Water Resource Management Commons^™

Information Theory Analysis Of Water Vapor Stable Isotopes From The Sail Campaign, Matthew John Rybecky

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Understanding the processes that control water vapor isotopic composition in mountain environ- ments is essential for interpreting isotope records and predicting water resource responses to cli- mate change. This thesis applies information theory to continuous, high-resolution water vapor stable isotope measurements from the Surface Atmosphere Integrated Field Laboratory (SAIL) campaign in the East River watershed of Colorado’s Upper Gunnison Basin, spanning the winter- to-spring transition of 2022–2023. The analysis employs Shannon entropy, mutual information, transfer entropy, and joint transfer en- tropy (JTE) to quantify how environmental variables, including surface meteorology, radiation, tur- bulent fluxes, and ERA5 reanalysis products, transfer information …

Wildfire Impacts On Fluvial Hydrology From Watershed To National Scales, Paige G. Tunby

Civil Engineering ETDs

Wildfires alter the water quantity and quality in downstream river networks. Fires promote biodiversity, maintain habitat, and provide many ecosystem services in a fire-adapted landscape. However, changes in the natural fire regimes can alter ecosystem function and threaten the water security of impacted downstream communities. The magnitude, timing, and persistence of these impacts are difficult to predict due to the lack of high-resolution datasets with adequate coverage to evaluate spatiotemporal trends after a fire. This dissertation moves us beyond the status quo to evaluate post-fire fluvial responses across scales, from the event-scale impacts after the Hermit’s Peak-Calf Canyon wildfire in …

How Forest Structure And Climate Influence Snowpack For Water Resources In The Southwestern United States, Lindsey L. Rotche

Geography ETDs

Climate change, declining snowpack, and increasing wildfire risk have profound impacts on water availability in the southwestern United States. Because the southwestern United States is a global hotspot for freshwater vulnerability, and snowpack provides much of the region’s freshwater, understanding how climate and forest structure influence snowpack dynamics is increasingly important. In this dissertation I aim to better understand and communicate these dynamics through empirical data collection and the development of a simple vegetation driven temperature-index snow model: SNOW-17(VEG). I then implement the model at a watershed scale using remotely sensed imagery to create vegetation zones and climate simulations to …

Ground-Arthropod Assemblage Response To Groundwater As A Metric Of Flooding In The Middle Rio Grande, Wesley J. Noe

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Riparian zones are dynamic ecosystems, crucial for maintaining biodiversity and ecological balance, particularly in arid environments like the Middle Rio Grande (MRG). Ground arthropods, with their sensitivity to environmental changes, serve as bioindicators for assessing the impacts of water regime changes in the MRG, specifically flooding which was historically the main driver of the MRG ecosystem. This study investigated the responses of ground arthropod communities to fluctuations in groundwater and land management practices within MRG riparian habitats. Using a combination of pitfall trapping and habitat assessments, arthropod abundance was assessed in relation to depth to groundwater (DTG). Findings revealed shifts …

Analysis Of The Potential Impacts Of Brine And The Main Challenges Of The Water Importing Project From The Gulf Of California To Phoenix, Arizona (Arizona Water Project Solution), Alejandro Corral Hernandez

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

In December 2022, the Arizona Water Project Solution (AWPS) was presented to the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona (WIFA). The project proposes to develop, construct, and operate a Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) plant in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico, and transport potable water through a 200-mile pipeline to supply the city of Phoenix, Arizona, in the United States.

This study includes a cross-multiple-case analysis, incorporating expert data and information, to evaluate the brine impacts and challenges faced in developing the five operational SWRO plants in Israel and the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad plant in California, United States. By identifying patterns, …

Ground-Arthropod Assemblage Response To Groundwater As A Metric Of Flooding In The Middle Rio Grande, Wesley Noe

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Riparian zones are dynamic ecosystems, crucial for maintaining biodiversity and ecological balance, particularly in arid environments like the Middle Rio Grande (MRG). Ground arthropods, with their sensitivity to environmental changes, serve as bioindicators for assessing the impacts of water regime changes in the MRG, specifically flooding which was historically the main driver of the MRG ecosystem. This study investigated the responses of ground arthropod communities to fluctuations in groundwater and land management practices within MRG riparian habitats. Using a combination of pitfall trapping and habitat assessments, arthropod abundance was assessed in relation to depth to groundwater (DTG). Findings revealed shifts …

Spatial And Equity Analysis Of The Xeriscape Conversion Rebate Program In Albuquerque, Nm., Claire Jordy

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

With increasing water scarcity concerns threatening water supplies, many cities in the Western U.S. are focusing more effort on their water conservation programs to reduce consumptive water use. The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (Water Authority) in Bernalillo County, NM has had several water conservation programs in place since the 1990s, and still, they aim to further reduce water consumption. The Xeriscape Conversion Rebate Program is one of the primary tools to achieve this goal, encouraging customers to convert their high water-use turfgrass lawns to desert-friendly xeriscaping by providing a one-time rebate on their water bill. This rebate program …

Study Of Vegetated Islands Along The Middle Rio Grande Using Openet Satellite Toolbox, Athena Victoria Sophia Shapiro Esq.

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Sustainable water management is a challenging issue facing most of the western United States. This study analyzed evapotranspiration predictions at 14 sites along the Middle Rio Grande, changes have occurred over time as these vegetated sand bar islands have developed. Additionally, this study examines the methods of predictions and analysis of evapotranspiration or ET rates along the river using OpenET. An added area of research is the understanding of the presence of vegetation on the sandbar islands. This was analyzed using satellite imaging data from OpenET, which was used to see how changes in vegetation density change ET values seen …

Drinking Water And Wastewater In Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Communities In New Mexico: The Utilization Of Geographic Information Systems To Identify Communities Most In Need Of Technical Assistance, Alejandra Gaytan Tellez

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

The goal of this study is to identify the most burdened New Mexico community water systems (CWSs) and publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits to be able to provide them with technical assistance to address their issues, such as health-based and monitoring and reporting violations. Additionally, technical assistance can help them access federal or state funding to improve the infrastructure within their systems. The study evaluated multiple factors to determine the systems with the highest level of burden and reported the results as value numbers. The CWSs were evaluated on 10 factors that …

Formalizing The Santa Fe Water Bank, Walker Williamson

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Water users depend on institutional flexibility to efficiently allocate water in legally constrained and overallocated basins. Adaptive market-based mechanisms such as water banking proffer flexibility and fairness, but often face practical challenges fueled by empirical and institutional uncertainties. The Santa Fe Water Bank is a case in point. The City of Santa Fe transfers agricultural water rights from the Middle Rio Grande to its municipal Water Bank for sustainable development. Combined uncertainties in this process can obscure latent changes in water balance and foster misunderstanding, potentially provoking transfer protests. This study develops a formal model clarifying the interrelated institutional and …

Heat Mitigation Impacts Of Agriculture, Greenspace, And Riparian Forest In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Brennan Davis

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Albuquerque, New Mexico, alongside the larger American desert Southwest, is already living the reality of climate change – temperatures have risen faster than the global average and, left unchecked, will continue to rise at an ever-increasing pace (NOAA 2022, Garfin et al. 2014). Alongside this disproportionate warming, the Southwest has experienced worsening drought which further stresses an already arid system (White et al. 2023, Dunbar et al. 2022). At the intersection of these changes lie a myriad of interrelated consequences for both ecosystems and communities. The urban heat island effect is one of many such consequences and is responsible for …

Environmental Fate Of Sulfur In Sulphur Creek, Valles Caldera, Nm: Implications For Metal Transport And Water Quality, Daniel Lavery

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The 1.2 Ma Valles Caldera in north-central New Mexico hosts a young igneous volcanic hydrothermal system after the model proposed in Goff and Janik (2000). The Sulphur Springs area within Valles Caldera is an acid-sulfate area typical of this model, discharging acidic waters (pH 1.5-3) formed by oxidation of magmatic H₂S at the surface. We report on samples obtained from springs and streams collected between October 2021 and May 2023 in the Sulphur Creek and Alamo watersheds. Sulphur Creek receives input from Sulphur Springs and exhibits low pH (2-4) and high concentrations of Al (≤110 mg/L), Fe (≤60 …

City Of Santa Fe's Offset Program: A Comprehensive Demand Analysis And Program Review, Francesca Shirley

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

In principle, Development Water Offset programs (offset programs) are designed to allow for urban growth without increasing water demand. Offset programs necessitate a reduction in existing water demand, typically achieved through plumbing retrofits, equal to the expected new demand, resulting in a net zero increase in water use. The City of Santa Fe (Santa Fe) has administered an offset program since 2002. The program banks water saved from its retrofit rebate programs. The banked water savings, known as Conservation Credits, can then be purchased by developers, and dedicated to new development projects. Under the water bank model, new demand has …

Towards Sustainable Water Management: Soil Analysis, Modeling, And Sensor Implementation On A Micro-Basin Chile's Los Lagos Region, Tammy N. Huynh

Civil Engineering ETDs

The Los Lagos region of Chile is experiencing ecological and socioeconomic challenges because of climate change. Despite efforts by the agricultural sector to understand and manage water resources, the lack of basic water quantification data affects their ability to effectively plan and implement water management strategies. This research aims to address this critical issue through three key objectives. First, characterize soil properties related to texture and structure in a micro-basin of the Los Lagos region. Secondly, it aims to investigate the hydrologic budget of the micro-basin with an emphasis on soil moisture using the Soil Moisture Routing model (SMR). Lastly, …

Dynamic Fallowing In The Middle Rio Grande: A Look At The Environmental Water Leasing Program, Jared Wood

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

The Environmental Water Leasing Program (EWLP) is a federally-funded collaborative effort of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation that has paid irrigators in the Middle Rio Grande to temporarily lease water rights and forgo their water use so that it may be used to provide environmental flows for the endangered Rio Grande Silvery Minnow. The program operates in a sometimes socially contentious context, in a region with an overallocated, legally constrained water system, to offer much needed water management flexibility. While dynamic fallowing payments for ecosystem services programs like the EWLP are common policy …

Groundwater Budgeting And Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Of Water Supply At Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, Maximiliano Trujillo

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Water resources management is becoming increasingly complex in the Middle Rio Grande Valley, where the negative impacts of climate change and growing demand for a fully allocated river put further strain on diminishing water supply. The precarity of future water availability emphasizes the importance of fully accounting for existing water rights allocations and understanding how ever changing social and ecological processes might hinder those rights from being fully realized. This study aimed at improving knowledge of the groundwater budget at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico by utilizing experimental methods of Darcy Flow analysis to estimate groundwater flow …

Irrigation And Innovation: Understanding Barriers To Innovative Actions To Manage Drought On Middle Rio Grande Farms, Eleanor C. Hasenbeck

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

The Rio Grande has irrigated agricultural land in central New Mexico since time immemorial. Today, agriculture in New Mexico’s Middle Rio Grande valley is adapting to an increasingly scarce water supply due to long-term drought and climate change (Dunbar et al., 2022). As supply is decreasing, demands are increasing because of several factors: an increase in evapotranspiration (Dunbar et al., 2022); population growth in the Middle Rio Grande valley (NM LFC, 2021); and legal obligations to provide water for endangered species and to Texas and Mexico (NM ISC, 2017). Agriculture is largest water use by sector in the Rio Grande …

Motivations And Barriers To Participation In Community Outreach And Engagement Among Environmental And Water Resources Students And Postdocs, Sydney Donohue

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

There is a need to utilize knowledge exchange avenues between academia and non-academic communities in order to advance environmental science and engineering education. Many universities and research centers attempt to enhance knowledge sharing by organizing broader impact outreach events such as lab tours, demonstrations, hands-on activities, and public presentations. Anecdotally, at two NSF-funded centers, the Transformation Network and Center for Water and the Environment, we have seen that only the same small subset of students and postdocs frequently participate while over 70% of those invited never volunteer. This study aims to survey environmentally-focused undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdocs’ motivations …

The Role Of Citizen Science In Ecosystem Management: A Case Study Of The Middle Rio Grande Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program, Hannah Miller

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Rapid advances in technology, especially smart phones, have changed citizen science around the world. Citizen science-generated data are growing exponentially, so there is increasing interest about what is happening with all this data. Some research suggests that governmental agencies are not using citizen science data to make ecosystem management decisions, although other studies contradict this finding. Regionally, the Middle Rio Grande bosque ecosystem extends for 162 miles along the Rio Grande in New Mexico. The Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program, or BEMP, was founded in 1996 following the efforts of the Bosque Initiative and the development of the Bosque Biological Management …

Performance Of The Mineral Recovery Enhanced Desalination Pilot Water Treatment Plant, Samantha Valentine

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

There is a growing interest in treating brackish groundwater to supplement freshwater resources for inland communities in arid climates. Water recovery by desalination of brackish groundwater is challenging due to mineral scaling from ions which form carbonate and sulfate minerals, dissolved silica which forms silicates, iron, manganese, and other constituents along with the difficulties and cost of disposing of large volumes of brine from the desalination process. The MRED process consists of a pretreatment process to increase water recovery and decrease waste production from brackish groundwater. The MRED process uses a unique sequence of unit processes consisting of: (1) Air …

Rural Water Manager Challenges In New Mexico, Amy "Aj" Jones

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

New Mexico poses a valuable set of circumstances to study the challenges faced by drinking water systems. A general lack of resources for small systems, be it personnel and funding issues, lack of community engagement, lack or loss of institutional knowledge, ability to meet regulations, and aging managers were found to be very common and widespread. Rural water manager positions that are unsupported financially do not assist in alleviating rural poverty or draw the workforce. Therefore, the negative state demographic statistics are reinforced, further complicating rural water management rather than helping the issues. To look at drinking water management comprehensively, …

Securing Environmental Flows For The Rio Grande Silvery Minnow, Ashley Veihl

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Since 1997, the Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau) has been leasing water to provide habitat for the now-endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow (Minnow). The majority of leased water comes from the San-Juan Chama project, a trans-basin water delivery system that was originally implemented to secure flows to the Rio Grande for municipal and agricultural use. Limitations on water storage within reservoirs incentivize contractors that are allocated more surface water than they can use to lease the extra quantity. It is through this water leasing market that the Bureau has established the largest environmental flow program in the state of New Mexico. …

Sediment Influence On Escherichia Coli Variability In The Rio Grande During The Dry Season In The South Valley, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Kate Wilkins

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

With Escherichia coli (E. coli) being a widely used indicator of pathogen contamination, concentrations need to be fully understood to create effective best management practices for water quality managers. While management and impairment standards are focused on concentrations in the water column, there is research showing that E. coli attaches to sediment in the river and acts as a reservoir for E. coli. The Middle Rio Grande in the South Valley, New Mexico is classified as an impaired reach because it exceeds the E. coli water quality standard. Exceedances are commonly seen during the wet season in high flows, but …

New Mexico Acequias In Valencia: A Documentary Report, José A. Rivera Ph.D.

Researchers

In 2014 and 2019 the New Mexico Acequia Association attended events organized by the Water Tribunal of Valencia in Spain commemorating the fifth and tenth anniversaries when the acequias of Valencia and Murcia were listed by UNESCO as examples of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The documentary report provides the context for and significance of the two visits along with a series of photographs that tell the story for the benefit of the citizens of New Mexico.

Diatom Response To Different Hydrologic Sources In Alpine Streams: A Teton Range Case Study, Shannon Weld

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Alpine stream diversity is due in part to different hydrological sources including snowpack, surface glaciers, and rock glaciers; climate change threatens to homogenize these sources. Surprisingly little is understood about algal communities in these stream types. We characterized algal communities and water chemistry among ten alpine streams from these sources in the Teton Range, Wyoming, USA. Late summer sampling (2019-2021) included diatoms, anions, cations, and water quality parameters. Data were analyzed using one- and two-way analysis of variance, principal component analysis, and nonmetric multidimensional scaling. There were statistically significant differences among some or all hydrologic sources for temperature, dissolved oxygen, …

Nm Stat § 7-36-20: Disconnected Land And Water Policy In A Climate-Altered Peri-Urban Fringe, Annalise Porter

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

New Mexico (NM) passed a land use law in 1967 that offers tax subsidies to agricultural landowners and is implemented at the county level. This law illustrates a stark disconnect between land and water policy: there are water policy implications because of it, but it has never been discussed accordingly. With a focus on New Mexico’s primary urban county, this study estimates that in 2020, Rio Grande surface flows were used to irrigate 4,388 acres of Bernalillo County land that received the special tax valuation offered through the law. This represents a potential use of nearly 11,000 acre-feet of water, …

When High-Water-Use Neighbors Move In: Farming Pecans In Valencia County, New Mexico, Tylee M. Griego

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Valencia County, comprised of a collection of farming communities in the Middle Rio Grande of central New Mexico, is undergoing a fundamental change in its irrigated agriculture. Historically, over recent decades, it has had many smaller-sized farms, or “hobby farms”, with fewer larger commercial enterprises, and with alfalfa as its dominant crop. But in recent years, it has seen a significant expansion of acreage devoted to pecan orchards – a higher value commercial crop that also is substantially higher in water use. Some of these orchards have been planted on land not previously irrigated. The Rio Grande flows through the …

Soil Moisture Dependent Runoff In A Dryland Region: An Investigation Of The Role Of Antecedent Conditions, Monitoring, And Modeling Strategies, Gerhard Schoener

Civil Engineering ETDs

Approximately 30% of the Earth’s land surface is characterized as arid or semiarid, including much of the western United States. Accurate runoff predictions are important for informed watershed management, particularly in rapidly urbanizing areas. Infiltration excess overland flow is the dominant mechanism for runoff generation in many dryland basins, and event-based infiltration or loss models are commonly used to estimate runoff. However, predictions are associated with considerable uncertainty due to the role antecedent soil moisture, an initial condition that must be set by the modeler. The objectives of my research were to (1) evaluate the impact of antecedent soil moisture …

Impact Of Riverside Drains On Surface-Water And Ground Water Interactions In The Middle Rio Grande, New Mexico: Implications To The Sustainability Of Native Cottonwoods (Populus Deltoides Ssp. Wislizenii) And Native Species, Gerardo Rodriguez

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

The Middle Rio Grande riparian zone, named the Bosque, provides cultural, aesthetic, environmental, recreational, and historical value to the residents of the Middle Rio Grande valley. Most of the Bosque has not experienced successful native cottonwood (Populus deltoides ssp. wislizenii) recruitment since the completion of the Cochiti reservoir and most of the Bosque cottonwood forest is senescing. This decline of the native species in the Bosque can be attributed to highly managed hydrology of the riparian zone. The levees and agricultural drains managed by the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD), that borders both sides of the river, also affect …

Effects Of Environmental Change On Ancestral Pueblo Fishing In The Middle Rio Grande, Jonathan William Dombrosky

Anthropology ETDs

It has long been assumed that fishes were unimportant in the diet of past Pueblo people in the U.S. Southwest. Yet, small numbers of fish remains are consistently recovered from Late pre-Hispanic/Early Historic archaeological sites in the Middle Rio Grande of New Mexico. The end of drought conditions may have impacted food choice and fishing decisions during this time. I use behavioral ecology to understand how fishing could have been an optimal food-getting strategy for Ancestral Pueblo farmers. Stable isotope analysis offers a way to account for environmental change. I provide a refined ¹³C Suess correction model to support …