Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Hydropower Potential At State Dam Logan River, Frank W. Haws

Reports

No abstract provided.

Use Of The Hewlett-Packard 9810 Calculator System In Water Quality Analysis, Jerald S. Fifield

Reports

Introduction: It is the purpose of this manual to illustrate the utilization of the Hewlett-Packard, Model 9810A calculator for analyzing water quality data. Familiarization of each program's capabilities is essential for successful application, thus the user should read over the section used before beginning. Each section is complete with instructions and illustrative examples.

Review And Evaluation Of The Gibson Dome High Level Nuclear Waste Repository Environmental Assessment: Geohydrologic Issues, Christopher J. Duffy, Brad Hall

Reports

Introduction: Background/Authorization: This report is meant to provide a technical review and evaluation of Department of Energy documents concerning groundwater, radionuclide travel time and monitoring issues relative to siting a high level nuclear waste repository in the Gibson Dome area in Southern Utah. in so doing we have, during a relatively short period of time, examined in detail the Department of Energy Guidelines concerning high level nuclear waste disposal (1983) including revisions (1984), and each draft of the Environmental Assessments for Davis and Lavender Canyon, up to and including the fifth draft (dated July 27, 1984). In addition, a large …

Summary Report: Updating The Estimation Of Water Surface Elevation Probabilities And Associated Damages For Great Salt Lake, L. Douglas James, David S. Bowles, D. George Chadwick, J. Paul Riley

Reports

Problem Statement: Rising levels of the Great Salt Lake are severely impacting private and public property. in the private sector, the mineral industry, the railroad, and a number of recreation enterprises are suffering major damages. In the publi sector, the State of Utah is esperiencing large losses inflicted on roads and highways, waterfowl and related wildlife areas, and park and recreation facilities. The lake is partitioned by a semipervious railroad causeway into a north and a south arm with the sourth arm having about twice the water surface area and usually being two or three feet higher because it receibes …

Trihalomethane Compounds And Their Precursors In Salt Lake County: Evaluation Of Trihalomethane Source And Production, Kyle R. Cook, V. Dean Adams, Dennis B. George, Vincent A. Lamarra, Richard A. Hanson

Reports

Salt Lake County, Utah, watershed streams, drinking water treatment plants, and distribution systems were monitored for a period of one year or greater to determine the seasonal watershed precursor load, trihalomethane (THM) formation, and correlation between the two in the drinking water supplies. In addition, unit treatment processes were examined at Parleys, Big and Little Cottonwood water treatment plants, in the spring and late summer, to evaluate THM precursor reduction and THM formation. Additional studies were also conducted to appraise the potential contribution of natural sources to watershed THM precursor loading. Total organic carbon was used to estimate THM precursor …

A Groundwater Model Of Cache Valley, Utah, Calvin G. Clyde, Roland W. Jeppson, Win-Kai Liu

Reports

This report describes the development, calibration and use of quantitative, predictive management model for the groundwater in the Utah portion of the Cache Valley in northern Utah. The quasi-three-dimensional finite difference computer model was adapted from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Trescott and Larson model and simulates the groundwater levels and flows in the groundwater basin. The variable spacing grid system is 23 nodes x 38 x 2 and represents the complex natural system by a simpler approximation with one unconfined and one confined aquifer and the appropriate boundary and initial conditions. River nodes, spring nodes, and constant head nodes were …

Management Of Groundwater Recharge Areas In The Mouth Of Weber Canyon, Calvin G. Clyde, Christopher J. Duffy, Edward P. Fisk, Daniel H. Hoggan, David E. Hansen

Reports

Proper management of surface and groundwater resources is important for their prolonged and a beneficial use. Within the Weber Delta area there has existed a continual decline in the piezometric surface of the deep confined aquifer over the last 40 years. This decline ranges from approximately 20 feet along the eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake to 50 feet along in the vicinity of Hill Air Force Base. Declines in the piezometric surface are undesirable because of the increased well installation costs, increased pumping costs, decreased aquifer storage, increased risk of salt water intrusion, and the possibility of land …

Direct Filtration Versus Conventional Water Treatment In The Intermountain Region, Susan K. Burns, V. Dean Adams, Steel B. Maloney

Reports

The direct filtration water treatment scheme does not include sedimentation and in some cases flocculation. Compared to conventional treatment, direct filtration has lowered capital costs, reduced space requirements, decreased sludge quantities, and reduced coagulant dosages. One objective of this research was the statistical comparison of the direct filtration, Utah Valley Water Purification Plant (Orem, Utah) and the conventional Little Cottonwood Water Treatment Plant (Salt Lake City, Utah). These treatment plants are the two most compatible treatment plants having the highest correlation of source water in the local area. The Little Cottonwood plant receives approximately 65 percent of its sources water …

Assessment Of Potential Irrigation Water Needs In The Bayou Meto Watershed, Richard C. Peralta, Paul W. Dutram

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Climatic Factors And Still Design On Solar Earth‑Water Distillation For Saturated Sand, Timothy M. Skergan, Richard C. Peralta

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Arkansas Groundwater Management Via Target Level, Richard C. Peralta, Ann W. Peralta

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

AN approach to groundwater management by maintaining "target" groundwater elevations is presented. A finite difference form of the Boussinesq equation is proposed as a means of determining the groundwater withdrawals that will maintain those levels in the long term. This spatially distributed pumping can represent a sustained yielding pumping strategy. A sample pumping strategy is presented for the Arkansas Grand Prairie. Such a strategy is applicable under a variety of legal systems. It represents an especially attractive alternative for riparian rights states (like Arkansas) where effective groundwater management without radical changes in the basic water rights system is desired.

Solar Earth‑Water Distillation For Wet Sand, Richard C. Peralta, Timothy M. Skergan, David B. Marx

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Solar earth-water distillation is a means of extracting moisture from an earth medium. Three designs of the hot-box type of solar earth-water still were tested using wet or saturated sand. The designs included: low height with reflective interior siding, tall height with reflective siding and tall height with absorptive siding. The daily volume of distillate from different designs was compared. A twenty-centimeter-tall still with reflective siding produced significantly greater yields than one twice as tall. No significant difference in the yield between tall stills with light-absorptive versus light reflective interior siding was found. A regression equation was developed to predict …

Using Target Levels To Develop A Sustained Yield Pumping Strategy And Its Applicability In Arkansas, A Riparian Rights State, Richard C. Peralta, Ann W. Peralta

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Groundwater is the major source of water for consumptive use in Arkansas. Significant pumping is concentrated in areas of agricultural and industrial production. In a number of these areas, including much of the Grand Prairie region of Arkansas, average annual withdrawal from the aquifer exceeds recharge. As a result of this groundwater mining, water levels are dropping. Mining which leads to excessive declines in the water level can accelerate salt water intrusion in an aquifer, cause aquifer compaction, make irrigation economically unfeasible, and eventually disrupt an economy based upon groundwater. Generally, these problems can be prevented or limited by maintaining …

Water For The 21st Century, Will It Be There?, Richard C. Peralta, Ann W. Peralta, Leslie E. Mack

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

One of Arkansas' major water management goals is to provide adequate water for agriculture, the economic mainstay of the state. Effective water management requires inputs from engineering, economics, law, administration, and environmental concern, all in a matrix of public education, participation and communications. Groundwater levels in eastern Arkansas have been dropping for decades as irrigation for rice, other row crops, and fish farming have increased substantially. Additional surface water supplies are available from the adjacent rivers but there are competition, conflict of use, and jurisdictional problems involved. A critical path sequence chart was designed to include all the research steps …

Projected 1992 Groundwater Levels On The Arkansas Grand Prairie, Richard C. Peralta, Aminollah Yazdanian

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The Arkansas Grand Prairie has been a major rice producing area for most of this century. The irrigation water required for rice, and at the present time, for soybeans, is primarily obtained from a Quaternary aquifer. This extensive formation underlies much of eastern Arkansas as well as parts of other states. Groundwater enters the Grand Prairie region from extensions of the aquifer lying outside of the area. Prolonged pumping of water from the aquifer at a rate exceeding the recharge rate has significantly reduced Quaternary groundwater levels in the Grand Prairie.

Optimizing Conjunctive Use Under Sustained Yield Constraints, Richard C. Peralta, P. Killian, W. D. Dixon

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Distributed parameter groundwater management model utilizing quadratic programming to develop a steady-state potentiometric surface is presented. Minimization of cost of meeting water needs from groundwater and alternative water sources is achieved. Drawdowns, groundwater withdrawal and recharge are all constrained. Applicable for assuring agregiorral sustained yield of groundwater.

Determination Of The Minimum Target Saturated Thickness Needed For Drought Protection In A Critical Cell, Paul W. Dutram, Richard C. Peralta

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The Grand Prairie region of Arkansas is underlain by a Quaternary aquifer which is utilized primarily for the irrigation of rice and soybeans. Irrigators have been concerned with wells going dry and with decreased well capacities. In this report the term "drawdown" refers to the distance between an arbitrarily assigned datum at or above the ground surface, and the elevation of the groundwater table. The cumulative drawdown (day to day decrease in the groundwater table elevation) resulting from withdrawal of groundwater from interacting wells has caused yields in some wells to be less than design discharge. Drawdown is a function …

Time‑Varient Water Needs Of The Boeuf‑Tensas Basin, Paul W. Dutram, Richard C. Peralta, Paul J. Killian

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Nonpoint Source Pollution To Bear Lake, Utah-Idaho: Magnitude, Periodicity, And Watershed Management Alternatives, Victor J. Kollock

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

From April of 1981 to June of 1982 a Clean Lakes Program Phase 1 Diagnostic Feasibility Study was conducted on Bear Lake, a 282 km² (109m²) fresh-water lake located in southeastern Idaho and northeastern Utah. A portion of this Clean Lakes Program required an itemized inventory of all nonpoint sources affecting the lake's water quality.

A 16 month lake tributary monitoring program, which included the spring runoff periods of 1981 and 1982, provided data from which nutrient loading values (kg/day and kg/yr) were calculated. Analysis of these data, along with land use percentages within the Bear Lake …

Evaluating The Design And Operation Of Irrigation Canals In Egypt, Amany El Kayal

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A computer simulation model for temperature data was developed in order to generate synthetic daily temperature. The model consists of two components: a deterministic component represented by a Fourier series fit, and a stochastic component represented by an autoregressive model. The simulation model was proven to be able to preserve the main statistics of the historical series.

The data generated by the above temperature model were used as an input to an irrigation water requirements simulation model. This model incorporates the probabilistic nature of these requirements. The irrigation system of Abo Raya area in Egypt was used to demonstrate the …

Grand Prairie Water Supply Project - Phase 1, Richard C. Peralta, Roberto Arce, Timothy M. Skergan

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

On the Grand Prairie, rice has required irrigation. Present day economics are favoring irrigation for soybeans as well. Water needs are currently being filled primarily from three sources: rainfall, a Tertiary aquifer and a Quaternary aquifer. Rainfall and rainfall storage meet some of the total water needs. The Tertiary aquifer lies at depths of 750 to 1400 feet beneath the surface of the Grand Prairie. Some water is obtained from the formation, but the outlook for significantly increasing withdrawals is bleak because of the cost involved in drilling new wells. Roughly seventy-five percent of the irrigation water needs are met …

Evaluation And Accessing Of Data For A Water Resources Simulator, Richard C. Peralta, Roberto Arce, Timothy Skergan

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This report evaluates the availability of data needed to use a groundwater simulation model for real time conjunctive water management in the Arkansas Grand Prairie. It is assumed that the goal of such management is to protect existing groundwater rights by maintaining water levels so that wells do not go dry, even in time of drought.

Sufficient hydrogeologic data exists to use the simulation model to predict the effect of known pumping rates on groundwater levels. Developing an optimal set of "target" levels and annually managing pumping to achieve those levels requires additional data: fall groundwater levels, degree of connection …

An Economic Evaluation Of Benefits And Costs Of Maintaining Instream Flows, Rangesan Narayanan, Dean T. Larson, A. Bruce Bishop, Parvaneh Amirfathi

Reports

Instream flows enhance recreation, hydropower, fish and wildlife maintenance, and riverine ecosytems. Each use has water requirements that vary over time in unique patterns. The determination of the overall instream requirement at any given time must be considered in competition with the demand for municipal and agricultural uses. Two obstacles to integrating instream uses into the appropriation system of water law are difficulty in satisfying the legal requirements of an appropriation for a public use and the fact that instream flow uses are considered more "environmental" than "economic" in character. The extreme options for allocating flow between these user groups …

An Experimental Investigation Of The Effects Of Crude Oil On Two Freshwater Lake Ecosystems, Martin D. Werner, V. Dean Adams, Vincent A. Lamarra

Reports

Responses of two freshwater lake ecosystems of the Intermountain West to crude oil impaction were investigated. The research was conducted in two phases; in the first phase effects of crude oil were studied on an ecosystem established in three phase laboratory microcosms (gaseous-aqueous-sediment), which simulated the natural lakes. Notable responses of the microcosm ecosystem to oil impaction included: an increased oxygen demand by the biological community, nutrient immobilization, a reduction in plant biomass accumulation and a heterotrophically dominated ecosystem. The increased availability of biologically degradable reduced carbon (i.e., the oil) and nutrient immobilization, rather than toxic effects of oil on …

Effects Of Cadmium On Streams And Irrigated Agriculture In The Presence And Absence Of Oil Shale Leachate, Douglas A. Selby, Jean M. Ihnat, Fredrick J. Post, Jay J. Messer

Reports

Artificial streams, soil perfusion columns, and potted plants were exposed to 20 ug Cd/l in the presence and absence of unretorted oil shale leachate. High cadmium accumulations occurred in the stream biota, but did not measurably affect community structure or function. The presence of oil shale leachate had no effect on bioaccumulation or ecosystem structure or function. Nitrification in soil columns was enhanced by the presence of the organic fraction of oil shale leachate, but this effect was not observed when cadmium was present. Crop accumulation of cadmium was somewhat higher in alfalfa and radishes irrigated with leachate, but did …

The Evaluation Of Metals And Other Substances Released Into Coal Mine Accrual Waters On The Wasatch Plateau Coal Field, Utah, Alberta J. Seierstad, V. Dean Adams, Vincent A. Lamarra, Nancy J. Hoefs, Robert E. Hinchee

Reports

Six sites on the Wasatch Plateau were chosen representing subsurface coal mines which were discharging or collecting accrual water on this coal field. Water samples were collected monthly at these sites for a period of 1 year (May 1981 to April 1982). Samples were taken before and after each mine's treatment system. Water sampels were analyzed for major anions and cations, trace metals, physical properaties, nutrients, total organic carbon, oil and grease, trihalomethanes, and algal assay. Predictions were made as to the possible effects these coal mine accrual waters would have when used for drinking water, irrigation water, stock and …

Conjunctive Water Use Planning With Water Quality Constraints In Tooele Valley, Utah, Bhasker Rao K., Calvin G. Clyde, Rangesan Narayanan

Reports

The need for more efficient water management is gaining recognition due to the increased cost of water supply, the growth in the demand for water, and greater environmental and social impacts of water programs. "Conjunctive use" of surfact and groundwater resources provides opportunities for increasing net benefits to the water users. Past "conjunctive use" studies, however, have usually not included water quality constraints. In Tooele valley, Utah, spatial variation of groundwater qualtity (total dissolved solids) is significant. The areas of good (400-500 mg/1), fair (500-1,000 mg/1), and poor (1,000-3,000 mg/1) quality groundwaters were identified in an earlier study by the …

Alteration Of Availability Of Heavy Metals To Aquatic Microflora By Complexation With Organics Associated With Oil Shale Development, Bruce S. Mok, Jay J. Messer

Reports

Leachates from both raw (unretorted) and Paraho retorted oil shale show the ability to bind copper, and perhaps cadmium, strongly enough to mitigate the inhibitory effects of these metals on the growth of the test algal,

Reconnaissance Of Sediment-Phosphorus Relationships In Some Utah Reservoirs, Jay J. Messer, Jean M. Ihnat

Reports

Introduction: Phosphorus inputs to lakes and reservoirs from tributary streams and non-point sources are well-known contributors to nuisance algal growths that degrade water quality for potable and recreational uses in lakes and reservoirs. However, phosphours inputs to the euphotic zone may also occur from within the lake itself, as a result of releases from both oxic and anoxid sediments. Such releases may originate from phosphorus inputs to a lake or reservoir during high runoff periods in the previous winder or spring, or they may represent phosphorus trapped in the sediment many years earlier, when phosphorus contributions from natural or anthropogenic …

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: Are They A Problem In Processed Oil Shales?, David L. Maase, V. Dean Adams

Reports

Organic residues from processed oil shales were characterisized with specific attention to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Oil shale development in the White River Basin (Utah and Colorado) was projected and hydrological and geological parameters pertinent to estimations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) flux were focused. Oil shale samples from the Union B, Paraho, and Tosco II processes were extracted by using organic solvents in a soxhlet apparatus and by mixing shale samples with water (characterization in