{"id":283,"date":"2024-12-05T16:21:04","date_gmt":"2024-12-05T17:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durkins.net\/?p=283"},"modified":"2025-01-08T17:33:25","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T17:33:25","slug":"thoughts-from-engineers-protecting-source-water-through-watershed-planning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durkins.net\/index.php\/2024\/12\/05\/thoughts-from-engineers-protecting-source-water-through-watershed-planning\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts From Engineers: Protecting Source Water Through Watershed Planning"},"content":{"rendered":"

During a road trip through the Catskill Mountains of New York state during the summer<\/span>, we stopped at one of 19 heavily monitored and secure reservoirs.<\/strong> <\/em>The Downsville Reservoir is in a heavily wooded area on the East Branch of the Delaware River and drains a watershed 370 square miles in size before sending water down a 26-mile-long tunnel to aqueducts further downstream and then, eventually, to the millions of residents of New York City (NYC).<\/p>\n

When it comes to source-water protection, the NYC Watershed Program serves as the effective gold standard. NYC\u2019s drinking water, which meets all federal and state drinking standards without the added expense of filtration, is the product of a program that evolved through the years to methodically incorporate \u201cprotective and corrective initiatives.\u201d Factored into the program (bit.ly\/NYCwatershedProgram<\/span><\/a>) are strategies designed to counter the many ways water can become compromised\u2014both in terms of quality and supply.<\/p>\n

The program isn\u2019t without critics, but by all indicators the program is working; its mission is more relevant than ever as populations worldwide think about water supply, groundwater and surface-water contamination, and more. Unsurprisingly, the American Water Works Association recently identified source-water protection (bit.ly\/AWWAsourceProtection<\/span><\/a>) as a No. 1 priority. We\u2019re increasingly at a critical juncture where ignoring the subsurface movement of water comes at a cost. Not only do we risk costly and potentially irreversible damage to our water supply, but we miss an opportunity to manage a critical resource with sustainability\u2014and ultimately resilience\u2014in mind.<\/p>\n

Insights From Data on Global Water<\/strong><\/p>\n

The value of data in terms of providing a critical baseline of information for further assessments and decision-making can\u2019t be overstressed. The U.S. Geological Survey\u2019s new 3D hydrography program (usgs.gov\/3DHP<\/span><\/a>) represents a rework of an older mapping system and is geared toward developing 3D stream-network datasets that show important linkages to wetlands, groundwater systems and engineered hydrologic systems.<\/p>\n

B. Scanlon and more than a dozen other researchers at various universities worldwide recently published a landmark paper on the state of global water resources (bit.ly\/GroundwaterFuture<\/span><\/a>). Scanlon and her team made use of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite data, groundwater monitoring data and global hydrologic models to analyze trends in water-storage data. The research identified regions where water storage was rising (e.g., northwest India, northwest United States, central Pakistan) and areas of net decline (e.g., the U.S. high plains and central valley). The team\u2019s research also underlined misconceptions about groundwater\u2019s strong connections to surface water; on this point, her team estimates that 85 percent of groundwater withdrawals originate in surface-water capture and reduced evapotranspiration while 15 percent is derived from aquifer depletion.<\/p>\n

Scanlon et al. conclude with several recommendations; a primary one being that resilience can be achieved by diversifying water supplies through wastewater reuse, desalination and other strategies; restoring natural hydrologic systems such as wetlands and forests; and, most importantly, by managing groundwater and surface waters as an integrated resource. Some states or regions within the United States manage water resources\u2014lakes, streams, wetlands and associated water bodies\u2014and carry out source-water protection through a watershed-scale lens, but this is the minority. Nevertheless, these models may establish the blueprint for watershed-scale management going forward.<\/p>\n

Examples of Integrated Watershed Management<\/strong><\/p>\n

The State of Minnesota has developed several complementary programs that combine watershed-specific management strategies with source-water protection within the framework of the 81 major watersheds found within state boundaries.<\/p>\n

Groundwater Restoration and Protection Strategies (GRAPS) reports are designed to identify important groundwater quality and quantity issues for the purpose of suitable protection strategies. The data that inform GRAPS reports are frequently updated according to a regular monitoring schedule, and aspects have been configured to be easily interpreted by non-scientists. Recently, the Minnesota Geological Survey compiled surface and subsurface geologic data for pilot watersheds, which were converted into 3D web-based models (bit.ly\/MNGS3Dgeologic<\/span><\/a>) for easy use by planners and other water-resource professionals.<\/p>\n

GRAPS reports layer into the framework and planning priorities of watershed plans, known as Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategies (WRAPS, bit.ly\/MNwaterFramework<\/span><\/a>), which are the product of a collaborative effort among state and local agencies and organizations as well as multiple jurisdictions at the watershed level. The watershed unit serves as a framework within which to address point and nonpoint source pollution as well as implement and fund other federal, state and local programs to manage water sustainably. Minnesota\u2019s efforts in this area have been characterized as follows: proactively planning, doing, monitoring and adapting strategies as necessary.<\/p>\n

In 2020, multi-jurisdictional planning teams in Washoe County, Nev., released a comprehensive water-quality protection plan for the Truckee River watershed as well as a community source-water protection plan and watershed management plan, both of which are used to coordinate protection initiatives (bit.ly\/NVsourceWater<\/span><\/a>) with regional water and land agencies and organizations. This watershed plan is part of a larger effort by the State of Nevada to implement plans at the county and regional level that are focused on source-water protection but are broader in scope and scale.<\/p>\n

These types of water-management strategies\u2014collaborative, integrated, and regional- or watershed-scaled\u2014have the potential to be more complicated (initially, at least) than our segmented methodologies of the past, yet these frameworks for managing and protecting a vital resource simply make sense\u2014and will be key to developing a resilient water supply well into the future. <\/p>\n

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About Chris Maeder<\/a><\/h3>\n

Chris Maeder, P.E., M.S., CFM, is engineering director at CivilGEO Inc.; email: chris.maeder@civilgeo.com.<\/p>\n

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