Collaborative Watershed Planning in Washington State: Implementing the Watershed Planning Act

In 1998 the Washington State Legislature enacted the Watershed Planning Act, which encourages local governments to develop watershed plans using collaborative processes. Objectives of the statute are to address water resource and water quality issues, salmon habitat needs and to establish instream flows. This exploratory study sought to examine two aspects of how local governments are implementing the Act: challenges and benefits associated with collaborative watershed planning and the capacity of local governments to conduct collaborative watershed planning. Using documents and interview data from four cases, it was found that all planning groups experience similar challenges, although newer planning groups experienced more challenges than groups with previous planning experience. Challenges include issues surrounding the collaborative process, interagency co-ordination and trust. Local governments struggle with building capacity to plan, particularly in the areas of funding, technical expertise, incentives for participation, adequate time to conduct planning and questions regarding appropriate scale and scope of their planning efforts. Despite the challenges, collaborative watershed planning is well underway, with more than 37 planning units conducting planning under the Act.     

ARE RURAL RESIDENTS WILLING TO PAY ENOUGH TO IMPROVE DRINKING WATER QUALITY?1

ABSTRACT: The concentrations of iron and sulfate in community water supplies are a concern for a number of areas in southwestern Minnesota. This study used the contingent valuation method to determine how much consumers would be willing to pay to improve their drinking water quality. On average, individuals were willing to pay US$5.25 per month (in 1995 U.S. dollars) to reduce the level of iron and US$4.33 per month to reduce the level of sulfate in their water to the USEPA's secondary standards for drinking water quality. Respondents with negative perceptions of their drinking water quality were willing to pay more to improve water quality. The aggregate annual willingness to pay (WTP) for all consumers in community water systems in southwestern Minnesota that were out of compliance with water quality standards were estimated to be US$2.4 million and US$2.0 million (in 1995 dollars) for reducing the levels of iron and sulfate, respectively. Yet the total WTP of consumers who use small community water systems may not be enough to pay the full cost of providing improved water in those systems. Economies of scale in water treatment and difficulties in financing improvements mean that technical innovation, government assistance, or institutional changes may be needed to improve water quality in these areas.     

MODELING LIGHT ATTENUATION,SECCHI DISK,AND EFFECTS OF TRIPTON IN SENACA RIVER,NEW YORK,USA1

The development, testing, and application of a probabilistic model framework for the light attenuation coefficient for downwelling irradiance (K_d) and Secchi disc transparency (SD) that resolves the effects of several light attenuating constituents, including phytoplankton and nonliving particles (tripton), is documented. The model is consistent with optical theory, partitioning the magnitudes of the light attenuating processes of absorption and scattering according to the contributions of attenuating constituents as simple summations. The probabilistic framework accommodates variations in the character and concentrations of these constituents and ambient conditions during measurements, and recognizes a linear relationship between the magnitudes of absorption and scattering by tripton. The model is tested and applied for a 21 km reach of the Seneca River, New York, that features optical gradients caused by an intervening hypereutrophic lake and dam, and a severe infestation of the exotic zebra mussel. The model is applied to resolve the roles of phytoplankton and tripton in regulating measured longitudinal patterns of SD along the study reach of the river and increases in SD since the zebra mussel invasion, and to predict decreases in K_d since the invasion.     

MODELING THE DISTRIBUTION OF DIFFUSE NITROGEN SOURCES AND SINKS IN THE NEUSE RIVER BASIN OF NORTH CAROLINA,USA1

This study quantified nonpoint source nitrogen (NPS‐N) sources and sinks across the 14,582 km² Neuse River Basin (NRB) located in North Carolina, to provide tabular data summaries and graphic overlay products to support the development of management approaches to best achieve established N reduction goals. First, a remote sensor derived, land cover classification was performed to support modeling needs. Modeling efforts included the development of a mass balance model to quantify potential N sources and sinks, followed by a precipitation event driven hydrologic model to effectively transport excess N across the landscape to individual stream reaches to support subsequent labeling of transported N values corresponding to source origin. Results indicated that agricultural land contributed 55 percent of the total annual NPS‐N loadings, followed by forested land at 23 percent (background), and urban areas at 21 percent. Average annual N source contributions were quantified for agricultural (1.4 kg/ha), urban (1.2 kg/ha), and forested cover types (0.5 kg/ha). Nonpoint source‐N contributions were greatest during the winter (40 percent), followed by spring (32 percent), summer (28 percent), and fall (0.3 percent). Seasonal total N loadings shifted from urban dominated and forest dominated sources during the winter, to agricultural sources in the spring and summer. A quantitative assessment of the significant NRB land use activities indicated that high (greater than 70 percent impervious) and medium (greater than 35 percent impervious) density urban development were the greatest contributors of NPS‐N on a unit area basis (1.9 and 1.6 kg/ha/yr, respectively), followed by row crops and pasture/hay cover types (1.4 kg/ha/yr).     

ACCURACY OF LAKE AND STREAM TEMPERATURES ESTIMATED FROM THERMAL INFRARED IMAGES1

Emitted thermal infrared radiation (TIR, λ= 8 to 14 μm) can be used to measure surface water temperatures (top approximately 100 μm). This study evaluates the accuracy of stream (50 to 500 m wide) and lake (300 to 5,000 m wide) radiant temperatures (15 to 22°C) derived from airborne (MASTER, 5 to 15 m) and satellite (ASTER 90 m, Landsat ETM+ 60 m) TIR images. Applied atmospheric compensations changed water temperatures by ?0.2 to +2.0°C. Atmospheric compensation depended primarily on atmospheric water vapor and temperature, sensor viewing geometry, and water temperature. Agreement between multiple TIR bands (MASTER ‐ 10 bands, ASTER ‐ 5 bands) provided an independent check on recovered temperatures. Compensations improved agreement between image and in situ surface temperatures (from 2.0 to 1.1°C average deviation); however, compensations did not improve agreement between river image temperatures and loggers installed at the stream bed (from 0.6 to 1.6°C average deviation). Analysis of field temperatures suggests that vertical thermal stratification may have caused a systematic difference between instream gage temperatures and corrected image temperatures. As a result, agreement between image temperatures and instream temperatures did not imply that accurate TIR temperatures were recovered. Based on these analyses, practical accuracies for corrected TIR lake and stream surface temperatures are around 1°C.     

DISTRIBUTED DISCHARGE OF COOLING WATER ALONG DIRECTION OF STREAM FLOW1

ABSTRACT. A multiple-outfall system for cooling water disposal which is distributed along the direction of stream flow is analyzed. The results provide a simple method of preliminary design of a cooling water discharge outfall system and for a quick extimate of water quality of a polluted stream. It is shown that a properly designed distributed discharge system is capable of preventing serious pollution due to localized discharge of wastes and waste heat; however, the final design of the discharge system should take into account alternative schemes of waste heat disposal and their economic consequences.     

EMERGENCY WATER SUPPLIES FROM GROUND WATER IN HUMID REGIONS1

ABSTRACT: This paper focuses on the development and testing of a mathematical model of an emergency ground water supply operated principally during periods of low streamflow. The process of ground water withdrawal and recharge is simulated taking account of streamflow, water demand, evapotranspiration, natural and artificial recharge and increased evapotranspiration due to artificial recharge, ground water pumpage, and streamflow contribution to pumped water. The model determines whether natural recharge is possible in less time than the return period of drought and also whether artificial recharge is needed. By simulating operation over a long period of time, the model can examine different droughts of short and long duration and can test the operating rules for ground water storage development in an area. Submodels analyze the components of the operating process including ground water flow into the stream, seepage losses, stream portion of well discharge due to induced infiltration and recharge from rainfall or water spreading. The model has been tested for areas in the humid northeastern United States.     

WATER MULTIPLIERS - REGIONAL IMPACT ANALYSIS1

A significant research problem is the assessment of impacts associated with growth and/or decline in a regional economy. A relevant method for analyzing such problems is the Leontief input/output model. Associated with these models are economic multipliers measuring total changes in sales, income, and employment. In this paper, the author contends resource multipliers are equally relevant. The specific form of these multipliers are defined. Water multipliers for a two-county region in central Nevada are presented and their uses described.