Implications of water management representations for watershed hydrologic modeling in the Yakima River Basin

Abstract. Water management substantially alters natural regimes of streamflow through modifying retention time and water exchanges among different components of the terrestrial water cycle. Accurate simulation of water cycling in intensively managed watersheds, such as the Yakima River Basin (YRB) in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S., faces challenges in reliably characterizing influences of management practices (e.g., reservoir operation and cropland irrigation) on the watershed hydrology. Using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model, we evaluated streamflow simulations in the YRB based on different reservoir operation and irrigation schemes. Simulated streamflow with the reservoir operation scheme optimized by the RiverWare model better reproduced measured streamflow than the simulation using default SWAT reservoir operation scheme. Scenarios with irrigation practices demonstrated higher water losses through evapotranspiration (ET), and matched benchmark data better than the scenario that only considered reservoir operations. Results of this study highlight the importance of reliably representing reservoir operations and irrigation management for credible modeling of watershed hydrology. Both SWAT and RiverWare are community-based and have been widely tested and applied for reservoir operations and agricultural watershed modeling in regions across the globe. As such, the methods and findings presented here hold the promise to apply to other intensively managed watersheds to enhance water resources assessment.

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Implications of water management representations for watershed hydrologic modeling in the Yakima River basin

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences ◽

10.5194/hess-23-35-2019 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 23 (1) ◽

pp. 35-49 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Jiali Qiu ◽

Qichun Yang ◽

Xuesong Zhang ◽

Maoyi Huang ◽

Jennifer C. Adam ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

River Basin ◽

Reservoir Operation ◽

Management Practices ◽

Swat Model ◽

Irrigation Management ◽

Watershed Hydrology ◽

Reservoir Operations ◽

Yakima River ◽

Intensively Managed

Abstract. Water management substantially alters natural regimes of streamflow through modifying retention time and water exchanges among different components of the terrestrial water cycle. Accurate simulation of water cycling in intensively managed watersheds, such as the Yakima River basin (YRB) in the Pacific Northwest of the US, faces challenges in reliably characterizing influences of management practices (e.g., reservoir operation and cropland irrigation) on the watershed hydrology. Using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model, we evaluated streamflow simulations in the YRB based on different reservoir operation and irrigation schemes. Simulated streamflow with the reservoir operation scheme optimized by the RiverWare model better reproduced measured streamflow than the simulation using the default SWAT reservoir operation scheme. Scenarios with irrigation practices demonstrated higher water losses through evapotranspiration (ET) and matched benchmark data better than the scenario that only considered reservoir operations. Results of this study highlight the importance of reliably representing reservoir operations and irrigation management for credible modeling of watershed hydrology. The methods and findings presented here hold promise to enhance water resources assessment that can be applied to other intensively managed watersheds.

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Development of SWAT-Paddy for Simulating Lowland Paddy Fields

10.20944/preprints201611.0024.v2 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Ryota Tsuchiya ◽

Tasuku Kato ◽

Jaehak Jeong ◽

Jeffrey G. Arnold

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Swat Model ◽

Irrigation Management ◽

Soil Layer ◽

Infiltration Rate ◽

Agricultural Watershed ◽

Paddy Fields ◽

Agricultural Watersheds ◽

Discharge Rates ◽

Paddy Cultivation

Recent increase in global consumption of rice led to increased demand for sustainable water management in paddy cultivation. In this study, we propose an enhanced paddy simulation module in the SWAT model to evaluate sustainability of paddy cultivation. Enhancements added to SWAT are: 1) to modify water balance calculation for impounded fields, 2) to add an irrigation management option for paddy fields, which is characterized by flood irrigation with target water depth, and 3) to add puddling operation that influences water quality and infiltration rate of top soil layer. In a case study, the enhanced model, entitled SWAT-Paddy, was applied to an agricultural watershed in Japan. Results showed that the SWAT-Paddy successfully represents paddy cultivation, water management, and discharge processes. Simulated daily discharge rates with SWAT-PADDY (R2=0.8) were superior to SWAT2012 result (R2=0.002). SWAT-Paddy allows simulating paddy management processes realistically and thus, can enhance model accuracy in paddy-dominant agricultural watersheds.

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Comments to "Implications of water management representations for watershed hydrologic modeling in the Yakima River Basin"

10.5194/hess-2018-299-rc4 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Anonymous

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

River Basin ◽

Hydrologic Modeling ◽

Yakima River

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Development of SWAT-PADDY for Simulating Lowland Paddy Fields

10.20944/preprints201611.0024.v1 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Ryota Tsuchiya ◽

Tasuku Kato ◽

Jaehak Jeong

Keyword(s):

Water Balance ◽

Management Practices ◽

Swat Model ◽

Irrigation Management ◽

Agricultural Watershed ◽

Paddy Fields ◽

Balance Model ◽

Return Flow ◽

Modified Model ◽

Paddy Cultivation

The consumption of rice, which recently increases globally, leads to requirement for planning sustainable water management for paddy cultivation. In this research, SWAT model was modified to evaluate sustainability of paddy cultivation. Modifications to simulate paddy cultivation are 1) to equip with a new water balance model of impounded fields, 2) to add an irrigation management option for paddy fields, which is characterized by flood irrigation managed by farmers on a daily basis, 3) to consider puddling operation that influences water quality and infiltration rate of soil. The enhanced model, named SWAT-PADDY, was applied to an agricultural watershed in Japan as a case study. The modified model succeeded in representing paddy cultivation in the study area. However, SWAT-PADDY underestimated base flow in irrigation period. The cause of this is inferred that the modified model doesn’t represent return flow of excess withdrawal of river water. In conclusion, addition of the models of impoundment and management practices in paddy fields to SWAT improved field scale simulation of water balance and irrigation in paddy fields. However, further improvement of the model on irrigation return flow process is needed to better predict hydrology of watersheds dominated by paddy irrigation.

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Development of SWAT-Paddy for Simulating Lowland Paddy Fields

10.20944/preprints201611.0024.v3 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Ryota Tsuchiya ◽

Tasuku Kato ◽

Jaehak Jeong ◽

Jeffrey G. Arnold

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Irrigation Management ◽

Soil Layer ◽

Infiltration Rate ◽

Agricultural Watershed ◽

Paddy Fields ◽

Agricultural Watersheds ◽

Discharge Rates ◽

Paddy Cultivation

The recent increase in global consumption of rice has led to increased demand for sustainable water management in paddy cultivation. In this study, we propose an enhanced paddy simulation module to be introduced to Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to evaluate the sustainability of paddy cultivation. The enhancements added to SWAT include: (1) modification of water balance calculation for impounded fields, (2) addition of an irrigation management option for paddy fields that are characterized by flood irrigation with target water depth, and (3) addition of a puddling operation that influences the water quality and infiltration rate of the top soil layer. In a case study, the enhanced model, entitled SWAT-Paddy, was applied to an agricultural watershed in Japan. The results showed that the SWAT-Paddy successfully represented paddy cultivation, water management, and discharge processes. Simulated daily discharge rates with SWAT-Paddy (R2 = 0.8) were superior to the SWAT result (R2 = 0.002). SWAT-Paddy allows the simulation of paddy management processes realistically, and thus can enhance model accuracy in paddy-dominant agricultural watersheds.

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Construction of Critical Periods for Water Resources Management and Their Application in the FEW Nexus

Water ◽

10.3390/w13050718 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (5) ◽

pp. 718

Author(s):

Val Z. Schull ◽

Sushant Mehan ◽

Margaret W. Gitau ◽

David R. Johnson ◽

Shweta Singh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Water Quality ◽

Water Resources ◽

Water Resources Management ◽

Swat Model ◽

Growing Season ◽

Agricultural Watershed ◽

Critical Periods ◽

Resources Management ◽

Nitrate N

Amidst the growing population, urbanization, globalization, and economic growth, along with the impacts of climate change, decision-makers, stakeholders, and researchers need tools for better assessment and communication of the highly interconnected food–energy–water (FEW) nexus. This study aimed to identify critical periods for water resources management for robust decision-making for water resources management at the nexus. Using a 4610 ha agricultural watershed as a pilot site, historical data (2006–2012), scientific literature values, and SWAT model simulations were utilized to map out critical periods throughout the growing season of corn and soybeans. The results indicate that soil water deficits are primarily seen in June and July, with average deficits and surpluses ranging from −134.7 to +145.3 mm during the study period. Corresponding water quality impacts include average monthly surface nitrate-N, subsurface nitrate-N, and soluble phosphorus losses of up to 0.026, 0.26, and 0.0013 kg/ha, respectively, over the growing season. Estimated fuel requirements for the agricultural practices ranged from 24.7 to 170.3 L/ha, while estimated carbon emissions ranged from 0.3 to 2.7 kg CO2/L. A composite look at all the FEW nexus elements showed that critical periods for water management in the study watershed occurred in the early and late season—primarily related to water quality—and mid-season, related to water quantity. This suggests the need to adapt agricultural and other management practices across the growing season in line with the respective water management needs. The FEW nexus assessment methodologies developed in this study provide a framework in which spatial, temporal, and literature data can be implemented for improved water resources management in other areas.

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Long‐term Disconnect between Nutrient Inputs and Riverine Exports in a Semi‐arid, Agricultural Watershed: Yakima River Basin 1945‐2012

Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences ◽

10.1029/2020jg006072 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

S.R. Grieger ◽

J.A. Harrison

Keyword(s):

River Basin ◽

Agricultural Watershed ◽

Nutrient Inputs ◽

Yakima River ◽

Semi Arid

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The Value of Long-term Streamflow Forecasts in Adaptive Reservoir Operation: The Case of High Aswan Dam in the Transboundary Nile River Basin

Journal of Hydrometeorology ◽

10.1175/jhm-d-20-0241.1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Hisham Eldardiry ◽

Faisal Hossain

Keyword(s):

River Basin ◽

Reservoir Operation ◽

Lead Time ◽

Nile River ◽

Reservoir Operations ◽

High Aswan Dam ◽

Aswan Dam ◽

Streamflow Forecasts ◽

Nile River Basin

AbstractTransboundary river basins are experiencing extensive dam development that challenges future water management, especially for downstream nations. Thus, adapting the operation of existing reservoirs is indispensable to cope with alterations in flow regime. We proposed a Forecast-based Adaptive Reservoir Operation (namely FARO) framework to evaluate the use of long-term climate forecasts in improving real-time reservoir operations. The FARO approach was applied to the High Aswan Dam (HAD) in the Nile river basin. Monthly precipitation and temperature forecasts at up to 12 months of lead time are used from a suite of eight North American Multimodel Ensemble (NMME) models. The value of NMME-based forecasts to reservoir operations was compared with perfect and climatology-based forecasts over an optimization horizon of 10 years from 1993 to 2002. Our results indicated that the forecast horizon for HAD operation ranges between 5- and 12-month lead time at low and high demand scenarios, respectively, beyond which the forecast information no longer improves the release decision. The forecast value to HAD operation is more pronounced in the months following the flooding season (October through December). During these months, the skill of streamflow forecasts using NMME forcings outperforms the climatology-based forecasts. When considering the operation of upstream Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), using streamflow forecasts minimally helps to maintain current target objectives of HAD operation and therefore result in higher operation costs as opposed to current conditions without GERD. Our study underlined the importance of deriving a new adaptive operating policy for HAD to improve the value of available forecasts while considering GERD filling and operation phases.

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