Water Resource Management Commons^™

Natural Salinization Of The Jemez River, New Mexico: An Insight From Trace Element Geochemistry, Jon K. Golla

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Jemez River, a tributary of the Rio Grande in north-central New Mexico, receives thermal water input from the geofluids of the Valles Caldera, an active, high-temperature, liquid-dominated geothermal system. We focus on a ∼50-km portion of the northern Jemez River. This research extends previous decadal work (Crossey et al., in prep., 2013) on major chemistry in the river by characterizing the response of 16 trace elements to geochemical contributions from geothermal waters (McCauley, Spence, Soda Dam, and Jemez Springs springs and San Ysidro mineral waters), an area with copious hydrothermal degassing (Hummingbird), and two major tributaries (Rio San Antonio …

Operationalizing Ecological Resilience Concepts For Managing Species And Ecosystems At Risk, Jeanne C. Chambers, Craig R. Allen, Samuel A. Cushman

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

This review provides an overview and integration of the use of resilience concepts to guide natural resources management actions. We emphasize ecosystems and landscapes and provide examples of the use of these concepts from empirical research in applied ecology. We begin with a discussion of definitions and concepts of ecological resilience and related terms that are applicable to management. We suggest that a resilience-based framework for management facilitates regional planning by providing the ability to locate management actions where they will have the greatest benefits and determine effective management strategies. We review the six key components of a resilience-based framework, …

Drought Analyses Of The Horn´E PoˇZitavie Region (Slovakia) In The Period 1966–2013, Jaroslav Vido, Paulina Nalevankova, Jan Valach, Zbysek Sustek, Tsegaye Tadesse

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

+is study focuses on the characterization of historical drought occurrences in the Horn´e Poˇzitavie region of Slovakia over the period 1966–2013 using Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). Trend analyses were evaluated by the Mann–Kendall (MK) test as well as cumulative sum of rank difference (CRD) test. +e results showed that drought occurs in the region regularly (recurrent climate feature), while the trend analysis indicated the trend toward more arid climatic conditions. However, CRD trend analyses showed that the subtrend changed direction toward less drier conditions in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Analyses of SPEI trends in individual months showed a …

Evaluating Future Reservoir Storage In The Rio Grande Using Normalized Climate Projections And A Water Balance Model, Nolan T. Townsend

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

We develop and implement new tools for assessing the future of surface water supplies in downstream reaches of the Rio Grande, for which Elephant Butte Reservoir is the major storage reservoir. First, a normalization procedure is developed to adjust natural Rio Grande streamflows simulated by dynamical models in downstream reaches. The normalization accounts for upstream anthropogenic impairments to flow that are not considered in the model, thereby yielding downstream flows closer to observed values and more appropriate for use in assessments of future flows in downstream reaches. The normalization is applied to assess the potential effects of climate change on …

An Urban Karst Aquifer Resource Evaluation And Monitoring Toolbox, Rachel Anne Kaiser

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In urban karst areas, such as the City of Bowling Green, Kentucky and the Tampa Bay Metropolitan Area, groundwater quality faces a variety of threats. The development of residential, commercial, and industrial landuse types allows for a wide variety of groundwater pollutants to enter the karst groundwater systems. Various different models and indices have attempted evaluative approaches to identify issues in urban karst areas, but the methods vary by location and lack a focus on urban karst groundwater quality. There also exists a lack of a data-driven approach that is able to capture short- and long-term changes in threats to …

Sediment Monitoring To Support Modeling A Reservoir Sediment Flush On A Sand-Bed River In Northern Nebraska, Nathaniel J. Schaepe, Paul M. Boyd

United States Geological Survey: Water Reports and Publications

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), monitored a sediment flush event from Spencer Dam located on the Niobrara River near Spencer, Nebraska, during the fall of 2014. Data collected during the flush was used to validate a one-dimensional sediment transport model developed by the USACE. The USACE surveyed 26 cross sections within the reservoir and as far as 1 kilometer (km) upstream from the reservoir pool to about 10 km downstream from the dam before and after the flushing event to measure erosion and deposition. They also collected surficial …

Droughtscape, Fall 2019, Cory Matteson

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

Contents

From the Director

Quarterly drought summary

Quarterly drought impacts

Ranchers delayed response to drought

Drought Monitor celebrates 20 years

Drought Monitor state impact tables

Directorcontributesto U.N.droughtproject

Updated Drought Risk Atlas

New fact sheet lists recovery resources

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 …

Water Current, Volume 51, No. 1, Summer 2019

Water Current Newsletter

NWC Summer Spotlight: New Research, Events and Impacts

NWC Projects and Programs Are Heating Up

Droughtscape, Summer 2019, Cory Matteson

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

Contents

From the Director

Quarterly drought summary

Quarterly drought impacts

NDMC welcomes African visitors

Ready for Drought game debuts

U.S. Virgin Islands added to USDM

Australian programmer visits NDMC

Upcoming events

Partnerships with NDMC extended

Where People Meet The Muck: An Integrated Assessment Of Beach Muck And Public Perception At The Bay City State Recreation Area, Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron, Donna R. Kashian, Avik Basu, Joseph Depinto, Jason Duvall, Ray Fahlsing, Darrin Hunt, Frank Lupi, Bretton Joldersma

Biological Sciences Faculty Research Publications

In several regions of the Great Lakes, including Saginaw Bay, the proliferation of muck, decaying organics largely from aquatic plants such as Cladophora, has washed ashore, and is blamed for negatively affecting water quality and economic losses in the region. The current view is that excess nutrient loading into the system is a leading cause of this type of organic debris, though changes in food web dynamics may also be a contributing factor. Through an Integrated Assessment (IA) framework, we summarized the current state of knowledge on the causes and consequences of muck conditions at the Bay City State Recreation …

The Effects Of Economic Factors And Groundwater Policies On The Timing Of Well Drilling, Qianyu Zhang

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Understanding the factors that affect farmers’ irrigation decisions is critical for a better groundwater management. This study addresses the question of how economic, agronomic, and policy variables affect the timing of irrigation adoption in Nebraska. The key contribution of this paper is to identify farmers’ strategic responses to a particular type of policy intervention, a moratorium on well drilling. Our results estimate how farmers respond when a moratorium is announced but not enforced yet, and when neighboring areas implement a moratorium, which we refer as pre-regulation effect and policy spillover effect, respectively. Results show that farmers are more likely to …

Water Security And Wildfire In Municipal Source Watersheds Of The Western United States, Matthew V. Segura

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

The goal of this study is to investigate water resource security for large metropolitan areas in the western United States and to identify cities that are at potential risk of water resource degradation due to wildfire. In this study, source watersheds for western cities are identified and ranked based on the potential resistance and resilience of their water supply to wildfire impacts. Next, the wildfire hazard potential of each of these catchments is determined and erosion potential estimates are used to infer how water quality will be impacted if the watersheds burn. The findings identify large populous cities that receive …

Inventory Of Restoration Needs Of National Forest Lands Of The Contiguous United States: An Assessment Using Watershed And Terrestrial Ecosystem Classification Tools, Kevin Carns

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Ecological restoration assists the recovery of degraded ecosystems by returning their structure, processes, and functions to within their natural range of variation, improving long term sustainability and resilience. The United States Forest Service has sought to increase the pace and scale of restoration treatments on lands that it manages in order to continue to provide important ecosystem services including timber production, fish and wildlife habitat, grazing, watershed protection, and recreation. The Agency developed two classification systems to identify restoration need on Forest Service managed lands, the Watershed Condition Classification (WCC) and the Terrestrial Condition Assessment (TCA). These two classification systems …

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, …

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.