US Army Corps of Engineers

BUILDING STRONG®

Unimpaired Flow Development for Black Warrior River Basin

2012 Alabama Water Conference

Orange Beach, AL

Sept. 05, 2012

By Yi Zhang, Joseph Black and James E. Hathorn

BUILDING STRONG®2

Contents

Background and Objective Task and methodology UIF development process and results Summary

BUILDING STRONG®

Background Importance of The Black Warrior River system

► Very important multi-use water resource in the State of Alabama that supports flood control, hydropower, navigation, water supply, recreation, and environmental purposes for local, state and national benefit.

Three significant entities: USACE, APC and BWWB► Play important roles to manage and supply water to over 600,000 customers in this steadily

growing area.

Previous studies► 1994, Black Warrior Headwater Section 22 Study, 1929-1994 (monthly)► 2004, APC modified the Section 22 study data 1940 – 1993 (daily)► 2007, Malcolm Pirnie Study 1928-2007 (monthly)

Need to continually evaluate the availability of water► to ensure that competing uses are appropriately balanced to meet user needs currently and in

future► Increasing usage in past 15 years ► Experienced several significant periods of low precipitation and low flow in the Basin.

Mutual interest between USACE and BWWB► To develop a more up-to-date streamflow dataset for current and future water resource and

consumptive use assessment

3

BUILDING STRONG®

Objective

Develop daily unimpaired flow data set► Extend from Oliver L&D to headwaters of Black

Warrior River► Continuous period of record adequate for;

determining system critical period, yield and storage utilization, confidence in estimated lake levels and instream flow statistics and useful to asses water supply reliability management alternatives

► Consistent with overall modeling objectives and methods agreed to by Corps and the Board

4

BUILDING STRONG®

Tasks

Task 1. Coordinated development of time-series data development, selection of control points and period of record (POR).

Task 2. Measurement and hindcasting of historical water withdrawals and discharges for the POR,

Task 3. Determination of reservoir effects, i.e. pre-and post-reservoir net evaporation/runoff, holdouts and releases from storage,

Task 4. Filling and routing of recorded streamflow data to produce continuous observed flow time series for the POR at control points, and

Task 5. Derivation of daily historical unimpaired cumulative flow (UCF) and unimpaired incremental flow (UIF) time series for all control points included in the operational models.

5

BUILDING STRONG®

Data Management Utilities

HEC-DSS database►Original►Final

Establish naming convention Excel for metadata ftp site for data transfer

6

BUILDING STRONG®

Time Resolution & Period of Record

Daily resolution► Daily time series of unimpaired flow

Period of Record► Develop unimpaired flow from1940 to 2009

• Most gages have complete record from 1940• Complete water use data up to 2009

7

BUILDING STRONG®

Spatial Extent of study area

8

Oliver L&D upstream to• Manchester on Blackwater Creek• Smith Lake on Sipsey Fork• Garden City on Mulberry Fork• Cleveland on Locust Fork• Inland Lake on Blackburn Fork• Tributaries of wastewater return

21 basic nodes. 4 reservoirs 6 USGS gage nodes 6 confluence node

Cleveland 1

Trafford 3

Turkey Creek 4

Sayre 5

Five Mile Creek 6

Village Creek 7

Village Ck. WWTP 20

Valley Creek 8

Valley Ck. WWTP 21 Bessemer Intake

Garden City 9 Smith 10

Sipsey Intake

Sipsey 11

Manchester 12

Cordova 13

Mulberry Fork Intake

Bankhead 15

Gorgas SP Intake

Miller SP Intake

Holt 16

Oliver 17

Holt Intake

Gage Nodes

Confluence Nodes & Other Nodes

Reservoir Nodes

Note:

Mulberry Fork 14 14

WWTP Nodes

BUILDING STRONG®

Detailed Methodology Unimpaired flows are defined in this study as historically observed

flows with human influences removed:► Water use inventory and hindcast► Reservoir effects► Streamflow gap filling and routing► Unimpaired flow derivation

9

Water Use Inventory:

• Current water use

• Water use hindcasting

Reservoir Effects:

• Net evaporation

• Reservoir holdout

Streamflow gap fill-in:

• Reference gages

• Correlation

Streamflow Routing:

• Muskingum

• Route to downstream

Unimpaired Flow:

• Incremental UIF

• Cumulative UIF

Unimpaired Flow Adjustment:

• Smoothing

• Negative adjustment

BUILDING STRONG®

Water Use Inventory and Hindcast

Collect measured water use data including withdrawals and returns for various water uses from different sources:

► Alabama Office of Water Resources (OWR) provided water withdrawal data► EPA and ADEM provided water return data

Compilation, aggregation and hindcasting of historical daily/monthly municipal, agricultural, and industrial water withdrawals, wastewater returns, and net consumption in each reach (between each control point).

Include all major users of 5 mgd or greater in the data set (withdrawals). Include where readily available, minor users from 0.1-5 mgd (withdrawals). Include all major returns of 1 mgd or greater in the data (return) Include where readily available, minor users from 0.1-1 mgd in the return

data.

10

BUILDING STRONG®

Major Water Withdrawals

11

BUILDING STRONG®

Minor Water Withdrawals

12

BUILDING STRONG®

Major Water Discharges

13

BUILDING STRONG®

Minor Water Discharges

14

BUILDING STRONG®

Lists of Water Withdrawals and Returns for Each Reach

15

BUILDING STRONG®

Hindcast of Historical Water Uses Hindcasting of historical water uses for each reach from 1993 to

1940 based on historical trend of :► County-level water uses from USGS and Alabama Geological Survey water use reports

(ALGS).► State-wide water use (when county-level water uses are not available)► Population (when either county-level or state-level water uses are not available)

16

BUILDING STRONG®

Reach Aggregated Water Uses Aggregate withdrawals, returns and net uses by reach Add historical water use hindcast to get period of record water use

17

1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

Flo

w (

mg

d)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

CORDOVA REACH-TOT FLOW-DIV NET SW-MGD

CORDOVA REACH-TOT-OBS FLOW-DIV RET SW-MGD

CORDOVA REACH-TOT-OBS FLOW-DIV WD SW-MGD

BUILDING STRONG®

Reservoir Effects

Collect the following related data, as available:► Daily or monthly agency-calculated reservoir inflows, outflows and pool elevations at Inland Lake,

Lewis Smith Lake, Bankhead Lake, and Holt Lake from agencies including USGS, Mobile District USACE, APC, and the Board;

► Daily or monthly lockage volumes and/or pit dump counts at Bankhead and Holt Locks from Mobile District USACE; and

► Daily or monthly pan and/or adjusted free-surface evaporation rates, mean areal precipitation data, and runoff coefficients in and around the Basin;

► Reservoir regulation manuals and water control operating rules and guidelines from APC, Mobile District USACE, and the Board.

Estimate net reservoir releases from storage and calculate reservoir holdouts based on reservoir elevation;

Compile evaporation and net evaporation data for each reservoir, as appropriate; and

Estimate difference between pre- and post-reservoir net evaporation (evaporation minus precipitation) and runoff.

18

BUILDING STRONG®

Streamflow Gap Filling Collection of gaged streamflow records from USGS and Mobile District; Identification of streamflow gaps for each gage; Identification of reference gage(s) and location(s);

19

1900 1910

Bankhead

Holt

Oliver (Northport)

Sipsey

Garden City

Falls City

Arley

Smith

Jasper

1960 1970

Manchester

1980 1990 2000 20101920 1930 1940 1950

Cordova

Cleveland

Trafford

Sayre

BUILDING STRONG®

Streamflow Filling - continue

Time shifting or hydrologic routing and back-routing if necessary for reference gage or target gage;

Establish correlation between reference gage or target gage by using following statistical methods:

► Maintenance of variance extension Type 2 (MOVE2)► Ordinary least-square regression► Multiple linear regression► Power equation► Drainage area ratio

Compare correlation results by different reference gages and different methods and select most suitable reference gage and method for gap filling.

20

Observed

Observed

Concurrent period

Date 1

Date 2

Date 3

Observed

Extended period

Period to be filled

BUILDING STRONG®

Flow Routing - Muskingum Routing Equation

21

Equation:

O2 = C1 I2 + C2 I1 + C3 O1

Where

O = rate of outflow from the routing reach(cfs)

I = rate of inflow in the routing reach(cfs)

K = travel time of the floodwave through the reach (hours)

X = dimentionless weighting factor

BUILDING STRONG®

Developing Muskingum K and X

22

Estimate travel time K from upstream and downstream hydrographs. With estimated K, assume a value of X (calibration parameter). Route observed upstream hydrographs to the downstream gaged-

location Compare routed result to the downstream observed hydrograph.

Routed hydrograph should contained within observed downstream hydrograph.

The difference between two hydrographs is an estimate of the local inflow

Flow

Local Inflow

Time

X=0.0 X=0.5

Inflow

Flow

BUILDING STRONG®

Muskingum Routing Parameters

23

Black Warrior River Travel TimesRouting Locations Travel Time Distance

From to hours milesCleveland Trafford 10-12 29.2Trafford Sayre 11-14 31.2Sayre Bankhead 18-25 49.5Manchester Cordova 6-12 26.3Smith Lake Cordova 6-12 27.5Garden City Cordova 12-18 45.3Cordova Bankhead 16-20 49Bankhead Holt <7 18.9Holt Oliver <6 9.3

Black Warrior River Muskingum Routing K and XRouting Locations Travel Time K X

From to hoursCleveland Trafford 12 0Trafford Sayre 13 0.07Sayre Bankhead 20 0.2Manchester Cordova 12 0Smith Lake Cordova 12 0Garden City Cordova 16 0.2Cordova Bankhead 18 0.2Bankhead Holt No routingHolt Oliver No routing

BUILDING STRONG®

Unimpaired Flow Derivation

Calculation of local (reach) incremental flows for the selected POR:

► Subtract routed upstream node cumulative filled/routed flows from adjacent downstream node cumulative filled/routed flows

Calculation of local (reach) incremental unimpaired flows for the selected POR:

► Add reach-aggregated net water use► Add net reach-aggregated reservoir effects not included in filling and routing computations, if

applicable

Calculation of cumulative unimpaired flows for the selected POR:

► Route UIF in upstream node to downstream node and combine local UIF

24

BUILDING STRONG®

Unimpaired Flow Adjustment

Smoothing of unimpaired flows► 3-day, 5 day and 7-day smoothing

Adjustments to local unimpaired flows:► Removal of negative incremental flows:

• A volumetric technique will be employed for localized elimination of negative local flows by variable-duration centered moving averaging of adjacent time-step flows until a non-negative result is achieved, with no alteration of flow volume over the averaging period.

• Monthly mean flow volume adjustment• Annual mean flow volume adjustment• Period of record (POR) mean flow volume adjustment

► Unimpaired flow consistency checking and quality control:• Manual observed data adjustments• Observed and unimpaired flow-duration analysis• Single and double mass analysis• Trend analysis

25

BUILDING STRONG®

Summary

Incremental and cumulative unimpaired flows were developed for Black Warrior River Basin above Oliver L&D;

Development process included streamflow gap filling and routing, water use inventory and historical water use hindcasting, reservoir effect calculation, local incremental flow and unimpaired flow and cumulative unimpaired flow calculation;

Smoothing and adjustments were implemented to reduce or remove negative incremental flows;

QA/QC was implemented to ensure unimpaired flow consistency and quality control

26

BUILDING STRONG®

Thanks

Birmingham Water Works Board (BWWB) for their full supports ARCADIS Inc. – discussions and quality control Alabama Office of Water Resources – Water withdrawal data EPA – waster water discharge(return) data Alabama Dept. of Environmental Management (ADEM) - waster water

discharge(return) data

27

BUILDING STRONG®

Questions?

28