WATER RESOURCES SUSTAINABILITY AND HOW IT IS IMPLEMENTED IN THE STATE OF KANSAS, USA

Transcription

1 WATER RESOURCES SUSTAINABILITY AND HOW IT IS IMPLEMENTED IN THE STATE OF KANSAS, USA Marios Sophocleous Kansas Geological Survey The University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas

2 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT development that meets the needs of the present without comprising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) Brundtland Commission

3 Safe yield: underlying hydro-ecological fundamentals

4 SAFE YIELD is commonly defined as the attainment and maintenance of a long-term balance between the amount of groundwater withdrawn annually and the annual amount of recharge.

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7 groundwater-level hydrograph declines (Sophocleous, 2010) Groundwater-level changes: Predevelopment to 2007 (McGuire, 2009)

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9 DYNAMIC EQUILIBRIUM AFTER DEVELOPMENT can only be achieved by 1. an increase in recharge (natural or artificial) 2. a decrease in natural discharge or 3. a combination of the two

10 GROUNDWATER SOURCES Groundwater storage Induced recharge of surface water

11 (T = transmissivity; S = storativity; x = distance from stream; t = time)

12 STREAM-AQUIFER MODELS (1) A predictive tool explaining the connection between well field withdrawal and surface-water depletion at particular sites Can generate the system transition curve from reliance on aquifer storage to surface-water depletion

13 STREAM-AQUIFER MODELS (2) What is employed in such models are: specified withdrawal rates well distribution drawdown of water levels to an economic or physical limit A planning horizon must also be defined

14 EXPANDING SUSTAINABILITY CONCEPTS management for change and for complexity ecosystem approach adaptive management approach

15 Sustainability of the system

16 INTEGRATED RESOURCE PLANNING assuring that water resources are managed for the greatest good of people and the environment and that all segments of society have a voice in the process (AWWA, 1994)

17 The Kansas water resources management experience

18 Kansas Groundwater Act (1972) authorizing the formation of local Groundwater Management Districts (GMDs)

19 Planned depletion policy Allows part of the aquifer to be depleted up to 40% over a period of years Planned depletion Safe yield increasing precipitation

20 Safe yield policy: Pumping Recharge

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23 Kansas Arkansas River at Larned Arkansas River at Dodge City Today

24 Minimum In-stream Flow Law (1984) Requires minimum desirable streamflows be maintained in different streams in Kansas Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) limits ( ) TMDL is a calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body can receive and still meet water quality standards, and an allocation of that amount to the pollutant s sources

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26 Modified safe yield policy (Pumping + Baseflow) Recharge

27 Keys to good water management Knowledge of water use Knowledge of water levels

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29 The Kansas Annual Groundwater-level Monitoring Program

30 Data Publicly Available WIZARD Water Information Storage and Retrieval Database

31 Equus Beds ASR Project Equus Beds aquifer Wichita

32 Equus Beds Aquifer Storage & Recovery schematic

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35 Integrated watershed and groundwater models for Kansas basins (Sophocleous and Perkins, Journal of Hydrology, 2000, v.236, p )

36 PROGRESSIVE EVOLUTION OF KANSAS WATER MANAGEMENT Local GMDs and their management policies Minimum desireable streamflow and TMDL standards Water use reporting and water metering Modified safe yield policies Subbasin water resources management programs Integrated resource planning (City of Wichita)

37 Conclusions

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43 Equud Beds ASR project phases Phase I: completed in 2007 at a cost of $27 million and a capacity to divert and recharge up to 38 million Liters/day of river water into the aquifer Phase II: consists of 114 million Liters/day of production. Design started in 2008, construction in 2009, to be completed by 2012 Phases III & IV: will include further expansion of treatment and water storage capacity with a goal of 380 million liters/day capacity by 2015

44 Kansas Water Appropriation (Permit) System Governed by Prior Appropriation Doctrine First in time, first in right, i.e., earlier water-right permits (senior water rights) have priority of use over later waterright permits (junior water rights) in cases of water shortage

45 Depth to Ground Water Field Collection

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47 WIZARD Well Detailed List (new window) Site Specific Information Measuring Point Info Other Well Identifiers Real Time Hydrograph Measurement History

48 Adopted Management Programs in Kansas controls on new development regulation of existing development well-spacing requirements annual water use reporting water metering water-supply augmentation public education and involvement