A management model for specification of groundwater withdrawal permits

Some parts of the U.S. have strained or insufficient local water supplies to meet the demands of population, industry and agriculture located in the region. Some areas with insufficient water supply have long implemented measures to address the shortfall through transferring water from other basins. New York City obtains almost 97% of its water and Los Angeles over 90% from interbasin transfers (IBTs).<br>With climate change affecting precipitation and temperature patterns across the U.S., coupled with growth in population and the economy leading to changes in demand, planning for risks to water supplies is critical to ensuring continued supply of water for all U.S. regions. Assessment of areas of high and low water risk can provide insights into potential changes in availability for existing supply, and aid in decision making for mitigating forecasted risks to local water supply. Implementation of IBTs historically has been one approach for addressing water supply risks.<br>The overarching goal of this research was to examine the role of IBTs for water resource supply and management in the U.S. Specific objectives were as follows:<br>1. Quantify the number of IBTs that exist at a defined hydrologic unit code (HUC) level in the U.S. and examine the distribution of IBTs and potential causes associated with any observed clustering of IBTs. <br>2. Characterize and classify IBTs, and examine the development drivers for a subset of IBTs in the U.S through sampling in different climate regions of the U.S.<br>3. Examine the water risks in the U.S. by county, considering both current and future conditions and accounting for natural water importation through streams and rivers, and consider the role of IBTs in mitigating these risks.<br>As part of the first objective, the definition of what constitutes a “basin” was required to assess man-made transfers that cross those basin boundaries. There are several definitions utilized by different states, with no federal definition. The most recent inventory of IBTs was conducted by the USGS in 1985 and 1986 using the HUC4 level. To build a new inventory of IBTs in the U.S., the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) was utilized, combined with the Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD). Man-made transfers across basin boundaries at the HUC6 level were considered to be interbasin. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis showed that as of 2016 there were 2,161 IBTs crossing HUC6 boundaries in the U.S. These were located across the country, although over 50% of those identified were located in Florida, Texas or North Carolina. Some clustering of IBTs was observed in various states and analysis of the clustering suggested a variety of reasons for IBT construction, including population, drainage and agricultural factors. However, the flow volumes associated with the IBTs identified could not be evaluated due to a lack of available data at both the state and federal level.<br>The second objective expanded upon this analysis, examining a subset of 109 (5%) of the identified IBT reaches within the various climate regions of the U.S. To characterize and classify the IBTs each was labeled as being near irrigated agricultural land, near cities, or rural for those not near either cities or irrigated land. IBTs in proximity to both cities and irrigated agricultural lands were given the designation city+irrigated agriculture. Selection of IBTs for this analysis was based on the approximate proportional distribution of the total number of IBTs within each climate region and included representation of IBT clusters identified as part of the first objective. The results of the analysis showed that there have been four major drivers behind the construction of IBTs in the U.S.: irrigation for agriculture, municipal and industrial water supply, commercial shipping or navigation, and drainage or flood management. The most common factor for IBT construction has been to enable drainage or flood management. IBT development for agricultural needs has also been prevalent. The majority of IBTs examined were constructed between 1880 and 1980, with peaks in construction occurring between 1900-1910 and 1960-1970. The case studies examined showed that drivers of IBT development evolved through history, reflecting the changes in U.S. and regional economies, populations and needs.<br>To examine the risks associated with the U.S. water supply a new Water Risk Index (WRI) was developed, building upon and advancing a prior risk analysis developed by Roy et al. (2012). The Roy et al. work utilized risk factors that focused upon local precipitation, demand and evapotranspiration, without examining the natural flow of water between counties. To produce the WRI the analysis utilized the 2015 USGS Water Use Report data and projected water use in 2050, assuming only municipal and domestic water demand and thermoelectric power water withdrawal demand would change over time as per Roy et al. (2012). To calculate the flow volumes for each county the Water Supply Sustainability Index (WaSSI) developed by the USDA Forest Service (Sun, 2008) was used. The WaSSI model allowed for the analysis to include changes in climate and related hydrology as well as the evolving water demand. The WRI calculated water supply risk for each county in the contiguous U.S. The WRI calculation includes comparisons of water withdrawal to local flow volume, the drought susceptibility during summer for both the present and future, the projected growth in water demand, and the proportion of groundwater use relative to total water demand. This risk index provides a scaled value system that provides context to each individual risk factor included. The results of this showed that while some counties are regarded as high or very high risk, there are significantly fewer than those identified by the Roy et al. (2012) analysis. A maximum of 36 counties were identified as high or very high risk within the scenarios examined as part of the WRI analysis, in comparison to over 400 in the previous analysis. The highest risk areas are located in the west, with most counties determined to be at very high risk located in California. Most of the counties with negligible risk are located in Montana and Wyoming, as well as Colorado west of the continental divide.<br>This research provides insights into locations within the U.S. that may have high risks to their water supplies, and into the role that current or potential IBTs can have to mitigate those risks. In addition, the methods developed can help support planners to identify low risk locations to examine for their potential to support IBT water supply solutions while accounting for the downstream impacts such diversions may cause. To ensure that the U.S. maintains a consistent and secure water supply all options must be considered for their viability, including the potential for moving water from where it is plentiful to areas it is not.<br>

&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Declining summer streamflow is observed in Pacific Northwest catchments, impacting endangered salmon species which need sufficient flow to reach their spawning grounds. Groundwater pumping for irrigation is generally considered the cause of low summer flow. However, it is unclear, how much water is lost due to water use or climatic factors, as there often is no data on pumping-volume. In this study we assess the lost amount of streamflow during summer low flows and quantify the shares attributable to climate change and agricultural water-consumption, only using streamflow data. As a case study we focused on the Scott River catchment, California, having 7% agricultural land use. We compared summer streamflow, snow water equivalent and precipitation between historic (1940-1976), intermediate (1977-1999) and modern (2000-2020) timeframes. Snow water equivalent showed negative significant trends at lower elevations (1600-1800 m). We also observed significant negative trends in mean and minimum streamflow as well as earlier starting and longer lasting low flow season. Using a paired-basin approach we were able to detect a mean 38.5% (37.5 +/- 3 Mm&amp;amp;#179;) streamflow decrease from historic to modern timeframe years, where 14.6% (14.25 +/- 1.4 Mm&amp;amp;#179;) were attributable to agricultural water consumption and 23.9% (23.2 +/- 1.4 Mm&amp;amp;#179;) to climate change. These results demonstrate that agriculture substantially impacts streamflow; however, the influence of climate change dominates. Therefore, stopping water use in summer to increase low flows is insufficient. A possibility to ensure enough flow for endangered salmon could be artificial aquifer recharge during high flows to top of low flow season.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;

Economic development in Arizona is largely influenced by access to adequate water supplies owing to the State's predominantly semiarid to arid climate. Water demand is met by pumping ground water from aquifers or by con­veying surface water through a system of reservoirs and canals. Water-withdrawal data provide important information on how water demand affects the State's water resources. Information on water withdrawals also can help planners and managers assess the effectiveness of water-management policies, regulations, and conservation activities.This report includes water-withdrawal data for irrigation, municipal, mining, thermoelectric-power, and drainage uses for 1991-2000, and describes the methods used to collect, compile, and estimate the data. Data are reported for the Arizona Department of Water Resources ground-water basins outside of Active Management Areas.Because of the climate, ground water and surface water are used to irrigate nearly all agricultural fields in Arizona. Irrigation accounted for the largest use of water in the study area during 1991-2000. The amount of water withdrawn for irrigation varies greatly from year to year for some of the basins, primarily because of differences in the consumptive water requirement for different crops and because of changes in irrigated acreage.The population of Arizona increased about 35 percent from 1991 to 2000-from about 3.79 million in 1991 to about 5.13 million in 2000. Correspondingly, water withdrawal for municipal use increased steadily in most of the basins during 1991-2000.Ground-water withdrawals for mining did not show any consistent trends during 1991-2000. Increases and decreases in withdrawals for mining were most likely due to variations in mineral production. Mineral prices and competition from mining in other States and foreign countries probably result in annual increases or decreases in mineral production in Arizona.Between 1991 and 2000, ground-water withdrawals for thermoelectric-power generation generally increased owing to an increase in production of electricity. Ground-water withdrawals for drainage of agricultural lands in the Lower Gila and Yuma Basins varied irregularly from year to year. Annual total water withdrawals are not presented in this report because for some years irrigation values for some of the basins are reported as "less than 1,000 acre-feet," and municipal and mining values for some of the basins are reported as "less than 300 acre-feet."

Regional disparities in water availability and low flow conditions in rivers across Canada

Artificial intelligence techniques coupled with seasonality measures for hydrological regionalization of Q90 under Brazilian conditions

In the context of the ongoing climate warming in Europe, the seasonality and magnitudes of low flows and streamflow droughts are expected to change in the future. Increasing temperature and evaporation rates, stagnating precipitation amounts and decreasing snow cover will probably further intensify the summer streamflow deficits. This study analyzed the long-term variability and seasonality of low flows and streamflow droughts in fifteen headwater catchments of three regions within Central Europe. To quantify the changes in the low flow regime of selected catchments during the 1968–2019 period, we applied the R package lfstat for computing the seasonality ratio (SR), the seasonality index (SI), mean annual minima, as well as for the detection of streamflow drought events along with deficit volumes. Trend analysis of summer minimum discharges was performed using the Mann–Kendall test. Our results showed a substantial increase in the proportion of summer low flows during the analyzed period, accompanied with an apparent shift in the average date of low flow occurrence towards the start of the year. The most pronounced seasonality shifts were found predominantly in catchments with the mean altitude 800–1000 m.a.s.l. in all study regions. In contrast, the regime of low flows in catchments with terrain above 1000 m.a.s.l. remained nearly stable throughout the 1968–2019 period. Moreover, the analysis of mean summer minimum discharges indicated a much-diversified pattern in behavior of long-term trends than it might have been expected. The findings of this study may help identify the potentially most vulnerable near-natural headwater catchments facing worsening summer water scarcity.

This work presents a holistic view of the scenario of water resources management in the Mato Grosso State. Relevant aspects to the water resources of the State and the legal aspects of the subject are approached, registering the institutional changes that occurred on the State's Environmental Agency. The organizational structure of the State's Water Resources Policy and the performance of its components and actors are also approached. It is presented as well the state of the art of each one of the managerial instruments of the State's water resources. Finally, the perspectives and recommendations for the advancement of the management of water resources of the state are presented

Land cover and Climate change are very important issues in terms of global context and their responses to environmental and socio-economic drivers. The dynamic of these two factors is currently affecting the environment in unbalanced way including watershed hydrology. In this paper the impact of land use/cover change on stream flow particularly on low flow were evaluated through application of the model Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) in Gumara watershed, Upper Blue Nile basin Ethiopia. The land use/cover data were obtained from Land Sat image and processed by ERDAS IMAGINE 2010 software. Three land use land cover data; 1973, 1986, and 2013 were prepared and these data were used for base map, model calibration and change study respectively. So, as to evaluate the effect of land use/cover change on low flow of the catchment, the stream flow was simulated by changing 1973 and 2013 LULC but the climate data, which is 1973-1982, was used and it was constant. The low flow of the catchment for these two decades was extracted in simulated flows by Seven Day Sustained (SDS) low flow separation method. The model (SWAT) was calibrated by 1986-1991 climate data and 1986 land use land cover data by using 11 important model parameters selected by sensitivity analysis. The consistency of values of those calibrated parameters was also validated by 1992-1995 climates and with the same land use land cover data. Based on the result, the extreme low flow of Gumara watershed has been decreasing from 0.53 m3/s to 0.43 m3/s which showed decreasing by 0.1 m3/s that is 18.87%. From the overall results of the study, it is possible to conclude that land use land cover change has been influencing the low flow or dry season flow of the catchment. This study has been designed to show how much the land use/cover has been changed and affects the low flow or dry season environmental flow of the catchment. The result has showed some indications that there has to be restoration activities on the land use cover nature of the study area.

ABSTRACT: New Hampshire's riparian water law, first modified judicially, has been more drastically changed by recent legislative and administrative action. As it stands, however, the judicially enforced doctrine of reasonable use appears to be utterly inadequate to handle increasing water demands. The protection of the public interest has imposed substantial limitations on the use of riparian water rights, all under the guise of the exercise of the police power, i.e., the protection of the public health, safety, and welfare. The efficient use of the state's water resources has been further crippled by the widespread and indiscriminate exercise of eminent domain. As a result, the state is now considering the imposition of a permit system that has the potential to streamline the allocation of water. Such a system should take into consideration the public interest factors that have recently frustrated the exercise of riparian rights and the effective use of the state's water resources.

Regional catchment classification with respect to low flow risk in a Pleistocene landscape

Abstract. To sustain growing food demand and increasing standard of living, global water withdrawal and consumptive water use have been increasing rapidly. To analyze the human perturbation on water resources consistently over large scales, a number of macro-scale hydrological models (MHMs) have been developed in recent decades. However, few models consider the interaction between terrestrial water fluxes, and human activities and associated water use, and even fewer models distinguish water use from surface water and groundwater resources. Here, we couple a global water demand model with a global hydrological model and dynamically simulate daily water withdrawal and consumptive water use over the period 1979–2010, using two re-analysis products: ERA-Interim and MERRA. We explicitly take into account the mutual feedback between supply and demand, and implement a newly developed water allocation scheme to distinguish surface water and groundwater use. Moreover, we include a new irrigation scheme, which works dynamically with a daily surface and soil water balance, and incorporate the newly available extensive Global Reservoir and Dams data set (GRanD). Simulated surface water and groundwater withdrawals generally show good agreement with reported national and subnational statistics. The results show a consistent increase in both surface water and groundwater use worldwide, with a more rapid increase in groundwater use since the 1990s. Human impacts on terrestrial water storage (TWS) signals are evident, altering the seasonal and interannual variability. This alteration is particularly large over heavily regulated basins such as the Colorado and the Columbia, and over the major irrigated basins such as the Mississippi, the Indus, and the Ganges. Including human water use and associated reservoir operations generally improves the correlation of simulated TWS anomalies with those of the GRACE observations.

Symposium 17. Ecosystem Capacity for Sustaining Long-term Water Supplies

The State of Texas faces considerable challenges meeting increasing water and power demands due to population and economic growth within the context of a hot and drought-prone climate. In its year 2012 State Water Plan, the Texas Water Development Board recommends investing more than $53 billion in traditional water supply projects to meet demands through 2060. While a significant fraction of the state's water supplies are used to produce electricity, water conservation schemes through changes in the power sector are not considered in the state's water plans. This study estimates the generation costs, water withdrawals, and water consumption from meeting Texas' 2011 electricity demands under three scenarios: minimizing (1) water withdrawals, (2) water consumption, and (3) marginal generation costs. To conduct the study, we use a dispatch model of the ERCOT power grid in a sample historical year (2011) to quantify the potential water savings and economic costs that might be incurred by optimizing power generation in Texas. Under current grid operations (minimizing marginal generation costs), Texas' year 2011 electricity demands cost $8.2 billion to generate, withdrew 4,600 billion gallons of water, and consumed 101 billion gallons of water. If electricity was produced to minimize water withdrawals (instead of minimizing generation cost), we estimate withdrawals would reduce by an order of magnitude, consumption would reduce by 30%-40%, and generation costs would increase by 25%. Minimizing for water consumption, we estimate water consumption is reduced by 40%-50%, withdrawals increase by up to 75%, and generation costs increase by 25%. Minimizing water consumption in the power sector promotes generation from once-through, open-cooled plants, which withdraw relatively more water but consume relatively less. The total water supplied by projects in the state's current water plan is around 4,600 billion gallons by 2060. We estimate the feasible reductions in water withdrawn and consumed by Texas' current power grid is around 4,000 - 6,000 billion gallons and 40-60 billion gallons, respectively, depending on the price of natural gas. While our analysis demonstrates increases in generation costs from reducing water consumption in the power sector, those costs are lower per gallon of water than many other water supply projects identified in Texas' State Water Plan. These results suggest that water planners should consider water saving opportunities in the power sector as one potentially cost-effective option.

During fiscal years 1990-92, the water-resources activities of the U.S. Geological Survey in Louisiana consisted of hydrologic data collection and interpretive investigations and research. Data collection activities involved the operation of statewide stream gaging, ground-water, and quality-of-water long-term monitoring networks. Interpretive investigations and research addressed specific hydrologic concerns such as potential organic chemical contamination in the lower Calcasieu River, water quality of the Barataria basin and Mermentau River basin, water quality and flood characteristics of streams, quality and quantity of freshwater in aquifers, and evaluation of ground-water resources. This report briefly describes the problem, objective, approach, progress, and plans for each project. It also includes a description of the District's organization and a list of cooperators.

Understanding the role of regional water connectivity in mitigating climate change impacts on surface water supply stress in the United States