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Title: 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. Incorporating improved reservoir operation schemes and local irrigation information into SWAT holds the promise to further enhance its capability for hydrologic modeling in managed watersheds.

Authors:
 [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [3]
  1. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), College Park, MD (United States)
  2. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  3. Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1496828
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-135306
Journal ID: ISSN 1607-7938
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-76RL01830
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (Online)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 23; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1607-7938
Publisher:
European Geosciences Union (EGU)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
58 GEOSCIENCES; Reservoir operation; Irrigation; Managed watershed; RiverWare

Citation Formats

Qiu, Jiali, Yang, Qichun, Zhang, Xuesong, Huang, Maoyi, Adam, Jennifer C., and Malek, Keyvan. Implications of water management representations for watershed hydrologic modeling in the Yakima River basin. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.5194/hess-23-35-2019.
Qiu, Jiali, Yang, Qichun, Zhang, Xuesong, Huang, Maoyi, Adam, Jennifer C., & Malek, Keyvan. Implications of water management representations for watershed hydrologic modeling in the Yakima River basin. United States. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-35-2019
Qiu, Jiali, Yang, Qichun, Zhang, Xuesong, Huang, Maoyi, Adam, Jennifer C., and Malek, Keyvan. 2019. "Implications of water management representations for watershed hydrologic modeling in the Yakima River basin". United States. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-35-2019. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1496828.
@article{osti_1496828,
title = {Implications of water management representations for watershed hydrologic modeling in the Yakima River basin},
author = {Qiu, Jiali and Yang, Qichun and Zhang, Xuesong and Huang, Maoyi and Adam, Jennifer C. and Malek, Keyvan},
abstractNote = {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. Incorporating improved reservoir operation schemes and local irrigation information into SWAT holds the promise to further enhance its capability for hydrologic modeling in managed watersheds.},
doi = {10.5194/hess-23-35-2019},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1496828}, journal = {Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (Online)},
issn = {1607-7938},
number = 1,
volume = 23,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Jan 03 00:00:00 EST 2019},
month = {Thu Jan 03 00:00:00 EST 2019}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
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Cited by: 23 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: Location and land use of the Yakima River basin (67, 99, 160, and 171 are sub-basins used for streamflow calibration and validation). BARL: spring barley; CORN: corn; FRSD: deciduous forest; FRSE: evergreen forest; FRST: mixed forest; HAY: hay; ORCD: orchard; PAST: pasture; POTA: potato; RNGB: range bush; RNGE:more » range grasses; SWHT: spring wheat; URHD: residential – high density; URLD: residential – low density; URMD: residential – medium density;WATER: water; WETF: wetland – forested; WETN: wetland – non-forested; WWHT: winter wheat).« less

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