Water Resource Management Commons^™

A Socioeconomic Valuation Of Urban Wetland Ecosystems And Policy Recommendation For College Lake, Michael Dunmyer

Student Scholar Showcase

The current dilemma of College Lake offers a unique case study for how urban ecosystems can not only subsist within cities but provide pivotal functions for them as well. With the potential for a dam-breaching storm event increasing in possibility with each passing year, concerns regarding the structural integrity of the College Lake dam in Lynchburg, VA have arisen. Such concerns have led the City of Lynchburg to consider reinforcement or removal of the dam in order to mitigate flood risks along the Blackwater Creek floodplain. Since its formation following the installation of the Depression-era dam, however, College Lake has …

Assessing Near Surface Hydrologic Processes And Plant Response Over A 1600 M Mountain Valley Gradient In The Great Basin, Nv, U.S.A., Dale Devitt, Brian Bird, Brad Lyles, Lynn Fenstermaker, Richard Jasoni, Scotty Strachan, Jay Arnone Iii, Franco Biondi, Scott Mensing, Laurel Saito

Life Sciences Faculty Research

This study investigated near surface hydrologic processes and plant response over a 1600 m mountain-valley gradient located in the Great Basin of North America (Nevada, U.S.A.) as part of a long-term climate assessment study. The goal was to assess shifts in precipitation, soil water status and associated drainage with elevation and how this influenced evapotranspiration and plant cover/health estimated by a satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), all to better understand how water is partitioned in a mountain valley system. Data were acquired during a three-year period from meteorological stations located in five plant communities ranging in elevation from 1756 …

How To Sample: Collecting Water Samples Is So Easy, Anyone Can Do It!, Mike Daniels, Bradley J. Austin, Brian E. Haggard

Arkansas Water Resource Center Fact Sheets

The Arkansas Water Resources Center (AWRC) runs a water quality lab that anyone can use to have their water sample tested. The AWRC Lab is certified for the analysis of water samples, but the quality (and meaningfulness) of the data generated by the Lab is also dependent on you – the client. This fact sheet provides you some general guidance on how to properly collect your water sample.

Primary Atmospheric Drivers Of Pluvial Years In The United States Great Plains, Paul Flanagan, Jeffrey B. Basara, Jason C. Furtado, Xiangming Xiao

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Precipitation variability has increased in recent decades across the Great Plains (GP) of the United States. Drought and its associated drivers have been studied in the GP region; however, periods of excessive precipitation (pluvials) at seasonal to interannual scales have received less attention. This study narrows this knowledge gap with the overall goal of understanding GP precipitation variability during pluvial periods. Through composites of relevant atmospheric variables from the ECMWF twentieth-century reanalysis (ERA-20C), key differences between southern Great Plains (SGP) and northern Great Plains (NGP) pluvial periods are highlighted. The SGP pluvial pattern shows an area of negative height anomalies …

Water Current, Volume 50, No. 3, Fall 2018

Water Current Newsletter

Taking a Spin Around Nebraska’s Water Management History

Activities Fall into Place during Busy Autumn

Daugherty Water For Food Global Institute Strategic Plan Fy18 – Fy23

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Administrative Materials

Through research and policy development, education and communication, the institute is enhancing knowledge, fostering future water and food security leaders and developing effective techniques to sustainably manage water and increase food security. DWFI focuses its efforts in five areas of expertise and has identified key outcomes in each area to drive impact and measure success in the next five years, FY2018 to FY2023:

Closing Water & Agricultural Productivity Gaps: • Develop and deploy global satellite-based decision support and monitoring tools based on daily evapotranspiration estimates in key agricultural areas in the US and selected countries. • Improve knowledge of best …

Evaluation Of A Hybrid Reflectance-Based Crop Coefficient And Energy Balance Evapotranspiration Model For Irrigation Management, J. Burdette Barker, Christopher M. U. Neale, Derek M. Heeren, Andrew E. Suyker

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Accurate generation of spatial soil water maps is useful for many types of irrigation management. A hybrid remote sensing evapotranspiration (ET) model combining reflectance-based basal crop coefficients (K_cbrf) and a two-source energy balance (TSEB) model was modified and validated for use in real-time irrigation management. We modeled spatial ET for maize and soybean fields in eastern Nebraska for the 2011-2013 growing seasons. We used Landsat 5, 7, and 8 imagery as remote sensing inputs. In the TSEB, we used the Priestly-Taylor (PT) approximation for canopy latent heat flux, as in the original model formulations. We also used the …

Droughtscape, Spring 2018, National Drought Mitigation Center

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

Contents

Drought shifts to south in beginning of 2018

Ag records impacts; strong fire season forecast

Drought maps show regional and river forecast areas

Greenness indicator could save lives in Africa

NDMC on a global playing field

Visitors from Korea tap drought resources, experts

Svoboda named to United Nations advisory group

Responding to drought in the Southern Plains

Crops, cattle and climatology in the Upper Niobrara

Connecting locally for global change

Effects Of Beaver Dams On Urban Stream Hydraulic Response During Storm Events, Erin Poor

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

Urbanization of landscapes alters watershed hydrology, leading to changes in the natural flow regime of local streams. Runoff from impervious surfaces and routing of stormwater can cause a rapid increase in the volume and velocity of streamflow. This is observed in the hydrograph as a steep rising limb, followed by a high peak, and a rapid falling limb. This rapidly varying streamflow, often referred to as flashiness, can increase erosive forces on the channel bed and banks, leading to channel incision and bank erosion. In areas where the hydrologic regime is less impacted by humans, beaver dams and ponds attenuate …

Water Current, Volume 50, No. 1, Spring 2018

Water Current Newsletter

Reviving the Platte basin ecosystem symposium this June

Water Current celebrating 50 years; staff changes; full slate of activities on tap through 2018

Determinants Of Household Water Use In The City Of Kalamazoo, Michigan: The Role Of Climate And Socioeconomic Factors, Danielle Molenaar

Masters Theses

Located in the Great Lakes Watershed, the City of Kalamazoo can be considered “water rich”. Therefore, the area has been absent from water use studies. Water use studies are beneficial in all locations; as they can aid city planners, water resource managers, and utility companies. This study examines how household monthly water use in the City of Kalamazoo is impacted by both climate and socioeconomic variables over the period 2006-2016. Household level data were aggregated into census tracts to obtain monthly tract averages for the eleven-year period. Ordinary least squares regression (OLS) was used to determine which variables impact the …

Groundwater Injection Projects: Mitigating The Risk Of Emerging Contaminants, Conor Jennings

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

The Hampton Roads region is one of the fastest growing population centers in Virginia, meaning that demand for clean drinking water is only increasing. In response to this growing problem, the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD), whose mission is to treat the region’s wastewater, has developed and begun to implement the Sustainable Water Initiative for Tomorrow (SWIFT) project to better reclaim treated wastewater by directly injecting it into the aquifer. Currently, HRSD’s treated wastewater is simply released into surface waters but this process does not help replenish the aquifer because the natural replenishment of the underground aquifer through surface water …

Waterfront Property Rights: The Potential Impact Of Government Projects, Emily Messer

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

No abstract provided.

Modeling Effects Of Rainwater Harvesting Systems On Water Yield Increase And Non-Beneficial Evaporation Reduction To Sustain Agriculture In A Water-Scarce Region Of China, Tennille Wade

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The northwestern region of China, which has an arid/semiarid climate, relies heavily on agriculture to provide food for the growing population. Climate change is affecting water availability in the region, causing long periods of drought and water scarcity followed by shorter periods of heavy rainfall and excess water availability. The ridge and furrow rainwater harvesting systems (RFRWHS) are a means of solving the problem of water scarcity; the systems can replenish soil moisture, reduce non-beneficial evaporation from bare soils, and increase surface water yield. In such a region, the hydrologic cycle is dominated by soil evaporation, leading to minimal surface …

High-Resolution Water Footprints Of Production Of The United States

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

The United States is the largest producer of goods and services in the world. Rainfall, surface water supplies, and groundwater aquifers represent a fundamental input to economic production. Despite the importance of water resources to economic activity, we do not have consistent information on water use for specific locations and economic sectors. A national, spatially detailed database of water use by sector would provide insight into U.S. utilization and dependence on water resources for economic production. To this end, we calculate the water footprint of over 500 food, energy, mining, services, and manufacturing industries and goods produced in the United …

Assessment Of Drinking Water Quality Management And A Treatment Feasibility Study For Brick By Brick Water Storage Tanks In Rakai Uganda, James V. Murduca

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Reliable access to safe drinking water is one necessity for humans to live without concern for major health risks. The overall goal of this research is to improve the public health, through improved drinking water, for communities in the Rakai District in Uganda, directly, and other communities in the world, indirectly, via dissemination of knowledge. This study specifically assessed the knowledge of drinking water quality in regards to public health, their sanitation measures, and water treatment methods for users of Brick by Brick rainwater harvesting tanks in the Rakai District (N = 28) by using a knowledge, attitudes, and practice …

Hydrodynamic And Water Quality Modeling Of The Tigris River System In Iraq Using Ce-Qual-W2, Muhanned Al Murib

Dissertations and Theses

The Tigris River is one of two primary rivers in Iraq and is, along with the Euphrates, the main source for drinking and irrigation water in the country. The Tigris River originates in the Taurus Mountains in Turkey, and is 1850 km long. The majority of the river lies within Iraq. The river passes through, and is the primary drinking water source for major cities such as Mosul, Baeji, Samarra, Baghdad (the capital), and Kut. The Tigris River joins the Euphrates River in Qurna city within Basra province to form the Shatt Al-Arab River which eventually discharges into the Persian …

Organizing Under Austerity: How Residents’ Concerns Became The Flint Water Crisis, Amy Krings, Dana Kornberg, Erin Lane

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

What might it take for politically marginalized residents to challenge cuts in public spending that threaten to harm their health and wellbeing? Specifically, how did residents of Flint, Michigan contribute to the decision of an austerity regime, which was not accountable to them, to spend millions to switch to a safe water source? Relying on evidence from key interviews and newspaper accounts, we examine the influence and limitations of residents and grassroots groups during the 18-month period between April 2014 and October 2015 when the city drew its water from the Flint River. We find that citizen complaints alone were …

Precipitation Extremes In Dynamically Downscaled Climate Scenarios Over The Greater Horn Of Africa, Andualem Shiferaw, Tsegaye Tadesse, Clinton M. Rowe, Robert Oglesby

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

This study first assesses the performance of regional climate models in the Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) in reproducing observed extreme precipitation indices over the Greater Horn of Africa (GHA) region during 1989–2005. The study then assesses projected changes in these extremes during 2069–2098 compared to 1976–2005. The Regional Climate Model (RCM) simulations are made using two RCMs, with large-scale forcing from four CMIP5 Global limate Models(GCMs) under two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). We found that RCM simulations have reasonably captured observed patterns of moderate precipitation extreme indices (MPEI). Pattern correlation coefficients between simulated and observed MPEI …

How Much Water Can We Save By Achieving Renewable Portfolio Standards In The Southwest United States?, Yuzhen Feng, Sachiko Sueki, Dale Devitt, Kumud Acharya

Life Sciences Faculty Research

Electricity in the Southwestern United States is primarily generated with water intensive steam turbines. If energy demand continues to rise this will lead to a further rise in water demand. A comprehensive understanding of water consumption and withdrawal for utility scale generation of electricity is necessary before any improvements in the water efficiency of such systems in arid environments can be made. This study estimated and compared the water usage associated with thermoelectric generation (i.e., natural gas, coal), and solar energy, in the five driest Colorado River Basin states: Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and California. This study also examined …