Engineering Commons^™

Analysis Of The Effects Of Dam Release Properties And Ambient Groundwater Flow On Surface Water‐Groundwater Exchange Over A 100‐Km‐Long Reach, Stephen B. Ferencz, M. Bayani Cardenas, Bethany T. Neilson

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Hydroelectric dams often create highly dynamic downstream flows that promote surface water‐groundwater (SW‐GW) interactions including bank storage, the temporary storage of river water in the riverbank. Previous research on SW‐GW exchanges in dammed rivers has primarily been at single study sites, which has limited the understanding of how these exchanges evolve as dam releases travel downstream. This study evaluates how dam releases affect SW‐GW exchange continuously over a 100‐km distance. This is accomplished by longitudinally routing water releases through a synthetic river and modeling bed and bank fluid and solute exchange across transverse transects spaced along the reach. Peak and …

Ncer Assistance Agreement Annual Progress Report For Grant #83582401 - Assessment Of Stormwater Harvesting Via Manage Aquifer Recharge (Mar) To Develop New Water Supplies In The Arid West: The Salt Lake Valley Example, Ryan Dupont, Joan E. Mclean, Richard C. Peralta, Sarah E. Null, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The goals of the original proposed project remain the same, that is, to test the hypothesis that Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) for stormwater harvesting is a technically feasible, socially and environmentally acceptable, economically viable, and legally feasible option for developing new water supplies for arid Western urban ecosystems experiencing increasing population, and climate change pressures on existing water resources. The project is being carried out via three distinct but integrated components that include: 1) Monitoring of existing distributed MAR harvesting schemes involving a growing number of demonstration Green Infrastructure (GI) test sites; 2) Integrated stormwater/vadose zone/groundwater/ ecosystem services modeling; and …

Modeling The Effect Of Gi Implementation In The Red Butte Creek Area: The Case For "Not All Gi Is Created Equal", Rosa A. Fernández Valasquez, Ryan Dupont

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

• Background on the Project
• Review of Work Evaluating Organic Matter Impacts from Stormwater Discharges to Jordan Using High Frequency Data
• Modeling Approach for Stormwater Runoff and Pollutant Loading in Intermountain Region
• Model Flow & Pollutant Load Calibration
• GI Implementation Results
• Implications

Ncer Assistance Agreement Annual Progress Report For Grant #83582401 - Assessment Of Stormwater Harvesting Via Manage Aquifer Recharge (Mar) To Develop New Water Supplies In The Arid West: The Salt Lake Valley Example, Ryan Dupont, Joan E. Mclean, Richard C. Peralta, Sarah E. Null, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The aims of the original proposed project remain the same, that is, to test the hypothesis that Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) for stormwater harvesting is a technically feasible, socially and environmentally acceptable, economically viable, and legally feasible option for developing new water supplies for arid Western urban ecosystems experiencing increasing population, and climate change pressures on existing water resources. The project is being carried out via three distinct but integrated components that include: 1) Monitoring of existing distributed MAR harvesting schemes involving a growing number of demonstration Green Infrastructure (GI) test sites; 2) Integrated stormwater/vadose zone/groundwater/ ecosystem services modeling; and …

Ncer Assistance Agreement Annual Progress Report For Grant #83582401 - Assessment Of Stormwater Harvesting Via Manage Aquifer Recharge (Mar) To Develop New Water Supplies In The Arid West: The Salt Lake Valley Example, Ryan Dupont, Joan E. Mclean, Richard C. Peralta, Sarah E. Null, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The aims of the original proposed project remain the same, that is, to test the hypothesis that Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) for stormwater harvesting is a technically feasible, socially and environmentally acceptable, economically viable, and permittable option for developing new water supplies for arid Western urban ecosystems experiencing increasing population, and climate change pressures on existing water resources. The project is being carried out via three distinct but integrated components that include: 1) Monitoring of existing distributed Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) harvesting schemes involving a growing number of demonstration Green Infrastructure (GI) test sites; 2) Integrated stormwater/vadose zone/groundwater/ ecosystem services …

An Overview Of Current Applications, Challenges, And Future Trends In Distributed Process-Based Models In Hydrology, Simone Fatichi, Enrique R. Vivoni, Fred L. Ogden, Valeriy Y. Ivanov, Benjamin Mirus, David Gochis, Charles W. Downer, Matteo Camporese, Jason H. Davison, Brian Ebel, Norm Jones, Jongho Kim, Giuseppe Mascaro, Richard Niswonger, Pedro Restrepo, Riccardo Rigon, Chaopeng Shen, Mauro Sulis, David G. Tarboton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Process-based hydrological models have a long history dating back to the 1960s. Criticized by some as over-parameterized, overly complex, and difficult to use, a more nuanced view is that these tools are necessary in many situations and, in a certain class of problems, they are the most appropriate type of hydrological model. This is especially the case in situations where knowledge of flow paths or distributed state variables and/or preservation of physical constraints is important. Examples of this include: spatiotemporal variability of soil moisture, groundwater flow and runoff generation, sediment and contaminant transport, or when feedbacks among various Earth’s system …

Testing Above- And Below-Canopy Representations Of Turbulent Fluxes In An Energy Balance Snowmelt Model, Vinod Mahat, David G. Tarboton, Noah P. Molotch

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Turbulent fluxes of sensible and latent heat are important processes in the surface energy balance that drives snowmelt. Modeling these fluxes in a forested environment is complicated because of the canopy effects on the wind field. This paper presents and tests a turbulent flux model developed to represent these processes in an energy balance snowmelt model. The goal is to model these processes using the readily available inputs of canopy height and leaf area index in a way that minimizes the number of parameters, state variables, and assumptions about hard to quantify processes. Selected periods from 9 years of eddy-covariance …

Advancing Cyberinfrastructure To Support High Resolution Water Resources Modeling (Invited), David G. Tarboton, F. L. Ogden, N. Jones, Jeffery S. Horsburgh

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Addressing the problem of how the availability and quality of water resources at large scales are sensitive to climate variability, watershed alterations and management activities requires computational resources that combine data from multiple sources and support integrated modeling. Related cyberinfrastructure challenges include: 1) how can we best structure data and computer models to address this scientific problem through the use of high-performance and data-intensive computing, and 2) how can we do this in a way that discipline scientists without extensive computational and algorithmic knowledge and experience can take advantage of advances in cyberinfrastructure? This presentation will describe a new system …

Canopy Radiation Transmission For An Energy Balance Snowmelt Model, Vinod Mahat, David G. Tarboton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

To better estimate the radiation energy within and beneath the forest canopy for energy balance snowmelt models, a two stream radiation transfer model that explicitly accounts for canopy scattering, absorption and reflection was developed. Upward and downward radiation streams represented by two differential equations using a single path assumption were solved analytically to approximate the radiation transmitted through or reflected by the canopy with multiple scattering. This approximation results in an exponential decrease of radiation intensity with canopy depth, similar to Beer's law for a deep canopy. The solution for a finite canopy is obtained by applying recursive superposition of …

Dye Waste Treatment, Siew Teng Ong, Pei Sin Keng, Weng Nam Lee, Sie Tiong Ha, Yung Tse Hung

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

© 2011 by the authors. Dye wastes represent one of the most problematic groups of pollutants because they can be easily identified by the human eye and are not easily biodegradable. This literature review paper highlights and provides an overview of dye waste treatments performed over the three years period from 2008-2010. Noteworthy processes for the treatment of dye waste include biological treatment, catalytic oxidation, filtration, sorption process and combination treatments.

Integrated Modeling Of Nitrate Contamination Of Groundwater In Agriculture-Dominated Watersheds, M. Almasri, Jagath J. Kaluarachchi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper presents and implements a framework for modeling the impact of land use practices and protection alternatives on nitrate pollution of groundwater in agricultural watersheds. The framework utilizes the national land cover database (NLCD) of the United State Geological Survey (USGS) grid and a geographic information system (GIS) to account for the spatial distribution of on-ground nitrogen sources and corresponding loadings. The framework employs a soil nitrogen dynamic model to estimate nitrate leaching to groundwater. These estimates were used in developing a groundwater nitrate fate and transport model. The framework considers both point and non-point sources of nitrogen across …

Implications Of On-Ground Nitrogen Loading And Soil Transformations On Ground Water Quality Management, M. Almasri, Jagath J. Kaluarachchi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper presents a modeling approach based on a geographic information system (GIS) to estimate the variability of on-ground nitrogen loading and the corresponding nitrate leaching to ground water. The methodology integrates all point and nonpoint sources of nitrogen, the national land cover database, soil nitrogen transformations, and the uncertainty of key soil and land use-related parameters to predict the nitrate mass leaching to ground water. The analysis considered 21 different land use classes with information derived from nitrogen sources such as fertilizer and dairy manure applications, dairy lagoons, septic systems, and dry and wet depositions. Simulations were performed at …

Optimization Modeling For Groundwater And Conjunctive Use Water Policy Development, Richard C. Peralta, R. Shulstad

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Planners must sometimes decide how to restrict or reduce groundwater use to prevent unacceptable future problems. Often there are several alternatives (policies). Comparing policies can involve formulating a sustained groundwater yield optimization problem and computing an optimal groundwater pumping strategy for each. This is easy via the SOMOS simulation/optimization (S/O) model. Subsequent analysis can include: flow simulation to predict transient water level response to pumping; and economic evaluation to estimate costs and returns. Two examples predict the best consequences of potential physical and legal management policies for alluvial and valley basin fill aquifers hydraulically linked to surface waters. Results show …

Somos Simulation/Optimization Modeling System, Richard C. Peralta

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

SOMOS (Simulation / Optimization Modeling System) is a family of simulation / optimization (S/O) modules to aid in optimally managing water resources. SOMOS results from twenty years experience developing optimization models and applying them to real-world problems, including 11 pump-and-treat (PAT) systems and numerous water supply problems. SOMOS significantly improves water management or designs and saves money. Its user’s manual provides excellent training in principles of applying optimization to managing aquifer and stream-aquifer systems. It is being incorporated with powerful groundwater modeling and visualization packages.

Practical Simulation /Optimization Modeling For Groundwater Quality And Quantity Management, Richard C. Peralta, Ineke M. Kalwij, Shengjun Wu

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Software for mathematically optimizing groundwater management has improved significantly in recent years. The SOMOS code can readily handle large complex plume and water management problems. Most recently, it developed a least-cost $40.82M 30-yr pumping strategy for the 6.58 mile long Blaine NAD plume. That strategy was 19 percent better than the strategy developed simultaneously by an experienced consultant using normal trial and error simulation procedures. The management problem involved 60 stress periods, and well installation and pumping rates that could change every 10 periods. The optimal strategy employed 10 new wells. At a simpler site, SOMOS helped select robust strategies …

Disaggregation Procedures For Stochastic Hydrology Based On Nonparametric Density Estimation, David G. Tarboton, Ashish Sharma, Upmanu L. Lall

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Synthetic simulation of streamflow sequences is important for the analysis of water supply reliability. Disaggregation models are an important component of the stochastic streamflow generation methodology. They provide the ability to simulate multiseason and multisite streamflow sequences that preserve statistical properties at multiple timescales or space scales. In recent papers we have suggested the use of nonparametric methods for streamflow simulation. These methods provide the capability to model time series dependence without a priori assumptions as to the probability distribution of streamflow. They remain faithful to the data and can approximate linear or nonlinear dependence. In this paper we extend …

Introduction To Simulation/Optimization Modeling For Groundwater Containment Remediation And (B) Ramifications Of Applying S/O Modeling To Groundwater Containment Remediation, With Case Study Examples, Richard C. Peralta

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Normal use of a simulation model to develop a groundwater extraction/injection strategy employs the following process: (1) specify management goals, (2) assume a pumping strategy, (3) simulate system response to the pumping strategy, (4) evaluate acceptability of the system responses, (5) repeat steps (2-4) as required. This is a trial and error approach that is unlikely to actually yield the best pumping strategy for complicated problems

Modelling For Optimal Conjunctive Water Management: Irrigated Crop Production Versus Nps Pollution Prevention, O. H. Daza, Richard C. Peralta

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Conjunctive water management{CWM)involves coordinating use of ground and surface water sources. Agricultural (A) and nonagricultural {NA)users compete for available water of adequate quality. A Simulation/Optimization (S/0) conjunctive water management model was developed to aid estimating the effects of water and environmental management decisions on crop yield and water quality. Included subsystems are groundwater, surface water, reservoir, delivery system, drainage, and A and NA water users. The nonlinear model addresses flows described by nonsmooth piecewise-linear functions which have discontinuous derivatives. Embedded constraints describe all significant subsystem flows. For example 1 deep percolation and runoff from surface irrigation are explicitly described as …

Modeling Technique For Optimal Recovery Of Immiscible Light Hydrocarbons As Free Product From Contaminated Aquifer, Grant S. Cooper Jr., Richard C. Peralta, Jagath J. Kaluarachchi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Contamination sites associated with light non-aqueous phase liquids {LNAPL) are numerous and represent difficult cleanup problems. Remediation methods for cleanup of LNAPL fluids in subsurface systems are continuously evolving with the development of various technologies for pump.-and~treat, soil venting, and in-situ bioremediation. Evaluating the effectiveness of remediation techniques as well as attempting to improve their efficiency has been a focus of many researchers, These efforts have included the development of computer simulation models to predict and analyze the fluid movement, entrapment, and mobilization of three~phase systems in porous media. The capability of computer models that not only simulate but optimize …

Practical Optimization Modeling For Contaminant Plume Management, Richard C. Peralta, Alaa H. Aly

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Simulation/optimization (S/0) models can be used to greatly speed the process of computing desirable groundwater pumping strategies for plume management. They make the process of computing optimal strategies fairly straightforward and can help minimize the labor and cost of groundwater contaminant clean-up.

Ground-Water Policy-Making Support: Usem Optimization Modelling Plus Gis And Graphics, Richard C. Peralta, Christopher M. U. Neale, Ali Gharbi, Mazibur Khan, Oscar Daza, Douglas Ramsey, Kurt Vest

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

A support tool for ground-water management decision making involves integration of a multiobjective optimization model, GIS and graphics software. Two results are improved consideration of spatial data within the optimization model and improved conversion of optimal strategies to real-world application. Another result is improved visualization of the trade-offs involved between conflicting management goals.

Development Of A Combined Quantity And Quality Model For Optimal Unsteady Groundwater Management, Richard C. Peralta, J. Solaimanian, C. L. Griffis

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Presented are alternative techniques for including conservative solute transport within computer models for optimizing groundwater extraction rates. Unsteady two-dimensional flow and dispersed conservative solute transport are assumed. Comparisons are made of the practicality of including modified forms of implicit and explicit finite difference solute transport equations within optimization models. These equations can be calibrated and subsequently used within a MODCON procedure. The MODCON modelling procedure consists of an integrated series of five optimization or simulation modules. The procedure is applicable for either an entire aquifer system or for a subsystem of a larger system. The first module, A, computes physically …

Computational Aspects Of Chance‑Constrained Regional Modeling, R. R.A. Cantiller, Richard C. Peralta

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

A methodology that incorporates the stochasticity of an aquifer parameter in a chance-constrained steady-state groundwater management model is presented. Results and computational aspects of the modeling effort are discussed.