This paper reviews the early and recent history of the relations between water planning and economic development in the West and Bureau of Reclamation activities. The objectives of Bureau development projects have shifted from the agrarian egalitarian goals of the past to provision of municipal and industrial water and power and recreation and othe benefits as the relative benefits to agriculture have declined. The economic efficiency requirements, the environmental movement, and the concommittent comprehensive planning requirements imposed on Federal projects have resulted in the challenge to development which the Bureau currently faces. Bureau supporters come primarily from states that wish to confirm water rights and receive agricultural subsidies in the form of cheap water. The development of vast energy resources and population growth may, however, provide new bases for a resurgence of the engineering solutions of the bureau to water scarcity and allocation problems in the West.
The U.S. Geological Survey Federal-State Cooperative Water Resource Program is a partnership between the Geological Survey and State and local agencies for the collection of the hydrologic information needed for the continuing determination and evaluation of the quantity, quality, and use of the Nation's water resources. The first Cooperative Program was started in 1895; the Congress gave formal recognition to the partnership in 1928 and authorized Federal funding of not more than 50 percent for cooperative programs with the Geological Survey, with total funding over $80 million. The process of project selection in the Cooperative Water Resource Program is a mutual effort in which Geological Survey represents national interests, including the needs of other Federal agencies, and the cooperator represents State and local interests. The result is a balanced program that involves careful evaluation of needs, priorities, and resources. A number of typical examples of projects within the Cooperative Program are presented.
The Water Resources Council has issued a set of guidelines for determining flood frequency at gaged locations. The need for such guidelines is examined. Application of these guidelines in the Susquehanna River basin has shown the following problem areas: regional skew coefficient map, detection and treatment of outliers, weighting of station and regional estimates, and a lack of specific recommendations regarding the expected probability adjustment. Some possible changes to the guidelines in order to solve these problems are considered.
An optimization model has been developed for determining the minimum cost, size, and location of detention basins for urban watersheds. This model is based on dynamic programming and can handle any arbitrary arrangement of candidate detention basin locations and sizes. The detention system representation uses the concept of iso-drainage lines. Flood routing procedures for channel routing and detention basin routing are incorporated into the dynamic programing model. An example application is given for illustration of the model.
A statistical method of determining installed capacity and energy yield of potential small-scale hydropower sites is explored. Thirty watersheds with existing reservoirs were selected for this study from several hydrologic regions. A hydropower estimation model is developed. It is shown that by relating hydropower potential to watershed characteristics other than streamflow, estimates can be made with reasonable accuracy using a stepwise multiple regression model. Potential applications of the model are identified.
Twelve representative methods for environmental assessment are described, evaluated, and compared in terms the following seven evaluation criteria: treatment of the probabilistic nature of environmental quality, incorporation of indirect and feedback effects, dynamic characteristics, multiple-objectives approach to social welfare, clear separation of facts and values, facilitation of participation, efficiency in resource and time requirements.
The role of water resource planning and regulation in the management of growth in South Florida during the past decade has been to provide for orderly, directed growth that is consistent with resource limitations and local government plans and decisions. Potentially large quantities of potable water are available, and drainage problems can usually be overcome with effective engineering. These factors limit the effectiveness of managing growth by water resource constaints alone. The South Florida Water Management District's authority to regulate water use and drainage has affected, to some degree, the magnitude, distribution and timing of urban development by requiring new development to meet reasonable standards of flood protection, resource impact, and environmental protection. The district's philosophy during the past decade has been to support local government growth management efforts by coordinating plans and regulatory actions and by providing a mechanism for local land use decision makers to understand the water management implications of their decision prior to making it.
Problems associated with maintaining and replacing water supply distribution systems are reviewed. Some of these problems are associated with public health, economic and spatial development of the community, and costs of repair and replacement of system components. A repair frequency analysis has been completed for distribution system maintenance events (leaks and breaks). The economic implication of various replacement strategies and the effect of water quality (corrosivity) on water loss and system cost are examined. This analysis is based on the data acquired from tne large (260 mgd; 11.39 m³/s) and one smaller (20 mgd; 0.88 m³/s) water utility. As this study shows, once a length of pipe begins to require maintenance, its maintenance rate increases exponentially. Maintenance costs soon exceed the costs of replacement. Therefore establishing a timely maintenance and replacement program is extremely important from an economic and public health viewpoint.
Computer programs and mathematical methods have been developed to model long term week-to-week variations in water level, discharge and electrical generation for the 42 reservoirs operated by TVA. The model has an interactive structure with CRT graphics for easy use by TVA reservoir management personnel to evaluate the impact of new operating requirements on established objectives, check reservoir system status to warn of possible future problems, forecast reservoir systems operation and develop new long range operation guides. Notable features of the model include: (1) the observation of important system operating constraints and priorities, (2) extreme event analysis capability, (3) a special linear programming structure that provides the flexibility to modify operating objectives and experiment with new types of long range efficiency guides, and (4) interactive CRT graphical output analysis.
Techniques for determining the yield of multireservoir water supply systems have been developed and applied to the system that serves the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area (WMA). This system is composed of the Potomac and Patuxent River Basins and five reservoirs which lie in these basins. The yield of each reservoir in the system was determined using simulation models. Simulation and linear programming models were developed to determine the yield of the reservoir system when operated jointly with the Potomac River. Linear programming models were developed which incorporated projected water demands and limitations on the distribution and treatment capacities of the agencies that supply water to the WMA. These models were used to determine the regional demand that can be met. A multiobjective analysis was made of the potential tradeoffs between conflicting water uses on the basin. The models indicate that the yield which results from the proper joint operation of the system is significantly greater than the yield of the individual components of the system.
The hydraulic design of highway bridges entails the evaluation of flood hazard associated with a proposed bridge structure and the determination of socio-environmental effects of the bridge project. A procedure for treating hydrologic uncertainties is incorporated into an optimization framework to develop the optimal risk-based design of the bridge openings and the embankment heights that minimizes the total expected cost. The optimization technique used is called Hooke-Jeeves pattern search. The procedure to determine the optimal bridge design is applied to Leaf River, Mississippi. The effect of using different procedures for hydrogic parameter estimation and the effect of using different hydrologic probability models on the optimal design are examined.
Municipal water requirements are directly related to population whereas industrial demands are related to the level and type of industrial activity. The emphasis on domestic energy production will exert a strong influence on future industrial water demands. The most critical water using regions for mining will be the western regions. Anticipated conservation measures will have a significant impact on water savings in the industrial sector where much conservation can be expected through process changes, recirculation, and several emerging technologies. Water utility planners who forecast the raw water storage volume need to consider the combined effects of anticipated population rise, industrial mix and its likely growth, and the probable savings due to conservation. The material presents some guidelines together with regional tables in an attempt to provide a framework to aid in the estimation of the present and future municipal and industrial water requirements in the western United States.
Cleaning and relining of water transmission lines is economical if the costs are less than the savings in energy and pumping capacity which occur because of the increased carrying capacity of the pipe. Criteria are developed to determine if it is economical to clean and reline a pipe for two cases: (1) Flow not significantly changed by rehabilitation of pipe; or (2) system is looped so that change in carrying capacity significantly changes flow. The decision depends on the cost to clean and reline the pipe, the price of energy, the incremental cost of pumping capacity, the peak and average flow in the pipe, the nominal diameter, the interest rate, the year in which the pumping eguipment will be upgraded or replaced, and the Hazen-Williams C factor before and after rehabilitation. A sensitivity analysis of several of the variables is presented.
