Drainage Investment and Wetlands Loss: an Analysis of the National Resources Inventory Data

The United States Soil Conservation Service (SCS) conducts a survey for the purpose of establishing an agricultural land use database. This survey is called the National Resources Inventory (NRI) database. The complex NRI land classification system, in conjunction with the quantitative information gathered by the survey, has numerous applications. The current paper uses the wetland area data gathered by the NRI in 1982 and 1987 to examine empirically the factors that generate wetland loss in the United States. The cross-section regression models listed here use the quantity of wetlands, the stock of drainage capital, the realty value of farmland and drainage costs to explain most of the cross-state variation in wetland loss rates. Wetlands preservation efforts by federal agencies assume that pecuniary economic factors play a decisive role in wetland drainage. The empirical models tested in the present paper validate this assumption.     

ALTERNATIVES TO THE USE OF AGRICULTURAL DRAINAGE WELLS1

ABSTRACT: A large number of agricultural drainage wells (ADWs) are located in north-central Iowa. These wells permit sediments, pesticides, nitrate, and bacteria in surface and subsurface drainage water to enter regional aquifers that are currently being used for drinking-water supplies, mostly by rural families and communities. This paper reports some possible alternatives to control the entry of surface and subsurface drainage waters into groundwater systems, and describes a methodology to make comprehensive economic feasibility studies of alternative drainage outlets. The estimated cost of providing main subsurface drains varied from $220 to $960 per hectare. If the use of ADWs was completely eliminated without providing alternative drainage, it is estimated that the average annual loss to the farmers of the area would be at least $270 per hectare in reduced crop yields. Of course, losses would be weather dependent and highly variable. Management practices to reduce the pollutant load in water draining to ADWs are also discussed.     

BSENEFICIAL USE POTENTIAL OF DRY WEATHER FLOW IN THE LAS VEGAS VALLEY,NEVADA1

ABSTRACT: Historically ephemeral washes in the Las Vegas Valley have become perennial streams in the urbanized area, and the primary source of these perennial flows appears to be the overirrigation of ornamental landscaping and turf. Overirrigation produces direct runoff to the washes via the streets and results in high ground water levels in some areas. Elevated ground water levels result in discharge to the washes because of changes in the natural balance of the hydrologic system and construction site and foundation dewatering. In recognition of the resource potential of these flows within the Las Vegas Valley, of the potential for dry weather flows to convey pollutants from the Valley to Lake Mead, and of the need to characterize dry weather flows under the stormwater discharge permit program, the quantity and quality of dry weather flow in Flamingo Wash was investigated during the period September 1990 through May 1993. This paper focuses on the resource potential of the flow (quantity and quality) as it relates to the interception and use of this water within the Valley. Economic and legal issues associated with the interception and use of this resource are not considered here.     

EFFECTS OF CROPPING SYSTEMS ON NO3-N LOSSES TO TILE DRAIN1

Abstract: Diverse cropping systems can have significant impacts on nutrient losses through tile drain systems and to surface water bodies (rivers and streams). Increased transport of nitrogen to water bodies can reduce dissolved oxygen and enrich the supply of nutrients, resulting in hypoxic zones. With the objective of reducing the transport of nutrients from agricultural watersheds, long term studies (1990 to 1998) were conducted in Iowa to investigate the impact of tillage, crop rotation, and N-management practices on NO₃-N leaching losses to tile drain water. Results of these studies indicated that continuous corn production systems required higher input of nitrogen fertilizers and resulted in significantly higher NO₃-N leaching losses compared to rotated corn in plots either fertilized with manure or urea ammonium nitrate. Also, rotated corn gave higher corn yields, 8 megagrams per hectare (Mg/ha) versus 6 Mg/ha, than continuous corn. The higher N application rates resulted in increased NO₃-N concentrations in tile water. A strip cropping system with alfalfa lowered NO₃-N concentrations in tile water to less than 10 mg/l. These studies indicated that better land use practices can reduce NO₃-N leaching losses to surface and ground water systems and will help in mitigating environmental concerns of the production agriculture.     

AN INTEGRATED ONE‐DIMENSIONAL AND TWO‐DIMENSIONAL URBAN STORMWATER FLOOD SIMULATION MODEL1

ABSTRACT: Flash flooding is the rapid flooding of low lying areas caused by the stormwater of intense rainfall associated with thunderstorms. Flash flooding occurs in many urban areas with relatively flat terrain and can result in severe property damage as well as the loss of lives. In this paper, an integrated one‐dimensional (1‐D) and two‐dimensional (2‐D) hydraulic simulation model has been established to simulate stormwater flooding processes in urban areas. With rainfall input, the model simulates 2‐D overland flow and 1‐D flow in underground stormwater pipes and drainage channels. Drainage channels are treated as special flow paths and arranged along one or more sides of a 2‐D computational grid. By using irregular computation grids, the model simulates unsteady flooding and drying processes over urban areas with complex drainage systems. The model results can provide spatial flood risk information (e.g., water depth, inundation time and flow velocity during flooding). The model was applied to the City of Beaumont, Texas, and validated with the recorded rainfall and runoff data from Tropical Storm Allison with good agreement.     

NETWORK AND SUBWATERSHED PARAMETERS EXTRACTED FROM DIGITAL ELEVATION MODELS: THE BILLS CREEK EXPERIENCE1

ABSTRACT: An automated extraction of channel network and sub-watershed characteristics from digital elevation models (DEM) is performed by model DEDNM. This model can process DEM data of limited vertical resolution representing low relief terrain. Such representations often include ill-defined drainage boundaries and indeterminate flow paths. The application watershed is an 84 km² low relief watershed in southwestern Oklahoma. The standard for validation is the network and subwatershed parameters defined by the blue line method on USGS 7.5–minute topographic maps. Evaluation of the generated and validation networks by visual comparisons shows a high degree of correlation. Comparison of selected network parameters (channel length, slope, drainage density, etc.) and of drainage network composition (bifurcation, length, slope, and area ratios) shows that, on the average, the generated parameters are within 5 percent of those derived from the validation network. The largest discrepancies were found for the channel slope values. The results of this application demonstrate that DEDNM effectively addresses network definition problems often encountered in low relief terrain and that it can generate accurate network and subwatershed parameters under those conditions.     

PARALLEL DRAINS FROM THE LAPLACE STANDPOINT1

Where natural drainage is inadequate for keeping the water table below the root zone of the crops being grown, drains are often employed to control water table levels. Such drains are commonly installed in parallel lines at depths and spacings adapted to the needs of the area. Formulas used for determining drain spacings are generally based upon Dupuit-Forchheimer concepts. These developments postulate a saturated, permeable aquifer underlying the irrigated area and an impermeable barrier underlying the aquifer. The basic differential equation expresses the requirement that the flow out through the sides of a vertical column of infinitesmal cross sectional area must be supplied by a corresponding drop of the water table at the top of the column. If variations of transmissivity due to variations of water table level are taken into account the second order differential equation obtained is nonlinear. To avoid the mathematical difficulties posed by this nonlinearity it is customary to neglect the effects of changes of transmissivity due to changes of water table levels. This imposes a restriction that the formulas derived from these linearized differential equations suffer a loss of accuracy if the change of water table levels becomes a considerable portion of the initial saturated depth. Offsetting these difficulties is the tactical advantage that the linearized differential equations are of types long studied in older developments concerned with conduction of heat in solids. The advantages conferred by the possibilities for exploiting the results of investigations in the older discipline are many. An alternative approach is based upon a requirement that there can be no accumulation of water in any elementary cubical volume located in the zone of complete saturation below the water table. The differential equation obtained on this basis, if the aquifer is homogeneous and isotropic, is the one which bears the name of Laplace. It will be the purpose of this paper to explore the possibilities afforded by this approach for evaluating the flow to parallel drains and to compare the results with those obtainable by the Dupuit-Forchheimer method.     

CRITICAL EVALUATION OF CERTAIN METHODS OF UNSTEADY GROUNDWATER HYDRAULICS1

The basic theories and fundamental assumptions usually employed in the solution of unsteady groundwater flow problems are reviewed critically. The best known method of analysis for such problems is based on the Dupuit-Forchheimer approximation and leads to a nonlinear parabolic differential equation which is generally solved by linearization or numerical methods. The accuracy of the solution to this equation can be improved by use of a different approach which does not employ the Dupuit Forchheimer assumption, but rather is based on a semi-numerical solution of the Laplace equation for quasi-steady conditions. The actual unsteady process is replaced by a sequence of steady-state conditions, and it is assumed that the actual unsteady flow characteristics during a short time interval can be approximated by those associated with “average” steady state flow. The Laplace equation is solved by a semi-discretization method according to which the horizontal coordinate is divided into subintervals, while the vertical coordinate is maintained continuous. The proposed method is applied to a typical tile drainage problem, and, based on a comparison of calculated results with experimental data, the method is evaluated and practical conclusions regarding its applicability are advanced.     

Mineralogical compositions of aquifer matrix as necessary initial conditions in reactive contaminant transport models

Mineralogical compositions and their spatial distributions are important initial conditions for reactive transport modeling. However, popular Kd-based "reactive" transport models only require contaminant concentrations in the pore fluids as initial conditions, and minerals implicitly represent infinite sources and sinks in these models. That situation results in a general neglect of mineralogical characterization in site investigations. This study uses a coupled multi-component reactive mass transport model to predict the natural attenuation of a ground water plume at a uranium mill tailings site in western USA. Numerous ground water geochemistry data are available at this site, but mineralogical data are sketchy. Even given the well-defined pore fluid chemistry, variations of secondary mineral species and mineral abundances in the aquifer resulted in significantly different modeling outcomes. Results show that the amount of calcite in the aquifer determines the distances of plume migration. The possible presence of jurbanite, an aluminum sulfate phase, can store acidity temporarily but cause more severe contamination on a later date. The surfaces of iron oxyhydroxides can store significant amounts of sulfate and protons and serve as a second source for prolonged contamination. These simulations under field conditions illustrate that mineralogical compositions are an essential requirement for accurate prediction of contaminant fate and transport.     

涝渍地暗管排水示范工程建设有关问题研究

结合中日专项技术合作四湖项目的具体实践,指出了暗管工程规划中排水调查的内容和重点,就如何评判暗管排水的必要性和确定暗管设计排水量进行了探讨,分析了暗管排水与规划单元排灌系统的关系。排水调查是农田基本建设实施过程中不可缺少的一个环节,就涝渍地治理改造而言,调查的重点是要弄清排水不良的原因和取得解决问题的基础资料。为了制定符合实际的农田排水规划实施方案,可从土壤类型、土壤承载力、降雨后地表积水状况、土壤透水性和地下水位等对规划单元内的农田是否需要暗管排水作出判断。对水田而言,在田面水排除后,领先暗管要排除地表残留水和过剩的土壤重力水,据此决定暗管设计排水量。对于旱田,渗入土壤中以重力水存在的过乘水需要通过暗管排除,据此决定暗管设计排水量。暗管工程适于江河中下游地势低洼、排水不良的农田,当明排不能有效地降低地下水位满足作物生长时,有必要采取暗管排水。