GroundWater Science and Monitoring for the Western United States

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Ground-Water Science and Monitoring for the
Western United States

• Ground Water Management in the West
• Western States Water Council
• Amarillo, Texas
• Dec. 3-5, 2003

• Mark T. Anderson
• Tucson, Arizona

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Main Topics

• Challenge of Western water availability
• Value of long-term monitoring
• Data collection programs and support for
  hydrologic models
• Indicators of aquifer condition

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Southwest Population Growth
South-western states include Arizona,
California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and
Utah. Source Campbell, Paul R., 1996
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Well D-15-13 22DCC2
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Total depth 45 feet
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Well D-15-13 23CCB2
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Total depth 280 feet
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Ground Water Declines in Arizona
Source USGS
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Houston, Texas
Relation between water level trends and land
subsidence (modified from Kasmarek and others,
1997 Coplin and Galoway, 1999)
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Ground Water Development
Arizona Ground-Water Withdrawals

• 16 million water wells in US
• 800,000 new boreholes/year
• Source National Ground Water Association

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Importance of Ground-Water to the West
Percentage of drinking water supplied by ground
water

• 283,000 wells serve public supplies

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Well Hydrographs
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Longest Period of Record for a well in the United
States
Oahu, Hawaii
Continuous record since 1910
Observation Well
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Initiation of Observation Well Networks in the
arid Southwest
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Observation Wells by Volume of Ground Water
Pumped Units MGD
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Improved Methods of Estimating GW Budget Terms
Recharge

• Change in Storage
• Recharge
• Discharge
• Pumpage

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Middle Rio Grande Water Budget
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0
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Water Level Change in the High Plains Aquifer
(Predevelopment to 1997)
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Getting Storage Change from Water levels
Volume of Aquifer Drained
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Water Table After Pumping
Specific Yield
Aquifer Storage Change
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Storage Change in the High Plains Aquifer (1987
to 1999)
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Aquifer Storage Change Determined by Gravity
Tucson Basin, Arizona
Gravimeter
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Tucson Basin Ground-Water BudgetDecember 1997 to
Spring 2001 RECHARGE GWout DS
From D. R. Pool, USGS
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Tucson Basin Aquifer Storage Change
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http//www.csr.utexas.edu/grace/
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Unlocking Our Future Toward a New National
Science Policy

• House Science Committee revisited the Vannevar
  Bush Doctrine in 1998 to define the Post-Cold War
  agenda for science.
• New role for science is to support environmental
  decision-making.

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Summary

• Systematic data collection important to assess
  trends and calibrate models
• Improvements in all budget components is
  desirable but water use and storage change yield
  most return
• Other indicators of aquifer condition in
  addition to water levels are needed

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Questions?
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The Hydrologic Cycle
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Reservoir Contents for the Southwest
Data from Bureau of Reclamation
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Basin-wide Hydrologic Budgets

• Many Communities in Arizona are dependent on
  Ground Water drawn from Storage
• Water also needed to sustain riparian ecosystems

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Upper Santa Cruz Basin near Tucson
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Sustaining Riparian Ecosystems
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History of Reservoir Construction
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Well with the longest Period of Record in the
United Kingdom
Chilgrove House well
Continuous record since 1836 160 yrs of record
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The Nile RiverContinuous record of river stage
from 840 to 1970 AD 1100 years
Calibration of the Nile Rivers Stages
from Dooge 1988
Rhoda Gage, Egypt
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Systematic streamflow gaging began in 1889 on the
Rio Grande at Embudo, New Mexico
Photo of site in 1889 from USGS Professional
Paper-778
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Well Hydrographs
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Active streamflow stations
7,000 Nationwide 3,400 in Western States
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Cumulative Volume of Water Artificially Recharged
in Arizona