Abstract
Surface water is the greatest contributor to many water supplies in urbanized areas. Understanding local water sources and seasonality is important in evaluating water resource management, which is essential to ensure the sustainability of water supplies to provide potable water. Here we describe the municipal water cycle of Columbus, Ohio, USA, using δ18O, δD, and d-excess, and follow water from precipitation through surface reservoirs to a residential tap between May 2010 and November 2011. We show that trends in water isotopic composition of Ohio precipitation have a seasonal character with more negative values during the winter months and more positive values during the summer months. The year of 2011 was the wettest year on record in Central Ohio, with many months having high d-excess values (>+15‰), suggestive of increased moisture recycling, and possibly moisture introduced from more local sources. Tap waters experienced little lag time in the managed system, having a residence time of ~2 months in the reservoirs. Tap waters and reservoir waters preserved the isotopic signal of the precipitation, but the reservoir morphology also influenced the water residence time, and hence, the isotopic relationship to the precipitation. The reservoirs supplied by the Scioto River function like a river system with a fast throughput of water. The other reservoirs display more constant solute concentrations, longer flow-through times, and more lacustrine qualities. This work provides a basic understanding of a regional water supply system in Central Ohio and helps characterize the water flow in the system. These data will provide useful baseline information for the future as urban populations grow and the climate and hydrologic cycle changes.
Highlights
Anticipation of the future relationship between water resources and climatological conditions and population growth is essential for developing strategies to ensure the long-term sustainability of water supplies [1]
Residential Tap Waters Residential tap water distributed via the Dublin Road water plant ranged from δ18O of −9.0‰ to −4.3‰ and δD
This work establishes an isotopic characterization of precipitation, surface waters, and residential tap waters to describe the flow of water in the human-hydrological system of Columbus, Ohio
Summary
Anticipation of the future relationship between water resources and climatological conditions and population growth is essential for developing strategies to ensure the long-term sustainability of water supplies [1]. Surface reservoirs provide approximately 63% of all public water supplies in the USA [2]. The timing of precipitation and evaporative water loss from reservoirs can significantly affect water storage, proving difficulty in developing reservoir-planning models [3] [4]. Changes in precipitation amounts, recharge rates, and land use can affect the residence time of water through watersheds altering reservoir storage capacity. In Ohio, the total water withdrawals in 2000 were 42.0 Mm3/d, with 39.0 Mm3/d from surface water and only 3.0 Mm3/d from groundwater [2]. The primary uses of this water are domestic supply, irrigation for agriculture, livestock usage, and aquaculture. For Ohio in 2000, the public water supply usage, water withdrawn by public and private water suppliers, was 5.6 Mm3/d [2]
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