Water Resource Management Commons^™

Influence Of Nitrogen Fertilization On The Quality And Quantity Of Streamflow From A Forested Watershed, George B. Coltharp, Michael T. Shearer, Everett P. Springer, Robert F. Wittwer

KWRRI Research Reports

This project was designed to determine the effects of nitrogen fertilization on the quality and quantity of streamflow eminating from an eastern hardwood forest watershed. A 40.67 ha watershed, located in mountainous eastern Kentucky, was aerially fertilized in late April 1975. The forest stand was principally oak, hickory, and yellow poplar, 50 - 55 years of age and in a relatively undisturbed condition. A helicopter applied anunonium nitrate at a rate of 504 kg/ha. Because a large part of applied nitrogen fertilizer ends up in the highly mobile nitrate nitrogen.form, this is the principal ion monitored in this study. No …

A Proposed Revision Of Kentucky's Water Rights Legislation, Richard Ausness

KWRRI Research Reports

Kentucky's present system of water law consists of a statutory water withdrawal permit system superimposed upon a body of common-law water rights doctrine. The rights of water users are often uncertain under this system, particularly in periods of water shortage. The proposed revision of Kentucky's existing water rights legislation, would greatly reduce the significance of common-law water rights and would remedy some of the weaknesses in the present statute.

Part 1 of the proposed statute establishes an administrative structure; Part 2 deals with water withdrawal permits; Part 3 retains the present statute's provisions on the regulation of dams and impoundments, …

Effects Of Soil Injection Of Liquid Dairy Manure On The Quality Of Surface Runoff, I. J. Ross, S. Sizemore, J. P. Bowden, C. T. Haan

KWRRI Research Reports

Liquid dairy manure has been injected on the soil contour to depths of 6 and 12 inches and applied to the surface of a Bluegrass sod and a bare tilled soil. Application rates of 9,250 gallons per acre were used. Runoff from 9-foot-square plots which were sprinkled at rates of 2.5 inches per hour on sod and 1.5 inches per hour on bare soil was collected and analyzed for various pollution parameters including COD, N, TS, TSS, pH, DO, and Fecal Coliform. The effects of pollutant yield in the runoff have been determined for various treatments.

Injection of the manure …

Evaluation Of Detention Basins For Controlling Urban Runoff And Sedimentation, C. T. Haan, A. D. Ward

KWRRI Research Reports

This report summarizes the work completed under the research project "Evaluation of Dentention Basins for Controlling Urban Runoff and Sedimentation." The main project accomplishments were:

(1) a demonstration of the desirability of considering systems of urban stormwater detention basins as opposed to individual basin design,

(2) the development of a systems analysis approach for least cost selection of a system of dentention basins for meeting a preset hydrologic objective,

(3) the development of a mathematical, computer-based simulation model of the performance of sediment retention basins,

(4) partial verification of the sediment basin model and

(5) the development of design recommendations …

Organized Resistance To An Imposed Environmental Change: A Resevoir In Eastern Kentucky, William F. Schweri Ii, John Van Willigen

KWRRI Research Reports

This is a case study of a group organized to resist the construction of an Army Corps of Engineers reservoir project located in Eastern Kentucky, More specifically the account describes how a group of landowners organized themselves and enacted an increasingly complex strategy of resistance. Within this framework perceived costs, leadership and authority and group organization are considered.

The primary method employed in this research was that of repeated interviews with members of the resistance organization who were identified as key informants. These interviews were carried out on both structured and unstructured bases.

The formal analysis of the voluntary association …

Removal Of Chloroform From Drinking Water, John S. Zogorski, George D. Allgeier, Robert Lee Mullins Jr.

KWRRI Research Reports

The overall objective of this investigation was to evaluate via laboratory experiments the technical feasibility of reducing trihalomethane levels in drinking water. Special attention was directed at the removal of chloroform since: (a) it is the only trihalomethane which has been shown to be carcinogenic in animal tests; and (b) this compound generally comprises the largest fraction of the total trihalomethane content of chlorinated waters in Kentucky. Trihalomethanes are present in municipal drinking waters due to the reaction of free chlorine with naturally occurring compounds, collectively called "precursors".

A variety of treatment processes and potential modifications (or additions) to existing …

Design Of A Reliable, Inexpensive Recording Rain Gage Which Utilizes Solid-State Memory, Stephen A. Dyer

KWRRI Research Reports

Researchers working in the general area of water resources frequently have need for precipitation data. Unfortunately, the cost of commercially available recording rain gages is often greater than $1,000 per unit. This report describes a microprocessor-controlled remote recording rain gage which is capable of unattended operation for periods of greater than a month that costs less than $400 in single quantities. The laboratory prototype uses a tipping bucket to collect precipitation in 0.01-inch increments. The time of the bucket tip is stored, using an offset binary format, in solid-state memory. A complete description of the gage hardware is presented along …

Studies On The Role Of Solar Ultraviolet Radiation In "Natural" Water Purification By Aquatic Ecosystems, John Calkins, Jeanne A. Barcelo, Perry Grigsby, Stephen Martin

KWRRI Research Reports

The possibility that pollution might deplete the stratospheric ozone layer and intensify solar UV at the earth's surface focuses attention on the role of solar UV in the various ecosystems at the earth's surface. Previous studies suggested that solar UV might contribute to bacterial die off in wastewater and the studies reported here were directed toward elucidating the action of solar UV in "natural" waters.

It has been assumed that solar UV action on aquatic ecosystems can be evaluated (using proper models) on the basis of the following four independently measurable quantities: I) the intensity of solar UV at the …

Hydrology And Water Quality In The Central Kentucky Karst: Phase Ii Part A: Preliminary Summary Of The Hydrogeology Of The Mill Hole Sub-Basin Of The Turnhole Spring Groundwater Basin, James F. Quinlan, Donald R. Rowe

KWRRI Research Reports

Water from upland areas flows to small ephemeral and perennial springs that feed sinking streams that are tributary to low-order cave streams. These cave streams, also recharged by diffuse percolation, are part of a dendritic network in which intermediate-order streams join high-order streams that flow to major trunk streams. The trunk in the Mill Hole Sub-basin flows across the bottom of a large karst window, Mill Hole, and joins the trunk of the Patoka Creek Sub-basin. Their combined discharge bifurcates, flows around the collapsed central core of a larger karst window, Cedar Sink, and re-joins to flow as one to …

Hydraulic Resistance Of Grass Media On Shallow Overland Flow, David K. Tao, Billy J. Barfield, Austin E. Lyons

KWRRI Research Reports

Simulated dense vegetation with random blade arrangements and different blade flexibilities were used to determine the hydraulic properties of flow of small, non-submerging depths. With the water flowing among the randomly patterned vegetation blades, drag resistance becomes the dominant force that retards the flow. An equation of flow was established based on the momentum balance in the system. Experimental results were used to determine the coefficient of blade resistance, R_D, and plotted in terms of blade width and flow depth Reynolds number respectively.

Assessment Of The Water Quality In The Salt River Prior To Its Impoundment In Anderson And Spencer Counties, Kentucky, Andrew C. Miller, Louis A. Krumholz, Stuart E. Neff, Darly E. Jennings, Patricia B. Olmes, David S. White

KWRRI Research Reports

Monthly water samples were taken and analyzed to determine the water quality of the Salt River in Anderson and Spencer counties Kentucky prior to the river's impoundment. Sediments from the area watershed were analyzed to total acid digestion, barium chloride extraction, and aqueous extraction methods. Rainwater and runoff water were collected and analyzed for major cations and anions from two sites in the watershed.

The Salt River at Taylorsville is characterized by hard water with high levels of calcium (33.5-74.8 mg/1), bicarbonate (136-236 mg/l), specific conductance (200-535 μmhos/cm), and sulfate (16.5-71.5 mg/l). Nitrates (0.6-5.7 mg/l), phosphates (0.2-2.4 mg/l), sodium (3.2-20.3 …

Optimal Systems Of Storm Water Detention Basins In Urban Areas, D. K. Mynear, C. T. Haan

KWRRI Research Reports

Flood retention basins are commonly used in urban areas to reduce the impact of urbanization on downstream flooding. When more than a few acres are developed, systems of retention basins are often required. A procedure has been developed whereby the optimum (least cost) system of basins can be determined to meet a given downstream flow requirement. The method considers several design options including basins on all subwatersheds, basins on only some of the subwatersheds, basins of various sizes and basins with various stage-discharge characteristics. The procedure has been developed in the form of a computer program to aid the designer …

Hydrology And Water Quality In The Central Kentucky Karst: Phase 1, James F. Quinlan, Donald R. Rowe

KWRRI Research Reports

Study of springs and cave streams has shown that heavy metal-rich effluent from a wastewater treatment plant can be traced to Hidden River Cave (beneath the city of Horse Cave) and thence 4 to 5 miles north to a group of 39 springs at 14 locations along a 5-mile reach of Green River. Nickel, chromium, copper and zinc in these effluent-bearing springs are in concentrations of as much as 30 times greater than other springs upstream and downstream from this reach, 20 times greater than the Green River, and 60 times greater than in shallow domestic wells between Horse Cave …

Embryopathic Effects Of Waterborne And Sediment-Accumulated Cadmium, Mercury And Zinc On Reproduction And Survival Of Fish And Amphibian Populations In Kentucky, Wesley J. Birge, Jeffrey A. Black, Albert G. Westerman, Paul C. Francis, Jarvis E. Hudson

KWRRI Research Reports

Fish and amphibian egg cultures were used to determine the embryopathic effects of cadmium, mercury, and zinc released from natural and metal-enriched sediments, and to develop egg culture bioassay procedures suitable for monitoring bottom sediments for hazardous contaminants. Eggs of the narrow-mouthed toad (Gastrophryne carolinensis), goldfish (Carassius auratus), and rainbow trout (Salmo gairdnei) were cultured in contaminant-free water added to natural and metal-enriched sediments. Exposure was initiated after fertilization (toad, goldfish) or at 10 days prehatching (trout) and maintained continuously through 4-10 days posthatching. Sediments were enriched with 0.1-100 ppm cadmium and mercury and …

Enteric Virus Survival In Package Plants And The Upgrading Of The Small Treatment Plants Using Ozone, Lois S. Cronholm, James R. Mccammon, Marvin Fleischman, Jerry R. Perrich, Valerie Reisser, William Harris, Ronald R. Vanstockum, Khosrow Jaberizadeh, Michael J. Wahl

KWRRI Research Reports

Post-chlorinated effluent collected with a portable viral concentrator from four treatment plants in Jefferson County, Kentucky, yielded infective viral particles from three plants from spring through late fall. The pH, ,chlorine, turbidity, and coliform levels of these effluents indicated that viral persistence was correlated with inefficient processing which produced effluent environments that inhibited disinfection by chlorine. The disinfection potential of ozone was tested on secondary effluent and finished water seeded with poliovirus and Esaheriahia coli. Low doses of ozone inactivated viruses and bacteria in treated water, but not in effluent. The inactivation of bacteria by ozone does not appear …

Dams And People: Geographic Impact Area Analysis, Vance E. Arnett, Sue Johnson

KWRRI Research Reports

This report attempts to determine the efficacy of using geographic impact areas as analytical sub-groups for the assessment of the impact of multi-purpose reservoir projects on target communities. The impact areas utilized are: the take area; the below-the-dam area; the urban area; and, the adjacent area. Each area is described in detail and each is analyzed for differences in knowledge, previous experience, and perception of impact on community and family.

Data for this study originated from structured and open-ended interviews in Johnson County, Kentucky. Information was collected during two field efforts, the first in February, 1974, the second in August …

Legal Institutions For The Allocation Of Water And Their Impact On Coal Conversion Operations In Kentucky, Richard C. Ausness, Gary W. Callahan, Steven W. Dills, Bill H. Flynn, John S. Gillig

KWRRI Research Reports

The conversion of coal into other types of fuel through gasification and liquefaction has been proposed as a means of coping with America's increasing energy needs. Coal conversion plants require large quantities of water for cooling purposes and for use as a raw material.

There are three types of water allocation presently used in the United States, riparianism, prior appropriation, and administrative permit systems. The common law riparian system is undesirable because under it water rights are insecure and subject to locational use restrictions. Prior appropriation is better, but the permanent water right created under this system results in excessive …

Hydrodynamic Separation Of Solids From Solid-Liquid Mixtures, Harry J. Sterling Jr., Don J. Wood

KWRRI Research Reports

Several schemes for separating solid pollutants from water flowing in a closed conduit were examined. Separation based on the momentum differential between the solids and liquids and the centrifugal movement of a conveying liquid were both examined under turbulent flow conditions. The study indicated these processes to have limited applications, primarily due to the difficulties in withdrawing a significant fraction of separated flow and the deleterious effects of turbulent mixing. However, utilization of the differential momentum of solid particles and water when flowing laminarly through a pipe was found to be a viable separation scheme. Significant experimental separations (greater than …

Some Of The Effects Of Domestic Sewage Discharged Into Hickman And Jessamine Creeks In Jessamine County, Kentucky, Henry H. Howell, Mike W. Jones, Robert A. Kuehne

KWRRI Research Reports

A 6-week study was made in the summer of 1971 as an initial effort to determine the extent of pollution that the three sewage disposal plants in Jessamine County, Kentucky, are contributing to its streams. With the rapid population increase in Lexington and nearby municipalities, this study should furnish a basis of comparison for future investigations. Eighteen collecting stations were established in riffle areas of Hickman and Jessamine Creeks, and coliform bacteria, macro-invertebrate populations, fish populations and chemical water quality of each riffle area were studied.

Hickman Creek's flow was augmented by approximately 3,100,000 gallons/day (11,735 -m³/day) from …

Sensitivity Of Vertebrate Embryos To Heavy Metals As A Criterion Of Water Quality: Phase Iii: Use Of Fish And Amphibian Eggs As Bioindicator Organisms For Evaluating Water Quality, Wesley J. Birge, Albert G. Westerman, Jeffrey A. Black

KWRRI Research Reports

Fish and amphibian eggs, embryos and early posthatched (larval) stages were evaluated as bioindicator organisms with which to monitor the quality of natural water resources. Eggs of 9 species were cultured in water collected from each of 11 Inner Bluegrass rivers and streams. The latter were chosen to represent water sources varying in quality from extremely poor to good. Selection was based on the sources and magnitude of pollution, and the diversity and density of piscine populations. Cultures were maintained in vitro, using 12-hour changes of water.

Averaging data for all 9 animal species, egg hatchability (embryonic survival) ranged …

Supply And Demand In Water Planning: Streamflow Estimation And Conservational Water Pricing, D. I. Carey, C. T. Haan

KWRRI Research Reports

Recent studies indicated the need for development of surface water supplies in Kentucky. Rising resource costs make economically efficient reservoir designs increasingly important. This study was undertaken to provide methods in water supply reservoir design that increase system benefits.

Two major factors influencing reservoir design were studied: estimated future streamflow into the reservoir and demands placed on the reservoir. Standard reservoir sizing methods rely on historical streamflow data. This data is frequently limited and uncertainty in required storage estimates may result. To assess the reliability of a design, the use of mathematical models in simulation studies was proposed. Existing stochastic …

Analysis Of The Sediment Filtering Action Of Grassed Media, Billy J. Barfield, David T. Y. Kao, E. W. Tollner

KWRRI Research Reports

The movement of sediment in non-submerged flow through a rigid grass media was studied experimentally by simulating the media with cylindrical nails. Models of sediment movement were developed from probablistic reasoning and from the use of existing parameters describing total bed material in open channel flow. In the probability analysis, the percent sediment trapped was found to be a power function of the number of potential fall paths, N_f,a particle could make from the surface to the bed while traveling through the filter media. The percent trapped was also found to be an inverse power function of the …

Tertiary Treatment Of Wastewater Using Oxidation Ponds, Robert A. Lauderdale, John R. Moeller, Raymond D. Hamilton

KWRRI Research Reports

The purpose of the project was to determine the value of using lagoons as a supplemental process for treating the effluent from an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant.

Only tentative conclusions can be suggested since the project was not carried to completion. It appears that lagoons will have only minimal effect on the amounts of total nitrogen and phosphate in the plant effluent, although conversion of a portion of the ammonia to nitrate can be expected. However, the concentration of ammonia was never lower than that required by EPA guidelines. Some reduction of soluble BOD appears to occur, perhaps through …

Rural Residential Water Demand In Kentucky: An Econometric And Simulation Analysis, Orlen C. Grunewald, C. T. Haan, David L. Debertin, D. I. Carey

KWRRI Research Reports

This study proposed that demand management through pricing policies can be used in conjunction with supply management to solve water supply problems in Kentucky. Economic principles were shown to apply to rural residential water use. From the economic model, a hyperbolic demand function was theorized. The mathematical form of this function used quantity of water as a function of price, income, value of residence, evaporation, and persons per residence. This function was estimated using ordinary least squares regression. A log-linear model was found to be a satisfactory representation of the demand function. Price was the only independent variable which was …

The Law Of Water Allocation In Kentucky, Richard C. Ausness, Bill H. Flynn

KWRRI Research Reports

This study discusses navigability concepts, consumptive rights to surface and ground waters, the disposal of diffused surface waters and the administration of Kentucky's statutory water allocation system.

Federal regulatory powers are based on navigability as is state ownership of submerged lands. Kentucky uses the ebb-and-flow test of navigability to determine title to submerged lands but uses a navigability-in-fact test to determine the scope of state regulatory authority. Consumptive uses of water in Kentucky are governed by the riparian landowner to use as much water as he needs as long as his use does not interfere with the legitimate uses of …

Evaluation Of Recovery In A Polluted Creek After Installation Of New Sewage Treatment Procedures, Robert A. Kuehne

KWRRI Research Reports

Response of Hickman Creek near Lexington, Kentucky to alleviation from serious sewage pollution was studied from January, 1973 through July, 1974. Wastes are now handled from an efficient secondary treatment facility and four sequential polishing lagoons before chlorination and discharge to West Hickman branch.

Physico-chemical tests gave no strong indication of residual pollution effects at the start of the study, approximately six months after the treatment facility opened. At low flow a slight oxygen sag, probably associated with algal growth in the lagoons, persists downstream from the outfall. Mean values for turbidity, nitrates and COD are somewhat higher at the …

Process Control Of Activated Sludge Treatment, Phase Ii, Richard I. Kermode, Robert W. J. Brett, Joseph D. Pault Jr.

KWRRI Research Reports

Material balances on substrate and microorganisms were derived in conjunction with various mixing configurations thought to accurately describe the activated sludge process. These models include the completely mixed with bypass, plug flow, and plug flow with bypass. Two sets of kinetic mechanisms for substrate utilization and bacterial growth were employed.

A feed forward controller was designed from linear approximations of the material balances derived in the completely mixed with bypass mixing model. Utilizing frequency response methods, the controller was found essentially identical to a completely mixed modeled controller developed in a prior investigation.

Through computer simulation the controller's effectiveness was …

Stochastic Simulation Of Daily Rainfall, David M. Allen, C. T. Haan, Don Linton, Jim Street, David Jordan

KWRRI Research Reports

The design of many water resources projects requires knowledge of possible long-term rainfall patterns. In this project a stochastic model based on a first order Markov chain was developed to simulate daily rainfall at a point. The model is applicable to any point in Kentucky (and other areas with similar rainfall patterns).

The model in its present form is useful in providing rainfall inputs into hydrologic models for designing water supply facilities and other water resources systems. The model uses historical rainfall data to estimate the Markov transitional probabilities. A separate matrix is estimated for each month of the year. …

Sensitivity Of Vertebrate Embryos To Heavy Metals As A Criterion Of Water Quality, Phase Ii: Bioassay Procedures Using Developmental Stages As Test Organisms, Wesley J. Birge, Albert G. Westerman, Jeffrey A. Black, Oliver W. Roberts

KWRRI Research Reports

Chick, amphibian, and fish embryos were evaluated as bioassay and bioindicator organisms. Test procedures were developed by which embryonic stages may be used 1) in bioassay systems to evaluate the toxicity of particular metallic or metal-containing trace contaminants, and 20 as bioindicators to monitor the quality of natural water resources.

A bioassay technique was devised in which metallic toxicants were administered to chick embryos by "needle tract" injection into the yolk sac. This provided more uniform distribution of test metals throughout the yolk mass than can be obtained by conventional yolk sac injection methods, and gave more sensitivity and uniformity …

Hydraulic And Flow Studies Related To Sediment Transport, Kentucky River, Kentucky, Bruce R. Moore, Michael R. Short, Thomas Wachs

KWRRI Research Reports

This study related the conditions of flow and channel shape to distribution of sediment types in the Kentucky River. Seven distinct types of sediment association were delineated and these have a regular pattern of distribution influenced by the presence of navigation locks and dams. The most suitable locations for commercial extraction of bed material were clearly indicated and the variations of sand size delineated by the study. The irregular discharge pattern of the stream indicates potential problems in the disposal of solid waste pollutants.

A remeasurement of the dredge hole in the Ohio River indicated a continuation of the same …