Grantee Research Project Results
1999 Progress Report: An Integrated Approach to Assessing Water Management Options in a Major Watersheds: Extending a Hydrodynamic-Water Quality Model to Include Biological and Politico-Economic Components
EPA Grant Number: R825285Title: An Integrated Approach to Assessing Water Management Options in a Major Watersheds: Extending a Hydrodynamic-Water Quality Model to Include Biological and Politico-Economic Components
Investigators: Sabatier, Paul A. , Quinn, James , Weinberg, Marca , Bennett, Bill , Rhodes, Cathy , Loeb, Curtis , Slotton, Darell , Orlob, Gerald , Anderson, Jamie , Lund, Jay , Mount, Jeff , Randall, Jonathan , Botsford, Louis , Johnston, Mike , Richerson, Peter , Moyle, Peter , Suchanek, Thomas
Current Investigators: Sabatier, Paul A. , Quinn, James , Weinberg, Marca , Bennett, Bill , Rhodes, Cathy , Loeb, Curtis , Slotton, Darell , Orlob, Gerald , Anderson, Jamie , Lund, Jay , Mount, Jeff , Botsford, Louis , Johnson, Mike , Richerson, Peter , Moyle, Peter , Suchanek, Thomas
Institution: University of California - Davis
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: December 1, 1996 through November 30, 1999 (Extended to September 30, 2000)
Project Period Covered by this Report: December 1, 1998 through November 30, 1999
Project Amount: $1,292,627
RFA: Water and Watersheds Research (1996) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Watersheds , Water
Objective:
The objectives of this research project are to: (1) refine the RMA hydrodynamic-water quality finite element model of the Sacramento River and Delta system simulating flows, temperature, and salinity; (2) expand and integrate this model to include (a) estuarine and riparian habitat and indigenous ecosystems, (b) inflow and contaminants from tributary watersheds, (c) the economics of agricultural and urban water use, and (d) the effects of the above on water quality and selected fish populations; and (3) use the integrated set of models to explore the impacts of a variety of management scenarios seeking to optimize politically important fish populations at risk with agricultural and urban water demands.
Progress Summary:
This is a very large and complex project that despite some delays, should be completed by September 2000 (the ending date for our 1-year, no-cost extension). Following are some of the major accomplishments to date.
Hydrodynamic-Water Quality Modeling. Hydrodynamic (water surface elevation and flow) and water quality (temperature and salinity) models have been calibrated for 1984 (April-June, a "wet" year), 1992 (April-December, a "dry" year), and 1993 (January-June, an "above average" year) using a substantially improved grid. The results are quite good.
Integrate the Hydrodynamic-Water Quality Models With Fishery, Sedimentation, and Economic Models. The fisheries work is going quite well. First, the individual-based striped bass model (relating population dynamics to flows, temperature, salinity, and toxins) has been improved in several ways. It has been integrated into the most recent hydrodynamic and water quality models via particle-tracking routines and is being used to examine losses due to nature versus entrainment mortality. Second, an individual-based model of juvenile chinook salmon survival, growth, and migration has been developed, which is explicitly based on the hydrodynamic and water-quality models. Like the striped bass model, it uses particles to represent individual salmon and relates growth and mortality to water quality characteristics (especially temperature). Unlike the striped bass model, the salmon model seeks to include a variety of behavioral characteristics as "switches." The model predicts timing of downstream migration and the numbers of salmon recruited into the ocean, entrained in the export pumps, and lost in other diversions. Third, extensive work has been done on the life cycle of Delta smelt (a listed species) and its relation to hydrodynamics (especially tides and entrainment) and water quality (especially salinity in various portions of the Delta). Laboratory experiments have revealed that the swimming behavior of smelt allows them to be modeled as particles, but we do not have time to develop an integrated Delta smelt model before the end of the project.
A variety of work in the Clear Lake Watershed has used core analysis to provide a history of sediment loadings over the past 100 years and new geochemical and environmental magnetic techniques to identify sediment source areas. The latter technique may be applicable to areas throughout the Sacramento Valley, but we will not know until later this summer. Work on mercury loadings, sources, and flows begun at Clear Lake has now been expanded to the entire Sacramento watershed with the assistance of CALFED grants.
GIS activities conducted as part of this project have: (1) greatly improved the stream network base map and the identification of impaired water bodies for the Sacramento Valley and, increasingly, the entire state; (2) identified areas of current riparian vegetation and compared them with riparian-associated soil types, concluding that about 95 percent of "historic" lowland riparian vegetation has been lost; (3) analyzed amphibian declines; and (4) developed databases of land use and pesticide information to be used in the economic analyses.
The economic analysis has split into two parts. First, Marca Weinberg and her students are developing a model relating water supply to cropping patterns, pesticide usage, and nutrient loadings on 8,000 fields in Glenn and Colusa Counties. Second, Jay Lund has (with Richard Howitt) obtained substantial CALFED funding to develop an integrated operations, water supply, and water quality optimization model for all of California (CALVIN). This will be used to look at the effect of various water management options on urban water supplies.
Modeling the Impacts of Various Water Management Options. We are modeling the impact of five different management scenarios on water quality, salmon and striped bass, and agricultural and urban water use. The first two scenarios are drawn from the Central Valley Project Improvement Act, a 1992 federal statute that fundamentally altered the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Central Valley Project. The latter three are drawn from CALFED, the mammoth consensus process involving a wide variety of federal and state agencies and stakeholder groups.
Future Activities:
A number of activities already have been mentioned in the Progress Summary. Some will be completed before the end of this grant, while others await future funding and personnel. The most important work this summer will involve integrating the hydrodynamic-water quality, fishery (both juvenile salmon and striped bass), and economic models, both for the baseline years and for the management scenarios. We plan on holding a "results conference" for our advisory committee and other interested participants in mid-September 2000.
Journal Articles on this Report : 7 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
Other project views: | All 33 publications | 22 publications in selected types | All 17 journal articles |
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Davidson C, Shaffer HB, Jennings MR. Declines of the California red-legged frog: climate, UV-B, habitat, and pesticides hypotheses. Ecological Applications 2001;11(2):464-479. |
R825285 (1999) R825285 (Final) |
Exit |
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Donohoe RM, Yamamoto JT, Ricker KE, Quinn JF. Exposure factor and toxicity data for California wildlife:data availability and sources of uncertainty for ecological risk assessment. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 2000;64(6):834-841. |
R825285 (1999) R825285 (Final) |
Exit |
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Hunter JC, Willett KB, McCoy MC, Quinn JF, Keller KE. Prospects for preservation and restoration of riparian forests in the Sacramento Valley, California, USA. Environmental Management 1999;24(1):65-75. |
R825285 (1999) R825285 (Final) |
Exit |
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Moyle PB. Restoring aquatic ecosystems is a matter of values. California Agriculture 2000;54(2):16-25. |
R825285 (1999) |
not available |
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Rajkumar T, Johnson ML. Neural net analysis of salinity in the Sacramento Bay/Delta system. IEEE 2001;1:329-334. |
R825285 (1999) |
not available |
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Van Lienden BJ, Lund JR. Spatial complexity and reservoir optimization results. Civil and Environmental Engineering Systems 2004;21:1-17. |
R825285 (1999) |
not available |
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Yoshiyama RM, Gerstung ER, Fisher FW, Moyle PB. Chinook salmon in the California Central Valley:an assessment.. Fisheries. 2000;25(2):6-20. |
R825285 (1999) |
not available |
Supplemental Keywords:
watersheds, risk assessment, mercury, aquatic, habitat, public policy, survey, EPA Region IX, CA, agriculture, remote sensing., RFA, Scientific Discipline, Water, Geographic Area, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Water & Watershed, Hydrology, Ecosystem/Assessment/Indicators, Environmental Chemistry, State, Chemistry, Economics, Ecological Effects - Human Health, Ecological Risk Assessment, Watersheds, Mercury, EPA Region, risk assessment, aquatic, fate and transport, Region 9, social impact assessment, stream flows, integrated approach, hydrodynamic water quality model, remote sensing , fisheries, agricultural environment, watershed influences, statistical model, aquatic ecosystems, water quality, ecosystem restoration, water management options, public policy, California (CA)Relevant Websites:
Cathy Lawrence/striped bass:
http://www.itd.ucdavis.edu/
Jay
Lund/economic modeling:
http://cee.engr.ucdavis.edu/faculty/lund/CALVIN
Paul
Sabatier:
http://wpp.ucdavis.edu
Quinn:
http://endeavor.des.ucdavis.edu/geowbs
http://ice.ucdavis.edu
Moyle:
http://wfcb.ucdavis.edu/www/Petermoyle/default.htm
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.