The National Water Census* Part of the Initiative

Overview of the Delaware River

Basin Focus Area Study

Jeffrey M Fischerfischer@usgs.gov

609-771-3953

Delaware River Watershed Forum

October 22, 2014

Objective of the Water Census:

To place technical information and tools in the

hands of stakeholders, allowing them to answer

two primary questions about water availability:

Does the Nation have enough freshwater to meet

both human and ecological needs?

Will this water be present to meet future needs?

Studies provide the technical information for

water availability analyses.

Determine the quantity and timing-characteristics of water, which is

of sufficient quality, to meet human and ecological needs.

Improved Information on Water Cycle

At a scale that can be used locally

Natural• Rainfall

• Streamflow

• Groundwater

• ET

Man Made• Withdrawals

• Storage

• Return Flows

• Infiltration

Provide Enhanced Information On:

Streamflow

Evapotranspiration (ET)

Ecological Flow Needs

Groundwater

Water Use and Consumption

Thermoelectric Power

Irrigation

Public Supply

Information available at:

http://water.usgs.gov/watercensus

Daily ET from Satellite Data

Thermoelectric Consumptive Use

Focus Area Studies

Testing grounds for the National Water Census

State, Local, Regional

Stakeholder Involvement

Surface Water Trends,

Precipitation, etc

Defined Technical

Questions to

be Answered

Eco Flows

Water Use

Water Quality Groundwater

Resources

Global

Change

Delaware Basin Focus Area Study –

Stakeholder Defined Issues

Water Use – Improved acquisition, management, and

integration of water-use and water-supply data.

Robust Hydrologic Model – Evaluate growth of

population centers, effects of land-use change, and

effects of climate variability and climate change on

water resources

Ecological Water Needs – Development of ecological-

flow science for main stem & tributaries.

Evaluate flow alteration effects for ungaged tributaries.

Improve decision support tool on main stem

In last year of 4 year study

Delaware River Basin Water Use

Temporal frameworkBase year 2010

Multiple years as available 2005-2010 NJ and PA

Water-use transactionsWithdrawals

Type of use

Return flows

Interbasin transfers

Aquifer Storage and

Recovery

Data from Four States 26,135 site-specific data

records

single and multiple years

6,343 unique sites

Areal estimatesLivestock, Irrigation, and

Domestic Use

Water Type Count Percent

Groundwater 4,580 72

Surface water 1,001 16

Return flows 762 12

Total Water Use7,800 Mgal/d*

4,900 Mgal/d (70%)

Thermoelectric Power Generation

1,600 Mgal/d (23%)

Public supply and Self-supplied domestic

290 Mgal/d (4%)

Industrial, Commercial, and Mining

200 Mgal/d (3%)

Irrigation, Livestock, and Aquaculture

Data available at HUC12 scale via

web-based tools

* Preliminary results

92%

Surface

Water

Domestic Use

8% Groundwater

Estimating Streamflow

Tool for predicting flow at ungaged basins

based on correlation with historic flow at gaged

sites – Not able to make future predictions

Hydrologic model to evaluate how water

stressors such as population growth, land-use

change, and climate change affect the

availability of water resources – Evaluate Land-

Use and Climate Change Scenarios

Both models are used in ecological flow needs

assessment

Stream-Flow Correlation Results

1960 to present

Preliminary comparisons

between estimated and

observed daily mean

streamflow using

streamgages as ungaged

locations generally are in

good agreement

01418500 Beaver Kill at

Craigie Clair, NY

WATER Hydrologic Model of Delaware Basin

Water Availability Tool for Environmental Resources (WATER)

Based on TOPMODEL rainfall-runoff / water-budget model.

Used as a decision support tool to evaluate how water

stressors such as population growth, land-use change, and

climate change affect the availability of water resources.

Model encompasses the whole non-tidal Delaware River

Basin.

Validated using precipitation, water-use, streamflow, and other

information for the time period 2001 to 2011.

Simulations of future streamflow and water-availability

conditions centered on 2030 and 2060 will incorporate

projected changes in water use, land use, and climate in the

watershed.

WATER – A decision support tool

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Simulated Hydrograph

Changed climate Water availability

Validated

Model

Current conditions

Current Condition

Gaged Streams

Flow at

ungaged sites

Land management

and

water allocation

decisions

Landscape

Characterization

Scenarios Potential Uses

Landscape change

Determine Flow-Ecology Relations

on Basin Tributary Streams

Aquatic Invertebrate Data

1,760 sampling points

Sources: PaDEP,

NYDEC, EPA/EMAP

(NRSA) NJDEP, DRBC,

DNREC, PhilWD, NPS,

NAWQA

Method developed to

produce comparable

taxonomic data.

Flow-Ecology Relations

1. Flow– invertebrate responses will be evaluated

based on ecological metrics (e.g., %EPT). We will

identify the response measures that are most

sensitive to hydrology.

2. Regression analysis (e.g., least squares regression,

classification and regression trees, and quantile

regression) will be used to assess relations between

the best subset of biological response measures and

hydrologic variables.

3. Flow-ecology relations developed based on the above

methods will be modified using flow change scenario

input from the WATER model to develop flow-

alteration models.

Tool to Support Ecological

Management on Main-Stem Delaware

Evaluate how different flow scenarios

affect instream habitat for biota

Incorporate a suite of taxa

User-friendly, updateable, etc.

Trout

American eel

River otters

http://denin.udel.edu/news/river-otters-ud-grad-student-

researches-river-otters-class-clowns-animal-kingdom

calphotos.berkeley.edu

Riverweed

Dwarf wedgemussel

DSS Platform – For Main Stem Ecology

Color coded habitat

maps for each scenario

Habitat

suitability

criteria

can be

modified

Equation for displayed

habitat suitability maps

Selection of key species

Display of hydrograph

Velocity

Depth Habitat

Information DeliveryA web application for delivering water availability information at

scales that are relevant to the user

Select the area of

interest.

Generate information

on water accounting

components.

Work with the online

tool to construct your

water budget.

Test Scenarios

Access trend

information.

At Conclusion of the Delaware Water

Census Focus Area Study in 2016

Database of water withdrawal, use, and return flow

information for watersheds

Tool to estimate daily streamflow from 1960 to 2010

for ungaged streams

Hydrologic model of the non-tidal portions of the

watershed tributaries

Flow and aquatic assemblage response relations for

tributaries

An updated Decision Support System for sections of

the main-stem Delaware

Jeff Fischer Fischer@usgs.gov 609-771-3953

Delaware River Basin

Focus Area StudyUSGS Water Census

Thanks to:

Susan Hutson, Jonathan Kennen, Kelly Maloney,

Marla Stuckey, Tanja Williamson, Ward Freeman, And many more