SOIL MOISTURE ACCOUNTING COMPONENT OF THE USDAHL-74 MODEL OF WATERSHED HYDROLOGY1

ABSTRACT: Soil moisture in two layers of a soil near Chickasha, Oklahoma, was simulated, using USDAHL-74 Model of Watershed Hydrology. Weekly values computed for both layers compared well with those observed during the 15-month period. Certain key parameters required adjustments in the model which illustrate the need for accurate input information. The experiment demonstrates that the model, which has previously given good results in continuous streamflow prediction on watersheds up to 100 square miles, can also compute soil moisture continuously at a site. This capability suggests other model uses, for example, in monitoring the disposition of applied chemicals.     

RESEARCH ISSUES IN FOREST HYDROLOGY1

ABSTRACT: This paper explores a range of forest hydrology issues and identifies my concepts of the field's most pressing research needs. I extend the topic to include teaching and education in the broader sense because current teaching is usually part of the researcher's portfolio and because education involves that of both the research scientist and a broader audience. I consider the primary research, education, and service roles of the forest hydrologist also within a range of domains or, as I prefer to identify them, scales: (1) the molecular or pore level; (2) hydrological process; (3) watershed function; (4) global considerations, and (5) the human dimension which, while not actually a scale itself, embraces, is important to, and is affected by the first four. All are topics screaming for attention by researchers, educators, and practitioners. I shall here focus on the middle three.     

USE OF STAGE DATA TO CHARACTERIZE HYDROLOGIC CONDITIONS IN AN URBANIZING ENVIRONMENT1

ABSTRACT: This paper presents the results of a study on the use of continuous stage data to describe the relation between urban development and three aspects of hydrologic condition that are thought to influence stream ecosystems—overall stage variability, stream flashiness, and the duration of extreme‐stage conditions. This relation is examined using data from more than 70 watersheds in three contrasting environmental settings—the humid Northeast (the metropolitan Boston, Massachusetts, area); the very humid Southeast (the metropolitan Birmingham, Alabama, area); and the semiarid West (the metropolitan Salt Lake City, Utah, area). Results from the Birmingham and Boston studies provide evidence linking increased urbanization with stream flashiness. Fragmentation of developed land cover patches appears to ameliorate the effects of urbanization on overall variability and flashiness. There was less success in relating urbanization and streamflow conditions in the Salt Lake City study. A related investigation of six North Carolina sites with long term discharge and stage data indicated that hydrologic condition metrics developed using continuous stage data are comparable to flow based metrics, particularly for stream flashiness measures.     

ORIGIN AND TRANSPORT OF DISSOLVED CHEMICALS IN A KARST WATERSHED,SOUTHWESTERN ILLINOIS1

ABSTRACT: An extensive base of water quality information emphasizing the effects of land use and hydrology was obtained in the karstified Fountain Creek watershed of southwestern Illinois to help resolve local water quality issues. Agrichemicals dominate the loads of most water quality constituents in the streams and shallow karstic ground water. Only calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), Aluminum (A1), and sulfate (SO₄) ions are predominantly derived from bedrock or soils, while agrichemicals contribute most of the sodium (Na), potassium (K), chlorine (Cl), nitrate (NO₃), fluorine (F), phosphorus (P), and atrazine. Concentrations of individual ions correlate with discharge variations in karst springs and surface streams; highly soluble ions supplied by diffuse ground water are diluted by high flows, while less soluble ions increase with flow as they are mobilized from fields to karst conduits under storm conditions. Treated wastewater containing detergent residues dominates the boron load of streams and provides important subordinate loads of several other constituents, including atrazine derived from the Mississippi River via the public water supply. Average surface water concentrations at the watershed outlet closely approximate a 92:8 mixture of karst ground water and treated wastewater, demonstrating the dominance of ground water contributions to streams. Therefore the karst aquifer and watershed streams form a single water quality system that is also affected by wastewater effluent.     

ASSESSING FLOOD MITIGATION ALTERNATIVES IN SHIJR AREA IN METROPOLITAN TAIPEI1

The Keelung River Basin in northern Taiwan lies immediately upstream of the Taipei metropolitan area. The Shijr area is in the lower basin and is subject to frequent flooding. This work applies micromanagement and source control, including widely distributed infiltration and detention/ retention runoff retarding measures, in the Wudu watershed above Shijr. A method is also developed that combines a genetic algorithm and a rainfall runoff model to optimize the spatial distribution of runoff retarding facilities. Downstream of Wudu in the Shijr area, five dredging schemes are considered. If 10‐year flood flows cannot be confined in the channel, then a levee embankment that corresponds to the respective runoff retarding scheme will be required. The minimum total cost is considered in the rule to select from the regional flood mitigation alternatives. The results of this study reveal that runoff retarding facilities installed in the upper and middle parts of the watershed are most effective in reducing the flood peak. Moreover, as the cost of acquiring land for the levee embankment increases, installing runoff retarding measures in the upper portion of the watershed becomes more economical.     

ON THE MEASUREMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF PUBLIC PROJECTS FROM A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE1

ABSTRACT: The major objectives are (1) to identify the problems involved in measuring the environmental impacts of public projects from selected perspectives, and (2) to elaborate a sociological approach used in an empirical investigation in that respect. The construct of environmental impact of a planned action is generally operationalized from different perspectives and with different methodological emphases in the various disciplines. Even the term environment does not elicit agreement among users as to its exact meaning. Although there has been a steady increase in the number of studies from a sociological perspective concerning environmental problems, there is lack of sociological counsel in writing environmental impact statements. Overall, we lack sociological methodology and operational procedures for that purpose. In an attempt to bring some empirical focus to this field, attitudinal measures employed to discover how residents of a river basin perceived negative and positive environmental impacts of a proposed watershed development project are reviewed. These come from a study of creation of the Cooper Reservoir and Dam in Texas. Data on 343 heads of households m the selected areas were collected through structured questionnaires with items on personal information, a vested interest scale, a knowledge of the project scale, and an environmental impact scale. Data show that perception of impacts by residents is influenced significantly by degree of their vested interests involved. Variables for inclusion in a sociological model of environmental impact are suggested.     

江苏省太湖流域水功能区纳污能力及限制排污总量研究

水功能区纳污能力及限制排污总量研究是制定区域水污染控制规划的基础。依据《江苏省地表水(环境)功能区划》,结合江苏省太湖流域现状水质和污染概况,针对河网区和湖库区分别采用一维、二维非稳态模型,计算江苏省太湖流域水功能区纳污能力,在此基础上,引入最大污染物入河量,核定50%、75%和90%水文保证率下的最大污染物入河量分别为2015年、2020年和2030年限排总量。结果表明:(1)CODMn和氨氮纳污能力分别为284 803 t/a和22 448 t/a;(2)2015年CODMn和氨氮限排总量分别为221 867 t/a和20 520 t/a,2020年和2030年限排总量递减,均小于纳污能力;(3)CODMn和氨氮入河量削减率分别为21.8%和46.3%,与水质超标率相差均在25%以内,基本相符。江苏省太湖流域纳污能力、限排总量、污染物入河量削减率和水质超标率之间关系合理,计算结果合理。研究成果为太湖流域水环境控制规划提供决策依据。     

EFFECTS OF WATERSHED REPRESENTATION ON RUNOFF AND SEDIMENT YIELD MODELING1

ABSTRACT: This paper evaluates the effects of watershed geometric representation (i.e., plane and channel representation) on runoff and sediment yield simulations in a semiarid rangeland watershed. A process based, spatially distributed runoff erosion model (KINEROS2) was used to explore four spatial representations of a 4.4 ha experimental watershed. The most complex representation included all 96 channel elements identifiable in the field. The least complex representation contained only five channel elements. It was concluded that oversimplified watershed representations greatly influence runoff and sediment yield simulations by inducing excessive infiltration on hillslopes and distorting runoff patterns and sediment fluxes. Runoff and sediment yield decrease systematically with decreasing complexity in watershed representation. However, less complex representations had less impact on runoff and sediment‐yield simulations for small rainfall events. This study concludes that the selection of the appropriate level of watershed representation can have important theoretical and practical implications on runoff and sediment yield modeling in semiarid environments.     

HISTORICAL AND SOCIOPOLITICAL CONTEXT OF THE WESTERN WATERSHEDS MOVEMENT1

ABSTRACT: The 1990s have featured a rapid proliferation of “watershed initiatives” in the western United States and elsewhere. Watershed initiatives are ad hoc, voluntary associations typically featuring both governmental and non-governmental actors organized together to collaboratively seek new strategies for addressing water and related natural resource problems at physically relevant regional scales. These efforts are a response to historical and sociopolitical trends that have resulted in increasingly ineffective forums and processes of resource management decision-making, and that have subordinated the role of local stakeholders in problem-solving efforts. In most cases, watershed initiatives appear to provide a pragmatic vehicle for resource managers and stakeholders to address common concerns in a more efficient manner than is otherwise possible, and as such, deserve further application and continued support.     

三峡库区腹地草堂溪小流域土地功能格局变化

探讨三峡库区腹地土地功能格局动态特征是促进库区土地功能优化、土地利用可持续发展的重要途径之一。以草堂溪小流域为研究区,基于1990~2015年4期遥感影像和1∶5万DEM数据,借助ArcGIS 10.2与Fragstats 4.2软件,依据土地提供主要服务的差异性将土地功能划分为3个大类5个亚类,并分析研究区土地功能格局时空演变特征。结果表明:近25 a,研究区生态功能用地占绝对优势,面积增长1 541.96 hm~2,生产功能用地面积缩减1 844.19 hm~2,生活功能用地面积扩展302.24 hm~2;生物质生产功能用地和人工/天然生态功能用地间的转移关系是研究区土地功能转移网络的关键关系,决定着研究区土地功能变化特征;土地功能变化空间集聚特征时空差异性显著,生物质生产功能用地和人工/天然生态功能用地附近为土地功能变化热点区域,1990~2015年土地功能变化热点区向研究区西部推移;生物质生产功能用地、交通功能用地和住宅功能用地优势区间为中低地形位,中高地形位是非生物生产功能用地优势区间,人工/天然生态功能用地在高地形位占优势;较低地形位上景观异质性高、形状复杂,较高地形位上景观类型单一、聚集程度高。