Arkansas - Upper Ark WCD Hydrologic Water Balance Study_Application

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Water Supply Reserve Account- Grant Application Form Form Revised May 2007 The length of time needed to implement the UAWCD/USGS hydrologic water balance study is three years. The timeframe is reasonable, given how many HydroBase system components will be satisfied. The goal of the -$406,912 study is to quantify surface water (SW) and ground water (GW), especially ground water recharge, to characterize the interaction between surface and ground water. Study results can be used to estimate the effects of changes in water use or climate on the availability and sustainability of ground water resources. While the generalized mass balance equation for steady-state system conditions is: P- ET + SWin - SWout - GWout + GWin, the study will summarize data that can be used for four of the eight HydroBase system components: • Water budget model and data collection • Ground water planning model and data collection • Surface water planning model and data collection • Consumptive use model planning and data collection £ The applicant has the expertise and ability to implement the proposed activity. UAWCD and USGS have experience collecting and analyzing water resources data in the Upper Arkansas River Basin. UAWCD has 15 new dcps that substantially improve the areal extent of data collection points in the study area. While surface water flow on the Arkansas River can be measured at the northern border of the study area at the Clear Creek/Granite gage, and at the southern border of the study area at the Wellsville gage, and'at confluences of most major tributaries such as Clear Creek, Cottonwood Creek, Chalk Creek, and the South Arkansas, UAWCD's -$815,000 project for 15 dcps (12 in the study area) will substantially improve the data set - specifically at higher elevations and in tributaries where additional data is needed for a scientifically robust hydrological water balance study. USGS recently compiled an electronic database of 16,000 data collection points for ground water and surface water data for the Arkansas basin in Colorado. USGS has access to the newest data for the basin, such as its October 2008 USGS helicopter survey of Poncha Springs to remotely study geology and hydrology to identify features such as changes in rock types to understand geothermal energy. USGS designed the hydrological water balance study, which it fine-tuned in part due to its 2000-2003 study that established that the focus should be the upper 300 feet of the aquifer, the interval in which most wells are completed, where surface water and precipitation moves downward to recharge the aquifer and ground water also discharges to streams. The focused USGS study design saves time and money. For instance, it requires no new drilling and instead utilizes -50 existing Chaffee County domestic wells; -30 of those wells have pre-existing access agreements in place from the 2000-2003 study. Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District (UAWCD) Page 15 of 42