Use of RiverWare for a Coordinated Groundwater-Surface Water Project DiNatale Water Consultants Kelly DiNatale, Arista Hickman and Srijita Jana
Model Disclaimers • Model is under development • Final water court decrees will result in changes in inputs and operations • No findings have been reviewed or approved by the clients 2 Slide DiNatale Water Consultants 2/1/2012 RiverWare User Group Meeting
General Project Location South Platte Basin Colorado 3 Slide DiNatale Water Consultants 2/6/2012 RiverWare User Group Meeting
South Platte Basin Colorado 4 Slide DiNatale Water Consultants 2/6/2012 RiverWare User Group Meeting
System Geography 5 Slide DiNatale Water Consultants 2/6/2012 RiverWare User Group Meeting
Project Background • Storage reservoirs difficult to permit • Scarcity of high quality supplies • Last in-basin storage projects with high quality supplies under development • Need for reliable yield • Available senior water rights in agricultural use • Colorado Water Conservation Board studies project continued transfer of agricultural rights to M&I use • Proposed project involves minimal surface storage, lower quality supplies, groundwater recharge and advanced water treatment 6 Slide DiNatale Water Consultants 2/6/2012 RiverWare User Group Meeting
Project Components • Three water user accounts • Senior agricultural surface water rights • Shares in 20 irrigation companies • Direct flow, storage and recharge rights • Net stream depletions • Surface reservoirs • 3 alluvial well fields with lagged depletions • Recharge ponds with lagged accretions • Exchanges in 8 river accounting reaches 7 Slide DiNatale Water Consultants 2/6/2012 RiverWare User Group Meeting
Modeling Goals • Model potential operations of decreed augmentation plans, change cases and exchanges • Develop annual operating plan • Simulate over historical period of record • Ability to incorporate terms of future water rights decrees • Flow rate and volumetric limitations • Net stream depletion calculations for transferred water rights • Lagged depletions from groundwater pumping • Lagged recharge accretions • Size and develop infrastructure to reliably meet demands • Does not duplicate water court decreed accounting 8 Slide DiNatale Water Consultants 2/6/2012 RiverWare User Group Meeting
Model Objectives • Replace (augment): • Lagged alluvial well pumping depletions (20+ wells) • Historical return flow obligations from transferred water rights • Replacement sources: • Lagged accretions from groundwater recharge • Direct flow and storage releases and exchanges of transferred consumptive use 9 Slide DiNatale Water Consultants 2/6/2012 RiverWare User Group Meeting
Project Features Recharge Pond Lagged River Accretions Diversion Transferred CU Lagged Pumping Depletions Alluvial Farm Wellfield Pipeline to Water Treatment & Terminal Storage 10 Slide DiNatale Water Consultants 2/6/2012 RiverWare User Group Meeting
Example Monthly Net Stream Depletion Monthly Average Net Stream Depletion 100 80 60 Acre-Feet 40 20 0 -20 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 11 Slide DiNatale Water Consultants 2/6/2012 RiverWare User Group Meeting
Recharge Ponds Options: - Upper recharge ponds to meet physical supply - Lower recharge ponds for augmentation Modeled: - Water sent to upper recharge ponds when pumping exceeds groundwater replacement rates - Distribution based on volume and timing (URFs) - Excess water in storage reservoir sent to lower ponds - Distribution based on volume and timing (URFs) - Lagged accretions from all ponds used as augmentation sources - Individual pond accretions may accrue to up to 3 basins 12 Slide DiNatale Water Consultants 2/6/2012 RiverWare User Group Meeting
Lower Recharge Ponds Unit Response Functions 30% 25% Monthly percent returned 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Month DiNatale Water Consultants 2/6/2012 RiverWare User Group Meeting 13 Slide
Recharge Pond Recharge Ponds modeled as reservoirs Infiltration rates vary by pond, by month Infiltration calculated using seepage slot Seepage*URF= accretion credit Evaporation accounting per decrees Area-elevation-volume tables required modification based on flat bottoms DiNatale Water Consultants 2/6/2012 RiverWare User Group Meeting 14 Slide
Recharge Pond 1 Inflow and Accretions 140 120 100 Flow (acre-feet/month) 80 60 40 20 0 Inflow Accretions DiNatale Water Consultants 2/6/2012 RiverWare User Group Meeting 15 Slide
Recharge Pond 2 Inflow and Accretions 350 300 250 Flow (acre-feet/month) 200 150 100 50 0 Inflow Accretion DiNatale Water Consultants 2/6/2012 RiverWare User Group Meeting 16 Slide
Recharge Pond 2 Inflow and Accretions 250 200 Accretion Flow (acre-feet/month) 150 100 50 0 Pond 1 Pond 2 DiNatale Water Consultants 2/6/2012 RiverWare User Group Meeting 17 Slide
Exchanges • Designated accounting reaches of the South Platte River • Decreed exchanges rules • Priority • Live flow in all reaches • Flow rate and volumetric limits • Infrastructure capacities • Diversion • Storage • Recharge Slide 18 DiNatale Water Consultants 2/6/2012 RiverWare User Group Meeting
RiverWare Model Features • Groundwater depletions and accretions derived from MODFLOW and input at URFs • Recharge Ponds modeled as reservoirs • Canals modeled as river reaches • Exchange potential computed externally • South Platte River and tributaries are not explicitly modeled • Input as data tables to provide exchange potential and reach-by- reach credit and obligation information 19 Slide DiNatale Water Consultants 2/6/2012 RiverWare User Group Meeting
Next Steps • Incorporate exchanges and decreed accounting reaches • Multiple infrastructure and operations scenarios • Timing and location of recharge • Meet return flow obligations from various sources • Augment pumping depletions • Firming water rights via surface water storage or lagged groundwater accretions • Minimize surface storage • Develop operational scenarios to minimize permanent dry-up of historically irrigated lands • Use of surplus supplies or new junior recharge rights • Regulate supplies via groundwater recharge • Provide for interruptible supplies for irrigation Modeling the Operations of a Conjunctive Use 20 Slide DiNatale Water Consultants 2/6/2012 Project
Use of RiverWare for a Coordinated Groundwater-Surface Water Project Modeling the Operations of a Conjunctive Use 21 Slide DiNatale Water Consultants 2/6/2012 Project
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