CEEN 482 Hydrology and Water Laboratory

Fall 2013 Terri S. Hogue Associate Professor

T.A.: Paul Micheletty M.S. Student HSE Program

What is hydrology?
Study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water on Earth and other planets, including the hydrologic cycle, water resources and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is a hydrologist, working within the fields of earth or environmental science, physical geography, geology or civil and environmental engineering. Subfields: hydrometeorology, surface hydrology, hydrogeology, water resource management and water quality, where water plays the central role.

What is a watershed?
Definition: Land area (or water area) defined by a boundary (topographic high) that collects water, stores water, and discharges water through 1 outlet

Cornerstorne of Hydrologic Studies: Water Balance or Water Budget

Water Budget
accounting system for hydrologic cycle Use systems approach to formulate water budget

What are the inputs and outputs for our system??

I(t) O(t) = dS/dt

What is a control volume???

I O = dS/dt

A conceptually defined region (control volume) capable of receiving a sequence of inputs of a conservative quantity, storing some amount of that quantity, and producing outputs
What is a conservative quantity? Can not be created or destroyed in system (mass, momentum, energy)

a) Natural System?

b) Urbanized (altered) System?

Water Budgets
Basic Components of Natural System Precipitation Evaporation (Evapotranspiration) Infiltration Percolation Recharge Lateral Flow Surface Runoff Groundwater Flow

Water Budgets
Basic Components of Urbanized System Precipitation Evaporation (ET) Infiltration Percolation Recharge Lateral Flow Surface Runoff Groundwater Flow Pumping (GW out) Imported water (irrigation!!) Leaky infrastructure (pipes, canals, ditches) Wastewater discharge Others??

Precipitation Flux of water from atmosphere to earth Highly variable in space and time Some precipitation evaporates before reaching earths surface (remains in atmosphere as water vapor) Evaporation Vaporization / sublimation of water from lakes, rivers, land (veg, soil), oceans transferred back to the atmosphere Majority of water evaporates over the oceans and is re-precipitated (~90%) Transpiration Occurs through plants which take up infiltrated water (and/or groundwater) and return A portion of this to the atmosphere through leaf stomata Evapotranspiration lumped together in most hydrologic applications

Infiltration precipitated water that enters the soil zone may go to channel as interflow (lateral flow) or may percolate (move to groundwater) Groundwater water discharged into rivers, oceans, springs typically observed as baseflow in river systems Surface Runoff water that does not infiltrate due to: - saturation excess (soil pores filled with water/ water table rises) - infiltration excess (ppt. rate > inf. rate) - impermeable surfaces

Water Balance Equation

Importance of components varies temporally!
Intra-storm (during a storm event) evaporation/transpiration minor components baseflow sometimes minor (system dependent) precipitation and surface runoff dominate some infiltration usually occurring Inter-storm (between storms) no precipitation, no surface runoff evapotranspiration major component baseflow major component
dS(t) P(t) OWU(t) ET(t) R(t) Re(t) dt
Long term dS(t) 0 dt
Uncertainty

P(t) OWU(t) ET(t) R(t) Re(t)

watershed boundary

Evapotranspiration ET(t)

Precipitation P(t)

Runoff R(t)

Storage S(t)

Outdoor Water Use OWU(t)

Recharge + Re(t)

12

Water Balance Solution

E P Systems approach to formulate a water budget Qin Qout G (?) Water Balance Equation: I-O = s/t Qin + P E - Qout + G = 0 G = -1.57 x 106 m3/yr into the pond Variable Conversions: A = 3,716 m2 Qin = 6,307,200 m3/yr Qout = 7,884,000 m3/yr P = 1022 m3/yr E = 9439 m3/yr

Our Study System: Clear Creek Watershed

Clear Creek Watershed

USGS Gaging Site Clear Creek

Clear Creek Watershed

History
The creek is famous as the location of the most intense early mining activity during the Colorado Gold Rush of 1859.

Clear Creek Watershed

Water Supply
Clear Creek and its tributaries serve as the primary water supply source for several upper-watershed towns (Silver Plume, Georgetown, Empire, Idaho Springs, Black Hawk, Central City) and industries, including Loveland Ski Area and Henderson Mine. Clear Creek is the principal surface water source for numerous lower-watershed entities as wellCoors Brewing Company, many agricultural users, the City of Golden, Arvada and Standley Lake Reservoir, which provides potable water to more than 350,000 residents in the cities of, Northglenn, Thornton, and Westminster.

Clear Creek Watershed

Basin Characteristics (Calculated from StreamStats)
Parameter
6-hour, 100-year precipitation, in inches Mean basin slope computed from 10m DEM, in percent Area that drains to a point on a stream in square miles Mean Basin Elevation in feet Mean annual precipitation, in inches Percentage of basin above 7500 ft elevation

Value
2.62 39.3 394 9950 24.44 94.1

Clear Creek Watershed

Landcover Map
Classification Open Water Perennial Ice/Snow Developed, Open Space Developed, Low Intensity Developed, Medium Intensity Developed, High Intensity Barren Land Deciduous Forest Evergreen Forest Mixed Forest Shrub/Scrub Grassland/Herbaceous Pasture/Hay Woody Wetlands Herbaceous Wetlands % 0.19 4.83 1.49 0.93 0.15 0.01 5.37 2.21 57.72 0.11 7.10 18.66 0.01 1.19 0.02

Clear Creek Watershed

Annual Streamflow Patterns

Clear Creek Watershed

Annual Runoff

Clear Creek Watershed

Annual Runoff

Runoff vs. Precipitation

Issues in Clear Creek Watershed???

Urbanization

Increasing Impervious Surfaces Alters Water and Energy Cycles Change in RUNOFF PATTERNS

Urbanization increases peak flow and runoff volume

Clear Creek Watershed

100 year flood plain (FEMA)

Source: Environment Canada

Changes in Water Quality

Copper concentrations (grams per day) at different locations along the length of Ballona Channel (urban system in LA)

Fire and Watershed Response

Physical/Chemical Changes
Acute loss of vegetation, decreased soil cohesion, ash layer deposition, hydrophobic layer formation

Hydrologic Consequences
Decreased: infiltration, ET demand, water quality
Also Other Metals, Bacteria, Nutrients (Nitrates, Phosphates, etc.), Reduced Oxygen, Trash, Toxins, Pharmaceuticals, etc

What is a healthy urban channel??

Increased: erosion, overland flow, flooding, sediment laden and debris flow occurrence, dry season flow

Rainfall-Runoff Response
Devil Canyon Devil Canyon Precipitation and Runoff Ratio
0 1
0

Environmental Concerns
1 0.8
RO Ratio Precip Average Pre-fire RO Ratio Average Precipitation El Nino Year

City and Creek Precipitation Runoff Ratio

RO Ratio Precip Average Pre-fire RO Ratio Average Precipitation El Nino Year
<-------------------------------------pre-fire-------------------------------------> <----post-fire---->

City Creek

1000

0.8

1000

Precipitation [mm]

Precipitation [mm]

Runoff Ratio

Runoff Ratio

2000

<-------------------------------------pre-fire-------------------------------------> <----post-fire---->

0.6

2000

0.6

Fire

3000

0.4

3000

Fire

0.4

Melted metal

4000

0.2

4000

0.2

5000
19 84 19 86 19 88 19 90 19 92 19 94 19 96 19 98 20 00 20 02 20 04 20 06 20 08

5000
19 84 19 86 19 88 19 90 19 92 19 94 19 96 19 98 20 00 20 02 20 04 20 06 20 08

Foa Water m Quality

Water Year

Water Year

Endangered frogs

How long does altered flow regime last? How variable is seasonal response after fire? How does vegetation recovery affect response?
Kinoshita and Hogue, 2011

Tadpol es

Colorado WUI Wildfire occurrence on the Colorado Front Range (1992 to 2009) Expressed as fire start locations by final fire size

Waldo Canyon Fire Pike National Forest El Paso County >18,000 acres 360 homes destroyed

Major watersheds affected: West Monument Creek, Lower Monument Creek, Headwaters Fountain Creek, Cascade Creek, Garden of the Gods
Civil & Environmental Engineering | Hogue Research Group

USDA Forest Service, RMRS-GTR-289 (2012)

Todays Lab Introduction to GIS Goal: learn basic GIS tools and functions - Create elevation map of Clear Creek using digital elevation map (DEM) - Gather basic information from DEM map that is produced - Save map for Lab #2 (geomorphic parameters) and future labs - Turn in GIS worksheet with map prior to leaving lab