Water & Land Use

The Hydrologic Cycle

Rainfall Intensities, 10-year, 24-hour storm

Intensity-Duration-Frequency Curves for Seattle and Miami, both of which receive about 48 inches of rainfall per year

Precipitation rate and infiltration rate determine the runoff rate. Infiltration rate depends on soil texture, soil moisture, and vegetative cover.

Stream Order

Watershed Characteristics
Boundary or Divide Watershed area Basin length: the distance from the first order channel furthest upstream to the basin outlet Drainage density: the length of all the channels divided by the basin area Perennial streams run all year long Intermittent streams run in wet season Ephemeral streams run during and immediately after storms

Delineating Watersheds on topographic maps: 8 steps

Delineating Watershed Boundaries

1. Identify the outlet point on a stream or river that defines the watershed draining to that point. 2. Find and trace drainage channels within the watershed. On color topo map, they are blue lines. V shape of elevation contours point upstream. 3. Find and X out neighboring channels outside the watershed. The watershed boundary will be between the channels in the basin (step 2) and these outside channels. 4. Consider yourself a drop of water and check the direction of drainage by inspecting the slope direction between the in and out channels. 5. Find and mark the high points (peaks and saddles) between the in and out channels. These will be on the watershed boundary. 6. Connect these points with light pencil, intersecting the contour lines at roughly a right angle. 7. Consider yourself a drop of water again and check where you would go if you fell inside or outside the line. Make corrections as necessary. 8. Finalize Map.

Delineating watersheds using GIS

Stream Meanders and the Flood Plain

Changing centerline of Matapole River, California over a 30-year period

Bankfull and floodplain definitions

bankfull width

The Hydrograph

(cubic feet per second)

Urbanization, Impervious Surface, and the Water Balance

Change in Hydrograph due to Urbanization

Peak Flow up, Base Flow down

Quantifying change in stream flow due to land use change

Many methods and models Rational method and TR-55 in book We will apply Win TR-55 in assignment and WS next week

http://www.wsi.nrcs.usda.gov/products/W2Q/H&H/tools_models/wintr55.html

Relationship of % Impervious Surface of Watershed to Stream Quality

Schuelers original Impervious Cover Model put another way

Schueler, Fraley-McNeal, Cappiella, 2009

Reformulated Impervious Cover Model (ICM)

Schueler, Fraley-McNeal, Cappiella, 2009

Not just peak and base water flows that impair streams.its water quality, too.
Clean Water Act Pollutants and effects Water Quality Standards Impairment of waters Runoff and non-point sources (NPS) Best Management Practices (BMPs), SMP, IMPs Low Impact Development

37 Years of the Clean Water Act

Goal: Fishable & swimable waters Elimination of pollutant discharges There has been significant improvement in the quality of natural waters from reduction of organic and sediment discharges BUT
Continued impairment of waters Problem shift from easy clean up of conventional pollution from discharge pipes to harder clean up of runoff pollution and toxics Have to move from technology-based effluent permits to TMDLs

Water Pollutants, Sources, Effects

Water Quality Standards:

Step 1: assign beneficial uses to each water body/segment

WQS:
Step 2: Establish standards for each beneficial use

States monitor their waters and group assessed waters into the following categories:
1. Attaining WQS
a. Good/Fully Supporting: meets WQS b. Good/Threatened: meets WQS but may degrade in near future 2. Impaired, Not Attaining WQS a. Fair/Partially Supporting: meets WQS most of the time but occasionally exceed them b. Poor/Not Supporting: does not meet WQS 3. WQS not attainable a. Use-attainability analysis shows that one or more designated uses is not attainable because of specific conditions.

Impairment of Streams by Watershed

Impaired waters by watershed, 1998

Quality of Nations Waters, 2004

2004 Rivers & Streams

1998: 35% impaired 2004: 44% impaired

Top ten causes of impairment of rivers

Top ten sources of impairment of rivers

2004 Lakes
1998: 22% impaired 2004: 64% impaired

Biggest problem now Nonpoint Sources

2008

Fairfax County Impaired 2004, 2006

Fairfax County Impaired 2006, 2008

And this despite significant efforts to improve

Stream Protection Strategy Stormwater regulations for new development MS4 program, 10 TMDL plans, extended RPAs Watershed Management Program: 25-year priorities for improvement

Municipal Separate Stormwater System (MS4) regulations

Phase I (early 1990s): MS4 in cities > 100,000 population subject to NPDES permits (300,000 permits) Phase II (2003): cities >50,000 (states extend to smaller) must obtain MS4 permit and develop a stormwater management plan (SWMP) (200,000 permits) Hard to manage, GAO (2007) and NRC (2009) critical of EPA program: EPA should take a watershed approach EPA in national rulemaking for revamped program Virginia is also revamping its stormwater regulations

Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) approach for impaired waters

Determining the TMDL to achieve WQS this often requires sophisticated monitoring data and modeling of discharges, receiving waters, and, for NPS, watersheds. Allocating TMDL to sources this requires factoring in equity and economic considerations. Basing permits of regulated sources on TMDL allocations Managing unregulated sources to achieve TMDL allocations

Water Quality Trading

Use within TMDL plan to achieve WQS at lower cost Takes a watershed approach to permitting Coordinates point and non-point source controls Provides compensation to farmers to control their runoff pollution

Water Quality Trading

Pollutant Suitability: compares type/form of the pollutant and the timing and alignment of the discharge within the watershed, the supply and demand of pollutant reduction credits, uncertainty of non-point source controls, and the relative water quality equivalence of each dischargers pollutant reduction. Financial attractiveness based on relative incremental cost of control and WQ equivalence. Market infrastructure to assure compliance with WQS and executing and monitoring trades. Stakeholder readiness and engagement.