The Role of Groundwater Withdrawals on River Regulation: Example From the Columbia River Basin

Eldardiry, Hisham; Zhou, Tian; Huang, Maoyi; Chegwidden, Oriana S.

doi:10.1029/2020wr028955

The Role of Groundwater Withdrawals on River Regulation: Example From the Columbia River Basin

Journal Article · Mon Jun 20 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Water Resources Research

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2020wr028955· OSTI ID:1886264

^[1]; ^[2]; ^[3]; Chegwidden, Oriana S. ^[4]

Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Silver Spring, MD (United States)
Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); CarbonPlan, San Francisco, CA (United States)

The Columbia River Basin (CRB) is heavily regulated by more than 250 dams on its river system while depending significantly on groundwater withdrawals in certain sub-basins. Neglecting groundwater withdrawals in hydrologic models of the basin could result in inaccurate predictions of its water budget and thus mislead water management decisions in the basin. This work aims to understand the impacts of groundwater pumping on the spatiotemporal patterns of modeling regulated streamflow in the CRB using a modified version of the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model integrated with a water management component that accounts for groundwater withdrawals, irrigation demands, and reservoir operation (VIC-GIRR). The VIC-GIRR simulations showed that considering additional groundwater withdrawals would alleviate the stress of irrigation water deficit in the Snake River Basin with an average reduction of 10 km³/year. Such a reduction in water deficit resulted in slight streamflow increase over the CRB with maximum increase up to 40% during dry period in certain locations. We also note that the implementation of groundwater withdrawal does not, however, improve the overall model performance in long-term averaged streamflow and storage predictions. Our results highlight the efforts needed to examine additional important processes in representing the interactions between water withdrawals and reservoir operations. Such efforts will aid in better simulation of multi-reservoir system and improve effectiveness for agricultural productivity, power generation, flood control, and navigation purposes.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Earth and Environmental Systems Science Division

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830

OSTI ID:: 1886264

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA-156712

Journal Information:: Water Resources Research, Journal Name: Water Resources Research Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 58; ISSN 0043-1397

Publisher:: American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
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groundwater
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The Role of Groundwater Withdrawals on River Regulation: Example From the Columbia River Basin

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