Water Resource Management Commons^™

Considering Relationships Between Water Utilities’ Price Changes And Operating Data, Frejdyn Jarrett

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Do modern water utilities face a difficult operating paradox? Is encouraging water conservation could negatively affect the utilities’ abilities to maintain healthy operating ratios by driving down the utilities’ marginal revenues (from consumption) disproportionately relative to their costs (Environmental Finance Center, 2017). How do the financial circumstances of water utilities relate to price scheduling and rate changes? Do utilities’ rate increases result in reduced debt leverage? This research summarizes water utilities’ potable water operations and financial data in search of trends between user prices at 3 levels (6,000 gallons, 12,000 gallons, 18,000 gallons – per month), water utility’s total debts, …

Water Education Leadership In Texas: Pathway For Students From Middle School To University Degree, Rudolph A. Rosen

Water Resources Science and Technology Faculty Publications (Archived)

Connecting students to water while they are in middle and high school is thought to be a key to making a connection to the importance of water and possibly stimulating high school graduates to consider technical training or a post-secondary degree in water. To take these students forward, Texas leaders in water education have advocated better alignment of existing technical training and degree programs. This alignment is considered an essential ingredient to building a pathway to careers in water. The post-secondary model relies on a mix of rigorous science and practical applied industry readiness training. Promoters of this model hope …

A Decision-Making Framework For Hybrid Resource Recovery Oriented Wastewater Systems, Nader Rezaei

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water shortage, water contamination, and the emerging challenges in sustainable water resources management (e.g., the likely impacts of climate change and population growth) necessitate adopting a reverse logistics approach, which is the process of moving wastewater from its typical final destination back to the water supply chain for reuse purposes. This practice not only reduces the negative impacts of wastewater on the environment, but also provides an alternative to withdrawal from natural water resources, forming a closed-loop water supply chain. However, the design of such a supply chain requires an appropriate sustainability assessment, which simultaneously accounts for economic, environmental, and …

Groundwater Movement And Interaction With Surface Water Near The Confluence Of The Platte And Elkhorn Rivers, Nebraska, 2016–18, Christopher M. Hobza, Mason J. Johnson, Paul W. Woodward, Kellan R. Strauch, Aaron R. Schepers

United States Geological Survey: Water Reports and Publications

Document abstract

The State of Nebraska requires a sustainable balance between long-term water supplies and uses of groundwater and surface water and requires Natural Resources Districts to include the effect of groundwater use on surface-water systems as part of their respective integrated management plans. Recent droughts in Nebraska (2000–6; 2012–13) have amplified concerns about the long-term sustainability of groundwater and surface-water resources in the state, and concerns about the effect of groundwater irrigation on both streamflow and the water supplies needed to meet wildlife, recreational, and municipal needs. The lower Platte River provides nearly 100 percent of drinking-water supplies to …

Evaluating Oyster Aquaculture’S Cost-Effectiveness As A Nitrogen Removal Best Management Practice – A Case Study Of The Delaware Inland Bays, Jefferson F. Flood

Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics

Disease and overfishing have led to a dramatic decline in wild populations and subsequent harvests of the eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica over the past few decades in Delaware and other states along the Atlantic Coast. However, in addition to their value as food to consumers, oysters, whether wild populations or cultured stocks, can provide ecosystem services such as nutrient removal, which may result in localized water quality improvements. Consequently, recent policies in Delaware have sought to establish and grow an oyster aquaculture industry. However, a key challenge to achieving efficient levels of industry growth and water quality improvements is that …

Landscape Edges Shape Dispersal And Population Structure Of A Migratory Fish, Mark A. Kaemingk, S. E. Swearer, S. J. Bury, J. S. Shima

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Many freshwater organisms have a life-history stage that can disperse through seawater. This has obvious benefits for colonization and connectivity of fragmented sub-populations, but requires a physiologically challenging migration across a salinity boundary. We consider the role of landscape boundaries between freshwater and seawater habitats, and evaluate their potential effects on traits and developmental histories of larvae and juveniles (i.e., dispersing life-history stages) of an amphidromous fish, Galaxias maculatus. We sampled juvenile fish on their return to 20 rivers in New Zealand: 10 rivers had abrupt transitions to the sea (i.e., emptying to an open coastline); these were paired …

Water In South Dakota Stakeholder Guided Strategies For Moving Forward, Rachel Mcdaniel, John Mcmaine, David Kringen

SDWRI Publications and Reports

The 2017 Eastern South Dakota Water Conference included a stakeholder working session that resulted in over 350 comments. This paper reflects the challenges, goals and action items pertaining to South Dakota’s water resources as identified by the state’s diverse stakeholders.

Prioritizing Rehabilitation Of Sanitary Sewers In Pinellas County, Fl, Jesse T. Hillman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Following large rain events, extraneous freshwater contributions known as inflow and infiltration (I/I) bypass the storm sewer and enter the sanitary sewer system. In areas with a high water table, like Pinellas County and the surrounding Tampa Bay area, a majority of the wastewater infrastructure is submerged year round exacerbating the rate of groundwater infiltration. This excess flow overloads the existing wastewater infrastructure leading to sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs). These SSOs result in serious problems for municipalities and utilities across the country.

This study was performed in order to assist Pinellas County Utilities in rehabilitating their southern sewer system. To …

Matrix Recharge In A Shrink-Swell Floodplain Forest Soil, Savannah R. Morales

LSU Master's Theses

Despite the global distribution of fine-grained Vertisols, the hydrology of these floodplain soils is still not well understood. Vertisols shrink and swell depending on soil moisture leading to a range of soil pore sizes, from large macropore cracks to smaller micropores, and consequently a range of hydraulic conductivities. Despite the plethora of research indicating the importance of both flooding and soil moisture in floodplain ecosystems, the specific role that flooding plays in soil moisture recharge has been less widely studied and remains of interest. Blue food dye and deuterated water were used as tracers to determine the role of the …

Observed And Projected Snowmelt Runoff In The Upper Rio Grande In A Changing Climate, Nels R. Bjarke

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

As climate has warmed over the past half century, the strength of the covariance between interannual snowpack and streamflow anomalies in the Rio Grande headwaters has decreased. This change has caused an amplification of errors in seasonal streamflow forecasts using traditional statistical forecasting methods, based on the diminishing correlation between peak snow water equivalent (SWE) and subsequent snowmelt runoff. Therefore, at a time when water resources in south-western North America are becoming scarcer, water supply forecasters need to develop prediction schemes that account for the dynamic nature of the relationship between precipitation, temperature, snowpack and streamflow. We quantify temporal changes …

Equivalency Of Indirect And Direct Potable Reuse Paradigms Based On A Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment Framework, Erfaneh Amoueyan, Yongsheng He, Hongjie Wu, Chuanwei Zhu, Shichun Huang, Jian Huang

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Due to rapid growth in the potable reuse industry, there is a need to better characterize the associated pathogen risks and degree of attenuation achieved by various treatment trains. It is also important to understand how emerging treatment frameworks compare to the historical practice of de facto reuse. As such, the goals of this study were to (1) evaluate the equivalency of indirect potable reuse (IPR) and direct potable reuse (DPR) systems; (2) compare alternative treatment trains; and (3) identify the design components and operational conditions that are most critical to minimizing public health risks. To this end, we developed …

Attitudes, Behavior, And Archetypes In The Clackamas River Basin: A Model Of Water Customer Analysis And Outreach For Watershed Protection And Conservation, Daniel Close Larson

Dissertations and Theses

Fresh water resources around the globe are under threat of diminishing supply and quality due to rapid population growth, climate change, drought, and waste. This dissertation aims to address the protection of fresh water at the source, the tap, and how water customer attitudes influence protection and conservation using a watershed-wide lens. Using the Clackamas River Watershed which resides within the Portland Metropolitan Area (PMA), I seek to investigate water customer attitudes towards a source water protection program and their willingness to pay to support such an endeavor, attitudes and behaviors that result in household water conservation, and an exploration …

Shale Play: Poems And Photographs From The Fracking Fields By Julia Spicher Kasdorf And Steven Rubin, Kelly Shepherd

The Goose

Review of Julia Spicher Kasdorf and Steven Rubin's Shale Play: Poems and Photographs from the Fracking Fields

Incorporating Antecedent Soil Moisture Into Streamflow Forecasting, Abdoul Oubeidillah, Glenn Tootle, Thomas Piechota

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

This study incorporates antecedent (preceding) soil moisture into forecasting streamflow volumes within the North Platte River Basin, Colorado/Wyoming (USA). The incorporation of antecedent soil moisture accounts for infiltration and can improve streamflow predictions. Current Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) forecasting methods are replicated, and a comparison is drawn between current NRCS forecasts and proposed forecasting methods using antecedent soil moisture. Current predictors used by the NRCS in regression-based streamflow forecasting include precipitation, streamflow persistence (previous season streamflow volume) and snow water equivalent (SWE) from SNOTEL (snow telemetry) sites. Proposed methods utilize antecedent soil moisture as a predictor variable in addition …

Scenes From The Swale: Investigating Spatial And Temporal Dimensions Of Nitrogen Cycling In Urban Stormwater Bioretention Facilities, Erin Nicole Looper

Dissertations and Theses

Urban development is transforming landscapes at unprecedented rates. Human activities and landscape modifications associated with urbanization extensively increase hydrologic demands and modify natural hydrologic systems; consequently, population growth occurring in urban areas increases pressure on water resources. Urban aquatic ecosystems are vulnerable to impacts associated with increased connectivity with urban surfaces and hydrologic changes that initiate long-term changes in receiving waterbodies. Nitrogen (N) loading from urban and suburban catchments to receiving surface waters can lead to impairment of aquatic ecosystems and is a concern in many cities with water quality issues. To improve urban water quality, cities are increasingly adopting …

Umphlett Qci June 2019, Natalie Umphlett

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Highlights for the Basin

Temperature and Precipitation Anomalies

Soil Moisture Conditions

Delayed/Prevented Planting

Impacts to Cattle

Damage to Infrastructure

Temperature

Precipitation

Fouling And Aging In Membrane Filtration : Hybrid Afm-Based Characterization, Modelling And Reactive Membrane Design, Wanyi Fu

Dissertations

Membrane filtration has been extensively used in water and wastewater treatment, desalination, dairy making, and biomass/water separation. However, membrane fouling, aging and insufficient removal efficiency for dissolved organic matters remain major challenges for wider industrial applications. In order to tackle these challenges, this doctoral dissertation investigates mechanisms of membrane fouling and development of antifouling membrane filtration technologies. Specifically, four major research areas are explored: (i) nanoscale physicochemical characterization of the chemically modified polymeric membranes; (ii) quantitative modelling between membrane properties and membrane fouling and defouling kinetics; (iii) development of quantitative structure-activity relationships for membranes that undergo thermal and chemical aging …

Seamless Lidar Surveys Reveal Rates And Patterns Of Subsidence In The Mississippi River Delta, Celeste E. Woock

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) data are used to report the temporal and spatial patterns of subsidence as well as the potential contributors to subsidence within the Barataria and Terrebonne Bays. In recent decades, subsidence in southeast Louisiana has become a topic of substantial and growing concern to the scientific community, the local residents, and all those invested in the region. Lidar data were acquired from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the LSU Center for Geoinformatics. The data has been manipulated to map the differenced Lidar, complete an instantaneous slope analysis, and determine the thickness of the Holocene …

Geomorphic Effects Of Engineered Log Structures And Response To A Catastrophic Flood Event In A Missouri Ozarks River, Joseph S. Nash

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Engineered log structures (ELSs) composed of local tree logs have been installed in river channels throughout the Pacific Northwest as a restoration technique. However, ELSs have not been tested for use in the Ozark Highlands until recently. In October 2016 the U.S. Forest Service installed four ELSs to stabilize banks along the North Fork of the White River in Ozark County, Missouri. The purpose here is to report on monitoring studies of pre- and post-restoration channel conditions and to assess geomorphic responses to floods. Over a ten-day period in April 2017 there were two bankfull floods, and on April 30, …

Riparian Resilience In The Face Of Interacting Disturbances, Alexa S. Whipple

2019 Symposium

Riparian systems of the dryland western United States provide critical ecosystem functions such as diverse habitat for numerous species, flood attenuation and essential water storage in water-limited environments. These systems have experienced long term disturbance from anthropogenic activities including the grazing of livestock in dryland riparian systems and near extirpation of a keystone riparian species, Castor canadensis (beaver). However, increasing frequency of large-scale wildfires and climate change driven weather is altering the severity and scale of riparian disturbance. Beaver restoration has been gaining use to address long term riparian disturbances, yet little is understood regarding the impact of restored beaver …

A Fishy Problem: Effects Of Atlantic Salmon Farming In The Pacific Ocean, Madeleine A. Griffith

Student Theses 2015-Present

In this report, I explore the historical, climatological, economic, and ethical issues created by the contemporary industrial salmon farming practices off Pacific coast of the United States and Canada. Chapter 1 utilizes a variety of sources from Stephen Hume’s A Stain upon the Sea to Miller’s Living in the Environment, to examine the integral part salmon plays in both freshwater and marine ecosystems, the ecosystem services salmon contribute in wild and farmed settings, and the trends in salmon consumption around the world. Chapter 2 examines the historically relevant role salmon held among indigenous societies and how that role has changed …

Water Quality Assessment Of Deer Lakes County Park Before, During And After Unconventional Shale Gas Drilling, Daniel Robinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, signed a lease to allow unconventional natural gas extraction from Marcellus Shale beneath Deer Lakes County Park in 2014. The park has three man-made lakes and four waterways that eventually flow into the Allegheny River. Drilling commenced in early 2016, and there are now five producing wells. The park has an extensive abandoned coal mine network and several abandoned oil and gas wells. Thus, an independent water quality study was undertaken beginning in July 2015. Samples from seven different sites in the park were used to establish a water quality baseline prior to the drilling. Monthly sampling …

Unconventional Gas Extraction In Southwestern Pennsylvania: Complaints, Production, And Water Quality, Dannielle Pratt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The dramatic rise in unconventional oil and gas extraction in Pennsylvania has presented a challenge to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in managing regulatory required data, and the uniformity of public access via their online databases. This study analyzed over a decade of all the oil and gas complaints and unconventional gas production in Washington County. Of the 1,811 wells drilled between 2004 and 2018, 1,683 are producing, 74 are plugged, 52 regulatory inactive, and 2 abandoned. The PADEP received 10,389 complaints from 2004 to 2018. Only 2,420 of 4,489 water quality complaints were resolved within the legally required …

Development Of Digital Bathymetry Maps For Lakes Azuei And Enriquillo Using Sonar And Remote Sensing Techniques, Michael Piasecki, Mahrokh Moknatian, Fred Moshary, Jorge Gonzalez

Publications and Research

This article presents an improved algorithm for optimization and development of a digital bathymetric model (DBM) for Lake Azuei (LA) (Haiti) and Lake Enriquillo (LE) (Dominican Republic) using the ANUDEM method. Both sonar data and contour lines of the lakes’ layout extracted using Landsat imagery were compiled for bathymetry development. We show that the performance of the ANUDEM method was strongly dependent on the density and irregularity of the spatial distribution of the data. Changing the resolution of the output grids and deriving auxiliary topographically corrected contours improved the ANUDEM performance and minimized the systematic errors of the method. Statistical …

An Industrial Hygiene Assessment Of Lead In Potable Water Outlets At Rowan University, Tyra Thomas, Rosemary Roberto, Thomas Boyle

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

The Office of Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) discovered lead in the water of a number of buildings on the Glassboro campus. This finding triggered the need for a comprehensive study to determine if lead was in the drinking water on the main campus.

Rowan University then partnered with an independent consultant to create a Lead Sampling Plan, collect water samples and to find a certified laboratory to provide water sample analysis.

A comprehensive plumbing survey of the campus also took place to determine how water is supplied to campus and how it is distributed to and throughout each building. …

Watering The Desert: Azraq, Public Opinion, And Environmental Post-Materialism, Wesley A. Gerard

Venture: The University of Mississippi Undergraduate Research Journal

This article focuses on physical, socioeconomic, and political changes in the community of Azraq, Jordan. Azraq, a small town in northeastern Jordan, sits atop a large aquifer that has been heavily pumped by the government for several decades in response to an increasing nationwide demand for water. This has led to large-scale transformations in not only the physical landscape surrounding the aquifer, but also in the daily lives, economic statuses, and political opinions of the people living there. My research thus fits the case of Azraq into larger academic discourse on groundwater governance, resource access, and environmentalism. I use a …

Analysis Of Hydrodynamic And Bathymetric Gradients In Canaveral National Seashore Following Living Shoreline And Oyster Restorations, David Spiering

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Coastal vulnerability has been gaining recognition as a critical issue, especially with the increasing predictions of sea level rise. Susceptibility to extreme events, eutrophication, and shoreline modification has left many coastal regions in a degraded state. Shoreline protection has traditionally taken the form of seawalls and offshore breakwaters which can be detrimental to both the local ecosystems and adjoining shorelines. The objective of this thesis is to analyze the hydrodynamic and bathymetric variation that occurs within Mosquito Lagoon, Florida following living shoreline and oyster reef restorations. The shoreline sites were sampled using a Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) design and data were analyzed …

The Niobrara National Scenic River: Exploring Co-Management Through A Case Study Of The Niobrara Council, Melissa M. Mosier

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In recent decades, government staff and local citizens have increasingly employed cooperative schemes of natural resource management, in lieu of more conventional, top-down approaches of addressing user conflicts as they relate to water resources. The focus of this project was on the Niobrara Council, a partnership of local, state, and federal representatives charged with cooperatively managing the reach of the Niobrara River that was federally designated under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1991. The project's purpose was to explore the cooperative framework of the Council, using the methodology outlined by Carlsson and Berkes (2005). This methodology involved investigating …

Population Dynamics Of The Freshwater Mussel Lampsilis Cardium Reintroduced In Nebraska, Lindsay M. Ohlman

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The global decline of native freshwater mussels has accelerated conservation projects that preserve and restore populations, but the complex life histories among species challenges biologists in determining the most effective management strategies. This study details the conservation of plain pocketbook, a Tier I threatened mussel species in Nebraska that was artificially propagated and reintroduced into 13 sites from autumn 2016 to summer 2017. The objectives of this study were: 1) determine how handling influences mussels, and 2) evaluate mussel growth and survival following introductions.

We conducted a laboratory experiment with age-2 plain pocketbook to assess the effects of handling on …

Rating Curve Development For The Upper James Fork, Lower James Fork And Hinkle Jones Creek In The Upper Poteau River Watershed In Arkansas, Meagan O'Hare

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Stream discharge is necessary to estimate loads and calibrate and validate watershed models. Access to long-term water quality data and discharge measurements allows for modeling of water quality changes across a watershed over time. However, discharge monitoring stations are often expensive to install and maintain, particularly in small rivers. A more cost-effective method for monitoring streamflow has been implemented in the Upper Poteau River Watershed (UPRW) in Arkansas. This method consists of an SonTek acoustic doppler instrument for measuring storm stream flow, with is combined with manual baseflow discharge measurements. The combined stormflow and baseflow measurements are combined with a …