Development of Science-Based Tools Supporting Integrated Water Management in Large Drainage Basins

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1 Development of Science-Based Tools Supporting Integrated Water Management in Large Drainage Basins Joe Riddell ERCB/Alberta Geological Survey Water Tech 2012, Banff, Alberta April 12, 2012

2 AGS Role in Groundwater Management Provincial Groundwater Inventory Program (PGIP) MOU with Alberta Environment & Water (AGS Lead: Joe Riddell) Evaluate quantity, quality, and thresholds between sustainable/unsustainable use of groundwater resources 3 Phases I. Understand the natural system (Static Model) II. Understand dynamics of GW system under development (Dynamic Model) III. Develop needed tools for resource management, regulation, and policy research

3 Area of Interest Provincial Groundwater Inventory Program Regional groundwater mapping and modelling for resource management Fresh Groundwater <4000 mg/l Above Base of Groundwater Protection Inform conjunctive use of surface water

4 PGIP Study Areas ECC is 1 st of 11 study areas under PGIP Good area to refine and examine PGIP workflow Wealth of subsurface data (AEW water well database & oil and gas data) Staggered, phased approach to study area characterization

5 PGIP Phase I: Understanding Static Modelling Hydrology How & where does water enter groundwater flow systems? Sediment Geology What near surface materials are present above bedrock & what does it tell us about how water moves and where it is stored? Bedrock Geology What are the physical & chemical properties of bedrock formations that affect groundwater movement? Hydrogeology What are the effective hydrostratigraphic units and their character? Where are the physical boundaries we should use to model the dynamic groundwater system? Hydrogeochemistry What does the water chemistry tell us about the water and its potential uses?

6 Summary of ECC Phase I Products Atlas summarizes the ECC work Open File Reports (Technical Detail) Geology Hydrology Hydrogeology (Physical and Chemical) Modeling Geophysics Digital Data Sets Surfaces GIS files Geophysical data Available from:

7 PGIP - Phase II Objectives Assist AEW to evolve groundwater policy and regulation through science-based support tools required to: o o o o o Support a change from well by well to a cumulative effects based assessment of groundwater resources Elucidate the dynamics of regional groundwater flow systems to define Hydrogeologic Response Areas (HRA s), and provide regional context for local scale investigation & monitoring Identify areas of the province with extensive SW/GW interaction and evaluate the need for conjunctive use policy Identify current areas of stress to groundwater, and by extension, surface water resources Provide predictive modelling capacity (evaluation of new groundwater developments)

8 Critical Elements for Phase II of PGIP Build simple, robust, & defensible models Models & model results must be freely available to regulator, industry & public Models need to be hosted and run within an updateable architecture as development occurs

9 Modelling Approach: Calibrated Sub-basin Models Reasonable boundary conditions (nested models) Steady-state Calibrated to GOWN wells, drill stem tests, hydrometric data, water table Challenges Variable data density Very few long time series Highly heterogeneous geology Large study areas

10 Nested Models Scale (Aera km 2 ) SARGs ECC Sub-Basin ~5000 ECC Sub-basin: 05CC SARGs Ensures reasonable boundary conditions at sub-basin scale

11 Transition Curve Analysis Well established in the literature Uses steady-state model Water-budget based method to determine ratios of pumped volume from model boundary conditions Transition Curve Analysis is A.K.A.: o Response Functions o Capture Fraction Method

12 Transition Curve Analysis: Why is it a good tool for policy & regulation? Transition curves can be generated for every saturated cell in model domain Allows use of superposition concept Does not require running the model for evaluation of proposed GW development Allows mapping of hydrogeological response characteristics

13 Losing

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15 Cold Lake Beaver River Basin Transition Curves Empress 1 Sand River Fm. S S RD-Riv S RD-Lake IR RD-Riv IR IR RD-Lake RD-Riv RD-Lake

16 Metrics from Transition Curve Analysis Time to reach equilibrium Proportion of pumped water coming from various boundary conditions vs. time o Lakes o Rivers o Induced Recharge o Storage

17 From Transition Curves to Maps & Metrics Capture Fraction Method Determines fraction of pumped water to be captured from Head-Dependant Flux Boundaries Allows maps to be made showing areas that interact with boundary conditions Quantity of water taken from specific parts of a boundary such as a reach of a river can be determined Leake et al., 2010

18 Developmental Questions Architecture to host & view models and model results Quantifying uncertainty Assist AEW in determining risk Criteria to determine hydrogeological/ hydrological response areas Defining what is sustainable use of the resources and thresholds for cumulative impact assessment

19 Conclusions Phase II results pending o o Edmonton-Calgary Corridor sub-basins Cold Lake Beaver River Basin Phase III already started through technical committee meetings Need to establish International Review Panel for program Once methods are vetted and approved, complete SSRB & subsequent regions

20 Acknowledgments Steve Wallace, AEW AGS Edmonton-Calgary Corridor Phase I Project Team: L. Andriashek, A.Barker, D.Chao, R.Elger, R.Huff, S.Lyster, T.Lemay, H. Moktan, K. Parks, S.Slattery, S. Stewart

21 Questions & Contact Information Joe Riddell Alberta Geological Survey Edmonton, Alberta