Water Resource Management Commons^™

Rangeland Responses To Predicted Increases In Drought Extremity, David D. Breshears, Alan K. Knapp, Darin J. Law, Melinda D. Smith, Dirac L. Twidwell, Carissa L. Wonkka

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Rangeland managers actively focus on the potential to induce a shift in a site to an alternative state, but predicted changes in climate, particularly the likelihood of more extreme drought, necessitate reevaluating risks for alternative states. • Rangelands will differ in their susceptibility to undergo state changes due to climate change in general and for droughts of the future, in particular, which may be hotter. • Trees, shrubs, and grasses are expected to differ in their sensitivity to drought, with trees likely being most sensitive; this affects the likelihood for state changes in grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, and savannas. • Considering …

Drought And Health In The Context Of Public Engagement, Nicole Wall, Michael Hayes

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Droughts have profoundly affected societies around the world from the earliest beginnings. A recent estimate from the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) claims that more than 1 billion people have been affected by drought during the twenty-year period between 1994 and 2013. Because of the characteristics of drought, drought impacts are often difficult to identify and quantify, and this is especially true with public health-oriented drought consequences, including those resulting from low water quantities, poor water quality, mental health and stress, dust and windblown agents, and wildlife intrusion. However, when officials emphasize adopting a proactive risk …

Droughtscape, Winter 2016, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Contents

Director’s column

California drought FAQ

October-December 2015 drought

October-December 2015 impacts

2015 drought impacts in review

NDMC hiring geospatial analyst

CA drought exposes social vulnerability

UA helps Arizona ranchers, Forest Service work together

NDMC and partners help southern Plains ranchers manage drought

Chickasaw ranching workshop

New Tools For Assessing Drought Conditions For Rangeland Management, Cody Knutson, Brian Fuchs

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Historical drought assessment and ongoingmonitoring is essential for understanding past drought occurrence, the relationships between past drought and its impacts, and for triggering action during current drought events. • A variety of new products have recently been developed to better monitor drought conditions and assess past occurrences at the local scale. • A growing number of resources are available to assist rangeland managers to develop a monitoring system and incorporate it into a drought management plan.

Droughtscape, Fall 2015, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Contents

Director’s column.

NDMC 20th anniversary 2

Employment opportunity

Third quarter 2015 climate summary

Third quarter 2015 impacts summary

Workshop in Ethiopia

San Antonio multi-hazard tournament

Healthy soil is drought buffer

U2U Award

Cost-benefit analysis for utilities managing drought

NDMC helps with rural poll questions on climate

Introducing our post-docs

South Korean visitors

Analyzing The Relationship Of Soil Moisture And Biophysical Variables In Wet And Dry Seasons At A Rainfed And Irrigated Field In Eastern Nebraska, Eric Hunt

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

Agriculture production, particularly of maize and soybeans, is a major component of Nebraska’s economy and identity. However, agricultural production in Nebraska faces increasing challenges. One of the challenges is the potential for excessive groundwater depletion due to increased demand for food and fuel from irrigated Nebraska crops and increasing risks of water stress due to climate change. Therefore, it is has become essential for a deeper understanding of the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum to help producers make more informed management decisions. One of the most important variables is soil moisture. Soil moisture is an integral part of the hydrologic cycle and an …

Droughtscape, Summer 2015, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Contents

Director’s column

New Drought Risk Management Research Center

Second quarter 2015 climate summary

Second quarter 2015 impacts summary

Caribbean region an innovator in drought early warning

Wind River Reservation tribes move toward drought planning

Ranchers, U.S. Forest Service, University of Arizona co-develop drought plans

Summer blockbuster from CoCoRaHS: Assessing Drought in the U.S

Western states drought coordinators meet

Slides: Wrapping Up The Big Horn Adjudication: Lessons After 38 Years And 20,000 Claims, Ramsey L. Kropf

Innovations in Managing Western Water: New Approaches for Balancing Environmental, Social and Economic Outcomes (Martz Summer Conference, June 11-12)

Presenter: Ramsey L. Kropf, Deputy Solicitor for Water Resources, Office of the Solicitor, U.S. Department of the Interior

34 slides

Slides: Colorado's Water Plan, Lauren Ris

Innovations in Managing Western Water: New Approaches for Balancing Environmental, Social and Economic Outcomes (Martz Summer Conference, June 11-12)

Presenter: Lauren Ris, Assistant Director for Water, Colorado Department of Natural Resources

23 slides

Slides: Gwc Review Report, Larry Macdonnell

Innovations in Managing Western Water: New Approaches for Balancing Environmental, Social and Economic Outcomes (Martz Summer Conference, June 11-12)

Presenter: Larry MacDonnell, University of Colorado Law School

12 slides

Slides: The (Largely) Untold Success Story Of Urban Water Conservation, Peter Mayer

Innovations in Managing Western Water: New Approaches for Balancing Environmental, Social and Economic Outcomes (Martz Summer Conference, June 11-12)

Presenter: Peter Mayer, P.E., Water Demand Management

20 slides

Slides: Six Decades Of Texas Water Planning, Ronald Kaiser

Innovations in Managing Western Water: New Approaches for Balancing Environmental, Social and Economic Outcomes (Martz Summer Conference, June 11-12)

Presenter: Ronald Kaiser, Professor of Water Law and Policy, Chair of Graduate Water Degree Program, Texas A&M University

32 slides

Slides: Moffat Collection System Project, Travis Bray

Innovations in Managing Western Water: New Approaches for Balancing Environmental, Social and Economic Outcomes (Martz Summer Conference, June 11-12)

Presenter: Travis Bray, Project Manager, Moffat Collection System Project, Denver Water

45 slides

Slides: Ag Water Sharing: Legal Challenges And Considerations, Peter D. Nichols

Innovations in Managing Western Water: New Approaches for Balancing Environmental, Social and Economic Outcomes (Martz Summer Conference, June 11-12)

Presenter: Peter D. Nichols, Esq., Partner, Berg, Hill, Greenleaf and Ruscitti, Boulder, CO

25 slides

U.S. Drought Monitor, May 26, 2015, Brad Rippey

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for May 26, 2015 (5/26/15) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Drougthscape, Spring 2015, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Contents

Director’s column.

South Plains ranch workshops 3

First quarter drought summary

First quarter impacts summary

Gary’s favorite pond, D1-4

NDMC’s Haigh leads U2U pubs

SW Montana watersheds convene

Wind River monitors drought

Morocco’s new drought index

Northeast Brazil drought monitoring

EU’s drought initiative

U.S. Drought Monitor Forum

How Colorado tourism coped in 2012

Navigating A Pathway Toward Colorado's Water Future: A Review And Recommendations On Colorado's Draft Water Plan, Lawrence J. Macdonnell, Colorado Water Working Group

Books, Reports, and Studies

40 pages (includes color illustrations).

Drougthscape, Winter 2015, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Contents

Director’s report

Central U.S. 2012 report

October-December drought summary

2014 drought summary

Caribbean capacity building

Drought impacts in 2014

California timeline 2014

UC Davis ranching workshop

NASA SMAP data

Global drought info system

Community Capitals

Evaluation and assessment

Indicator-impact research

NDMC on YouTube

A Historical Perspective On Nebraska’S Variable And Changing Climate, Martha Shulski, William Baule, Crystal J. Stiles, Natalie A. Umphlett

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Nebraska is situated at the intersection of the northern and southern Great Plains, exhibiting a dramatic longitudinal gradient for precipitation and humidity, and benefiting from groundwater resources. The continental climate is highly variable temporally both for temperature and precipitation. Our assessment of long-term meteorological observations shows that over the last century the annual average temperature in Nebraska has warmed approximately 0.6°C, which is similar to the increase in the global average temperature over the same time period. Furthermore, we found minimum temperatures have warmed more than maximum temperatures, and winter and spring show the strongest warming. We found no significant …

San Diego’S Options For Alternate Sources Of Water: A Comparative Analysis Of Water Recycling And Desalination As Alternative Methods To Importing Water, Alana O. Pokorny

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper describes the processes, methods, backgrounds, and economic challenges, of Desalination and Water Recycling and provide current examples of both. To create a baseline with which to compare the two methods, I will also delve into the history of California water policy. This complicated past is the reason water importation into Southern California remains the main method of obtaining water. Yet, as the current drought continues and technology advances, the need for imported water will become obsolete as the methods for recycling and desalinating water become less expensive, more convenient and more equitable. In the conclusion, all the methods …

Evaluating A Satellite-Based Seasonal Evapotranspiration Product And Identifying Its Relationship With Other Satellite-Derived Products And Crop Yield: A Case Study For Ethiopia, Tsegaye Tadesse, Gabriel B. Senay, Getachew Berhan, Teshome Regassa, Shimelis Beyene

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Satellite-derived evapotranspiration anomalies and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) products from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data are currently used for African agricultural drought monitoring and food security status assessment. In this study, a process to evaluate satellite-derived evapotranspiration (ETa) products with a geospatial statistical exploratory technique that uses NDVI, satellite-derived rainfall estimate (RFE), and crop yield data has been developed. The main goal of this study was to evaluate the ETa using the NDVI and RFE, and identify a relationship between the ETa and Ethiopia’s cereal crop (i.e., teff, sorghum, corn/maize, barley, and wheat) yields during the main rainy …

Droughtscape, Fall 2014, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Contents

Director’s report

Upcoming events

Drought and climate summary

Drought impacts

Drought planning in Brazil

Ethiopian workshop

Visiting scholar

Help for South Plains ranchers

Wind River tribal workshop

Inter Tribal Buffalo Council

South Dakota ranch workshops

Analysis Of Semi-Distributed And Global Hydrological Models In The Central Tropical Basins Of The Gulf Of Mexico To The Effects Of Extreme Hydrometeorological Phenomena, Sara Patricia Ibarra Zavaleta, Mariana Castañeda González, Rabindranarth Romero López, Eduardo Castillog Onzalez, Alberto Brando Báez Camarena, Annie Poulin, Mathias Glaus, Robert Hausler

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

In the last years extreme hydrometeorological phenomena have increased in number and intensity affecting the inhabitants of various regions, an example of these effects are the central basins of the Gulf of Mexico (CBGM) that they have been affected by 55.2% with floods and especially the state of Veracruz (1999-2013), leaving economic, social and environmental losses. Mexico currently lacks sufficient hydrological studies for the measurement of volumes in rivers, since is convenient to create a hydrological model (HM) suited to the quality and quantity of the geographic and climatic information that is reliable and affordable. Therefore this research compares the …

Reconstruction Of Paleo-Hydrologic Data For Vulnerability Assessment Of Water Resources Systems, Saman Razavi, Amin Elshorbagy, Howard Wheater, David Sauchyn

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

Tree-ring chronologies are a rich source of information of past climate-driven non-stationarities in hydrologic variables. They are typically directly related to available water in respective years, thereby providing a basis for paleo-hydrology reconstruction. This study investigates the time series of tree-ring chronologies, with the objective of identifying the spatiotemporal patterns and extents of non-stationarities, which are essentially representations of past “climate changes”. This study also generates ensembles of moving-average streamflow time series for the centuries prior to the period of observational record. The major headwater tributaries of the Saskatchewan River basin (SaskRB), the main source of surface water in the …

The Application Of A Dynamic Openmi Coupling Between A Regional Climate Model And A Distributed Surface Water-Groundwater Model, Michael Brian Butts, Martin Drews, Morten Andreas Dahl Larsen, Sara Lerer, Søren Højmark Rasmussen, Jesper Grooss, Jesper Overgaard, Jens Christian Refsgaard

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

The understanding of interactions between the atmosphere, the land surface and the subsurface hydrology plays a key role in ensuring sustainable development of water resources and terrestrial ecosystems. The evaluation of climate adaptation measures requires the ability to reliably simulate the impact of different anthropogenic effects such as changes in land use, interventions such as reservoirs for flood control and irrigation, conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater under projections of future climatic conditions and variability. The interaction between climate and groundwater are often neglected in climate models and climate assessment and few studies have investigated how groundwater systems will …

Effect Of Sediment Releasing Operation From Reservoir Outlets On The Water Treatment Plant Downstream, Jihn-Sung Lai, Fong-Zuo Lee, Cheng-Chia Huang, Gwo-Wen Hwang, Shang-Shu Shih, Wen-Da Guo, Chia-Hui Chou, Yih-Chi Tan

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

With steep slope and strong rainfall intensity, landslide and debris flow could generate huge amount of sediment yield from the watershed, typically during typhoon floods in Taiwan. As such huge amount of sediment moved into a reservoir, serious sedimentation problem reduced storage of reservoir due to decrease of flow velocity and without sufficient sediment releasing bottom outlet. As a result, using flood discharge to release sediment during Typhoon or rain fall duration is very important. This study adopts the data of field observation from outlet structures of the Shihmen reservoir to establish the operational strategies of sediment releasing rule and …

Water Resources Policy Development Using Hydrologic And Systems Dynamics Modeling – A Case Study For East Africa, Lauren Gies, Buyung Agusdinata, Venkatesh Merwade

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

Drought is a natural disaster that affects millions of people across the globe. Lack of rainfall reduces crop yields and livestock productivity and in turn, food availability and income. In developing countries, these effects are even more detrimental. As droughts become more frequent, adaptation is a fundamental concern for countries and their policy makers. Hydrologic and system dynamics models were developed for a region in East Africa, focused on the Horn of Africa (ie. a region bordering Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia), an area well-known for frequent droughts due to unpredictable rainfall and high temperatures. The models simulate the interdependencies between …

Long-Term Effects Of River Bed Variations Downstream Of The Shihmen Reservoir Due To Climate Change, Cheng-Chia Huang, Jihn-Sung Lai, Fong-Zuo Lee, Sheen-Yeong Kang, Shang-Shu Shih, Gwo-Wen Hwang, Gwo-Fong Lin

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

Most rivers in Taiwan are suffered from serious sedimentation problems due to extreme weather in recent years. In order to decrease sediment trap in Shihmen Reservoir, the reservoir sediment was effluent into downstream river during flood period. The river sediment deposition and erosion would be thus more violent. The quasi-two dimensional model, NETSTARS, was applied to investigate hydraulic characteristics and corresponding river sedimentation behavior in Da-Han basin. The model was calibrated and verified with field survey data and then was utilized to predict the spatial and temporal variations of downstream suspended solid concentration. Through investigating the change of suspended solid …

Evaluation Of Decision Making Methods For Integrated Water Resource Management Under Uncertainty, Thomas Peter Roach, Zoran Kapelan, Michelle Ledbetter, Ben Gouldby, Steven Wade, Ralph Ledbetter

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

Water companies and utilities in the UK are required to produce Water Resource Management Plans (WRMPs) every five years that outline their future strategies for maintaining a secure water supply to meet anticipated demand levels. Regulatory frameworks differ around the world but in most countries similar plans are developed under the auspices of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) programmes. The plans justify new demand management and water supply infrastructure needed and validate management decisions. One of the greatest problems now facing decision makers in the water industry are the increasing uncertainties in the variables used in estimating the supply and …

Predicting The Impact Of Climate Change On Pipe Failure In Drinking Water Distribution Systems., Bas Wols, Peter Van Thienen

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

Underground water infrastructure is designed to withstand a variability of forces during its lifetime before failure occurs. As a result of variations in loads on and deterioration of the pipe, early failures may occur. Climate change may accelerate or decelerate these processes. A statistical analysis is therefore performed to study correlations between weather parameters and pipe failure rates in the drinking water distribution systems (DWDS) of the Netherlands. The strongest correlations were found between pipe failure rates and temperature. Failure rates in asbestos cement (AC) and small diameter steel pipes increase during warm periods, which often also show higher water …