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Proceedings of the Hydrology section of the Annual Meeting of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science. Full text manuscripts of work presented. Research related to water resources, water management, and hydrologic studies primarily focused regionally on southwestern US.

Volume 8. Proceedings of the 1978 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science.

April 14-15, 1978, Flagstaff, Arizona


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Recent Submissions

  • Management Alternatives for Santa Cruz Basin Groundwater

    Foster, K. E.; Office of Arid Lands Studies, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona (Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 1978-04-15)
    Combined urban, agricultural, industrial and mining groundwater withdrawal from the Santa Cruz River Basin exceeds natural aquifer replenishment by 74,000 acre -feet annually. Four ameliorative water management alternatives are presented singly and in combination with one another. These alternatives are importing Colorado River water, exchanging treated effluent with mining and agricultural interests for groundwater, interbasin water transfer, and retiring farmlands for groundwater rights. These management philosophies are applicable to most economically emergent urban areas in arid and semiarid regions.
  • Rising Energy Prices, Water Demand by Peri-Urban Agriculture, and Implications for Urban Water Supply: The Tucson Case

    Ayer, H. W.; Gapp, D. W.; Natural Resource Economics Division, USDA; University of Arizona (Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 1978-04-15)
    The city of Tucson, Arizona, the largest city in the U.S. to meet its water needs entirely from diminishing underground sources, is presently experiencing increasing water rates and the political turmoil associated with those increases. With focus upon this increasingly serious problem, production function analysis and static linear programming are used here to estimate the impact of rising energy prices on farm profits, cropping patterns and irrigation water used in the Avra Valley, a periurban irrigated region adjacent to Tucson, in an effort to evaluate the impact of this community upon Tucson 's municipal water demand. It is concluded that as energy prices increase and land is removed from agricultural production within the Avra Valley, Tucson 's economic position will be bolstered in at least three ways: (1) there will be more water available, (2) the price which the city must pay for farmland in order to gain control of the underlying water should be diminished and the quantity of farmland for sale increased, and (3) with fewer people involved in irrigated agriculture, legal conflicts between competing users will be diminished.
  • Water Quality Problem of the Urban Area in an Arid Environment, Tucson, Arizona

    Hansen, G.; Pima Association of Governments, 208 Water Quality Management Program (Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 1978-04-15)
    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 's two-year 208 area-wide Water Quality Management Study for Pima County, Arizona, is discussed in terms of the specific problems of municipal wastewater effluent, industrial wastewater, urban stormwater runoff, land disposal of residual wastes, septic systems, and construction activities related to the City of Tucson urban area. The primary groundwater and the slow cycling of the hydrologic system in this arid urban environment reduce many water pollution problems to insignificant levels in the short term, (2) there does exist significant long-term pollution problems in the area. These problems include urban stormwater runoff and landfill leachate, and are related to the pollution of groundwater recharge and aquifer water supplies, and (3) there is a strong need for total water resource planning in arid urban areas which includes planning for wastewater reuse, water harvesting, and proper management of groundwater recharge systems.
  • Legal Aspects of Urban Runoff Development

    Chudnoff, D. A.; Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson (Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 1978-04-15)
    The relationships between the separate disciplines of hydrology and law are analysed in this study into how water law and its strictures may impose upon the development of urban runoff in the metropolitan Tucson area. Brief descriptions of the doctrine of appropriation, diffuse surface waters and developed waters are presented to illustrate the complexities of the problem of urban runoff development. It is suggested that planners must not only be aware of the legal issues involved but also must understand the philosophy and principles of water law.
  • Solar Radiation as Indexed by Clouds for Snowmelt Modeling

    McAda, D. P.; Ffolliott, P. F.; School of Renewable Natural Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson (Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 1978-04-15)
    In an effort to improve the methods of forecasting the amount and timing of snowmelt, a primary source of water in Arizona, significant regression equations are developed over a selected measurement period to relate global, direct, and diffuse solar radiation to: (1) the cloud-cover of specific cloud genera, (2) the hour before or after solar noon, and (3) the potential solar radiation. Three regression equations are derived from cloud-cover imagery and solar radiation data collected from two sites in Arizona 's Ponderosa pine forests, Schnebly Hill, and Alpine, in the hope that regression models will be useful in the simulation of snowpack dynamics.
  • A Microroughness Meter for Evaluating Rainwater Infiltration

    Simanton, J. R.; Dixon, R. M.; McGowan, I.; United States Department of Agriculture, Science and Education Administration, Federal Research, Southwest Rangeland Watershed Research Center, Tucson, AZ 85705 (Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 1978-04-15)
    Described is a microroughness meter developed to obtain numerous and accurate measurements of rangeland surface microroughness and characteristics. The meter, which consists of four basic parts: (1) meter base and pin guide, (2) pin lifting support bar and lifting mechanism, (3) 100 vertically moving pins, and (4) stripchart support guide and winding mechanism, was designed to measure soil surface evaluations and characteristics of a 1m2 plot. Performance tests on multi-plot sprinkler infiltrometer studies conducted on the Santa Rita Experimental Range in southeastern Arizona indicated that the meter was accurate and relatively precise in repeating soil surface roughness measurements but was not precise in defining the theoretical characteristics of constructed surfaces. It was concluded, however, that these errors in precision were insignificant and due partly to surface geometry construction errors and that the meter is a convenient, quick, simple and accurate means of measuring surface roughness in studies requiring many plots and data points.
  • Rainfall-Runoff Relationships for a Mountain Watershed in Southern Arizona

    Myhrman, M.; Cluff, C. B.; Putnam, F.; Water Resources Research Center, University of Arizona, Tucson (Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 1978-04-15)
    A network of rain gauges and two recorder -equipped flumes were installed near the head of Cottonwood Canyon on Mt. Hopkins in the Santa Rita Mountains pursuant to a water development study for the Smithsonian Institution's Mt. Hopkins Astrophysical Observatory. The watershed is generally characterized by steep slopes, a dense evergreen woodland cover predominated by several species of oaks, isolated bedrock exposures and talus chutes. The watershed for the lower flume site comprises about 145 acres (58.60 ha) with an elevation range from about 6775 to 8580 feet (2,065 to 2,615 m). Rainfall-runoff measurements were made during the summer and fall of 1977. A runoff efficiency of 0.56 percent was calculated for the lower-flume watershed. However, since physical evidence of surface flow was found only in side drainages receiving runoff from culverts located along the Mt. Hopkins access road, a second calculation was made, using only the total area of contributing road surface as the watershed area. This yielded a runoff efficiency of 27.0 percent. The latter value, adjusted for infiltration on the slopes below the culverts, agrees well with measured efficiencies for compacted-earth water harvesting catchments. Based on the above, recommendations were made for developing a water supply system using the access road, modified to increase its effectiveness, as a water harvesting system and having two surface reservoirs for storage. A computer model was used to test the capability of the system to meet the projected water needs of the observatory.
  • Geomorphic Features Affecting Transmission Loss Potential

    Wallace, D. E.; Lane, L. J.; Southwest Watershed Research Center, Tucson, Arizona 85705 (Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 1978-04-15)
    Water yield studies and flood control surveys often necessitate estimating transmission losses from ungaged watersheds. There is an immediate need for an economical method that provides the required accuracy. Analysis of relations between stream order, drainage area, and volume of channel alluvium existing in the various orders is one means of estimating loss potential. Data needed for the stream order survey are taken from aerial photos. Stream order is analyzed using stereophoto maps. Stream lengths taken from the maps are combined with average channel width and depth data (determined by prior surveys) to estimate volumes of alluvium involved. The volume of channel alluvium in a drainage network is directly related to the stream order number of its channels. Thus, a volume of alluvium within a drainage network (with a known transmission loss potential) may be estimated by knowing the order of each length of channel and the drainage areas involved. In analyzing drainage areas of 56-mi² or less, 70 to 75 percent of the total drainage network length is contained within first and second order channels; yet, these constitute less than 10 percent of the total transmission loss potential of the areas. Analysis of stream order and drainage area versus volume of alluvium relations allows preliminary estimates of transmission loss potential to be made for ungaged areas.
  • Water Quality of Runoff from Surface Mined Lands in Northern Arizona

    Kempf, J.; Leonhart, L.; Fogel, M.; Duckstein, L.; Department of Systems and Industrial Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson; School of Renewable Natural Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson (Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 1978-04-15)
    Surface mining of coal in the western U.S. can cause problems of increased salinity and heavy metal contamination in runoff along with a lack of enough rainfall to sustain plant growth for reclamation. To facilitate the planning of reclamation efforts in such areas results are described of a water quality sampling experiment on the ponds and runoff at the University of Arizona Experimental Watershed on Black Mesa in northern Arizona. A systems theoretic framework is employed to model the watershed and the results of a computer simulation based on this model is used to indicate that salinity buildup could be expected over time, given a minimal change in watershed configuration, with possible development of fluoride contamination being of particular concern. Water quality tests of the pond water and runoff on Black Mesa indicated that the water is within Federal standards for drinking and irrigation, except for sodium and fluoride. It is suggested that if it is economically desirable, the collection of more data on the ponds could be used to develop a simulation model of pond subsystems along the lines of the methodology outlined in this analysis.
  • The Effects on Water Quality by Mining Activity in the Miami, Arizona Region

    Young, D. W.; Clark, R. B.; Arizona State Land Department, Water Rights Division, Phoenix, Arizona (Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 1978-04-15)
    Intensive strip and leach mining activity within a confined region usually causes environmental impacts both on the land and on water quality. Adverse water quality effects could be realized long after any mining activity has ceased due to the continuous leaching by precipitation of contaminants from spoils piles and leach dumps. The Miami, Arizona region is unique in its surface and subsurface hydrology. Two unconnected aquifers underlay the region with both serving as domestic (private and municipal) and industrial (mining) supply sources. The shallow floodplain alluvial aquifer is hydraulically connected to surface drainage from mine tailings and leach dumps. Several wells drawing from this aquifer have been abandoned as a municipal supply source due to severe water quality degradation. Water quality in these wells varies directly with precipitation indicating a correlation between surface drainage over and through tailings and leach piles. Expansion of spoils dumps into natural recharge pathways of the deeper Gila Conglomerate aquifer has raised concern that this aquifer may also be subjected to a long term influx of mine pollutants. Questions have also been raised concerning the potential effects of a proposed in situ leaching operation on the water quality of the conglomerate aquifer.
  • Effect of Algal Growth and Dissolved Oxygen on Redox Potentials in Soil Flooded with Secondary Sewage Effluent

    Gilvert, R. G.; Rice, R. C.; U. S. Water Conservation Laboratory, Science and Education Administration-FR, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Phoenix, Arizona 85040 (Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 1978-04-15)
    Algal growth and oxygen evolution at the soil -water interface of soil recharge basins intermittently flooded with secondary sewage effluent (SSE) produced diurnal fluxes in dissolved oxygen (DO) in the SSE and redox potentials (Eh) in the SSE and the surface soil of the basin. The maximum daily DO-% saturation in the SSE during flooding ranged from 30 to 450 %, depending on the length of flooding and seasonal effects of temperature and solar radiation. Diurnal cycles of Eh in the SSE and the top 0 to 2 cm of soil indicated that oxygen production by algae and bacterial nitrifying and denitrifying reactions at the soil-water interface are occurring daily for limited periods during flooding and that these reactions might contribute to the net-N removal and renovation of SSE by soil filtration.
  • Salvaging Wasted Waters for Desert-Household Gardening

    Fink, D. H.; Ehrler, W. L.; U. S. Water Conservation Laboratory, Phoenix, Arizona 85040 (Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 1978-04-15)
    With the objective of determining if sufficient water would be salvaged by a typical desert, urban-household from normally wasted sources associated with the lot and household to adequately irrigate a garden and orchard, a 2000 sq ft house on a typical one fifth acre lot in three cities having climates similar to Phoenix, Tucson, or Prescott, Arizona was hypothesized and the amount of water available for yard watering calculated, provided that (1) only rainfall was available, (2) rainfall-runoff from covered areas associated with or adjacent to the lot was salvaged (roof, street, alley etc.), (3) gray-water from the household was utilized, (4) a portion of the lot was waterproofed to concentrate the runoff on the untreated portion, and (5) various combinations of the above were utilized to increase the amount of available water. It is demonstrated that these sources could be used singly or in combination to obtain the required amount of water with the actual amount available depending upon the precipitation, runoff and runon areas, runoff efficiency of the contributing area, and the number of people in the household. A number of horticultural plants are suggested that should best fit such an irregular irrigation scheme.
  • Current and Forecasted Water Consumption Patterns of Arizona Second-Home Owners

    Bond, M. E.; Dunikoski, R. H.; Bureau of Business and Economic Research (Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 1978-04-15)
  • Wastewater Effluent - An Element of Total Water Resource Planning

    Goff, J. D.; Boyle Engineering Corporation, Phoenix Brance Office (Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 1978-04-15)
    Wastewater reuse options for the Phoenix area include: agricultural irrigation, fish and wildlife enhancement, ground water recharge, industrial processing and coiling water, recreation, cooling water for power generation stations, and exchanging effluent for additional water supplies. Consideration is given to effluent reuse potential as a commodity to exchange for water suitable for domestic water supply. This exchange would result in yet additional reuses of the water as title to the effluent could be assured by contracts and agreements.
  • Wastewater Reuse - How Viable is It? Another Look

    Chase, W. L.; Fulton, J.; Phoenix Urban Study, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers; Phoenix Office of Stevens, Thompson, and Runyan, Inc. (Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 1978-04-15)
    Even though the Phoenix Metropolitan Area is more fortunate than other areas of the desert southwest because of the dependable Salt and Verde River supplies, they still have water problems. The Central Arizona Project (CAP), which will bring water from the Colorado River, will help those problems. But the CAP will not eliminate them. Improved water resource management will be required to bring water supply and demand back into balance. A key element of any successful water resource management program must be wastewater reuse. The communities are studying reuse through their 208 water quality program and while they are discovering that many opportunities exist they are also discovering that there are also many problems to be solved.
  • Heavy Metals & Wastewater Reuse

    Higgins, T. E.; Department of Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe (Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 1978-04-15)
    Water shortages in the Western United States have intensified the search for new sources. Wastewater reuse is being increasingly called upon to augment existing supplies. One potential impediment to the continued expansion of wastewater reuse efforts is the accumulation of toxic heavy metals and other salts in the recycled water. Conventional and advanced wastewater treatment effect the removal of a portion of the heavy metals added during use. Removal is by chemical precipitation and adsorption and disposed of with the sludges. Potential uses of treated wastewater effluents include irrigation and groundwater recharge. Care must be taken to prevent contamination of groundwater, especially since existing wells have been reported to have concentrations of heavy metals in excess of drinking water standards. Percolation of wastewaters through soils (especially fine soils) results in a reduction in heavy metal concentrations. It is postulated that removal of these metals is by a combination of chemical precipitation with filtration of the precipitates, and adsorption on soil particles (thus the effectiveness of fine soils). Long term saturation of the soils with heavy metals may result in a "breakthrough" contamination of the groundwater. A predictive model of heavy metal-wastewater-soil interactions is proposed to aid in the design and regulation of wastewater reuse systems to eliminate or minimize this problem.
  • Ephemeral Flow and Water Quality Problems: A Case Study of the San Pedro River in Southeastern Arizona

    Keith, S. J.; Department of Hydrology and Water Resources Administration, University of Arizona, Tucson (Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 1978-04-15)
    Discontinuous water quality data for the San Pedro River in southeastern Arizona is analyzed to illustrate the nature of water quality problems of ephemeral flow. The San Pedro drains a northerly-trending basin of 4,483 square miles, of which 696 are in Mexico and 3,787 in Arizona. Several questions arise in the consideration of a rational management plan: what is the necessity for protection of ephemeral flow quality when the channel consists of a dry wash much of the year, where there is little aquatic or wildlife to protect, and where occasional flow during flood conditions is put to little use by humans; and where and how do we use the ephemeral flow it is indeed decided to utilize it. Such questions as these form the basis of this discussion in an effort to bring out the point that water quality problems of ephemeral flow in arid areas differ from those in the humid zone. It is argued that in between the extremes of prohibiting or treating all runoff or eliminating all sources of pollution, there is actually little that can be done to control all sources of pollution in this typical arid stream, despite the fact that standards, for the most part unattainable, have been set for this flow.
  • A Sediment Yield Equation from an Erosion Simulation Model

    Shirley, E. D.; Lane, L. J.; Southwest Watershed Research Center, Tucson, Arizona 85705 (Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 1978-04-15)
    Sediment is widely recognized as a significant pollutant affecting water quality. To assess the impact of land use and management practices upon sediment yield from upland areas, it is necessary to predict erosion and sediment yield as functions of runoff, soil characteristics such as erodibility, and watershed characteristics. The combined runoff-erosion process on upland areas was modeled as overland flow on a plane, with rill and interrill erosion. Solutions to the model were previously obtained for sediment concentration in overland flow, and the combined runoff-erosion model was tested using observed runoff and sediment data. In this paper, the equations are integrated to produce a relationship between volume of runoff and total sediment yield for a given storm. The sediment yield equation is linear in runoff volume, but nonlinear in distance and, thus, watershed area. Parameters of the sediment yield equation include the hydraulic resistance parameter, rill and interrill erodibility terms, and flow depth-detachment coefficient and exponent.
  • Simple Time-Power Functions for Rainwater Infiltration and Runoff

    Dixon, R. M.; Simanton, J. R.; Lane, L. J.; Science and Education Administration, Southwest Rangeland Watershed Research Center, Tucson, AZ 85705 (Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 1978-04-15)
    The equations of Darcy, Kostiakov, Ostashev, Philip, and four modified Philip equations were evaluated for use in predicting and controlling rainwater infiltration and rainfall excess in crop and rangelands. These eight equations were least- square fitted to data from ring, border-irrigation, closed-top, and sprinkling infiltrometers. Kostiakov's equation satisfied the evaluation criteria better than the other seven equations. The parameters of Kostiakov's equation were physically interpreted by relating their magnitudes to some physical, biological, and hydraulic characteristics of the infiltration system. These characteristics included several infiltration abatement and augmentation processes and factors that are controlled at the soil surface by land management practices. The eight equations were also fitted to rainfall data to permit calculating runoff from small surface areas about the size of a typical crop plant. Comparison of the regression curves for infiltration and rainfall suggested that land management practices that appropriately alter the soil surface will permit wide-range control of infiltration, runoff, and erosion; and thereby achieve conservation and more efficient use of soil and water resources for crop production. The most important soil surface conditions affecting infiltration were microroughness, macroporosity, plant litter, and effective surface head.

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