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Water Availability, Water Use, and the Great Lakes Compact

Water Availability, Water Use, and the Great Lakes Compact. Great Lakes Water Conservation Conference Madison Wisconsin October 18-19 2010. Jim Nicholas, Director USGS Water Science Center Lansing, Michigan. Abundance of Water. 20 percent of world’s fresh surface water

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Water Availability, Water Use, and the Great Lakes Compact

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  1. Water Availability, Water Use, and the Great Lakes Compact Great Lakes Water Conservation Conference Madison Wisconsin October 18-19 2010 Jim Nicholas, Director USGS Water Science Center Lansing, Michigan

  2. Abundance of Water • 20 percent of world’s fresh surface water • 800,000,000,000,000 cubic feet • Regional bedrock aquifers • Glacial aquifers > 1000-ft thick • 100,000,000,000,000 cubic feet

  3. Water Use in Michigan • Michigan is was 8thin population • 15th in total water use • 33rd in water use per capita • 25th in ground-water use

  4. Perspective • St. Clair River Flow—121,000 MGD • Precipitation on Lake Michigan—33,000 MGD • Evaporation from Lake Michigan—27,000 MGD • Streamflow to Lake Michigan—25,000 MGD • Chicago Diversion—2,100 MGD • Lower Peninsula Groundwater Use—700 MGD • Pfizer—32 MGD • Lansing BWL—20 MGD • Agricultural Irrigation Well—1 MGD • Nestle Waters/Ice Mountain—0.36 MGD

  5. Regional abundance gives us our landscapeMakes our lakes Great. Streams too.But says nothing about how much water is available for human use.

  6. Regional abundance does not mean a lack of local shortagesor competing uses…consider total assets and cash flow

  7. Competition for water can be regional too

  8. Hydrology and Ecology—A Missing New Link • Hydrology is a principal driver of aquatic ecology • Hydrologists know little ecology and Ecologists know little hydrology • Aquatic ecosystems are a focus of most water availability discussions • How much water do we need to leave in the stream?

  9. There is No Unused WaterAll water is being used by someone or somethingHumans change what the water is being used forAll human use of water has an effect on someone or something—often localOften the effect is not noticeable or is perceived to be outweighed by a benefit (Chicago Diversion)

  10. There is No Unused WaterHuman uses of water redistribute water in time and placeA dam may alter the high and low flows of a riverA city with an intake in a Great Lake may discharge used water to a stream that is tributary to the lakeA groundwater use will always have an effect on a surface-water body, though the effect may be too small to measure

  11. Groundwater –Surface WaterA Single Resource

  12. Reduced flow to Lake MI—8% Induced flow from Lake MI—4% Reduced Storage—11% Induced GW flow from outside area—18% Reduced flow to SW—59% Water Use—Effects on Distribution Pumping from Deep Bedrock Aquifer in SE Wisconsin Sources of Water to Wells

  13. What is Water Use?Detroit land cover change 1905-1992 Changes in land cover affect: rechargestreamflowwetlandswater quality

  14. What is Water Use? Drain TilesLower water tablesLess rechargeFaster movement to streamsFewer wetlandsMore useable land

  15. Does the amount of a water use matter or just the IMPACT of the use:changing where water goes, when it goes there, and its quality

  16. Great Lakes Compact Withdrawals and Consumptive Uses:…no significant individual or cumulative adverse impacts to the quantity or quality of the Waters and Water Dependent Natural Resources of the Watershed

  17. Michigan’s Water Withdrawal Assessment Tool and Process • Assist Michigan in implementation of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Compact and Agreement • Michigan legislation defines and prohibits Adverse Resource Impacts (ARI) to water-dependent natural resources in streams • Process designed to ensure proposed withdrawals are legal—with burden on proposer

  18. WWAT—Three Models • Flow—How much water is in the stream? • Withdrawal—How much will a proposed withdrawal reduce streamflow? • Fish—How will reduced streamflow affect fish? • The WWAT evaluates the impact of the water use, not the amount. • If the impact is not “adverse”, then it is ok

  19. Ecological Response Curves • Response Curves predict how characteristic fishes will respond to changes in index flow

  20. Development of WWAT • Compact and Michigan Legislation provided the need to define “adverse” resource impact • Science provided the context within which to define “adverse” • State government made policy definition of “adverse” • Water Resource Conservation Advisory Council provided a collaborative context for policy makers and scientists to iteratively inform each other

  21. Does the amount of a water use matter or just the IMPACT of the use:changing where water goes, when it goes there, and its quality…then is water conservation also is more than just the amount conserved? Isn’t it about the IMPACT of the conservation?

  22. Water Use and Conservation • The effect matters, not the amount

  23. Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land—Aldo Leopold

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