Transbasin water transfers

Presented at the 2001 USCID water management conference, Transbasin water transfers on June 27-30, 2001 in Denver, Colorado.Includes bibliographical references.As the headwaters for seven major rivers, water resources in Colorado have been diverted for use for over 150 years. Transbasin diversions have been developed to move water from one river basin to another, including transmountain diversions, which move water over the continental divide. Transmountain diversions have historically been developed to provide water for irrigated agriculture and municipal purposes. This paper briefly discusses the development of each of Colorado's 30 transmountain diversions between the Colorado, South Platte, Arkansas and Rio Grande river basins, and provides a summary of diversions for recent years

Transbasin water transfers

Presented at the 2001 USCID water management conference, Transbasin water transfers on June 27-30, 2001 in Denver, Colorado.Includes bibliographical references.Manusmara River Basin, a sub-basin of the Bagmati River Basin, lies in the Terai of Nepal. It lies in the sub-tropical climatic zone. The topography is almost flat with a very gentle slope towards the south. Up to the mid 1960s, a large portion was covered by dense, Sal forest. At present, only 6% of the area is occupied by forest. Over the last few decades, consumption of water especially for agriculture has increased tremendously. This paper draws out the history of agricultural development in the basin and its interface with the efforts made by the fanners to use the basin water resources. Water accounting has revealed that Manusmara is an "open basin" and it still offers ample scope for transbasin transfers and further harnessing of the available water. Even during the driest year, only 46% of the available water resources is depleted. This leaves more than half of the basin's yield for undeclared uses. The basin is at the initial stage of development. On the basis of the water account and an institutional analysis, the paper offers some suggestions for integrated development of the basin

Civil Society, Good Governance and the News Media: A case study of civil society inclusion in Winnipeg Free Press coverage of Lake Winnipeg nutrient loading

Governance and participatory democracy theory suggest that strong policy can stem from the inclusion of all societal voices in discussion of options, and that the public must have a strong base of information in order to participate fully in democracy. The news media can be an important vehicle for these voices and a central source of information. However, academic literature has recorded that “elite” sources, such as government, dominate news coverage to the disadvantage of “non-elite” sources, such as civil society groups and citizens, a situation that results in imbalanced information in the news. This thesis examines patterns of civil society inclusion in Winnipeg Free Press coverage of Lake Winnipeg water quality, and discusses the implications of findings for good governance. Three methods of inquiry are used: 1) a literature review, 2) a quantitative content analysis of newspaper articles published in the Winnipeg Free Press from August 1991 through December 2008, and 3) interviews with civil society members with an interest in Lake Winnipeg water quality. Content analysis findings indicate that civil society sources generally received less coverage than “elite” sources, were used less frequently, were given lower prominence within articles, had fewer chances to “define” coverage and were less often used in “hard” news compared to opinion sections. Interview findings challenge the dominant view within media literature that journalists are fully responsible for “elite” source dominance due to journalist bias in source selection, the “beat system” of journalism that focuses on governmental institutions, decisions made by editors and corporate or political preferences of news entities. While journalism practices are undoubtedly a factor, this study finds that there are also shortcomings within civil society organizations and the framework within which they operate that limit their engagement with the media. Four key factors are identified. Registered charities are often hesitant to speak with the media due to real and perceived legal restraints on their communications activities under Canada’s Income Tax Act. Many organizations are apprehensive about voicing concerns in the media for fear of losing funding. Few organizations have communications staff, or even staff members trained in media outreach, resulting in a passive approach to communications. And few organizations have the capacity to deal with media requests for information within journalism deadlines. In addition, the interview data indicate that those organizations actively pursuing media coverage are focusing attention on smaller newspapers, alternative media and self-published pieces, which suggests that the mainstream news media are perhaps of less importance to such organizations than in the past. Alternatively, it is possible that organizations are finding access to the mainstream media effectively cut off. Finally, recommendations are made to civil society organizations on how they can increase their prominence in the news and conquer their reluctance to deal with the media, and to the media on how to improve attention to civil society voices. For the latter, ideas are drawn from public journalism, a journalism movement which emphasizes citizens as sources

Numerical modeling of thermal bar and stratification pattern in Lake Ontario using the EFDC model

Thermal bar is an important phenomenon in large, temperate lakes like Lake Ontario. Spring thermal bar formation reduces horizontal mixing, which in turn, inhibits the exchange of nutrients. Evolution of the spring thermal bar through Lake Ontario is simulated using the 3D hydrodynamic model Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code (EFDC). The model is forced with the hourly meteorological data from weather stations around the lake, flow data for Niagara and St. Lawrence rivers, and lake bathymetry. The simulation is performed from April to July, 2011; on a 2-km grid. The numerical model has been calibrated by specifying: appropriate initial temperature and solar radiation attenuation coefficients. The existing evaporation algorithm in EFDC is updated to modified mass transfer approach to ensure correct simulation of evaporation rate and latent heatflux. Reasonable values for mixing coefficients are specified based on sensitivity analyses. The model simulates overall surface temperature profiles well (RMSEs between 1-2°C). The vertical temperature profiles during the lake mixed phase are captured well (RMSEs < 0.5°C), indicating that the model sufficiently replicates the thermal bar evolution process. An update of vertical mixing coefficients is under investigation to improve the summer thermal stratification pattern. Keywords: Hydrodynamics, Thermal BAR, Lake Ontario, GIS

Water quality modeling of Lake Diefenbaker

Lake Diefenbaker is one of the most important sources of water in the prairie province of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is a long (181.6 km) and narrow (maximum width 6 km) reservoir formed along the South Saskatchewan River by the construction of the Gardiner and Qu'Appelle River dams in the 1960s. The reservoir has a surface elevation of 556.87 meters above sea level (full supply level) with a maximum depth of 60 m, a surface area of approximately 393 km2 and a volume of 9.03 km3. The reservoir and dams are part of a multipurpose hydraulic project, which provides water for irrigation, drinking water, eco-services, hydropower generation, aquaculture and recreation as well as for flood mitigation. Surface water quality modeling is a useful tool to simulate and predict nutrient dynamics in lakes, reservoirs, and rivers, as well as the fate and transport of sediment and toxic contaminants in freshwater environments. In this study, water quality modeling of Lake Diefenbaker was carried out in order to help understand the mixing regimes and biological processes in the aquatic environment of this strategic reservoir. Based on the study's objectives, the physical and chemical characteristics of the lake and available data, the laterally-averaged two-dimensional model CE-QUAL-W2 hydrodynamic and water quality model was deemed the best model for Lake Diefenbaker. CE-QUAL-W2 was developed by the US Army Corp of Engineers to simulate the hydrodynamics, water quality, aquatic biology and aquatic chemistry in surface waters. On the one hand, this study provided information on temperature and hydrodynamic behaviors of Lake Diefenbaker as well as sediment and nutrient transport, nutrient uptake and algal activities. On the other hand, it addressed some key and limitations in the application of water quality models. Limitations addressed include studying snow cover effects on the ice surface in winter, applying variable algal stoichiometry, using combined local/global optimization for model calibration, and running the model on High-Performance Cluster (HPC) systems