias correction factors in Kalshor and Kashafroud watersheds, seven hydrometric stations of this region with suitable upstream watershed and spatial distribution were selected. Investigation of the accuracy index (ratio of estimated sediment yield to observed sediment yield) and the precision index of different bias correction factors of FAO, Quasi-Maximum Likelihood Estimator (QMLE), Smearing, and Minimum-Variance Unbiased Estimator (MVUE) with LSD test showed that FAO coefficient increases the estimated error in all of the stations. Application of MVUE in linear and mean load rating curves has not statistically meaningful effects. QMLE and smearing factors increased the estimated error in mean load rating curve, but that does not have any effect on linear rating curve estimation.

Magnitude and frequency analysis on river width widening caused by Typhoon Morakot in the Kaoping River watershed, Taiwan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, S. Y.; Jan, C. D.; Wang, Y. C.

2014-12-01

Active evolving rivers are some of the most dynamic and sensitive parts of landscapes. From geologic and geomorphic perspectives, a stable river channel can adjust its width, depth, and slope to prevent significant aggradation or degradation caused by external triggers, e.g., hydrologic events caused by typhoon storms. In particular, the processes of lateral riverbank erosion play a majorly important role in forming horizontal river geomorphology, dominating incised river widens and meanders. Sediment materials produced and mobilized from riverbanks can also be substantial sediment supplying into river channel networks, affecting watershed sediment yield. In Taiwan, the geological and climatic regimes usually combine to generate severely lateral erosion and/or riverbed deposition along river channels, causing the significant change in river width. In the August of 2009, Typhoon Morakot brought severe rainfall of about 2000 mmin Southern Taiwan during three days at the beginning of Aug. 5, leading to significant changes in geomorphic system. Here we characterized river width widening (including Cishan, Laonong, and Ilao Rivers) in the Kaoping River watershed after Typhoon Morakot disturbance interpreted through a power law. On the basis of a temporal pair (2008 and 2009) of Formosat-II (Formosa satellite II) images analysis, the river channels were digitalized within geographic information system (GIS), and river widths were extracted per 100 m along the rivers, then differentiating the adjustment of river width before and after Typhoon Morkot. The river width adjusted from -83 m (contracting) to 1985 m (widening), with an average of 170 m. The noncumulative frequency-magnitude distribution for river width adjustment caused by Typhoon Morakot in the study area satisfies a power-law relation with a determined coefficient (r2) of 0.95, over the range from 65 m to 2373m in the study area. Moreover, the value of the power-law exponent is equal to -2.09. This pattern suggests that river channel widening caused by large, infrequent hydrologic episodes has self-organized criticality. This study can provide useful information to river and watershed management, thereby refining the prevention and mitigation of hazard risks due to the effect of river width widening.

Hydrological Modeling of the Jiaoyi Watershed (China) Using HSPF Model

PubMed Central

Yan, Chang-An; Zhang, Wanchang; Zhang, Zhijie

2014-01-01

A watershed hydrological model, hydrological simulation program-Fortran (HSPF), was applied to simulate the spatial and temporal variation of hydrological processes in the Jiaoyi watershed of Huaihe River Basin, the heaviest shortage of water resources and polluted area in China. The model was calibrated using the years 2001–2004 and validated with data from 2005 to 2006. Calibration and validation results showed that the model generally simulated mean monthly and daily runoff precisely due to the close matching hydrographs between simulated and observed runoff, as well as the excellent evaluation indicators such as Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), coefficient of correlation (R 2), and the relative error (RE). The similar simulation results between calibration and validation period showed that all the calibrated parameters had a certain representation in Jiaoyi watershed. Additionally, the simulation in rainy months was more accurate than the drought months. Another result in this paper was that HSPF was also capable of estimating the water balance components reasonably and realistically in space through the whole watershed. The calibrated model can be used to explore the effects of climate change scenarios and various watershed management practices on the water resources and water environment in the basin. PMID:25013863

Bathymetric and geophysical surveys of Englebright Lake, Yuba-Nevada Counties, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Childs, Jonathan R.; Snyder, Noah P.; Hampton, Margaret A.

2003-01-01

Harry L. Englebright Lake is a 9-mile-long (14-kilometer) reservoir located in the Sierra Nevada foothills of northern California on the Yuba River gorge known as The Narrows. The reservoir is impounded by Englebright Dam (Photo 1), a concrete arch structure spanning 348 meters (1,142 feet) across and 79 meters (260 feet) high. The dam was constructed in 1941 for the primary purpose of trapping sediment derived from anticipated hydraulic mining operations in the Yuba River watershed. Hydraulic mining in the Sierra Nevada was halted in 1884 but resumed on a limited basis until the 1930's under the regulation of the California Debris Commission. Although no hydraulic mining in the upper Yuba River watershed resumed after the construction of the dam, the historical mine sites continued to contribute sediment to the river. Today, Englebright Lake is used primarily for recreation and hydropower. In 2001 and 2002, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted bathymetric, geophysical, and geological studies of the reservoir under the auspices of the Upper Yuba River Studies Program (UYRSP), a multi-disciplinary investigation into the feasibility of introducing anadromous fish species to the Yuba River system upstream of Englebright Dam. A primary purpose of these studies was to assess the quantity and nature of the sediment that has accumulated behind the dam over the past 60 years. This report presents the results of those surveys, including a new bathymetric map of the reservoir and estimates of the total accumulated sediment volume.

Umatilla River Basin Anadromus Fish Habitat Enhancement Project : 1994 Annual Report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shaw, R. Todd

1994-05-01

The Umatilla Basin Anadromous Fish Habitat Enhancement Project is funded under the Northwest Power Planning Council's Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program, Section 7.6-7.8 and targets the improvement of water quality and restoration of riparian areas, holding, spawning and rearing habitats of steelhead, spring and fall chinook and coho salmon. The project focused on implementing cooperative instream and riparian habitat improvements on private lands on the Umatilla Indian Reservation (hereafter referred to as Reservation) from April 1, 1988 to March 31, 1992. These efforts resulted in enhancement of the lower l/4 mile of Boston Canyon Creek, the lower 4more » river miles of Meacham Creek and 3.2 river miles of the Umatilla River in the vicinity of Gibbon, Oregon. In 1993, the project shifted emphasis to a comprehensive watershed approach, consistent with other basin efforts, and began to identify upland and riparian watershed-wide causative factors impacting fisheries habitat and natural fisheries production capabilities throughout the Umatilla River Watershed. During the 1994-95 project period, a one river mile demonstration project was implemented on two privately owned properties on Wildhorse Creek. This was the first watershed improvement project to be implemented by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) off of the Reservation. Four 15 year riparian easements and two right-of-way agreements were secured for enhancement of one river mile on Wildhorse Creek and l/2 river mile on Meacham Creek. Enhancements implemented between river mile (RM) 9.5 and RM 10.5 Wildhorse Creek included: (1) installation of 1.43 miles of smooth wire high tensile fence line and placement of 0.43 miles of fence posts and structures to restrict livestock from the riparian corridor, (2) construction of eighteen sediment retention structures in the stream channel to speed riparian recovery by elevating the stream grade, slowing water velocities and depositing sediments onto streambanks to provide substrate for revegetation, and (3) revegetation of the stream corridor, terraces and adjacent pasture areas with 644 pounds of native grass seed (when commercially available) or close species equivalents and 4,000 native riparian shrub/tree species to assist in floodplain recovery, stream channel stability and filtering of sediments during high flow periods. Three hundred pounds of native grass/legume seed (including other grasses/legumes exhibiting native species characteristics) were broadcast in existing Boston Canyon Creek, Meacham Creek and Umatilla River project areas. The addition of two properties into the project area between RM 4.25 and RM 4.75 Meacham Creek during the 1995-96 work period will provide nearly complete project coverage of lower Meacham Creek corridor areas on the Reservation. Water quality monitoring continued for temperature and turbidity throughout the upper Umatilla River Watershed. Survey of cross sections and photo documentation of riparian recovery within the project areas provided additional baseline data. Physical habitat surveys continued to be conducted to characterize habitat quality and to quantify various habitat types by area. This information will be utilized to assist in identification of habitat deficient areas within the watershed in which to focus habitat restoration efforts. These efforts were coordinated with the CTUIR Umatilla Basin Natural Production Monitoring and Evaluation (UBNPME) Project. Poor land use practices, which have altered natural floodplain dynamics and significantly reduced or eliminated fisheries habitat, continued to be identified in the Mission Creek Subbasin. Complied data is currently being incorporated into a data layer for a Geographic Information System (GIS) data base. This effort is being coordinated with the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS). Community outreach efforts and public education opportunities continued during the reporting period. CTUIR cooperatively sponsored a bioengineering workshop on February 23, 1995 with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW). This workshop attracted a combined total 3f over 270 participants at day and evening sessions.« less

Fort Cobb Reservoir Watershed, Oklahoma and Thika River Watershed, Kenya Twinning Pilot Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moriasi, D.; Steiner, J.; Arnold, J.; Allen, P.; Dunbar, J.; Shisanya, C.; Gathenya, J.; Nyaoro, J.; Sang, J.

2007-12-01

The Fort Cobb Reservoir Watershed (FCRW) (830 km2) is a watershed within the HELP Washita Basin, located in Caddo and Washita Counties, OK. It is also a benchmark watershed under USDA's Conservation Effects Assessment Project, a national project to quantify environmental effects of USDA and other conservation programs. Population in south-western Oklahoma, in which FCRW is located, is sparse and decreasing. Agricultural focuses on commodity production (beef, wheat, and row crops) with high costs and low margins. Surface and groundwater resources supply public, domestic, and irrigation water. Fort Cobb Reservoir and contributing stream segments are listed on the Oklahoma 303(d) list as not meeting water quality standards based on sedimentation, trophic level of the lake associated with phosphorus loads, and nitrogen in some stream segments in some seasons. Preliminary results from a rapid geomorphic assessment results indicated that unstable stream channels dominate the stream networks and make a significant but unknown contribution to suspended-sediment loadings. Impairment of the lake for municipal water supply, recreation, and fish and wildlife are important factors in local economies. The Thika River Watershed (TRW) (867 km2) is located in central Kenya. Population in TRW is high and increasing, which has led to a poor land-population ratio with population densities ranging from 250 people/km2 to over 500 people/km2. The poor land-population ratio has resulted in land sub-division, fragmentation, over- cultivation, overgrazing, and deforestation which have serious implications on soil erosion, which poses a threat to both agricultural production and downstream reservoirs. Agricultural focuses mainly on subsistence and some cash crops (dairy cattle, corn, beans, coffee, floriculture and pineapple) farming. Surface and groundwater resources supply domestic, public, and hydroelectric power generation water. Thika River supplies 80% of the water for the city of Nairobi. A dam was constructed in 1994 with a water reservoir of 70 million m3. Thika River also supplies water to Masinga Reservoir to supply the seven forks dams, which together supply 75% of the nation's electricity. The quantity of water in rivers and reservoirs is decreased due to sedimentation while water quality is degraded by sediments, and sediment-borne nutrients and pesticides. The focus of this pilot twinning project is watershed erosion and reservoir sedimentation assessment. This will be accomplished by (1) a rapid watershed/catchment erosion assessment using ground based measurements and remote sensing/GIS techniques, 2) use of Acoustic Profiling Systems (APS) for reservoir sedimentation measurement studies, and 3) advanced water quality modeling using the soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) model. Data acquired will be used for sediment transport modeling to1) determine sediment "hot spots" and management practices that will minimize sediments into reservoirs in order to 2) maintain the reservoirs on which many farmers depend for their livelihood and a cleaner environment. This project will provide an opportunity for 1) sharing knowledge and experience among the stakeholders, 2) building capacity through formal and informal education opportunities through reciprocal hosting of decision makers and water experts, and 3) technology transfer of pilot results with recommended management practices to reduce reservoir sedimentation rates.

Spatial heterogeneity of stream environmental conditions and macroinvertebrates community in an agriculture dominated watershed and management implications for a large river (the Liao River, China) basin.

PubMed

Gao, Xin; Niu, Cuijuan; Chen, Yushun; Yin, Xuwang

2014-04-01

Understanding the effects of watershed land uses (e.g., agriculture, urban industry) on stream ecological conditions is important for the management of large river basins. A total of 41 and 56 stream sites (from first to fourth order) that were under a gradient of watershed land uses were monitored in 2009 and 2010, respectively, in the Liao River Basin, Northeast China. The monitoring results showed that a total of 192 taxa belonging to four phyla, seven classes, 21 orders and 91 families were identified. The composition of macroinvertebrate community in the Liao River Basin was dominated by aquatic insect taxa (Ephemeroptera and Diptera), Oligochaeta and Molluscs. The functional feeding group GC (Gatherer/Collector) was dominant in the whole basin. Statistical results showed that sites with less watershed impacts (lower order sites) were characterized by higher current velocity and habitat score, more sensitive taxa (e.g., Ephemeroptera), and the substrate was dominated by high percentage of cobble and pebble. The sites with more impacts from agriculture and urban industry (higher order sites) were characterized by higher biochemical (BOD5) and chemical oxygen demand (COD), more tolerant taxa (e.g., Chironominae), and the substrate was dominated by silt and sand. Agriculture and urban-industry activities have reduced habitat condition, increased organic pollutants, reduced macroinvertebrate abundance, diversity, and sensitive taxa in streams of the lower Liao River Basin. Restoration of degraded habitat condition and control of watershed organic pollutants could be potential management priorities for the Basin.

Evaluation of the effects of sewering on nitrogen loads to the Niantic River, southeastern Connecticut, 2005-2011

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mullaney, John R.

2015-01-01

Nitrogen loads from groundwater discharge to the Niantic River Estuary from the lower part of the Niantic River watershed, including Pine Grove, were estimated to be 18,800 pounds (lb) in 2011. This compares with an additional 51,000 lb from the surface-water tributaries to the estuary and an unknown quantity of nitrogen load from stormwater runoff in the lower Niantic watershed.

The Chena River Watershed Hydrology Model

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-04-01

Moose Creek Dam Pro- ject and determine the Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) hydrograph. The Chena River water- shed covers 2115 mi2 . It is characterized...Tanana River in Fairbanks, AK (Figure 1). The watershed has a total area of 2115 mi2 , and elevations range from 420 ft at the outlet to 5280 ft at...physical characteristics. Sub- basin Description Area ( mi2 ) Longest flow path (mi) Elevation at divide (ft) Elevation at outlet (ft

A study of remote sensing as applied to regional and small watersheds. Volume 2: Supporting technical details. [using computerized simulation models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1974-01-01

The Stanford Watershed Model, the Kentucky Watershed Model and OPSET program, and the NASA-IBM system for simulation and analysis of watersheds are described in terms of their applications to the study of remote sensing of water resources. Specific calibration processes and input and output parameters that are instrumental in the simulations are explained for the following kinds of data: (1) hourly precipitation data; (2) daily discharge data; (3) flood hydrographs; (4) temperature and evaporation data; and (5) snowmelt data arrays. The Sensitivity Analysis Task, which provides a method for evaluation of any of the separate simulation runs in the form of performance indices, is also reported. The method is defined and a summary of results is given which indicates the values obtained in the simulation runs performed for Town Creek, Alabama; Alamosa Creek, Colorado; and Pearl River, Louisiana. The results are shown in tabular and plot graph form. For Vol. 1, see N74-27813.

Data visualization, time-series analysis, and mass-balance modeling of hydrologic and water-quality data for the McTier Creek watershed, South Carolina, 2007-2009

USGS Publications Warehouse

Benedict, Stephen T.; Conrads, Paul; Feaster, Toby D.; Journey, Celeste A.; Golden, Heather E.; Knightes, Christopher D.; Davis, Gary M.; Bradley, Paul M.

2012-01-01

The McTier Creek watershed is located in the headwaters of the Edisto River Basin, which is in the Coastal Plain region of South Carolina. The Edisto ecosystem has some of the highest recorded fish-tissue mercury concentrations in the United States. In an effort to advance the understanding of the fate and transport of mercury in stream ecosystems, the U.S. Geological Survey, as part of its National Water-Quality Assessment Program, initiated a field investigation of mercury in the McTier Creek watershed in 2006. The initial efforts of the investigation included the collection of extensive hydrologic and water-quality field data, along with the development of several hydrologic and water-quality models. This series of measured and modeled data forms the primary source of information for this investigation to assess the fate and transport of mercury within the McTier Creek watershed.

Using Eco-hydrologic modeling in the Penobscot River Watershed to explore the role of climate and land use change on DOC concentration and flux

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rouhani, S. F. B. B.; Schaaf, C.; Douglas, E. M.; Huntington, T. G.; Kim, J.

2017-12-01

Dissolved Organic Carbon leaches from the terrestrial watersheds to serve as one of the largest sources of marine DOC. Runoff, slope, soil organic matter and land cover characteristics are the primary spatial factors controlling the variability of fluvial Dissolved Organic Carbon fluxes through the catchment. In large, more heterogeneous catchments, streamflow dissolved organic carbon dynamics are regulated by the combined effect of hydrological mechanisms and the proportion of major landscape elements, such as wetland and forested areas. A number of studies have demonstrated that the amount of wetlands, especially peatlands, controls the watershed level transport of DOC in streams.The Penobscot River Watershed is located in north-central Maine and drains into the Gulf of Maine. It is the second largest watershed in New England. The Penobscot River Watershed is primarily forested but also contains extensive bogs, marshes, and wooded swamps.Studying the spatial and temporal changes in DOC export in the Penobscot River Watershed allows us to better understand and detect carbon sinks to carbon source shifts (or vice versa) in northern forested ecosystems.The Regional Hydro-Ecological Simulation System, is a physical process based terrestrial model that has the ability to simulate both the source and transportation of DOC by combining both hydrological and ecological processes. The study is focused on simulating the DOC concentration and flux with RHESSys in the Penobscot River Watershed. The simulated results are compared with field measurements of DOC from the watershed and the model results from the LOADEST and the temporal DOC export patterns are explored. Future changes in the amount of streamflow DOC will also be investigated by using projected land cover and climate change scenarios. Incremental increases in the loss of wetland areas have been implemented to explore the sensitivity of this watershed to wetland loss and progressive changes in forested land cover have been implemented to understand the role of vegetation types to the DOC flux.The simulated daily streamflow for the period of 2004-2013 corresponded well with observed daily streamflowat USGS gauge station. in addition, the simulated DOC flux and concentration values matched well with observed data and LODEST model results.

A stakeholder project to model water temperature under future climate scenarios in the Satus and Toppenish watersheds of the Yakima River Basinin Washington, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Graves, D.; Maule, A.

2014-01-01

The goal of this study was to support an assessment of the potential effects of climate change on select natural, social, and economic resources in the Yakima River Basin. A workshop with local stakeholders highlighted the usefulness of projecting climate change impacts on anadromous steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss), a fish species of importance to local tribes, fisherman, and conservationists. Stream temperature is an important environmental variable for the freshwater stages of steelhead. For this study, we developed water temperature models for the Satus and Toppenish watersheds, two of the key stronghold areas for steelhead in the Yakima River Basin. We constructed the models with the Stream Network Temperature Model (SNTEMP), a mechanistic approach to simulate water temperature in a stream network. The models were calibrated over the April 15, 2008 to September 30, 2008 period and validated over the April 15, 2009 to September 30, 2009 period using historic measurements of stream temperature and discharge provided by the Yakama Nation Fisheries Resource Management Program. Once validated, the models were run to simulate conditions during the spring and summer seasons over a baseline period (1981–2005) and two future climate scenarios with increased air temperature of 1°C and 2°C. The models simulated daily mean and maximum water temperatures at sites throughout the two watersheds under the baseline and future climate scenarios.

[Nitrogen non-point source pollution identification based on ArcSWAT in Changle River].

PubMed

Deng, Ou-Ping; Sun, Si-Yang; Lü, Jun

2013-04-01

The ArcSWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) model was adopted for Non-point source (NPS) nitrogen pollution modeling and nitrogen source apportionment for the Changle River watershed, a typical agricultural watershed in Southeast China. Water quality and hydrological parameters were monitored, and the watershed natural conditions (including soil, climate, land use, etc) and pollution sources information were also investigated and collected for SWAT database. The ArcSWAT model was established in the Changle River after the calibrating and validating procedures of the model parameters. Based on the validated SWAT model, the contributions of different nitrogen sources to river TN loading were quantified, and spatial-temporal distributions of NPS nitrogen export to rivers were addressed. The results showed that in the Changle River watershed, Nitrogen fertilizer, nitrogen air deposition and nitrogen soil pool were the prominent pollution sources, which contributed 35%, 32% and 25% to the river TN loading, respectively. There were spatial-temporal variations in the critical sources for NPS TN export to the river. Natural sources, such as soil nitrogen pool and atmospheric nitrogen deposition, should be targeted as the critical sources for river TN pollution during the rainy seasons. Chemical nitrogen fertilizer application should be targeted as the critical sources for river TN pollution during the crop growing season. Chemical nitrogen fertilizer application, soil nitrogen pool and atmospheric nitrogen deposition were the main sources for TN exported from the garden plot, forest and residential land, respectively. However, they were the main sources for TN exported both from the upland and paddy field. These results revealed that NPS pollution controlling rules should focus on the spatio-temporal distribution of NPS pollution sources.

USGS Abandoned Mine Lands Research Presented at the NAAMLP Meeting in Billings, Mont., Sept. 25, 2006

USGS Publications Warehouse

Johnson, Kate; Church, Stan

2006-01-01

The following talk was an invited presentation given at the National Association of Abandoned Mine Lands Programs meeting in Billings, Montana on Sept. 25, 2006. The objective of the talk was to outline the scope of the U.S. Geological Survey research, past, present and future, in the area of abandoned mine research. Two large Professional Papers have come out of our AML studies: Nimick, D.A., Church, S.E., and Finger, S.E., eds., 2004, Integrated investigations of environmental effects of historical mining in the Basin and Boulder mining districts, Boulder River watershed, Jefferson County, Montana: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1652, 524 p., 2 plates, 1 DVD, URL: http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/usgspubs/pp/pp1652 Church, S.E., von Guerard, Paul, and Finger, S.E., eds., 2006, Integrated Investigations of Environmental Effects of Historical Mining in the Animas River Watershed, San Juan County, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1651, 1,096 p., 6 plates, 1 DVD (in press). Additional publications and links can be found on the USGS AML website at URL: http://amli.usgs.gov/ or are accessible from the USGS Mineral Resource Program website at URL: http://minerals.usgs.gov/.

Nitrate and Phosphate Concentration Trends in Selected Puerto Rico Rivers over the Past Four Decades--The Impact of Human Activity on Tropical Island Landscapes and Water Quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Troester, J. W.

2001-12-01

For more than four decades, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has collected riverine nutrient concentration data in Puerto Rico, a mountainous Caribbean tropical island. During the last forty years the population of this 9043 square km island has increased from about 2.4 to 3.8 million people. Much of the island has been developed for agriculture, and later for industry and urbanization. Data from gaging stations located within four of the larger, mixed land-use drainage basins of Puerto Rico were compiled and analyzed. The stations selected were the Rio Grande de Manati at Highway 2 (Station 50038100), Rio de la Plata at Highway 2 (Station 50046000), Rio Grande de Patillas near Patillas (Station 50092000), and Rio Grande de Anasco near San Sebastian (Station 50144000). Analytical results were compared with a shorter-term data set from smaller forested watersheds (that are part of the USGS Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets (WEBB) Program) to evaluate the impact of human activity on the water quality. During the 1960's, discharge weighted average concentrations (DWAC) of dissolved nitrate-nitrogen (nitrate-N) ranged from 0.10 to 0.51 mg/L in the four rivers. DWAC of nitrate-N increased and peaked in the 1970's and 1980's (range of 0.35 to 1.00 mg/L), and have subsequently decreased (range of 0.30 to 0.95 mg/L). DWAC of nitrate-N declined, even though the average nitrate-N concentration continued to increase in three of these rivers. The decrease in DWAC of nitrate-N may reflect the changes in land use from the 1960's to present, which includes an increase in forest and a decrease in cropland throughout much of Puerto Rico. However, the largest decrease (from 0.77 to 0.34 mg/L) occurred in the Rio de la Plata after it was dammed in 1974. DWAC of nitrate-N in the four rivers were several times higher than the total nitrate-N observed at gaging stations in undisturbed forested watersheds, such as at the Rio Mameyes near Sabana (Station 50065500) and the Rio Icacos near Naguabo (Station 50075000), where DWAC of the total nitrate-N were 0.09 and 0.10 mg/L, respectively. Forest disturbance associated with the passage of Hurricane Hugo, in September 1989, more than doubled the nitrate concentration in streams draining the forested watersheds for a number of months afterward. But Hurricane Georges, which greatly affected the entire island in September 1998 did not cause a similar increase in dissolved nitrate concentrations in the larger rivers. The average nitrate-N yields (calculated by multiplying the DWAC by total runoff) at the gaging stations on the larger rivers ranged from 2.0 to 8.6 kg/ha/yr, which is only slightly higher than the range of 1.8 to 4.6 kg/ha/yr observed for streams draining forested watersheds. DWAC of total phosphate-phosphorous (phosphate-P) have remained comparatively constant through three decades of measurement in both the larger, mixed land-use basins and the smaller forested watersheds. In the four larger rivers the DWAC of total phosphate-P ranged from 0.03 to 0.32 mg/L, while in the smaller forested watersheds, DWAC of total phosphate-P were lower, and ranged from 0.001 to 0.003 mg/L. The average total phosphate-P yields at the gaging stations on the larger rivers ranged from 0.5 to 1.4 kg/ha/yr, which is much higher than the range of 0.03 to 0.07 kg/ha/yr observed for streams draining forested watersheds. These low concentrations suggest the rivers are phosphate limited.

Utility of Microbial Source-Tracking Markers for Assessing Fecal Contamination in the Portage River Watershed, Northwestern Ohio, 2008

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kephart, Christopher M.; Bushon, Rebecca N.

2010-01-01

An influx of concentrated animal feeding operations in northwest Ohio has prompted local agencies to examine the effects of these industrial farms on water quality in the upper Portage River watershed. The utility of microbial source-tracking (MST) tools as a means of characterizing sources of fecal contamination in the watershed was evaluated. From 2007 to 2008, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, Bowling Green State University, and the Wood County Health Department collected and analyzed 17 environmental samples and 13 fecal source samples for Bacteroides-based host-associated DNA markers. At many of the environmental sites tested, MST marker results corroborated the presumptive fecal contamination sources. Results from this demonstration study support the utility of using MST with host-specific molecular markers to characterize the sources of fecal contamination in the Portage River watershed.

The application of hydrometeorological data obtained by remote sensing techniques for multipurpose reservoir operations. [Arizona

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Warskow, W. L.; Wilson, T. T., Jr.; Kirdar, K.

1975-01-01

Watershed snowpack and streamflow data obtained and transmitted by (ERTS) satellite were used in the operational and water management decisions in the Salt River Project. Located in central Arizona, the Project provides water and electric power for the more than 1.1 million residents of the Salt River Valley. The water supply source is a 33,670 square kilometer (13,000 square mile) watershed and 250 deep well pumps. Six storage reservoirs, four of which have hydroelectric capability, located on two river systems have a storage capacity of over 246,600 hectare-meters (2,000,000 AF.). Information from the watershed during the normal runoff period of December to May and more especially during critical periods of high runoff and minimum reservoir storage capacity is necessary for the reservoir operation regimen. Extent of the snowpack, depth of snow, and the condition of the pack were observed in aerial flights over the watershed.

Improving Watershed-Scale Hydrodynamic Models by Incorporating Synthetic 3D River Bathymetry Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dey, S.; Saksena, S.; Merwade, V.

2017-12-01

Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) have an incomplete representation of river bathymetry, which is critical for simulating river hydrodynamics in flood modeling. Generally, DEMs are augmented with field collected bathymetry data, but such data are available only at individual reaches. Creating a hydrodynamic model covering an entire stream network in the basin requires bathymetry for all streams. This study extends a conceptual bathymetry model, River Channel Morphology Model (RCMM), to estimate the bathymetry for an entire stream network for application in hydrodynamic modeling using a DEM. It is implemented at two large watersheds with different relief and land use characterizations: coastal Guadalupe River basin in Texas with flat terrain and a relatively urban White River basin in Indiana with more relief. After bathymetry incorporation, both watersheds are modeled using HEC-RAS (1D hydraulic model) and Interconnected Pond and Channel Routing (ICPR), a 2-D integrated hydrologic and hydraulic model. A comparison of the streamflow estimated by ICPR at the outlet of the basins indicates that incorporating bathymetry influences streamflow estimates. The inundation maps show that bathymetry has a higher impact on flat terrains of Guadalupe River basin when compared to the White River basin.

Fraser River watershed, Colorado : assessment of available water-quantity and water-quality data through water year 1997

USGS Publications Warehouse

Apodaca, Lori Estelle; Bails, Jeffrey B.

1999-01-01

The water-quantity and water-quality data for the Fraser River watershed through water year 1997 were compiled for ground-water and surface-water sites. In order to assess the water-quality data, the data were related to land use/land cover in the watershed. Data from 81 water-quantity and water-quality sites, which consisted of 9 ground-water sites and 72 surface-water sites, were available for analysis. However, the data were limited and frequently contained only one or two water-quality analyses per site.The Fraser River flows about 28 miles from its headwaters at the Continental Divide to the confluence with the Colorado River. Ground-water resources in the watershed are used for residential and municipal drinking-water supplies. Surface water is available for use, but water diversions in the upper parts of the watershed reduce the flow in the river. Land use/land cover in the watershed is predominantly forested land, but increasing urban development has the potential to affect the quantity and quality of the water resources.Analysis of the limited ground-water data in the watershed indicates that changes in the land use/land cover affect the shallow ground-water quality. Water-quality data from eight shallow monitoring wells in the alluvial aquifer show that iron and manganese concentrations exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency secondary maximum contaminant level. Radon concentrations from these monitoring wells exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed maximum contaminant level. The proposed radon contaminant level is currently being revised. The presence of volatile organic compounds at two monitoring wells in the watershed indicates that land use affects the shallow ground water. In addition, bacteria detected in three samples are at concentrations that would be a concern for public health if the water was to be used as a drinking supply. Methylene blue active substances were detected in the ground water at some sites and are a possible indication of contamination from wastewater. Age of the alluvial ground water ranged from 10 to 30 years; therefore, results of land-management practices to improve water quality may not be apparent for many years.Surface-water-quality data for the Fraser River watershed are sparse. The surface-water-quality data show that elevated concentrations of selected constituents generally are related to specific land uses in the watershed. For one sample (about 2 percent; 1 of 53), dissolved manganese concentration exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency secondary maximum contaminant level. Two samples from two surface-water sites in the watershed exceeded the un-ionized ammonia chronic criterion. Spatial distribution of nutrient species (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and total phosphorus) shows that elevated concentrations occur primarily downstream from urban areas. Sites with five or more years of record were analyzed for temporal trends in concentration of nutrient species. Downward trends were identified for ammonia and nitrite for three surface-water sites. For nitrate, no trends were observed at two sites and a downward trend was observed at one site. Total phosphorus showed no trend for the site near the mouth of the Fraser River. Downward trends in the nutrient species may reflect changes in the wastewater-treatment facilities in the watershed. Bacteria sampling completed in the watershed indicates that more bacteria are present in the water near urban settings.The limited ground-water and surface-water data for the Fraser River watershed provide a general assessment of the quantity and quality of these resources. Concentrations of most water-quality constituents generally are less than ground- and surface-water-quality standards, but the presence of bacteria, some volatile organic compounds, methylene blue active substances, and increased nutrients in the water may indicate that land use is affecting the water quality..

Land Use Patterns and Fecal Contamination of Coastal Waters in Western Puerto Rico

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Norat, Jose

1994-01-01

The Department of Environmental Health of the Graduate School of Public Health of the Medical Sciences Campus, University of Puerto Rico (UPR-RCM) conducted this research project on how different patterns of land use affect the microbiological quality of rivers flowing into Mayaguez Bay in Western Puerto Rico. Coastal shellfish growing areas, stream and ocean bathing beaches, and pristine marine sites in the Bay are affected by the discharge of the three study rivers. Satellite imagery was used to study watershed land uses which serve as point and nonpoint sources of pathogens affecting stream and coastal water users. The study rivers drain watersheds of different size and type of human activity (including different human waste treatment and disposal facilities). Land use and land cover in the study watersheds were interpreted, classified and mapped using remotely sensed images from NASA's Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM). This study found there is a significant relationship between watershed land cover and microbiological water quality of rivers flowing into Mayaguez Bay in Western Puerto Rico. Land covers in the Guanajibo, Anasco, and Yaguez watersheds were classified into forested areas, pastures, agricultural zones and urban areas so as to determine relative contributions to fecal water contamination. The land cover classification was made processing TM images with IDRISI and ERDAS software.

Pathogen Transport and Fate Modeling in the Upper Salem River Watershed using SWAT Model

EPA Science Inventory

SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) is a dynamic watershed model that is applied to simulate the impact of land management practices on water quality over a continuous period. The Upper Salem River, located in Salem County New Jersey, is listed by the New Jersey Department of ...

CRYPTOSPORIDIUM SOURCE TRACKING TO ENHANCE SOURCE WATER PROTECTION IMPLEMENTATION IN THE POTOMAC RIVER WATERSHED: A REGIONAL APPLIED RESEARCH EFFORTS (RARE) PROJECT

EPA Science Inventory

The Potomac River watershed is a critical drinking water supply for the Washington DC metropolitan area. In 2004, the Drinking Water Source Protection Partnership (DWSPP) was formed to help coordinate efforts by local drinking water utilities and government agencies to protect th...

The Potential Importance of Conservation, Restoration and Altered Management Practices for Water Quality in the Wabash River Watershed

EPA Science Inventory

The Potential Importance of Conservation, Restoration and Altered Management Practices for Water Quality in the Wabash River Watershed Guoxiang Yang1, Elly P.H. Best2, Staci Goodwin3 1 ORISE Postdoc Research Associate at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Risk...

Collaborative Research and Watershed Management for Optimization of Forest Road Best Management Practices

Treesearch

Mark S. Riedel; James M. Vose

2003-01-01

The Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, USFS Southern Research Station, worked with state and local agencies and various organizations to provide guidance and tools to reduce sedimentation and facilitate restoration of the 1900km2 Conasauga River watershed in northern Georgia and southern Tennessee. The Conasauga River has the most diverse aquatic...

Resesrvoir sedimentation rates in the Little Washita River experimental watershed, Oklahoma

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Washita River Basin (WRB) was one of eleven pilot watershed projects selected for construction of flood control reservoirs around the country as a result of the Flood Control Act of 1936. These reservoirs were implemented to prevent and manage soil erosion and flooding. A total of 45 reservoirs ...

(18)OS04 AND (18)OH20 AS PROSPECTIVE INDICATORS OF ELEVATED ARSENIC IN THE GOOSE RIVER GROUND-WATERSHED, MAINE

EPA Science Inventory

Anomalous geogenic arsenic occurs in drinking water from the Goose River crystalline ground-watershed in mid-coastal Maine. Isotope investigations were useful in understanding release areas of arsenic into affected water wells. The isotope composition of sulfate associated with p...

Classification of High Spatial Resolution, Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Imagery of the Little Miami River Watershed in Southwest Ohio, USA (Final)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA announced the availability of the final report,. This report and associated land use/land cover (LULC) coverage is the result o...

Water temperature in irrigation return flow from the Upper Snake Rock watershed

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Water returning to a river from an irrigated watershed could increase the water temperature in the river. The objective of this study was to compare the temperature of irrigation return flow water with the temperature of the diverted irrigation water. Water temperature was measured weekly in the mai...

Fire history, population, and calcium cycling in the current river watershed

Treesearch

Richard P. Guyette; Bruce E. Cutter

1997-01-01

Quantitative details about past anthropogenic fire regimes and their effects have been lacking in the central hardwood region. Here, we present fire scar chronologies from 23 oak-shortleaf pine (Quercus spp. and Pinus echinata Mill.) sites in the upper Current River watershed of the Missouri Ozarks. Dendrochronological methods were...

Reservoir sedimentation rates in the Little Washita River experimental watershed, Oklahoma: measurement and controlling factors

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Forty-five flood control reservoirs, authorized in the United States Flood Control Act of 1936, were installed between 1969 and 1982 in the Little Washita River Experimental Watershed (LWREW), located in central Oklahoma. Over time, these reservoirs have lost water storage capacity due to sedimentat...

MEETING IN PHILADELPHIA: NUTRIENT CONCENTRATIONS IN FLOWING WATERS OF THE SOUTH FORK BROAD RIVER, GEORGIA WATERSHED

EPA Science Inventory

The objective of this poster is by comparing nutrient and DOM concentrations in small and large streams, we hope to better understand: (1) watershed controls on stream nutrient and DOM concentrations; and (2) the variability of nutrient and DOM concentrations within a river netwo...

Pathogen Transport and Fate Modeling in the Upper Salem River Watershed Using SWAT Model

EPA Science Inventory

SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) is a dynamic watershed model that is applied to simulate the impact of land management practices on water quality over a continuous period. The Upper Salem River, located in Salem County New Jersey, is listed by the New Jersey Department of ...

Power of Streams and Power of Management: How Community and Fluvial Science Work Together for Massachusetts Rivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hatch, C. E.; Mabee, S. B.; Slovin, N. B.; Vogel, E.; Gartner, J. D.; Gillett, N.; Warner, B. P.

2015-12-01

In the Northeastern U.S., the most costly damages from intense storm events were impacts to road-stream crossings. In steep post-glacial terrain, erosion by floodwater and entrained sediment is the largest destructive force during intense storms, and the most likely driver of major morphological changes to riverbanks and channels. Steam power analysis is a tool that can successfully quantify floodwater energy that caused damage afterward, however, prediction of which reaches or watersheds may experience future impacts remains uncertain. We must better determine how states with thousands of river miles may better prioritize flood mitigation studies, crossing replacements, or other infrastructure upgrades for future flood resilience within resource constraints. This challenged us to develop a statewide-scale scientific method for screening waterways and translating the results into effective policies for river corridor management. Here we present a method based on stream power analysis using widely-available 10-m DEMs and stream flow data to identify locations with extreme high or low stream power values (i.e., >300 W⁄m2 or <60 W⁄m2) or abrupt changes in these values. We used this information to identify potential areas of erosion or deposition in the Deerfield River watershed in Massachusetts and Vermont, then compared it to areas where damage occurred during Tropical Storm Irene. We show that areas of increasing (with respect to distance downstream) and high stream power are prone to landslides, bank failures, and other pulse sediment inputs in flood events. These are also the focal points of wood input to rivers, which combined with increased sediment load, makes culverts in these reaches especially prone to failure. Integration of this information into state databases allows communities to prioritize and make land-use decisions that are informed by the fluvial geomorphic workings of the larger watershed, but that have powerful local implications. Outreach and educational programs focused on stream power and fluvial systems for river practitioners and politicians at all levels align communities' attitudes about their rivers and result in ecologically sound, more flood resilient policies and practices.

Use of watershed factors to predict consumer surfactant risk, water quality, and habitat quality in the upper Trinity River, Texas.

PubMed

Atkinson, S F; Johnson, D R; Venables, B J; Slye, J L; Kennedy, J R; Dyer, S D; Price, B B; Ciarlo, M; Stanton, K; Sanderson, H; Nielsen, A

2009-06-15

Surfactants are high production volume chemicals that are used in a wide assortment of "down-the-drain" consumer products. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) generally remove 85 to more than 99% of all surfactants from influents, but residual concentrations are discharged into receiving waters via wastewater treatment plant effluents. The Trinity River that flows through the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, Texas, is an ideal study site for surfactants due to the high ratio of wastewater treatment plant effluent to river flow (>95%) during late summer months, providing an interesting scenario for surfactant loading into the environment. The objective of this project was to determine whether surfactant concentrations, expressed as toxic units, in-stream water quality, and aquatic habitat in the upper Trinity River could be predicted based on easily accessible watershed characteristics. Surface water and pore water samples were collected in late summer 2005 at 11 sites on the Trinity River in and around the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. Effluents of 4 major waste water treatment plants that discharge effluents into the Trinity River were also sampled. General chemistries and individual surfactant concentrations were determined, and total surfactant toxic units were calculated. GIS models of geospatial, anthropogenic factors (e.g., population density) and natural factors (e.g., soil organic matter) were collected and analyzed according to subwatersheds. Multiple regression analyses using the stepwise maximum R(2) improvement method were performed to develop prediction models of surfactant risk, water quality, and aquatic habitat (dependent variables) using the geospatial parameters (independent variables) that characterized the upper Trinity River watershed. We show that GIS modeling has the potential to be a reliable and inexpensive method of predicting water and habitat quality in the upper Trinity River watershed and perhaps other highly urbanized watersheds in semi-arid regions.

Measuring variability in trophic status in the Lake Waco/Bosque River Watershed

PubMed Central

Rodriguez, Angela D; Matlock, Marty D

2008-01-01

Background Nutrient management in rivers and streams is difficult due to the spatial and temporal variability of algal growth responses. The objectives of this project were to determine the spatial and seasonal in situ variability of trophic status in the Lake Waco/Bosque River watershed, determine the variability in the lotic ecosystem trophic status index (LETSI) at each site as indicators of the system's nutrient sensitivity, and determine if passive diffusion periphytometers could provide threshold algal responses to nutrient enrichment. Methods We used the passive diffusion periphytometer to measure in-situ nutrient limitation and trophic status at eight sites in five streams in the Lake Waco/Bosque River Watershed in north-central Texas from July 1997 through October 1998. The chlorophyll a production in the periphytometers was used as an indicator of baseline chlorophyll a productivity and of maximum primary productivity (MPP) in response to nutrient enrichment (nitrogen and phosphorus). We evaluated the lotic ecosystem trophic status index (LETSI) using the ratio of baseline primary productivity to MPP, and evaluated the trophic class of each site. Results The rivers and streams in the Lake Waco/Bosque River Watershed exhibited varying degrees of nutrient enrichment over the 18-month sampling period. The North Bosque River at the headwaters (NB-02) located below the Stephenville, Texas wastewater treatment outfall consistently exhibited the highest degree of water quality impact due to nutrient enrichment. Sites at the outlet of the watershed (NB-04 and NB-05) were the next most enriched sites. Trophic class varied for enriched sites over seasons. Conclusion Seasonality played a significant role in the trophic class and sensitivity of each site to nutrients. Managing rivers and streams for nutrients will require methods for measuring in situ responses and sensitivities to nutrient enrichment. Nutrient enrichment periphytometers show significant potential for use in nutrient gradient studies. PMID:18271947

Measuring variability in trophic status in the Lake Waco/Bosque River Watershed.

PubMed

Rodriguez, Angela D; Matlock, Marty D

2008-01-11

Nutrient management in rivers and streams is difficult due to the spatial and temporal variability of algal growth responses. The objectives of this project were to determine the spatial and seasonal in situ variability of trophic status in the Lake Waco/Bosque River watershed, determine the variability in the lotic ecosystem trophic status index (LETSI) at each site as indicators of the system's nutrient sensitivity, and determine if passive diffusion periphytometers could provide threshold algal responses to nutrient enrichment. We used the passive diffusion periphytometer to measure in-situ nutrient limitation and trophic status at eight sites in five streams in the Lake Waco/Bosque River Watershed in north-central Texas from July 1997 through October 1998. The chlorophyll a production in the periphytometers was used as an indicator of baseline chlorophyll a productivity and of maximum primary productivity (MPP) in response to nutrient enrichment (nitrogen and phosphorus). We evaluated the lotic ecosystem trophic status index (LETSI) using the ratio of baseline primary productivity to MPP, and evaluated the trophic class of each site. The rivers and streams in the Lake Waco/Bosque River Watershed exhibited varying degrees of nutrient enrichment over the 18-month sampling period. The North Bosque River at the headwaters (NB-02) located below the Stephenville, Texas wastewater treatment outfall consistently exhibited the highest degree of water quality impact due to nutrient enrichment. Sites at the outlet of the watershed (NB-04 and NB-05) were the next most enriched sites. Trophic class varied for enriched sites over seasons. Seasonality played a significant role in the trophic class and sensitivity of each site to nutrients. Managing rivers and streams for nutrients will require methods for measuring in situ responses and sensitivities to nutrient enrichment. Nutrient enrichment periphytometers show significant potential for use in nutrient gradient studies.

Simulation and prediction the impact of climate change into water resources in Bengawan Solo watershed based on CCAM (Conformal Cubic Atmospheric Model) data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sipayung, Sinta B.; Nurlatifah, Amalia; Siswanto, Bambang

2018-05-01

Bengawan Solo Watershed is one of the largest watersheds in Indonesia. This watershed flows in many areas both in Central Java and East Java. Therefore, the water resources condition greatly affects many people. This research will be conducted on prediction of climate change effect on water resources condition in terms of rainfall conditions in Bengawan Solo River Basin. The goal of this research is to know and predict the climate change impact on water resources based on CCAM (Conformal Cubic Atmosphere Model) with downscaling baseline (historical) model data from 1949 to 2005 and RCP 4.5 from 2006 to 2069. The modeling data was validated with in-situ data (measurement data). To analyse the water availability condition in Bengawan Solo Watershed, the simulation of river flow and water balance condition were done in Bengawan Solo River. Simulation of river flow and water balance conditions were done with ArcSWAT model using climate data from CCAM, DEM SRTM 90 meter, soil type, and land use data. The results of this simulation indicate there is (i) The CCAM data itself after validation has a pretty good result when compared to the insitu data. Based on CCAM simulation results, it is predicted that in 2040-2069 rainfall in Bengawan Solo River Basin will decrease, to a maximum of only about 1 mm when compared to 1971-2000. (ii) The CCAM rainfall prediction itself shows that rainfall in Bengawan Solo River basin will decline until 2069 although the decline itself is not significant and tends to be negligible (rainfall is considered unchanged) (iii) Both in the DJF and JJA seasons, precipitation is predicted to decline as well despite the significant decline. (iv) The river flow simulation show that the water resources in Bengawan Solo River did not change significantly. This event occurred because the rainfall also did not change greatly and close to 0 mm/month.

Spatial and temporal relationships among watershed mining, water quality, and freshwater mussel status in an eastern USA river.

PubMed

Zipper, Carl E; Donovan, Patricia F; Jones, Jess W; Li, Jing; Price, Jennifer E; Stewart, Roger E

2016-01-15

The Powell River of southwestern Virginia and northeastern Tennessee, USA, drains a watershed with extensive coal surface mining, and it hosts exceptional biological richness, including at-risk species of freshwater mussels, downstream of mining-disturbed watershed areas. We investigated spatial and temporal patterns of watershed mining disturbance; their relationship to water quality change in the section of the river that connects mining areas to mussel habitat; and relationships of mining-related water constituents to measures of recent and past mussel status. Freshwater mussels in the Powell River have experienced significant declines over the past 3.5 decades. Over that same period, surface coal mining has influenced the watershed. Water-monitoring data collected by state and federal agencies demonstrate that dissolved solids and associated constituents that are commonly influenced by Appalachian mining (specific conductance, pH, hardness and sulfates) have experienced increasing temporal trends from the 1960s through ~2008; but, of those constituents, only dissolved solids concentrations are available widely within the Powell River since ~2008. Dissolved solids concentrations have stabilized in recent years. Dissolved solids, specific conductance, pH, and sulfates also exhibited spatial patterns that are consistent with dilution of mining influence with increasing distance from mined areas. Freshwater mussel status indicators are correlated negatively with dissolved solids concentrations, spatially and temporally, but the direct causal mechanisms responsible for mussel declines remain unknown. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Watershed processing of atmospheric polychlorinated biphenyl inputs.

PubMed

Rowe, Amy A; Totten, Lisa A; Cavallo, Gregory I; Yagecic, John R

2007-04-01

Indirect atmospheric deposition of PCBs was examined in subwatersheds of the Delaware River Estuary. Tributary PCB loads and atmospheric PCB concentrations were used to understand the pass-through efficiencies for nine rivers/ creeks for which PCB inputs appeared to be dominated by atmospheric deposition. The pass-through efficiency, E, was calculated from tributary loads and atmospheric deposition fluxes. Unfortunately, uncertainties in the gaseous and dry particle deposition velocities, vg and vd, respectively, render the calculated atmospheric deposition fluxes highly uncertain. In order to circumvent this problem, export of PCBs from the watershed was related directly to atmospheric PCB concentrations via a new mass transfer coefficient, the watershed delivery rate or vws, which describes the process by which the watershed transfers PCBs from the airto the River's main stem. vws increases with increasing chlorination and is significantly correlated with vapor pressure. This trend suggests that the transfer of PCBs from the atmosphere to the River via the watershed is more efficient for high molecular weight PCBs than for low molecular weight PCBs. This may indicate that the selected watersheds are at or close to equilibrium with respect to gaseous exchange of PCBs, such that lower molecular weight congeners undergo substantial revolatilization after deposition. The magnitude of the pass-through efficiency, E, depends on the deposition velocities used to calculate the atmospheric deposition flux, but when congener-specific deposition velocities are used, E is independent of vapor pressure and is relatively constant at about 3%.

Investigation of geology and hydrology of the upper and middle Verde River watershed of central Arizona: a project of the Arizona Rural Watershed Initiative

USGS Publications Warehouse

Woodhouse, Betsy; Flynn, Marilyn E.; Parker, John T.C.; Hoffmann, John P.

2002-01-01

The upper and middle Verde River watershed in west-central Arizona is an area rich in natural beauty and cultural history and is an increasingly popular destination for tourists, recreationists, and permanent residents seeking its temperate climate. The diverse terrain of the region includes broad desert valleys, upland plains, forested mountain ranges, narrow canyons, and riparian areas along perennial stream reaches. The area is predominantly in Yavapai County, which in 1999 was the fastest-growing rural county in the United States (Woods and Poole Economics, Inc., 1999); by 2050, the population is projected to more than double. Such growth will increase demands on water resources. The domestic, industrial, and recreational interests of the population will need to be balanced against protection of riparian, woodland, and other natural areas and their associated wildlife and aquatic habitats. Sound management decisions will be required that are based on an understanding of the interactions between local and regional aquifers, surface-water bodies, and recharge and discharge areas. This understanding must include the influence of climate, geology, topography, and cultural development on those components of the hydrologic system. In 1999, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), initiated a regional investigation of the hydrogeology of the upper and middle Verde River watershed. The project is part of the Rural Watershed Initiative (RWI), a program established by the State of Arizona and managed by the ADWR that addresses water supply issues in rural areas while encouraging participation from stakeholder groups in affected communities. The USGS is performing similar RWI investigations on the Colorado Plateau to the north and in the Mogollon Highlands to the east of the Verde River study area (Parker and Flynn, 2000). The objectives of the RWI investigations are to develop: (1) a single database containing all hydrogeologic data available for the combined areas, (2) an understanding of the geologic units and structures in each area with a focus on how geology influences the storage and movement of ground water, (3) a conceptual model that describes where and how much water enters, flows through, and exits the hydrogeologic system, and (4) a numerical ground-water flow model that can be used to improve understanding of the hydrogeologic system and to test the effects of various scenarios of water-resources development. In 2001, Yavapai County became an additional cooperator in the upper and middle Verde River RWI investigation.

Derivation of a GIS-based watershed-scale conceptual model for the St. Jones River Delaware from habitat-scale conceptual models.

PubMed

Reiter, Michael A; Saintil, Max; Yang, Ziming; Pokrajac, Dragoljub

2009-08-01

Conceptual modeling is a useful tool for identifying pathways between drivers, stressors, Valued Ecosystem Components (VECs), and services that are central to understanding how an ecosystem operates. The St. Jones River watershed, DE is a complex ecosystem, and because management decisions must include ecological, social, political, and economic considerations, a conceptual model is a good tool for accommodating the full range of inputs. In 2002, a Four-Component, Level 1 conceptual model was formed for the key habitats of the St. Jones River watershed, but since the habitat level of resolution is too fine for some important watershed-scale issues we developed a functional watershed-scale model using the existing narrowed habitat-scale models. The narrowed habitat-scale conceptual models and associated matrices developed by Reiter et al. (2006) were combined with data from the 2002 land use/land cover (LULC) GIS-based maps of Kent County in Delaware to assemble a diagrammatic and numerical watershed-scale conceptual model incorporating the calculated weight of each habitat within the watershed. The numerical component of the assembled watershed model was subsequently subjected to the same Monte Carlo narrowing methodology used for the habitat versions to refine the diagrammatic component of the watershed-scale model. The narrowed numerical representation of the model was used to generate forecasts for changes in the parameters "Agriculture" and "Forest", showing that land use changes in these habitats propagated through the results of the model by the weighting factor. Also, the narrowed watershed-scale conceptual model identified some key parameters upon which to focus research attention and management decisions at the watershed scale. The forecast and simulation results seemed to indicate that the watershed-scale conceptual model does lead to different conclusions than the habitat-scale conceptual models for some issues at the larger watershed scale.

Flood of June 11, 2010, in the Upper Little Missouri River watershed, Arkansas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Holmes, Robert R.; Wagner, Daniel M.

2011-01-01

Catastrophic flash flooding occurred in the early morning hours of June 11, 2010, in the upper Little Missouri River and tributary streams in southwest Arkansas. The flooding, which resulted in 20 fatalities and substantial property damage, was caused by as much as 4.7 inches of rain falling in the upper Little Missouri River watershed in 3 hours. The 4.7 inches of rain in 3 hours corresponds to estimated annual exceedance probability of approximately 2 percent for a 3-hour duration storm. The maximum total estimated rainfall in the upper Missouri River watershed was 5.3 inches in 6 hours. Peak streamflows and other hydraulic properties were determined at five ungaged locations and one gaged location in the upper Little Missouri River watershed.The peak streamflow for the Little Missouri River at Albert Pike, Arkansas was 40,100 cubic feet per second, estimated to have occurred between 4:00 AM and 4:30 AM the morning of June 11, 2010. The peak streamflow resulted in average water depths in the nearby floodplain (Area C of the Albert Pike Campground) of 7 feet flowing at velocities potentially as great as 11 feet per second. Peak streamflow 9.1 miles downstream on the Little Missouri at the U.S. Geological Survey streamgage near Langley, Arkansas was 70,800 cubic feet per second, which corresponds to an estimated annual exceedance probability of less than 1 percent.

Impact of wetland decline on decreasing dissolved organic carbon concentrations along the Mississippi River continuum

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Duan, Shuiwang; He, Yuxiang; Kaushal, Sujay S.

Prior to discharging to the ocean, large rivers constantly receive inputs of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from tributaries or fringing floodplains and lose DOC via continuous in situ processing along distances that span thousands of kilometers. Current concepts predicting longitudinal changes in DOC mainly focus on in situ processing or exchange with fringing floodplain wetlands, while effects of heterogeneous watershed characteristics are generally ignored. We analyzed results from a 17-year time-series of DOC measurements made at seven sites and three expeditions along the entire Mississippi River main channel with DOC measurements made every 17 km. The results show a clearmore » downstream decrease in DOC concentrations that was consistent throughout the entire study period. Downstream DOC decreases were primarily (~63–71%) a result of constant dilutions by low-DOC tributary water controlled by watershed wetland distribution, while in situ processing played a secondary role. We estimate that from 1780 to 1980 wetland loss due to land-use alterations caused a ca. 58% decrease in in DOC concentrations in the tributaries of the Mississippi River. DOC reductions caused by watershed wetland loss likely impacted the capacity for the river to effectively remove nitrogen via denitrification, which can further exacerbate coastal hypoxia. Lastly, these findings highlight the importance of watershed wetlands in regulating DOC longitudinally along the headland to ocean continuum of major rivers.« less

Impact of wetland decline on decreasing dissolved organic carbon concentrations along the Mississippi River continuum

DOE PAGES

Duan, Shuiwang; He, Yuxiang; Kaushal, Sujay S.; ...

2017-01-09

Prior to discharging to the ocean, large rivers constantly receive inputs of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from tributaries or fringing floodplains and lose DOC via continuous in situ processing along distances that span thousands of kilometers. Current concepts predicting longitudinal changes in DOC mainly focus on in situ processing or exchange with fringing floodplain wetlands, while effects of heterogeneous watershed characteristics are generally ignored. We analyzed results from a 17-year time-series of DOC measurements made at seven sites and three expeditions along the entire Mississippi River main channel with DOC measurements made every 17 km. The results show a clearmore » downstream decrease in DOC concentrations that was consistent throughout the entire study period. Downstream DOC decreases were primarily (~63–71%) a result of constant dilutions by low-DOC tributary water controlled by watershed wetland distribution, while in situ processing played a secondary role. We estimate that from 1780 to 1980 wetland loss due to land-use alterations caused a ca. 58% decrease in in DOC concentrations in the tributaries of the Mississippi River. DOC reductions caused by watershed wetland loss likely impacted the capacity for the river to effectively remove nitrogen via denitrification, which can further exacerbate coastal hypoxia. Lastly, these findings highlight the importance of watershed wetlands in regulating DOC longitudinally along the headland to ocean continuum of major rivers.« less

Methods and Sources of Data Used to Develop Selected Water-Quality Indicators for Streams and Ground Water for EPA's 2007 Report on the Environment: Science Report

USGS Publications Warehouse

Baker, Nancy T.; Wilson, John T.; Moran, Michael J.

2008-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was one of numerous governmental agencies, private organizations, and the academic community that provided data and interpretations for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency?s (USEPA) 2007 Report on the Environment: Science Report. This report documents the sources of data and methods used to develop selected water?quality indicators for the 2007 edition of the report compiled by USEPA. Stream and ground?water?quality data collected nationally in a consistent manner as part of the USGS?s National Water?Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) were provided for several water?quality indicators, including Nitrogen and Phosphorus in Streams in Agricultural Watersheds; Pesticides in Streams in Agricultural Watersheds; and Nitrate and Pesticides in Shallow Ground Water in Agricultural Watersheds. In addition, the USGS provided nitrate (nitrate plus nitrite) and phosphorus riverine load estimates calculated from water?quality and streamflow data collected as part of its National Stream Water Quality Accounting Network (NASQAN) and its Federal?State Cooperative Program for the Nitrogen and Phosphorus Discharge from Large Rivers indicator.

Predicting losing and gaining river reaches in lowland New Zealand based on a statistical methodology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Jing; Zammit, Christian; Dudley, Bruce

2017-04-01

The phenomenon of losing and gaining in rivers normally takes place in lowland where often there are various, sometimes conflicting uses for water resources, e.g., agriculture, industry, recreation, and maintenance of ecosystem function. To better support water allocation decisions, it is crucial to understand the location and seasonal dynamics of these losses and gains. We present a statistical methodology to predict losing and gaining river reaches in New Zealand based on 1) information surveys with surface water and groundwater experts from regional government, 2) A collection of river/watershed characteristics, including climate, soil and hydrogeologic information, and 3) the random forests technique. The surveys on losing and gaining reaches were conducted face-to-face at 16 New Zealand regional government authorities, and climate, soil, river geometry, and hydrogeologic data from various sources were collected and compiled to represent river/watershed characteristics. The random forests technique was used to build up the statistical relationship between river reach status (gain and loss) and river/watershed characteristics, and then to predict for river reaches at Strahler order one without prior losing and gaining information. Results show that the model has a classification error of around 10% for "gain" and "loss". The results will assist further research, and water allocation decisions in lowland New Zealand.

Baseflow contribution to nitrate-nitrogen export from a large, agricultural watershed, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schilling, K.; Zhang, Y.-K.

2004-01-01

Nitrate-nitrogen export from the Raccoon River watershed in west-central Iowa is among the highest in the United State and contributes to impairment of downstream water quality. We examined a rare long-term record of streamflow and nitrate concentration data (1972-2000) to evaluate annual and seasonal patterns of nitrate losses in streamflow and baseflow from the Raccoon River. Combining hydrograph separation with a load estimation program, we estimated that baseflow contributes approximately two-thirds (17.3 kg/ha) of the mean annual nitrate export (26.1 kg/ha). Baseflow transport was greatest in spring and late fall when baseflow contributed more than 80% of the total export. Herein we propose a 'baseflow enrichment ratio' (BER) to describe the relation of baseflow water with baseflow nitrate loads. The long-term ratio of 1.23 for the Raccoon River suggests preferential leaching of nitrate to baseflow. Seasonal patterns of the BER identified the strong link between the baseflow nitrate loads and seasonal crop nitrogen requirements. Study results demonstrate the utility of assessing the baseflow contribution to nitrate loads to identify appropriate control strategies for reducing baseflow delivery of nitrate. ?? 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Hydrological modeling of a watershed affected by acid mine drainage (Odiel River, SW Spain). Assessment of the pollutant contributing areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galván, L.; Olías, M.; Cánovas, C. R.; Sarmiento, A. M.; Nieto, J. M.

2016-09-01

The Odiel watershed drains materials belonging to the Iberian Pyrite Belt, where significant massive sulfide deposits have been mined historically. As a result, a huge amount of sulfide-rich wastes are deposited in the watershed, which suffer from oxidation, releasing acidic lixiviates with high sulfate and metal concentrations. In order to reliably estimate the metal loadings along the watershed a complete series of discharge and hydrochemical data are essential. A hydrological model was performed with SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) to solve the scarcity of gauge stations along the watershed. The model was calibrated and validated from daily discharge data (from 1980 to 2010) at the outlet of the watershed, river inputs into an existent reservoir, and a flow gauge station close to the northern area of the watershed. Discharge data obtained from the hydrological model, together with analytical data, allowed the estimation of the dissolved pollutant load delivered annually by the Odiel River (e.g. 9140 t of Al, 2760 t of Zn). The pollutant load is influenced strongly by the rainfall regime, and can even double during extremely rainy years. Around 50% of total pollution comes from the Riotinto Mining District, so the treatment of Riotinto lixiviates reaching the Odiel watershed would reduce the AMD (Acid Mine Drainages) in a remarkable way, improving the water quality downstream, especially in the reservoir of Alcolea, currently under construction. The information obtained in this study will allow the optimization of remediation efforts in the watershed, in order to improve its water quality.

Development of an Impervious-Surface Database for the Little Blackwater River Watershed, Dorchester County, Maryland

USGS Publications Warehouse

Milheim, Lesley E.; Jones, John W.; Barlow, Roger A.

2007-01-01

Many agricultural and forested areas in proximity to National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) are under increasing economic pressure for commercial or residential development. The upper portion of the Little Blackwater River watershed - a 27 square mile area within largely low-lying Dorchester County, Maryland, on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay - is important to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) because it flows toward the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge (BNWR), and developmental impacts of areas upstream from the BNWR are unknown. One of the primary concerns for the Refuge is how storm-water runoff may affect living resources downstream. The Egypt Road project (fig. 1), for which approximately 600 residential units have been approved, has the potential to markedly change the land use and land cover on the west bank of the Little Blackwater River. In an effort to limit anticipated impacts, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (Maryland DNR) recently decided to purchase some of the lands previously slated for development. Local topography, a high water table (typically 1 foot or less below the land surface), and hydric soils present a challenge for the best management of storm-water flow from developed surfaces. A spatial data coordination group was formed by the Dorchester County Soil and Conservation District to collect data to aid decisionmakers in watershed management and on the possible impacts of development on this watershed. Determination of streamflow combined with land cover and impervious-surface baselines will allow linking of hydrologic and geologic factors that influence the land surface. This baseline information will help planners, refuge managers, and developers discuss issues and formulate best management practices to mitigate development impacts on the refuge. In consultation with the Eastern Region Geospatial Information Office, the dataset selected to be that baseline land cover source was the June-July 2005 National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) 1-meter resolution orthoimagery of Maryland. This publicly available, statewide dataset provided imagery corresponding to the closest in time to the installation of a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Resources Discipline gaging station on the Little Blackwater River. It also captures land cover status just before major residential development occurs. This document describes the process used to create a database of impervious surfaces for the Little Blackwater watershed.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rasmussen, Lynn

The Restoring Anadromous Fish Habitat in the Lapwai Creek Watershed is a multi-phase project to enhance steelhead trout in the Lapwai Creek watershed by improving salmonid spawning and rearing habitat. Habitat is limited by extreme high runoff events, low summer flows, high water temperatures, poor instream cover, spawning gravel siltation, and sediment, nutrient and bacteria loading. Funded by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) as part of the Northwest Power Planning Council's Fish and Wildlife Program, the project assists in mitigating damage to steelhead runs caused by the Columbia River hydroelectric dams. The project is sponsored by the Nez Perce Soilmore » and Water Conservation District (District). Target fish species include steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Steelhead trout within the Snake River Basin were listed in 1997 as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Accomplishments for the contract period December 1, 2003 through February 28, 2004 include; seven grade stabilization structures, 0.67 acres of wetland plantings, ten acres tree planting, 500 linear feet streambank erosion control, two acres grass seeding, and 120 acres weed control.« less

Optimal implementation of best management practices to improve agricultural hydrology and water quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Y.; Engel, B.; Collingsworth, P.; Pijanowski, B. C.

2017-12-01

Nutrient loading from the Maumee River watershed is a significant reason for the harmful algal blooms (HABs) problem in Lake Erie. Strategies to reduce nutrient loading from agricultural areas in the Maumee River watershed need to be explored. Best management practices (BMPs) are popular approaches for improving hydrology and water quality. Various scenarios of BMP implementation were simulated in the AXL watershed (an agricultural watershed in Maumee River watershed) using Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and a new BMP cost tool to explore the cost-effectiveness of the practices. BMPs of interest included vegetative filter strips, grassed waterways, blind inlets, grade stabilization structures, wetlands, no-till, nutrient management, residue management, and cover crops. The following environmental concerns were considered: streamflow, Total Phosphorous (TP), Dissolved Reactive Phosphorus (DRP), Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN), and Nitrate+Nitrite (NOx). To obtain maximum hydrological and water quality benefits with minimum cost, an optimization tool was developed to optimally select and place BMPs by connecting SWAT, the BMP cost tool, and optimization algorithms. The optimization tool was then applied in AXL watershed to explore optimization focusing on critical areas (top 25% of areas with highest runoff volume/pollutant loads per area) vs. all areas of the watershed, optimization using weather data for spring (March to July, due to the goal of reducing spring phosphorus in watershed management plan) vs. full year, and optimization results of implementing BMPs to achieve the watershed management plan goal (reducing 2008 TP levels by 40%). The optimization tool and BMP optimization results can be used by watershed groups and communities to solve hydrology and water quality problems.

Spatial Scaling of Floods in Atlantic Coastal Watersheds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plank, C.

2013-12-01

Climate and land use changes are altering global, regional and local hydrologic cycles. As a result, past events may not accurately represent the events that will occur in the future. Methods for hydrologic prediction, both statistical and deterministic, require adequate data for calibration. Streamflow gauges tend to be located on large rivers. As a result, statistical flood frequency analysis, which relies on gauge data, is biased towards large watersheds. Conversely, the complexity of parameterizing watershed processes in deterministic hydrological models limits these to small watersheds. Spatial scaling relationships between drainage basin area and discharge can be used to bridge these two methodologies and provide new approaches to hydrologic prediction. The relationship of discharge (Q) to drainage basin area (A) can be expressed as a power function: Q = αAθ. This study compares scaling exponents (θ) and coefficients (α) for floods of varying magnitude across a selection of major Atlantic Coast watersheds. Comparisons are made by normalizing flood discharges to a reference area bankfull discharge for each watershed. These watersheds capture the geologic and geomorphic transitions along the Atlantic Coast from narrow bedrock-dominated river valleys to wide coastal plain watersheds. Additionally, there is a range of hydrometeorological events that cause major floods in these basins including tropical storms, thunderstorm systems and winter-spring storms. The mix of flood-producing events changes along a gradient as well, with tropical storms and hurricanes increasing in dominance from north to south as a significant cause of major floods. Scaling exponents and coefficients were determined for both flood quantile estimates (e.g. 1.5-, 10-, 100-year floods) and selected hydrometeorological events (e.g. hurricanes, summer thunderstorms, winter-spring storms). Initial results indicate that southern coastal plain watersheds have lower scaling exponents (θ) than northern watersheds. However, the relative magnitudes of 100-year and other large floods are higher in the coastal plain rivers. In the transition zone between northern and southern watersheds, basins like the Potomac in the Mid-Atlantic region have similar scaling exponents as northern river basins, but relative flood magnitudes comparable to the southern coastal plain watersheds. These differences reflect variations in both geologic/geomorphic and climatic settings. Understanding these variations are important to appropriately using these relationships to improve flood risk models and analyses.

Ecological risk assessment of copper and cadmium in surface waters of Chesapeake Bay watershed

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hall, L.W. Jr.; Scott, M.C.; Killen, W.D.

1998-06-01

This ecological risk assessment was designed to characterize risk of copper and cadmium exposure in the Chesapeake Bay watershed by comparing the probability distributions of environmental exposure concentrations with the probability distributions of species response data determined from laboratory studies. The overlap of these distributions was a measure of risk to aquatic life. Dissolved copper and cadmium exposure data were available from six primary data sources covering 102 stations in 18 basins in the Chesapeake Bay watershed from 1985 through 1996. Highest environmental concentrations of copper (based on 90th percentiles) were reported in the Chesapeake and Delaware (C and D)more » Canal, Choptank River, Middle River, and Potomac River; the lowest concentrations of copper were reported in the lower and middle mainstem Chesapeake Bay and Nanticoke River. Based on the calculation of 90th percentiles, cadmium concentrations were highest in the C and D Canal, Potomac River, Upper Chesapeake Bay, and West Chesapeake watershed. Lowest environmental concentrations of cadmium were reported in the lower and middle mainstem Chesapeake Bay and Susquehanna River. The ecological effects data used for this risk assessment were derived primarily from acute copper and cadmium laboratory toxicity tests conducted in both fresh water and salt water; chronic data were much more limited. The 10th percentile (concentration protecting 90% of the species) for all species derived from the freshwater acute copper toxicity database was 8.3 {micro}g/L. For acute saltwater copper data, the 10th percentile for all species was 6.3 {micro}g/L copper. The acute 10th percentile for all saltwater species was 31.7 {micro}g/L cadmium. Highest potential ecological risk from copper exposures was reported in the C and D Canal area of the northern Chesapeake Bay watershed.« less

Reconstructing Sediment Supply, Transport and Deposition Behind the Elwha River Dams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beveridge, C.

2017-12-01

The Elwha River watershed in Olympic National Park of Washington State, USA is predominantly a steep, mountainous landscape where dominant geomorphic processes include landslides, debris flows and gullying. The river is characterized by substantial variability of channel morphology and fluvial processes, and alternates between narrow bedrock canyons and wider alluvial reaches for much of its length. Literature suggests that the Elwha watershed is topographically and tectonically in steady state. The removal of the two massive hydropower dams along the river in 2013 marked the largest dam removal in history. Over the century long lifespan of the dams, approximately 21 million cubic meters of sediment was impounded behind them. Long term erosion rates documented in this region and reservoir sedimentation data give unprecedented opportunities to test watershed sediment yield models and examine dominant processes that control sediment yield over human time scales. In this study, we aim to reconstruct sediment supply, transport and deposition behind the Glines Canyon Dam (most upstream dam) over its lifespan using a watershed modeling approach. We developed alternative models of varying complexity for sediment production and transport at the network scale driven by hydrologic forcing. We simulate sediment supply and transport in tributaries upstream of the dam. The modeled sediment supply and transport dynamics are based on calibrated formulae (e.g., bedload transport is simulated using Wilcock-Crowe 2003 with modification based on observed bedload transport in the Elwha River). Observational data that aid in our approach include DEM, channel morphology, meteorology, and streamflow and sediment (bedload and suspended load) discharge. We aim to demonstrate how the observed sediment yield behind the dams was influenced by upstream transport supply and capacity limitations, thereby demonstrating the scale effects of flow and sediment transport processes in the Elwha River watershed.

Landowner preferences for wetlands conservation programs in two Southern Ontario watersheds.

PubMed

Trenholm, Ryan; Haider, Wolfgang; Lantz, Van; Knowler, Duncan; Haegeli, Pascal

2017-09-15

Wetlands in the region of Southern Ontario, Canada have declined substantially from their historic area. Existing regulations and programs have not abated this decline. However, reversing this trend by protecting or restoring wetlands will increase the supply of important ecosystem services. In particular, these actions will contribute to moderating the impacts of extreme weather predicted to result from climate change as well as reducing phosphorous loads in Lake Erie and ensuing eutrophication. Since the majority of land in the region is privately owned, landowners can play an important role. Thus, we assessed landowner preferences for voluntary incentive-based wetlands conservation programs using separate choice experiments mailed to farm and non-farm landowners in the Grand River and Upper Thames River watersheds. Latent class models were separately estimated for the two data sets. Marginal willingness to accept, compensating surplus, and participation rates were estimated from the resulting models to gain insight into the financial compensation required by landowners and their potential participation. Many of the participating landowners appear willing to participate in wetlands conservation at reasonable cost, with more willing groups notably marked by past participation in incentive-based conservation programs. They generally favor wetlands conservation programs that divert smaller areas of land to wetlands conservation, target marginal agricultural land, use treed buffers to protect wetlands, offer technical help, and pay financial incentives. However, landowners appear reluctant to receive public recognition of their wetland conservation actions. Our results are of interest to natural resource managers designing or refining wetlands conservation programs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Freshwater Ecosystem Services and Hydrologic Alteration in the Lower Mississippi River Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yasarer, L.; Taylor, J.; Rigby, J.; Locke, M. A.

2017-12-01

Flowing freshwater ecosystems provide a variety of essential ecosystem services including: consumptive water for domestic, industrial, and agricultural use; transportation of goods; maintenance of aquatic biodiversity and water quality; and recreation. However, freshwater ecosystem services can oftentimes be at odds with each other. For example, the over-consumption of water for agricultural production or domestic use may alter hydrologic patterns and diminish the ability of flowing waters to sustain healthy aquatic ecosystems. In the Lower Mississippi River Basin there has been a substantial increase in groundwater-irrigated cropland acreage over the past several decades and subsequent declines in regional aquifer levels. Changes in aquifer levels potentially impact surface water hydrology throughout the region. This study tests the hypothesis that flowing water systems in lowland agricultural watersheds within the Lower Mississippi River Basin have greater hydrologic alteration compared to upland non-agricultural watersheds, particularly with declines in base flow and an increase in extreme low flows. Long-term streamflow records from USGS gauges located in predominantly agricultural and non-agricultural watersheds in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee were evaluated from 1969 -2016 using the Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration (IHA) software. Preliminary results from 8 non-agricultural and 5 agricultural watersheds demonstrate a substantial decline in base flow in the agricultural watersheds, which is not apparent in the non-agricultural watersheds. This exploratory study will analyze the trade-off between gains in agricultural productivity and changes in ecohydrological indicators over the last half century in diverse watersheds across the Lower Mississippi River Basin. By quantifying the changes in ecosystem services provided by flowing waters in the past, we can inform sustainable management pathways to better balance services in the future.

Analyzing the economics of tamarisk in the Pecos, Rio Grande, and Colorado River Watersheds

Treesearch

Joseph W. Lewis; Allen Basala; Erika Zavaleta; Douglas L. Parker; John Taylor; Mark Horner; Christopher Dionigi; Timothy Carlson; Samuel Spiller; Frederick Nibling

2006-01-01

The potential economic effects of tamarisk (saltcedar), and the costs and benefits associated with controlling tamarisk infestations are being evaluated on the Pecos, Rio Grande, and Colorado River watersheds. Resource impacts analyzed include water, wildlife habitat, and fire risk. The extent of existing infestations will be quantified and projected over the next 30...

A COMPREHENSIVE NONPOINT SOURCE FIELD STUDY FOR SEDIMENT, NUTRIENTS AND PATHOGENS IN THE SOUTH FORK BROAD RIVER WATERSHED, GEORGIA

EPA Science Inventory

There is an urgent need for EPA to develop protocols for establishing Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) in streams, lakes and estuaries. A cooperative TMDL field data collection project between ORD and Region 4 is ongoing in the South Fork Broad River Watershed (SFBR), a 245.18 ...

Future Climate Change Impact Assessment of River Flows at Two Watersheds of Peninsular Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ercan, A.; Ishida, K.; Kavvas, M. L.; Chen, Z. R.; Jang, S.; Amin, M. Z. M.; Shaaban, A. J.

2016-12-01

Impacts of climate change on the river flows under future climate change conditions were assessed over Muda and Dungun watersheds of Peninsular Malaysia by means of a coupled regional climate model and a physically-based hydrology model utilizing an ensemble of 15 different future climate realizations. Coarse resolution GCMs' future projections covering a wide range of emission scenarios were dynamically downscaled to 6 km resolution over the study area. Hydrologic simulations of the two selected watersheds were carried out at hillslope-scale and at hourly increments.

Legacy sediment storage in New England river valleys: anthropogenic processes in a postglacial landscape

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Snyder, N. P.; Johnson, K. M.; Waltner, M.; Hopkins, A. J.; Dow, S.; Ames, E.; Merritts, D. J.; Walter, R. C.; Rahnis, M. A.

2016-12-01

Walter and Merritts (2008, and subsequent papers) show that legacy sediment associated with deposition in millponds is a common feature in river valleys of the Mid-Atlantic Piedmont region, with 1-5 m of fine sand and silt overlying Holocene soil and Pleistocene periglacial deposits. For this project, we seek to test the hypothesis that these field relationships are seen in New England, a formerly glaciated region with similar history and intensity of forest clearing and milldam construction during the 17-19th centuries. We study three watersheds, using field observations of bank stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating, and mapping of terraces and floodplains using lidar digital elevation models and other GIS datasets. The 68 km2 South River watershed in western Massachusetts exhibits the most extensive evidence for legacy sediment storage. We visited 17 historic dam sites in the watershed and found field evidence for fine sand and silt legacy sediment storage at 14, up to 2.2 m thick. In the 558 km2 Sheepscot River watershed in coastal Maine, we visited 12 historic dam sites, and found likely legacy sediment at six, up to 2.3 m thick. In the 171 km2 upper Charles River watershed in eastern Massachusetts, we investigated 14 dam sites, and found legacy sediment at two, up to 1.8 m thick. Stratigraphically, we identified the base of legacy sediment from a change in grain size to gravel at most sites, or to Pleistocene marine clay at some Sheepscot River sites. In the Sheepscot River, we observed cut timbers underlying historic sediment at several locations, likely associated with sawmill activities. Only at the Charles River were we able to radiocarbon date the underlying gravel (1281-1391 calibrated CE). At no site did we find a buried Holocene soil, in contrast to the field relations commonly observed in the Mid-Atlantic region. This may indicate that the New England sites have eroded to the pre-historic river bed, not floodplain surfaces. We attribute the variation in thickness and presence of legacy sediment at the New England sites to the existence or absence of upstream sediment supply in the form of thick (>5 m) glacial deposits. Of the three study watersheds, the South River has the most extensive glacial sediments, having been occupied by one or more ice-dammed lakes during the late Pleistocene, and the most legacy sediment storage.

Water resources of the Kettle River watershed, east-central Minnesota

USGS Publications Warehouse

Helgesen, John O.; Lindholm, G.F.; Broussard, W.L.; Ericson, D.W.

1973-01-01

The glacial deposits are generally less than 100 feet thick. Bedrock consists of several types and occasionally crops out at land surface. Topography ranges from gently rolling to steeply undulating. About 1,060 square miles is drained by the Kettle River and its tributaries, and about 510 square miles by smaller streams that are direct tributaries to the St. Croix River. Peat and swamp areas are common, particularly in the eastern part of the area. Most of the watershed is forested, mainly with hardwoods.

Past and present aquatic habitats and fish populations of the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta

Treesearch

M.D. Bryant

2010-01-01

The goal of this review and synthesis of the literature, published and unpublished, is to describe the major processes that shape and influence the aquatic habitats and fish communities in the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta (YMD) and to outline a program of research. The YMD is influenced by the large geographic and temporal scales of the Mississippi River watershed. It...

Modeling pesticide loadings from the San Joaquin watershed into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta using SWAT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, H.; Zhang, M.

2016-12-01

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is an ecologically rich, hydrologically complex area that serves as the hub of California's water supply. However, pesticides have been routinely detected in the Delta waterways, with concentrations exceeding the benchmark for the protection of aquatic life. Pesticide loadings into the Delta are partially attributed to the San Joaquin watershed, a highly productive agricultural watershed located upstream. Therefore, this study aims to simulate pesticide loadings to the Delta by applying the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model to the San Joaquin watershed, under the support of the USDA-ARS Delta Area-Wide Pest Management Program. Pesticide use patterns in the San Joaquin watershed were characterized by combining the California Pesticide Use Reporting (PUR) database and GIS analysis. Sensitivity/uncertainty analyses and multi-site calibration were performed in the simulation of stream flow, sediment, and pesticide loads along the San Joaquin River. Model performance was evaluated using a combination of graphic and quantitative measures. Preliminary results indicated that stream flow was satisfactorily simulated along the San Joaquin River and the major eastern tributaries, whereas stream flow was less accurately simulated in the western tributaries, which are ephemeral small streams that peak during winter storm events and are mainly fed by irrigation return flow during the growing season. The most sensitive parameters to stream flow were CN2, SOL_AWC, HRU_SLP, SLSUBBSN, SLSOIL, GWQMN and GW_REVAP. Regionalization of parameters is important as the sensitivity of parameters vary significantly spatially. In terms of evaluation metric, NSE tended to overrate model performance when compared to PBIAS. Anticipated results will include (1) pesticide use pattern analysis, (2) calibration and validation of stream flow, sediment, and pesticide loads, and (3) characterization of spatial patterns and temporal trends of pesticide yield.

Assessing Watershed Integrity in the Matanuska-Susitna River Basin

EPA Science Inventory

The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Index of Watershed Integrity (IWI) is used to calculate and visualize the status of natural watershed infrastructure that supports ecological processes (e.g., nutrient cycling) and services provided to society (e.g., subsistenc...

EFFECTS OF WATERSHED DISTURBANCE ON SMALL STREAMS

EPA Science Inventory

This presentation presents the effects of watershed disturbance on small streams. The South Fork Broad River Watershed was studied to evaluate the use of landscape indicators to predict pollutant loading at small spatial scales and to develop indicators of pollutants. Also studie...

Testing the sensitivity of snowpack to climatic change in a large physiographically diverse watershed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MacDonald, R. J.; Byrne, J. M.; Kienzle, S. W.; Sauchyn, D.

2009-12-01

Snowpack in mountain watersheds provide a large portion of fresh water for many human and ecosystem function. Given the sensitivity of snow processes to temperature, it is likely that available water from snowpack will be reduced under future climate warming. It is important to understand how mountain environments will respond to changes in climate in order to properly manage water future resources. In order to assess potential changes in mountain snowpack and subsequent effects on water supply, we use a combination of hydrometeorological and general circulation models (GCMs). This work describes the application of the GENESYS (GENerate Earth SYstems Science input) spatial hydrometeorological model in simulating potential future changes in snowpack for the North Saskatchewan River watershed, Alberta. Snowpack in the North Saskatchewan River watershed supplies fresh water for over one million people and supports a wide range of ecosystem processes. To assess how snowpack may change in the watershed, scenarios from five GCMs are applied by perturbing the 1961-90 time series with mean changes in temperature and precipitation for the 2010-39, 2040-69 and 2070-99 periods. This study demonstrates that snowpack in the North Saskatchewan River watershed is highly susceptible to climate change and adaptive management strategies should be implemented to ensure sustainable water resources in the region.

Trout in the Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heath, Thomas

2014-05-01

Trout in the Classroom (TIC) is a conservation-oriented environmental education program for elementary, middle, and high school students. During the year each teacher tailors the program to fit his or her curricular needs. Therefore, each TIC program is unique. TIC has interdisciplinary applications in science, social studies, mathematics, language arts, fine arts, and physical education. In the program, students and teachers raise trout from fertilized eggs supplied by Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VGIF) hatcheries, in aquariums equipped with special chillers designed to keep the water near 50 degrees F. The students make daily temperature measurements, and monitor pH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, and ammonia levels. They record their data, plot trends, and make sure that the water quality is sufficient to support trout development. The fingerlings, which hatch in late October, are almost an inch and a half long by mid-January. And towards the end of the school year, students will release the fry into VGIF approved watersheds. TIC programs have been in place all across the country for more than 20 years, and are the result of numerous collaborations between teachers, volunteers, government agencies, and local organizations like Trout Unlimited. The programs were designed specifically for teachers who wanted to incorporate more environmental education into their curriculum. While the immediate goal of Trout in the Classroom is to increase student knowledge of water quality and cold water conservation, its long-term goal is to reconnect an increasingly urbanized population of youth to the system of streams, rivers, and watersheds that sustain them. Successful programs have helped: connect students to their local environments and their local watersheds; teach about watershed health and water quality, and; get students to care about fish and the environment. In Virginia, the TIC program is now in its 8th year. Over the past year, the program experienced an amazing growth spurt. Thanks to AEP and Dominion grants and chapter fundraising efforts, we now have more than 200 classrooms throughout the state, ranging from elementary school through high school.

Current distribution of North American river otters in central and eastern Oklahoma, with seven new county records

USGS Publications Warehouse

Barrett, Dominic A.; Leslie, David M.

2010-01-01

In 1984 and 1985, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation reintroduced North American river otters (Lontra canadensis) from coastal Louisiana into eastern Oklahoma. Those reintroductions and immigration from Arkansas and possibly northeastern Texas allowed river otters to become reestablished in eastern Oklahoma. Our goals were to determine the contemporary distribution of river otters in central and eastern Oklahoma with voucher specimens, sign surveys, and mail surveys and to compare proportion of positive detections among watersheds. We report new distributional records with voucher specimens from seven counties (Adair, Bryan, Coal, Johnston, McIntosh, Okfuskee, Tulsa) in Oklahoma. We also provide locality information for specimens collected from four counties (Haskell, McCurtain, Muskogee, Wagoner) where river otters were described in published literature but no voucher specimens existed. During winter and spring 2006 and 2007, we visited 340 bridge sites in 28 watersheds in eastern and central Oklahoma and identified river otter signs in 16 counties where river otters were not previously documented in published literature or by voucher specimens. Proportion of positive sites within each watershed ranged 0–100%. Mail surveys suggested that river otters occurred in eight additional counties where they were not previously documented by published literature, voucher specimens, or sign-survey efforts.

Yazoo River Basin (Lower Mississippi River) Hydrologic Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, A.; Davidson, G.; Altinakar, M.; Holt, R.

2004-12-01

The proposed Yazoo River Basin Hydrologic Observatory consists of the 34,000 square km Yazoo River watershed in northwestern Mississippi and a 320 km segment of the Mississippi River separated from the watershed by a manmade levee. Discharge from the basin flows from the Yazoo River into the Mississippi River north of Vicksburg, MS. Major streams within the basin include the Yazoo, Tallahatchie, Yalobusha, Coldwater, Yocona, and Big Sunflower Rivers. Four large flood control reservoirs (Arkabutla, Enid, Sardis, and Grenada) and two national forests (Delta and Holly Springs) are also located within the basin. The watershed is divided between upland forested hills and intensively cultivated lowlands. The lowland area, locally known as the "Delta", lies on the ancestral floodplain of the Mississippi River. Flooding by the Mississippi River was once a common event, but is now limited by the levee system. Abundant wetlands occupy abandoned stream channels throughout the Delta. The Yazoo River Basin has many unique features that make it an attractive site for an Hydrologic Observatory. Example features and issues of scientific interest include: 1) Extensive system of levees which have altered recharge to the regional aquifer, shifted population centers, and created backwater flooding areas. 2) Abundant wetlands with a century-long history of response to agricultural sediment and chemical fluxes. 3) Erosion of upland streams, and stream sediment loads that are the highest in the nation. 4) Groundwater mining in spite of abundant precipitation due to a regional surface clay layer that limits infiltration. 5) A history of agricultural Best Management Practices enabling evaluation of the effectiveness of such measures. 6) Large scale catfish farming with heavy reliance on groundwater. 7) Near enough to the Gulf coast to be impacted by hurricane events. 8) Already existing network of monitoring stations for stream flow, sediment-load, and weather, including complete coverage by four NWS NEXRAD Doppler radar systems. 9) Long history of national interest and investment including flood control projects, wetland restoration, and dredging by the US Army Corps of Engineers, an intensively instrumented national watershed observatory by the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Goodwin Creek, and numerous other projects by over 20 federal and state agencies. 10) Availability of a 2300 square meter research facility within the watershed for housing research and administrative activities.

Charles River

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Information on the efforts of the US EPA, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the municipalities within the Charles River Watershed and nongovernmental organizations to improve the water quality of the Charles River.

Alternatives to Crop Insurance for Mitigating Hydrologic Risk in the Upper Mississippi River Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baker, J. M.; Griffis, T. J.; Gorski, G.; Wood, J. D.

2015-12-01

Corn and soybean production in the Upper Mississippi River Basin can be limited by either excess or shortage of water, often in the same year within the same watershed. Most producers indemnify themselves against these hazards through the Federal crop insurance program, which is heavily subsidized, thus discouraging expenditures on other forms of risk mitigation. The cost is not trivial, amounting to more than 60 billion USD over the past 15 years. Examination of long-term precipitation and streamflow records at the 8-digit scale suggests that inter-annual hydrologic variability in the region is increasing, particularly in an area stretching from NW IL through much of IA and southern MN. Analysis of crop insurance statistics shows that these same watersheds exhibit the highest frequency of coincident claims for yield losses to both excess water and drought within the same year. An emphasis on development of water management strategies to increase landscape storage and subsequent reuse through supplemental irrigation in this region could reduce the cost of the crop insurance program and stabilize yield. However, we also note that analysis of yield data from USDA-NASS shows that interannual yield variability at the watershed scale is much more muted than the indemnity data suggest, indicating that adverse selection is probably a factor in the crop insurance marketplace. Consequently, we propose that hydrologic mitigation practices may be most cost-effective if they are carefully targeted, using topographic, soil, and meteorological data, in combination with more site-specificity in crop insurance data.

Geomorphic mapping to support river restoration on the Trinity River downstream from Lewiston Dam, California, 1980-2011

USGS Publications Warehouse

Curtis, Jennifer A.; Guerrero, Timothy M.

2015-01-01

Historic land use, dam construction, water storage, and flow diversions in the Trinity River watershed have resulted in downstream geomorphic change, loss of salmonid habitat, and declines in salmonid populations. The USGS in cooperation with the Trinity River Restoration Program, a multi-agency partnership tasked with implementing federally mandated restoration, completed a geomorphic change assessment to inform the planning process for future restoration work. This report documents an ARCMAP geodatabase (v.10.0) containing geomorphic features digitized from a series of rectified orthophotographs (http://dx.doi.org/10.5066/F7TT4P04). Upland, riparian, and channel features were digitized from six available base images (1980, 1997, 2001, 2006, 2009, and 2011). This report describes the structure of the geodatabase and the methods used to delineate individual geomorphic features.

Riparian restoration framework for the Upper Gila River, Arizona

USGS Publications Warehouse

Orr, Bruce K.; Leverich, Glen L.; Diggory, Zooey E.; Dudley, Tom L.; Hatten, James R.; Hultine, Kevin R.; Johnson, Matthew P.; Orr, Devyn A.

2014-01-01

This technical report summarizes the methods and results of a comprehensive riparian restoration planning effort for the Gila Valley Restoration Planning Area, an approximately 53-mile portion of the upper Gila River in Arizona (Figure 1-1). This planning effort has developed a Restoration Framework intended to deliver science-based guidance on suitable riparian restoration actions within the ecologically sensitive river corridor. The framework development was conducted by a restoration science team, led by Stillwater Sciences with contributions from researchers at the Desert Botanical Garden (DBG), Northern Arizona University (NAU), University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). All work was coordinated by the Gila Watershed Partnership of Arizona (GWP), whose broader Upper Gila River Project Area is depicted in Figure 1-1, with funding from the Walton Family Foundation’s Freshwater Initiative Program.

An integrated multiscale river basin observing system in the Heihe River Basin, northwest China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, X.; Liu, S.; Xiao, Q.; Ma, M.; Jin, R.; Che, T.

2015-12-01

Using the watershed as the unit to establish an integrated watershed observing system has been an important trend in integrated eco-hydrologic studies in the past ten years. Thus far, a relatively comprehensive watershed observing system has been established in the Heihe River Basin, northwest China. In addition, two comprehensive remote sensing hydrology experiments have been conducted sequentially in the Heihe River Basin, including the Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research (WATER) (2007-2010) and the Heihe Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research (HiWATER) (2012-2015). Among these two experiments, an important result of WATER has been the generation of some multi-scale, high-quality comprehensive datasets, which have greatly supported the development, improvement and validation of a series of ecological, hydrological and quantitative remote-sensing models. The goal of a breakthrough for solving the "data bottleneck" problem has been achieved. HiWATER was initiated in 2012. This project has established a world-class hydrological and meteorological observation network, a flux measurement matrix and an eco-hydrological wireless sensor network. A set of super high-resolution airborne remote-sensing data has also been obtained. In addition, there has been important progress with regard to the scaling research. Furthermore, the automatic acquisition, transmission, quality control and remote control of the observational data has been realized through the use of wireless sensor network technology. The observation and information systems have been highly integrated, which will provide a solid foundation for establishing a research platform that integrates observation, data management, model simulation, scenario analysis and decision-making support to foster 21st-century watershed science in China.

Modeling nutrient retention at the watershed scale: Does small stream research apply to the whole river network?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aguilera, Rosana; Marcé, Rafael; Sabater, Sergi

2013-06-01

are conveyed from terrestrial and upstream sources through drainage networks. Streams and rivers contribute to regulate the material exported downstream by means of transformation, storage, and removal of nutrients. It has been recently suggested that the efficiency of process rates relative to available nutrient concentration in streams eventually declines, following an efficiency loss (EL) dynamics. However, most of these predictions are based at the reach scale in pristine streams, failing to describe the role of entire river networks. Models provide the means to study nutrient cycling from the stream network perspective via upscaling to the watershed the key mechanisms occurring at the reach scale. We applied a hybrid process-based and statistical model (SPARROW, Spatially Referenced Regression on Watershed Attributes) as a heuristic approach to describe in-stream nutrient processes in a highly impaired, high stream order watershed (the Llobregat River Basin, NE Spain). The in-stream decay specifications of the model were modified to include a partial saturation effect in uptake efficiency (expressed as a power law) and better capture biological nutrient retention in river systems under high anthropogenic stress. The stream decay coefficients were statistically significant in both nitrate and phosphate models, indicating the potential role of in-stream processing in limiting nutrient export. However, the EL concept did not reliably describe the patterns of nutrient uptake efficiency for the concentration gradient and streamflow values found in the Llobregat River basin, posing in doubt its complete applicability to explain nutrient retention processes in stream networks comprising highly impaired rivers.

An approach to measure parameter sensitivity in watershed hydrological modelling

EPA Science Inventory

Hydrologic responses vary spatially and temporally according to watershed characteristics. In this study, the hydrologic models that we developed earlier for the Little Miami River (LMR) and Las Vegas Wash (LVW) watersheds were used for detail sensitivity analyses. To compare the...

Precipitation and runoff simulations of select perennial and ephemeral watersheds in the middle Carson River basin, Eagle, Dayton, and Churchill Valleys, west-central Nevada

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jeton, Anne E.; Maurer, Douglas K.

2011-01-01

The effect that land use may have on streamflow in the Carson River, and ultimately its impact on downstream users can be evaluated by simulating precipitation-runoff processes and estimating groundwater inflow in the middle Carson River in west-central Nevada. To address these concerns, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation, began a study in 2008 to evaluate groundwater flow in the Carson River basin extending from Eagle Valley to Churchill Valley, called the middle Carson River basin in this report. This report documents the development and calibration of 12 watershed models and presents model results and the estimated mean annual water budgets for the modeled watersheds. This part of the larger middle Carson River study will provide estimates of runoff tributary to the Carson River and the potential for groundwater inflow (defined here as that component of recharge derived from percolation of excess water from the soil zone to the groundwater reservoir). The model used for the study was the U.S. Geological Survey's Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System, a physically based, distributed-parameter model designed to simulate precipitation and snowmelt runoff as well as snowpack accumulation and snowmelt processes. Models were developed for 2 perennial watersheds in Eagle Valley having gaged daily mean runoff, Ash Canyon Creek and Clear Creek, and for 10 ephemeral watersheds in the Dayton Valley and Churchill Valley hydrologic areas. Model calibration was constrained by daily mean runoff for the 2 perennial watersheds and for the 10 ephemeral watersheds by limited indirect runoff estimates and by mean annual runoff estimates derived from empirical methods. The models were further constrained by limited climate data adjusted for altitude differences using annual precipitation volumes estimated in a previous study. The calibration periods were water years 1980-2007 for Ash Canyon Creek, and water years 1991-2007 for Clear Creek. To allow for water budget comparisons to the ephemeral models, the two perennial models were then run from 1980 to 2007, the time period constrained somewhat by the later record for the high-altitude climate station used in the simulation. The daily mean values of precipitation, runoff, evapotranspiration, and groundwater inflow simulated from the watershed models were summed to provide mean annual rates and volumes derived from each year of the simulation. Mean annual bias for the calibration period for Ash Canyon Creek and Clear Creek watersheds was within 6 and 3 percent, and relative errors were about 18 and -2 percent, respectively. For the 1980-2007 period of record, mean recharge efficiency and runoff efficiency (percentage of precipitation as groundwater inflow and runoff) averaged 7 and 39 percent, respectively, for Ash Canyon Creek, and 8 and 31 percent, respectively, for Clear Creek. For this same period, groundwater inflow volumes averaged about 500 acre-feet for Ash Canyon and 1,200 acre-feet for Clear Creek. The simulation period for the ephemeral watersheds ranged from water years 1978 to 2007. Mean annual simulated precipitation ranged from 6 to 11 inches. Estimates of recharge efficiency for the ephemeral watersheds ranged from 3 percent for Eureka Canyon to 7 percent for Eldorado Canyon. Runoff efficiency ranged from 7 percent for Eureka Canyon and 15 percent at Brunswick Canyon. For the 1978-2007 period, mean annual groundwater inflow volumes ranged from about 40 acre-feet for Eureka Canyon to just under 5,000 acre-feet for Churchill Canyon watershed. Watershed model results indicate significant interannual variability in the volumes of groundwater inflow caused by climate variations. For most of the modeled watersheds, little to no groundwater inflow was simulated for years with less than 8 inches of precipitation, unless those years were preceded by abnormally high precipitation years with significant subsurface storage carryover.

Sediment oxygen demand in the Saddle River and Salem River watersheds, New Jersey, July-August 2008

USGS Publications Warehouse

Heckathorn, Heather A.; Gibs, Jacob

2010-01-01

Many factors, such as river depth and velocity, biochemical oxygen demand, and algal productivity, as well as sediment oxygen demand, can affect the concentration of dissolved oxygen in the water column. Measurements of sediment oxygen demand, in conjunction with those of other water-column water-quality constituents, are useful for quantifying the mechanisms that affect in-stream dissolved-oxygen concentrations. Sediment-oxygen-demand rates are also needed to develop and calibrate a water-quality model being developed for the Saddle River and Salem River Basins in New Jersey to predict dissolved-oxygen concentrations. This report documents the methods used to measure sediment oxygen demand in the Saddle River and Salem River watersheds along with the rates of sediment oxygen demand that were obtained during this investigation. In July and August 2008, sediment oxygen demand was measured in situ in the Saddle River and Salem River watersheds. In the Saddle River Basin, sediment oxygen demand was measured twice at two sites and once at a third location; in the Salem River Basin, sediment oxygen demand was measured three times at two sites and once at a third location. In situ measurements of sediment oxygen demand in the Saddle River and Salem River watersheds ranged from 0.8 to 1.4 g/m2d (grams per square meter per day) and from 0.6 to 7.1 g/m2d at 20 degrees Celsius, respectively. Except at one site in this study, rates of sediment oxygen demand generally were low. The highest rate of sediment oxygen demand measured during this investigation, 7.1 g/m2d, which occurred at Courses Landing in the Salem River Basin, may be attributable to the consumption of oxygen by a large amount of organic matter (54 grams per kilogram as organic carbon) in the streambed sediments or to potential error during data collection. In general, sediment oxygen demand increased with the concentration of organic carbon in the streambed sediments. Repeated measurements made 6 to 7 days apart at the same site locations resulted in similar values.

Evaluating the impacts of crop rotations on groundwater storage and recharge in an agricultural watershed

Treesearch

Abdullah O. Dakhlalla; Prem B. Parajuli; Ying Ouyang; Darrel W. Schmitz

2016-01-01

The Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer, which underlies the Big Sunflower River Watershed (BSRW),is the most heavily used aquifer in Mississippi. Because the aquifer is primarily used for irrigating cropssuch as corn, cotton, soybean, and rice, the water levels have been declining rapidly over the past fewdecades. The objectives of this study are to...

Support for recreational trail development and community attachment: a case of the Soucook River Watershed

Treesearch

Jodi L. Michaud; Robert A. Robertson

2001-01-01

This study was conducted as part of a larger multi-community needs assessment. Data from this study allows for the determination of support for a multiple-use trail system linking communities within the Soucook River Watershed Region in New Hampshire. This study also examines the relationship between support for trail development and community attachment. The results...

A COMPREHENISVE NONPOINT SOURCE FIELD STUDY FOR SEDIMENT, NUTRIENTS AND PATHOGENS IN THE SOUTH FORK BROAD RIVER WATERSHED IN NORTHEAST GEORGIA

EPA Science Inventory

There is an urgent need for EPA to develop protocols for establishing Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) in streams, lakes and estuaries. A cooperative TMDL field data collection project between ORD and Region 4 is ongoing in the South Fork Broad River Watershed (SFBR), a 245.18 ...

Testing FASST a One-Dimensional Hydrological Model for Soil Moisture Studies at the Little River Watershed, Tifton, Georgia

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The FASST (Fast All Season Strength model, US Army Corps of Engineers), one-dimensional hydrologic model was used to evaluate soil moisture across the USDA-ARS-SEWRL Little River Watershed in south Georgia US. The ultimate goal of this research is to assess the spatial variation of soil moisture acr...

Discharge and sediment loads at the Kings River Experimental Forest in the Southern Sierra Nevada of California

Treesearch

S.M. Eagan; C.T. Hunsaker; C.R. Dolanc; M.E. Lynch; C.R. Johnson

2007-01-01

The Kings River Experimental Watershed (KREW) is now in its third year of data collection on eight small perennial watersheds. We are collecting meteorology, stream discharge, sediment load, water chemistry, shallow soil water chemistry, vegetation, macro-invertebrate, stream microclimate, and air quality data. This paper primarily examines discharge and sediment data...

Linking fecal bacteria in rivers to landscape, geochemical, and hydrologic factors and sources at the basin scale

PubMed Central

Verhougstraete, Marc P.; Martin, Sherry L.; Kendall, Anthony D.; Hyndman, David W.; Rose, Joan B.

2015-01-01

Linking fecal indicator bacteria concentrations in large mixed-use watersheds back to diffuse human sources, such as septic systems, has met limited success. In this study, 64 rivers that drain 84% of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula were sampled under baseflow conditions for Escherichia coli, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (a human source-tracking marker), landscape characteristics, and geochemical and hydrologic variables. E. coli and B. thetaiotaomicron were routinely detected in sampled rivers and an E. coli reference level was defined (1.4 log10 most probable number⋅100 mL−1). Using classification and regression tree analysis and demographic estimates of wastewater treatments per watershed, septic systems seem to be the primary driver of fecal bacteria levels. In particular, watersheds with more than 1,621 septic systems exhibited significantly higher concentrations of B. thetaiotaomicron. This information is vital for evaluating water quality and health implications, determining the impacts of septic systems on watersheds, and improving management decisions for locating, constructing, and maintaining on-site wastewater treatment systems. PMID:26240328

Five-minute, 1/2°, and 1° data sets of continental watersheds and river networks for use in regional and global hydrologic and climate system modeling studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graham, S. T.; Famiglietti, J. S.; Maidment, D. R.

1999-02-01

A major shortcoming of the land surface component in climate models is the absence of a river transport algorithm. This issue becomes particularly important in fully coupled climate system models (CSMs), where river transport is required to close and realistically represent the global water cycle. The development of a river transport algorithm requires knowledge of watersheds and river networks at a scale that is appropriate for use in CSMs. These data must be derived largely from global digital topographic information. The purpose of this paper is to describe a new data set of watersheds and river networks, which is derived primarily from the TerrainBase 5' Global DTM (digital terrain model) and the CIA World Data Bank II. These data serve as a base map for routing continental runoff to the appropriate coast and therefore into the appropriate ocean or inland sea. Using this data set, the runoff produced in any grid cell, when coupled with a routing algorithm, can easily be transported to the appropriate water body and distributed across that water body as desired. The data set includes watershed and flow direction information, as well as supporting hydrologic data at 5', 1/2°, and 1° resolutions globally. It will be useful in fully coupled land-ocean-atmosphere models, in terrestrial ecosystem models, or in stand-alone macroscale hydrologic-modeling studies.

Data to support statistical modeling of instream nutrient load based on watershed attributes, southeastern United States, 2002

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hoos, Anne B.; Terziotti, Silvia; McMahon, Gerard; Savvas, Katerina; Tighe, Kirsten C.; Alkons-Wolinsky, Ruth

2008-01-01

This report presents and describes the digital datasets that characterize nutrient source inputs, environmental characteristics, and instream nutrient loads for the purpose of calibrating and applying a nutrient water-quality model for the southeastern United States for 2002. The model area includes all of the river basins draining to the south Atlantic and the eastern Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Tennessee River basin (referred to collectively as the SAGT area). The water-quality model SPARROW (SPAtially-Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes), developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, uses a regression equation to describe the relation between watershed attributes (predictors) and measured instream loads (response). Watershed attributes that are considered to describe nutrient input conditions and are tested in the SPARROW model for the SAGT area as source variables include atmospheric deposition, fertilizer application to farmland, manure from livestock production, permitted wastewater discharge, and land cover. Watershed and channel attributes that are considered to affect rates of nutrient transport from land to water and are tested in the SAGT SPARROW model as nutrient-transport variables include characteristics of soil, landform, climate, reach time of travel, and reservoir hydraulic loading. Datasets with estimates of each of these attributes for each individual reach or catchment in the reach-catchment network are presented in this report, along with descriptions of methods used to produce them. Measurements of nutrient water quality at stream monitoring sites from a combination of monitoring programs were used to develop observations of the response variable - mean annual nitrogen or phosphorus load - in the SPARROW regression equation. Instream load of nitrogen and phosphorus was estimated using bias-corrected log-linear regression models using the program Fluxmaster, which provides temporally detrended estimates of long-term mean load well-suited for spatial comparisons. The detrended, or normalized, estimates of load are useful for regional-scale assessments but should be used with caution for local-scale interpretations, for which use of loads estimated for actual time periods and employing more detailed regression analysis is suggested. The mean value of the nitrogen yield estimates, normalized to 2002, for 637 stations in the SAGT area is 4.7 kilograms per hectare; the mean value of nitrogen flow-weighted mean concentration is 1.2 milligrams per liter. The mean value of the phosphorus yield estimates, normalized to 2002, for the 747 stations in the SAGT area is 0.66 kilogram per hectare; the mean value of phosphorus flow-weighted mean concentration is 0.17 milligram per liter. Nutrient conditions measured in streams affected by substantial influx or outflux of water and nutrient mass across surface-water basin divides do not reflect nutrient source and transport conditions in the topographic watershed; therefore, inclusion of such streams in the SPARROW modeling approach is considered inappropriate. River basins identified with this concern include south Florida (where surface-water flow paths have been extensively altered) and the Oklawaha, Crystal, Lower Sante Fe, Lower Suwanee, St. Marks, and Chipola River basins in central and northern Florida (where flow exchange with the underlying regional aquifer may represent substantial nitrogen influx to and outflux from the surface-water basins).

A comparison of results from a hydrologic transport model (HSPF) with distributions of sulfate and mercury in a mine-impacted watershed in northeastern Minnesota.

PubMed

Berndt, Michael E; Rutelonis, Wes; Regan, Charles P

2016-10-01

The St. Louis River watershed in northeast Minnesota hosts a major iron mining district that has operated continuously since the 1890s. Concern exists that chemical reduction of sulfate that is released from mines enhances the methylation of mercury in the watershed, leading to increased mercury concentrations in St. Louis River fish. This study tests this idea by simulating the behavior of chemical tracers using a hydrologic flow model (Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN; HSPF) and comparing the results with measured chemistry from several key sites located both upstream and downstream from the mining region. It was found that peaks in measured methylmercury (MeHg), total mercury (THg), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and dissolved iron (Fe) concentrations correspond to periods in time when modeled recharge was dominated by active groundwater throughout the watershed. This helps explain why the timing and size of the MeHg peaks was nearly the same at sites located just upstream and downstream from the mining region. Both the modeled percentages of mine water and the measured sulfate concentrations were low and computed transit times were short for sites downstream from the mining region at times when measured MeHg reached its peak. Taken together, the data and flow model imply that MeHg is released into groundwater that recharges the river through riparian sediments following periods of elevated summer rainfall. The measured sulfate concentrations at the upstream site reached minimum concentrations of approximately 1 mg/L just as MeHg reached its peak, suggesting that reduction of sulfate from non-point sources exerts an important influence on MeHg concentrations at this site. While mines are the dominant source of sulfate to sites downstream from them, it appears that the background sulfate which is present at only 1-6 mg/L, has the largest influence on MeHg concentrations. This is because point sourced sulfate is transported generally under oxidized conditions and is not flushed through riparian sediments in a gaining stream watershed system. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Comparison and applicability of landslide susceptibility models based on landslide ratio-based logistic regression, frequency ratio, weight of evidence, and instability index methods in an extreme rainfall event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Chunhung

2016-04-01

Few researches have discussed about the applicability of applying the statistical landslide susceptibility (LS) model for extreme rainfall-induced landslide events. The researches focuses on the comparison and applicability of LS models based on four methods, including landslide ratio-based logistic regression (LRBLR), frequency ratio (FR), weight of evidence (WOE), and instability index (II) methods, in an extreme rainfall-induced landslide cases. The landslide inventory in the Chishan river watershed, Southwestern Taiwan, after 2009 Typhoon Morakot is the main materials in this research. The Chishan river watershed is a tributary watershed of Kaoping river watershed, which is a landslide- and erosion-prone watershed with the annual average suspended load of 3.6×107 MT/yr (ranks 11th in the world). Typhoon Morakot struck Southern Taiwan from Aug. 6-10 in 2009 and dumped nearly 2,000 mm of rainfall in the Chishan river watershed. The 24-hour, 48-hour, and 72-hours accumulated rainfall in the Chishan river watershed exceeded the 200-year return period accumulated rainfall. 2,389 landslide polygons in the Chishan river watershed were extracted from SPOT 5 images after 2009 Typhoon Morakot. The total landslide area is around 33.5 km2, equals to the landslide ratio of 4.1%. The main landslide types based on Varnes' (1978) classification are rotational and translational slides. The two characteristics of extreme rainfall-induced landslide event are dense landslide distribution and large occupation of downslope landslide areas owing to headward erosion and bank erosion in the flooding processes. The area of downslope landslide in the Chishan river watershed after 2009 Typhoon Morakot is 3.2 times higher than that of upslope landslide areas. The prediction accuracy of LS models based on LRBLR, FR, WOE, and II methods have been proven over 70%. The model performance and applicability of four models in a landslide-prone watershed with dense distribution of rainfall-induced landslide are interesting and meaningful. Eight landslide-related factors, including elevation, slope, aspect, geology, accumulated rainfall during 2009 Typhoon Morakot, landuse, distance to the fault, and distance to the rivers, were considered in this research. The research builds and compares the difference of the LS maps based on four methods. The average LS value from each method is 0.27 for LRBLR, 0.368 for FR, 0.553 for WOE, and 0.498 for II. The correlation analysis was conducted to identify similarities between the four LS maps. The correlation coefficients are 0.913, 0.829, 0.930, 0.756, 0.729, and 0.652 for the LRBLR vs FR, LRBLR vs WOE, FR vs WOE, LRBLR vs II, FR vs II, and WOE vs II. The research compares the model performance of four LS maps by calculating the AUC value (area under the ROC curve) and ACR value (average correct-predicted ratio). The AUC values of LS maps based on LRBLR, FR, WOE, and II methods are 0.819, 0.819, 0.822 and 0.785. The ACR values of LS maps based on LRBLR, FR, WOE, and II methods are 75.1%, 73.7%, 68.4%, and 64.2%. The results indicate that the model performance based on LRBLR method in an extreme rainfall-landslide event is better than that based on the other three methods.

A potential integrated water quality strategy for the Mississippi River Basin and the Gulf of Mexico.

PubMed

Greenhalgh, S; Faeth, P

2001-11-22

Nutrient pollution, now the leading cause of water quality impairment in the U.S., has had significant impact on the nation"s waterways. Excessive nutrient pollution has been linked to habitat loss, fish kills, blooms of toxic algae, and hypoxia (oxygen-depleted water). The hypoxic "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico is one of the most striking illustrations of what can happen when too many nutrients from inland watersheds reach coastal areas. Despite programs to improve municipal wastewater treatment facilities, more stringent industrial wastewater requirements, and agricultural programs designed to reduce sediment loads in waterways, water quality and nutrient pollution continues to be a problem, and in many cases has worsened. We undertook a policy analysis to assess how the agricultural community could better reduce its contribution to the dead zone and also to evaluate the synergistic impacts of these policies on other environmental concerns such as climate change. Using a sectorial model of U.S. agriculture, we compared policies including untargeted conservation subsidies, nutrient trading, Conservation Reserve Program extension, agricultural sales of carbon and greenhouse gas credits, and fertilizer reduction. This economic and environmental analysis is watershed-based, primarily focusing on nitrogen in the Mississippi River basin, which allowed us to assess the distribution of nitrogen reduction in streams, environmental co-benefits, and impact on agricultural cash flows within the Mississippi River basin from various options. The model incorporates a number of environmental factors, making it possible to get a more a complete picture of the costs and co-benefits of nutrient reduction. These elements also help to identify the policy options that minimize the costs to farmers and maximize benefits to society.

An integrated modeling approach for estimating the water quality benefits of conservation practices at the river basin scale.

PubMed

Santhi, C; Kannan, N; White, M; Di Luzio, M; Arnold, J G; Wang, X; Williams, J R

2014-01-01

The USDA initiated the Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) to quantify the environmental benefits of conservation practices at regional and national scales. For this assessment, a sampling and modeling approach is used. This paper provides a technical overview of the modeling approach used in CEAP cropland assessment to estimate the off-site water quality benefits of conservation practices using the Ohio River Basin (ORB) as an example. The modeling approach uses a farm-scale model, Agricultural Policy Environmental Extender (APEX), and a watershed scale model (the Soil and Water Assessment Tool [SWAT]) and databases in the Hydrologic Unit Modeling for the United States system. Databases of land use, soils, land use management, topography, weather, point sources, and atmospheric depositions were developed to derive model inputs. APEX simulates the cultivated cropland, Conserve Reserve Program land, and the practices implemented on them, whereas SWAT simulates the noncultivated land (e.g., pasture, range, urban, and forest) and point sources. Simulation results from APEX are input into SWAT. SWAT routes all sources, including APEX's, to the basin outlet through each eight-digit watershed. Each basin is calibrated for stream flow, sediment, and nutrient loads at multiple gaging sites and turned in for simulating the effects of conservation practice scenarios on water quality. Results indicate that sediment, nitrogen, and phosphorus loads delivered to the Mississippi River from ORB could be reduced by 16, 15, and 23%, respectively, due to current conservation practices. Modeling tools are useful to provide science-based information for assessing existing conservation programs, developing future programs, and developing insights on load reductions necessary for hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Integrated Modeling System for Analysis of Watershed Water Balance: A Case Study in the Tims Branch Watershed, South Carolina

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Setegn, S. G.; Mahmoudi, M.; Lawrence, A.; Duque, N.

2015-12-01

The Applied Research Center at Florida International University (ARC-FIU) is supporting the soil and groundwater remediation efforts of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) by developing a surface water model to simulate the hydrology and the fate and transport of contaminants and sediment in the Tims Branch watershed. Hydrological models are useful tool in water and land resource development and decision-making for watershed management. Moreover, simulation of hydrological processes improves understanding of the environmental dynamics and helps to manage and protect water resources and the environment. MIKE SHE, an advanced integrated modeling system is used to simulate the hydrological processes of the Tim Branch watershed with the objective of developing an integrated modeling system to improve understanding of the physical, chemical and biological processes within the Tims Branch watershed. MIKE SHE simulates water flow in the entire land based phase of the hydrological cycle from rainfall to river flow, via various flow processes such as, overland flow, infiltration, evapotranspiration, and groundwater flow. In this study a MIKE SHE model is developed and applied to the Tim branch watershed to study the watershed response to storm events and understand the water balance of the watershed under different climatic and catchment characteristics. The preliminary result of the integrated model indicated that variation in the depth of overland flow highly depend on the amount and distribution of rainfall in the watershed. The ultimate goal of this project is to couple the MIKE SHE and MIKE 11 models to integrate the hydrological component in the land phase of hydrological cycle and stream flow process. The coupled MIKE SHE/MIKE 11 model will further be integrated with an Ecolab module to represent a range of water quality, contaminant transport, and ecological processes with respect to the stream, surface water and groundwater in the Tims Branch watershed at Savannah River Site.

A watershed-based adaptive knowledge system for developing ecosystem stakeholder partnerships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Hebin; Thornton, Jeffrey A.; Shadrin, Nickolai

2015-11-01

This study proposes a Watershed-based Adaptive Knowledge System (WAKES) to consistently coordinate multiple stakeholders in developing sustainable partnerships for ecosystem management. WAKES is extended from the institutional mechanism of Payments for Improving Ecosystem Services at the Watershed-scale (PIES-W). PIES-W is designed relating to the governance of ecosystem services fl ows focused on a lake as a resource stock connecting its infl owing and outfl owing rivers within its watershed. It explicitly realizes the values of conservation services provided by private land managers and incorporates their activities into the public organizing framework for ecosystem management. It implicitly extends the "upstream-to-downstream" organizing perspective to a broader vision of viewing the ecosystems as comprised of both "watershed landscapes" and "marine landscapes". Extended from PIES-W, WAKES specifies two corresponding feedback: Framework I and II. Framework I is a relationship matrix comprised of three input-output structures of primary governance factors intersecting three subsystems of a watershed with regard to ecosystem services and human stakeholders. Framework II is the Stakeholder-and-Information structure channeling five types of information among four stakeholder groups in order to enable the feedbacks mechanism of Framework I. WAKES identifies the rationales behind three fundamental information transformations, illustrated with the Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis and the Strategic Action Program of the Bermejo River Binational Basin. These include (1) translating scientific knowledge into public information within the Function-and-Service structure corresponding to the ecological subsystem, (2) incorporating public perceptions into political will within the Service- and- Value structure corresponding to the economic subsystem, and (3) integrating scientific knowledge, public perceptions and political will into management options within the Value-and-Stakeholder structure corresponding to the social subsystem. This study seeks to share a vision of social adaptation for a global sustainable future through developing a network to adopt contributions from and forming partnerships among all ecosystem stakeholders.

Water Resources of the Ground-Water System in the Unconsolidated Deposits of the Colville River Watershed, Stevens County, Washington

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kahle, Sue C.; Longpre, Claire I.; Smith, Raymond R.; Sumioka, Steve S.; Watkins, Anni M.; Kresch, David L.

2003-01-01

A study of the water resources of the ground-water system in the unconsolidated deposits of the Colville River Watershed provided the Colville River Watershed Planning Team with an assessment of the hydrogeologic framework, preliminary determinations of how the shallow and deeper parts of the ground-water system interact with each other and the surface-water system, descriptions of water-quantity characteristics including water-use estimates and an estimated water budget for the watershed, and an assessment of further data needs. The 1,007-square-mile watershed, located in Stevens County in northeastern Washington, is closed to further surface-water appropriations throughout most of the basin during most seasons. The information provided by this study will assist local watershed planners in assessing the status of water resources within the Colville River Watershed (Water Resources Inventory Area 59). The hydrogeologic framework consists of glacial and alluvial deposits that overlie bedrock and are more than 700 feet thick in places. Twenty-six hydrogeologic sections were constructed, using a map of the surficial geology and drillers' logs for more than 350 wells. Seven hydrogeologic units were delineated: the Upper outwash aquifer, the Till confining unit, the Older outwash aquifer, the Colville Valley confining unit, the Lower aquifer, the Lower confining unit, and Bedrock. Synoptic stream discharge measurements made in September 2001 identified gaining and losing reaches over the unconsolidated valley deposits. During the September measurement period, the Colville River gained flow from the shallow ground-water system near its headwaters to the town of Valley and lost flow to the shallow ground-water system from Valley to Chewelah. Downstream from Chewelah, the river generally lost flow, but the amounts lost were small and within measurement error. Ground-water levels indicate that the Lower aquifer and the shallow ground-water system may act as fairly independent systems. The presence of flowing wells completed in the Lower aquifer indicates upward head gradients along much of the Colville Valley floor. Total surface- and ground-water withdrawals during 2001 were estimated to be 9,340 million gallons. Water use for 2001, as a percentage of the total, was 75.3 percent for irrigation, 16.3 percent for public supply, 6.5 percent for private wells, and about 1 percent each for industrial and livestock use. An approximate water budget for a typical year in the Colville River Watershed shows that 27 inches of precipitation are balanced by 4.2 inches of streamflow discharge from the basin, 0.3 inch of ground-water discharge from the basin, and 22.5 inches of evapotranspiration.

Remote sensing characterization of the Animas River watershed, southwestern Colorado, by AVIRIS imaging spectroscopy

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dalton, J.B.; Bove, D.J.; Mladinich, C.S.

2005-01-01

Visible-wavelength and near-infrared image cubes of the Animas River watershed in southwestern Colorado have been acquired by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Airborne Visible and InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) instrument and processed using the U.S. Geological Survey Tetracorder v3.6a2 implementation. The Tetracorder expert system utilizes a spectral reference library containing more than 400 laboratory and field spectra of end-member minerals, mineral mixtures, vegetation, manmade materials, atmospheric gases, and additional substances to generate maps of mineralogy, vegetation, snow, and other material distributions. Major iron-bearing, clay, mica, carbonate, sulfate, and other minerals were identified, among which are several minerals associated with acid rock drainage, including pyrite, jarosite, alunite, and goethite. Distributions of minerals such as calcite and chlorite indicate a relationship between acid-neutralizing assemblages and stream geochemistry within the watershed. Images denoting material distributions throughout the watershed have been orthorectified against digital terrain models to produce georeferenced image files suitable for inclusion in Geographic Information System databases. Results of this study are of use to land managers, stakeholders, and researchers interested in understanding a number of characteristics of the Animas River watershed.

Soil moisture variability over Odra watershed: Comparison between SMOS and GLDAS data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zawadzki, Jaroslaw; Kędzior, Mateusz

2016-03-01

Monitoring of temporal and spatial soil moisture variability is an important issue, both from practical and scientific point of view. It is well known that passive, L-band, radiometric measurements provide best soil moisture estimates. Unfortunately as it was observed during Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission, which was specially dedicated to measure soil moisture, these measurements suffer significant data loss. It is caused mainly by radio frequency interference (RFI) which strongly contaminates Central Europe and even in particularly unfavorable conditions, might prevent these data from being used for regional or watershed scale analysis. Nevertheless, it is highly awaited by researchers to receive statistically significant information on soil moisture over the area of a big watershed. One of such watersheds, the Odra (Oder) river watershed, lies in three European countries - Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. The area of the Odra river watershed is equal to 118,861 km2 making it the second most important river in Poland as well as one of the most significant one in Central Europe. This paper examines the SMOS soil moisture data in the Odra river watershed in the period from 2010 to 2012. This attempt was made to check the possibility of assessing, from the low spatial resolution observations of SMOS, useful information that could be exploited for practical aims in watershed scale, for example, in water storage models even while moderate RFI takes place. Such studies, performed over the area of a large watershed, were recommended by researchers in order to obtain statistically significant results. To meet these expectations, Centre Aval de Traitement des Donnes SMOS (CATDS), 3-days averaged data, together with Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) National Centers for Environmental Prediction/Oregon State University/Air Force/Hydrologic Research Lab (NOAH) model 0.25 soil moisture values were used for statistical analyses and mutual comparisons. The results obtained using various statistical tools unveil high scientific potential of CATDS SMOS data to study soil moisture over the Odra river watershed. This was also confirmed by reasonable agreement between results derived from CATDS SMOS Ascending and GLDAS data sets. This agreement was achieved mainly by using these data spatially averaged over the whole watershed area, and for observations performed in the period longer than three-day averaging time. Comparisons of separate three-day data in a given pixel position, or at smaller areas would be difficult because of data gaps. Hence, the results of the work suggest that despite of RFI interferences, SMOS observations can provide effective input for analysis of soil moisture at regional scales. Moreover, it was shown that CATDS SMOS soil moisture data are better correlated with rainfall rate than GLDAS ones.

Assessing Wetland Anthropogenic Stress using GIS; a Multi-scale Watershed Approach

EPA Science Inventory

Watersheds are widely recognized as essential summary units for ecosystem research and management, particularly in aquatic systems. As the drainage basin in which surface water drains toward a lake, stream, river, or wetland at a lower elevation, watersheds represent spatially e...

WATERSHED INFORMATION NETWORK

EPA Science Inventory

Resource Purpose:The Watershed Information Network is a set of about 30 web pages that are organized by topic. These pages access existing databases like the American Heritage Rivers Services database and Surf Your Watershed. WIN in itself has no data or data sets.
L...