Water Resources Management Collaborative and interdisciplinary research at the UWRL over many years, including early work on severe sustained drought in the Colorado River basin, snowmelt modeling, and Utah waterways, has laid the foundation for projects that are still advancing the study of water resources management in many key areas. Colorado River: A new project led by Jack Schmidt in the USU Watershed Sciences department, including UWRL contributions in modeling components for water temperature, water resources systems, and hydrology, is building on decades of previous work in the basin. Bear River: This interstate basin (WY, ID, UT) has inspired numerous UWRL studies, with recent efforts on synergistically managing water and vegetation to improve habitat for birds at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and improve aquatic, floodplain, and impounded wetland habitat throughout the lower Bear River. Another project is helping local and state managers plan for and manage future droughts by providing monthly streamflow reconstructions from regional tree ring chronologies and climate indicators that date back to the 1400s. The Great Salt Lake: Multi-disciplinary work over many years has increased understanding of this closed basin lake that is iconic for Utah and a barometer for the condition of water resources in the state. The amount of water in the lake fluctuates dramatically, driven by streamflow, precipitation and evaporation. Salinity, critical for the brine shrimp and salt harvesting industries varies with level too. Of particular concern is the effect of increased consumptive water use in the basins draining to the lake, and UWRL computer models for lake level, salinity, and flows through the causeway that partitions the lake are key parts of multi-disciplinary work to predict future fluctuations and their impact on the lake ecosystem, economy and environment. Snowmelt: The Utah Energy Balance (UEB) snowmelt model, a parsimonious physically based model, was developed to simulate snow accumulation and melt accounting for variability in topography and vegetation. It has been applied
Hydrologic Observatories: UWRL researchers have built and maintained high-frequency data collection systems leading to a better understanding of key hydrologic processes, more accurate models, and ultimately better management decisions. In 2012, the National Science Foundation funded a 5-year, multi-institution, interdisciplinary program called iUTAH (innovative Urban Transitions and Arid region HydroSustainability) that focused on water sustainability in Utah and established environmental sensor networks across the state. The Logan River sensor network has become the Logan River Observatory (LRO), with streamflow, water quality,
widely, and as far away as Nepal, where it was used to simulate glacier melt. Instream Flows for Ecosystems: The UWRL is working with state and local water and environmental managers and legislators to examine water laws and policies that traditionally only incentivized agricultural and municipal water supply, hydropower generation, mining, and navigation and make changes to allow these stakeholders to manage and allocate instream flow in ways that also benefit ecological needs. Measurements and Sensing Long-time UWRL Director Mac McKee often stated the axiom “If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”
Figure 2. One of AggieAir’s fixed-wing UAVs. (Photo credit: Jessica Griffiths, UWRL)
and weather stations throughout the watershed from the headwaters through Logan City and into the Cache Valley, supporting multiple lines of research. Environmental Understanding and finding sustainable solutions to water challenges that result from the innumerable interactions between humans and water requires an integrated engineering and science approach. Environmental research at the UWRL emphasizes the quality of land, water, and air and combines basic and applied laboratory and field research. Research encompasses topics from the effects of copper and zinc oxide nanoparticles on wheat roots to
Applications using high-frequency data collection systems, sensor networks, satellite data, and multispectral sensors aboard unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are just a few ways UWRL researchers are harnessing the power of direct measurement and remote sensing. AggieAir: The UWRL developed the AggieAir unmanned remote sensing platform in 2006 to respond to the needs of water, environmental, and civil applications for high-resolution, multispectral scientific imagery (Figure 2). It has become an exceptionally capable, scientific-quality, small, unmanned aerial data collection system in support of precision data collection (Figure 3).
14 | VOLUME 21 • NUMBER 5
Water Resources IMPACT
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