A SYSTEMS STUDY OF FUTURE GROUNDWATER DEVELOPMENT COSTS IN THE CHICAGO REGION1

The cost of developing groundwater resources in northeastern Illinois from 198cL2020 is estimated for the purpose of providing a basis for comparing alternative sources. Demands for each township in the study area are estimated at 10-year increments and are satisfied, where the supply is sufficient, in such a way as to minimize the cost subject to constraints on supply. Sources of water are two shallow aquifers with known potential yields and a series of deep aquifers treated as a single unit and modeled on a digital computer. For each township the costs of wells, pumps, power and rehabilitation is estimated for each aquifer on a per million gallons of water per day basis. In addition the cost of groundwater treatment necessary to raise the quality to that of treated Lake Michigan water is considered. Raw water costs are found to vary from 2 to 14 cents per 1000 gallons depending upon the depth to the deep aquifer water. Treated water costs vary from 22 to 53 cents per 1000 gallons, the lower costs applying to the largest users because of the economy of scale. It is found that with proper distribution of pumpage there is sufficient water in storage in the deep aquifers to meet groundwater demands through 2020.     

MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATIONS AND FILMS

Ten years ago in the United States, per capita water use for all purposes was about 1500 gallons a day. By the year 2000, our population will have grown from 200 to 350 million, and each person, in effect, will be using 2500 gallons per day, This could result in our using as much as 75 percent of the total average runoff from US. Rivers
Perhaps as much as 40,000 cubic miles of saline water are stored in rocks at various depths underlying extensive areas of the United States, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. This water, once considered of no value and even a nuisance, now represents a vast potential source of water, either as replacement of fresh water for certain uses or as the raw material for desalting techniques which have been studied intensively in recent years. Desalination creates new water in the sense that saline water, never before used, becomes part of our water economy.     

THE W-INDEX FOR RESIDENTIAL WATER CONSERVATION1

ABSTRACT: An index of residential water efficiency - a “W-Index” - can serve as a measure of effectiveness of water conservation features in the home. The index provides a calculated numerical value for each dwelling unit, derived from the number and kind of water-saving features present, including indoor and outdoor water savers and water harvesting or recycling systems. A W-Index worksheet, devised for on-site evaluation of single-family residences in the Tucson, Arizona, region shows that a nonconserving residence with all the water-using features would use 151,000 gallons per year or 148 gallons per capita per day (gpcpd), while the fully conserving model would use 35,300 gallons per year or 35 gpcpd and with water harvesting and graywater recycling systems would have a maximum W-Index of W-160. A Tucson water conservation demonstration home, Casa del Agua, received a rating of W-139, and field tests of about 30 homes in new Tucson subdivisions show values ranging from W-75 to W-100, indicating the incorporation of some water conservation in current new models. By adjustment of some climatic or water-use parameters, the W-Index format can be applied to various types of dwelling units or to other urban areas. The W-Index can be used by individual homeowners or builders to evaluate water efficiency of residential units, or by water providers or water management agencies as a device for promoting and achieving water conservation goals.     

RESIDENTIAL WATER CONSERVATION: CASA DEL AGUA1

ABSTRACT: A single-family residence in Tucson, Arizona, was retrofitted with water-conserving fixtures, rainwater harvesting, and graywater reuse systems. During a four-year study, efficient use of water was shown to significantly decrease demand for domestic water at the house without reducing the residents' quality of life. The use of municipal water was reduced by 66 percent to 148 gallons per day (gpd) and total household use was reduced by 27 percent to 245 gpd. Graywater reuse averaged approximately 77 gpd or 32 percent of the total household water use. Evaporative cooling required about 15 gpd. Water use for toilet flushing was only 9 gallons per capita per day (gpcd) or 14 percent of interior water use.     

CASA DEL AGUA: A RESIDENTIAL WATER CONSERVATION AND REUSE DEMONSTRATION PROJECT IN TUCSON,ARIZONA1

ABSTRACT: A typical single family residence in Tucson, Arizona, was retrofitted to incorporate low-water-use fixtures and water reuse systems. The use of municipal water was reduced by 53 percent to 53 gallons per capita per day (gpcd) and total water use at the home was reduced by 33 percent to 74 gpcd.     

WATER REDUCTIONS FROM RESIDENTIAL AUDITS1

ABSTRACT: The water reductions resulting from Contra Costa Water District's 1989 residential audit program are measured using a multivariate regression model. The model explains metered residential water use as a function of both conservation and other household variables. The principle conclusions drawn are that (1) installation of low-flow showerheads reduced indoor water use by 9.7 percent or 7.8 gallons per capita day, (2) the outdoor segment of the audit reduced irrigation needs by 18.7 percent, and (3) irrigation timers are being used inefficiently.     

ASSESSMENT OF STORMWATER RUNOFF FOR RECYCLE IN COOLING TOWERS AT KSC,FLORIDA1

ABSTRACT: In addition to measuring the quantity of stormwater runoff generated during ten rainfall events from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) area of Kennedy Space Center (KSC), historical rainfall records were also used for determining the feasibility of implementing a program of stormwater recycling to air conditioning cooling towers. It was projected that 0.182 million gallons per day (MGD) of runoff would be generated from the VAR area during a year of average rainfall (48 inches); only 0.117 MGD is required for coolant makeup water in the VAR area. Due to the seasonal variations in rainfall, stormwater recycling may not always meet all the cooling water demands.     

A MONTHLY TIME SERIES MODEL OF MUNICIPAL WATER DEMAND1

A multivariate time series model is formulated to study monthly variations in municipal water demand. The left hand side variable in the multivariate regression model is municipal water demand (gallons per connection per day) and the right hand side contains (explanatory) variables which include price (constant dollars), average temperature, total precipitation, and percentage of daylight hours. The application of the regression model to Salt Lake City Water Department data produced a high multiple correlation coefficient and F-statistic. The regression coefficients for the right hand side variables all have the appropriate sign. In an ex post forecast, the model accurately predicts monthly variations in municipal water demand. The proposed monthly multivariate model is not only found useful for forecasting water demand, but also useful for predicting and studying the impact of nonstructural management decisions such as the effect of price changes, peak load pricing methods, and other water conservation programs.     

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF WATER CONSUMPTION1

The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of influence of various factors on municipal water consumption in Illinois. For the collection of basic data, questionnaires were sent to all public water works of incorporated towns. The questionnaire was designed to obtain information on factors which may have any effect on water use. The effects of the different parameters on water consumption were based on several correlation and regression combinations of predictands and predictors. It was found that in the Chicago region the percent of services and water used for commercial and industrial purposes and the age of the water works were the most important parameters influencing water consumption (gallons per capita per day) when pumpage is metered at the water works as well as at the customers. For the State, excluding the Chicago region, percent of public water use, persons per service, population and commercial and industrial water use were the most important parameters. It has been recommended that similar statistical analysis be conducted periodically to establish a trend or law of change from the influencing parameters.     

THE EFFECTWENESS OF PRICING AS A STAND-ALONE WATER CONSERVATION PROGRAM1

ABSTRACT: Economic theory clearly indicates that the use of increasing rate structures will reduce the demand for water and produce monetary incentives for consumers to conserve. One problem with estimating the effectiveness of using rate structures as a conservation program is that they are usually accompanied by other conservation efforts. Thus, it is difficult to determine the effectiveness of any one conservation component. This paper examines the effectiveness of increasing rate structures in a situation where no other conservation program was introduced. The paper uses customer data from the Spalding County (Georgia) Water Authority where an increasing rate structure replaced a descending rate structure in January 1991. Since the imposition of the increasing rate structure, the number of customers has increased 21 percent while total water demand has gone up only 15 percent and per customer water use has declined 5 percent. The daily water use per connection has declined from 243 gallons in 1990 to 231 in 1993, and monthly use has gone from 7,381 gallons to 7,028 per connection over the same period. Statistical tests indicate that water consumption during the two periods was significantly different while weather factors were not.     

SPECIAL CASES OF WATER SUPPLY INTERFERENCE CAUSED BY URBAN DEVELOPMENT NEAR TORONTO,ONTARIO, CANADA1

Since 1961, control over water-supply interference problems in the Province of Ontario has been provided under The Ontario Water Resources Commission Act. A section of The Act requires persons taking more than 10,000 imperial gallons per day of water for purposes other than domestic, stock or fire-fighting to have a permit and to take the water in accordance with specified terms and conditions. Construction of some new wells, sewers, and roads to meet the needs of urban development has caused interference with both ground- and surface-water supplies. In cases of serious interference, the Commission has required that steps be taken to restore water supplies or prevent continued interference. Two cases are described where municipalities in the Toronto area restored supplies to overcome serious interference with several private wells and streamflow during testing and operation of a 500-imperial gpm municipal well adjacent to a normally effluent stream, and varying degrees of interference with private wells caused by dewatering at rates up to 2000-imperial gpm for the installation of a trunk sewer.     

ONTARIO'S WATER TAKING PERMIT PROGRAM1

ABSTRACT. Most water takings in Ontario in excess of 10,000 gallons per day for purposes other than domestic, farm, or fire fighting require authorization by permit by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. The legislation imposes control beyond that under common law, but does not remove common-law obligations. Permits may not be assigned without the Ministry's consent and do not create property rights in water. Permits to take ground-water require permittees to ensure that sufficient water is made available for the needs of prior users who suffer serious water-supply interference due to the taking, or to reduce the rate and amount of taking. Permits to take surface water require permittees to maintain sufficient downstream flow to protect downstream uses of water and natural functions of streams. Specific permit requirements for city wells in the rural Hunsburger Creek basin protect existing well supplies and require maintenance of streamflow for pond levels and fish. Tobacco irrigation in the Big Creek basin reduced streamflow significantly and requires development of more detailed water-management plans for years of extreme demand. Ontario's permit program serves to resolve water-use conflicts, furnishes information on use and provides one means for implementing management plans.     

Costs of Arsenic Treatment for Potable Water in California and Comparison to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Affordability Metrics1

Hilkert Colby, Elizabeth J., Thomas M. Young, Peter G. Green, and Jeannie L. Darby, 2010. Costs of Arsenic Treatment for Potable Water in California and Comparison to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Affordability Metrics. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(6):1238–1254. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00488.x Abstract: The United States (U.S.) federal standard for arsenic in potable water systems is only the second water quality standard in which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) administrator used “discretionary authority to establish a less stringent standard” based on the results of cost-benefit analyses. Based on the findings that a “standard of 3 μg/l would be feasible but not justified,” the revised maximum contaminant level (MCL) lowered the allowable arsenic concentration from 50 to 10 μg/l in 2002. In 2009, approximately 145 systems in California were out of compliance. The objectives were to gather performance and cost data from arsenic treatment systems in California to compare with data from the USEPA demonstration sites as well as with the USEPA affordability metrics for drinking water. The median cost of compliance with the revised arsenic MCL for the 36 surveyed systems was $1.95/1,000 gallons (2008 dollars), which is 69% of the average cost of delivered tap water in the U.S. in 2008 ($2.81/1,000 gallons). Additionally, 22% of the surveyed systems in California paid more than the maximum predicted cost of compliance with the revised arsenic MCL ($5.05/1,000 gallons). The largest variation in cost was seen in the systems that treated <500 gpm. For the systems utilizing adsorption, systems obtained between 20 and 80% of the expected bed volumes prior to breakthrough, indicating the need for better prediction of performance.     

DEEP WELL DISPOSAL OF SECONDARY EFFLUENT IN DADE COUNTY,FLORIDA1

ABSTRACT: Data were obtained from drilling and testing of a test injection well for deep underground injection of waste water effluent from the proposed 50-million-gallon-per-day (mgd) South District Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant of the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Authority, Dade County, Florida. The drilling operation progressed in stages, each stage coverting the strata to be sealed off by the 48-inch, 40-inch, 30-inch, and 20-inch casings, respectively. Total depth of the well is 3,200 feet. The top of the saline, cavernous, dolomitic Boulder Zone was found at 2,790 feet below the surface and is separated from the Floridan aquifer above by approximately 1,100 feet of confining limestone layers. These confining layers were determined, by packer testing, to be very effective. The transmissivity of the Boulder Zone was estimated to be 14 × 10⁶ gallons per day per foot (gpd/ft) from the data obtained from pump out tests. An 8,000-gallon-per-minute (gpm) injection test was conducted to confirm well performance under operating conditions. Based on all of the data obtained, it was concluded that underground injection into the Boulder Zone of secondary waste water effluent from the proposed treatment plant is feasible, both hydraulically and environmentally. A monitoring system was proposed to provide a record of the effects of injection on the subsurface environment.     

A Comparison of Three Federal Datasets for Thermoelectric Water Withdrawals in the United States for 2010

Historically, thermoelectric water withdrawal has been estimated by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) water‐use compilations. Recently, the USGS developed models for estimating withdrawal at thermoelectric plants to provide estimates independent from plant operator‐reported withdrawal data. This article compares three federal datasets of thermoelectric withdrawals for the United States in 2010: one based on the USGS water‐use compilation, another based on EIA data, and the third based on USGS model‐estimated data. The withdrawal data varied widely. Many plants had three different withdrawal values, and for approximately 54% of the plants the largest withdrawal value was twice the smallest, or larger. The causes of discrepancies among withdrawal estimates included definitional differences, definitional noise, and various nondefinitional causes. The uncertainty in national totals can be characterized by the range among the three datasets, from 5,640 m³/s (129 billion gallons per day [bgd]) to 6,954 m³/s (158 bgd), or by the aggregate difference between the smallest and largest values at each plant, from 4,014 m³/s (92 bgd) to 8,590 m³/s (196 bgd). When used to assess the accuracy of reported values, the USGS model estimates identify plants that need to be reviewed.     

IMPACT OF DROUGHT ON QUALITY IN A NEW JERSEY WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM1

ABSTRACT. New Jersey, together with other states in the northeast, was stricken with drought during 1961-66. The effect of this drought was most severe in the northern part of the State. The water quality of the Passaic River, which drains the urban, industrialized northeast, perhaps deteriorated the most among the major drainage systems. This river system is used as a raw-water source by 10 water suppliers. The impact of the drought upon the water supply of the Passaic Valley Water Commission, the most downstream of the basin's suppliers, which supplies an average of about 90 million gallons a day to more than 650,000 persons, is evaluated herein. The drought's impact on the raw-water quality is appraised by the comparison of before-and-after qualities of dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen, biochemical-oxygen demand, turbidity, and hardness. For example, at the worst point during the drought, monthly average dissolved-solids content in the raw water were about 210 percent, hardness, about 167 percent, and biochemical-oxygen demand about 270 percent higher than antecedent values. In general, the study concludes that the drought produced a deterioration in both raw and finished water quality, and is estimated to have increased chemical-treatment costs during the drought by about $650,000.     

RESULTS OF ACIDIZING WATER WELLS IN ARIZONA1

Two wellfields have been developed to provide water for a coal fired electric generating station in Arizona. Wellfield No. 1 penetrates the unconfined Coconino Sandstone aquifer, and wellfield No. 2 penetrates the composite Kaibab Limestone-Coconino Sandstone aquifer where ground water occurs under confined conditions. A well in each wellfield was pumped and water level drawdown data were collected before and after acidizing. The drawdown data at the various pumping rates were analyzed to determine the potential benefits of acidizing production water wells in both wellfields. After acidizing, the specific capacity of the well in wellfield No. 1 was improved about 50 percent at water production rates ranging from about 200 to 500 gallons per minute (gpm) (13 to 32 liters per second (lps)). After acidizing, the specific capacity of the well completed in wellfield No. 2 was improved about 100 percent at pumping rates ranging from about 1,250 to 2,200 gpm (79 to 139 lps). An annual saving of approximately 11 percent in pumping costs can be realized in wellfield No. 2, and savings are approximately four percent in wellfield No. 1. Acidization is beneficial for wells that can produce more than 500 gpm (32 lps), and is of marginal value for those that produce less than that amount.     

Restoration of a Canadian Prairie Wetland with Agricultural and Municipal Wastewater

3 /day (800,000 US gallons) of municipal wastewater and beef processing wastewater. A large nongovernmental organization hastened restoration with a development process that outlined restoration goals and management objectives to satisfy a dual mandate of wastewater treatment and wildlife habitat creation. In 1995, after five years of wastewater additions, the basins had been refilled and the surrounding uplands had been acquired and restored. The Frank Lake Conservation Area currently provides high-quality habitat for a variety of wildlife in a region where many of the native plants and animals species have been lost due to habitat loss and fragmentation. The success of upland and water management strategies is reflected in the increase of target species' abundance and richness: 50 shorebird species, 44 waterfowl species, 15 raptor species, and 28 other new bird species have returned to the marsh since restoration. As well, significant N and P reduction occurs as waters flow through the first basin of the marsh. The management strategies of this project that satisfied a dual mandate serve as a model to guide managers of other large-scale wetland restoration projects.     

Water scarcity: An alternative view and its implications for policy and capacity building

This article focuses on the somewhat ambiguous concept of scarce water, or, more accurately stated, on the rather more ambiguous concept of scarcity. Still today, water scarcity in a region is defined largely in physical terms, typically gallons or cubic metres per capita if a stock or per capita-year if a flow. However useful purely physical measures may be for broad comparisons, they cannot adequately reflect the variety of ways in which human beings use water — neither to their wastefulness when water is perceived as abundant nor to their ingenuity when it is not. This article argues that water scarcity should be defined according to three orders of scarcity that require, respectively, physical, economic and social adaptations. It goes on to demonstrate that perceiving scarcity mainly in physical terms limits opportunities for policy-making and approaches for capacity building.     

Sustainability of wastewater treatment technologies

A set of indicators that incorporate environmental, societal, and economic sustainability were developed and used to investigate the sustainability of different wastewater treatment technologies, for plant capacities of <5 million gallons per day (MGD) or 18.9 x 10(3) cubic meters (m(3)/day). The technologies evaluated were mechanical (i.e., activated sludge with secondary treatment), lagoon (facultative, anaerobic, and aerobic), and land treatment systems (e.g., slow rate irrigation, rapid infiltration, and overland flow). The economic indicators selected were capital, operation and management, and user costs because they determine the economic affordability of a particular technology to a community. Environmental indicators include energy use, because it indirectly measures resource utilization, and performance of the technology in removing conventional wastewater constituents such as biochemical oxygen demand, ammonia nitrogen, phosphorus, and pathogens. These indicators also determine the reuse potential of the treated wastewater. Societal indicators capture cultural acceptance of the technology through public participation and also measure whether there is improvement in the community from the specific technology through increased job opportunities, better education, or an improved local environment. While selection of a set of indicators is dependent on the geographic and demographic context of a particular community, the overall results of this study show that there are varying degrees of sustainability with each treatment technology.