development of science-based tools supporting integrated water management in … · 2020. 12....

Development of Science-Based Tools

Supporting Integrated Water

Management in Large Drainage Basins

Joe Riddell ERCB/Alberta Geological Survey

Water Tech 2012, Banff, Alberta

April 12, 2012

AGS Role in Groundwater Management

Provincial Groundwater Inventory Program (PGIP)

• MOU with Alberta Environment & Water (AGS Lead: Joe Riddell)

• Evaluate quantity, quality, and thresholds between

sustainable/unsustainable use of groundwater resources

• 3 Phases

I. Understand the natural system (Static Model)

II. Understand dynamics of GW system under

development (Dynamic Model)

III. Develop needed tools for resource management,

regulation, and policy research

Area of Interest

Provincial Groundwater

Inventory Program

• Regional groundwater

mapping and modelling for

resource management

• Fresh Groundwater

• <4000 mg/L

• Above Base of

Groundwater Protection

• Inform conjunctive use of

surface water

PGIP Study Areas

• ECC is 1st of 11 study areas under PGIP

• Good area to refine and examine PGIP

workflow

• Wealth of subsurface data

• (AEW water well database & oil and gas data)

• Staggered, phased approach to study

area characterization

PGIP Phase I: Understanding Static Modelling

Bedrock Geology

What are the physical &

chemical properties of

bedrock formations

that affect groundwater

movement?

Hydrogeology

What are the effective

hydrostratigraphic units

and their character?

Where are the physical

boundaries we should

use to model the dynamic

groundwater system?

Sediment Geology

What near surface materials are

present above bedrock & what

does it tell us about how water

moves and where it is stored?

Hydrogeochemistry

What does the water

chemistry tell us about

the water and its potential

uses?

Hydrology

How & where

does water

enter

groundwater

flow systems?

Summary of ECC Phase I Products

• Atlas summarizes the ECC work

• Open File Reports (Technical Detail)

• Geology

• Hydrology

• Hydrogeology (Physical and

Chemical)

• Modeling

• Geophysics

• Digital Data Sets

• Surfaces

• GIS files

• Geophysical data

Available from:

www.ags.gov.ab.ca

PGIP - Phase II Objectives

• Assist AEW to evolve groundwater policy and regulation through science-based support tools required to:

o Support a change from well by well to a cumulative effects based assessment of groundwater resources

o Elucidate the dynamics of regional groundwater flow systems to define Hydrogeologic Response Areas (HRA’s), and provide regional context for local scale investigation & monitoring

o Identify areas of the province with extensive SW/GW interaction and evaluate the need for conjunctive use policy

o Identify current areas of stress to groundwater, and by extension, surface water resources

o Provide predictive modelling capacity (evaluation of new groundwater developments)

Critical Elements for Phase II of PGIP

• Build simple, robust, & defensible models

• Models & model results must be freely available to regulator, industry & public

• Models need to be hosted and run within an updateable architecture as development occurs

Modelling Approach:

Calibrated Sub-basin Models

• Reasonable boundary conditions (nested models)

• Steady-state

• Calibrated to GOWN wells, drill stem tests, hydrometric data, water table

Challenges

• Variable data density

• Very few long time series

• Highly heterogeneous geology

• Large study areas

Nested Models

SARGs ECC Sub-BasinScale

(Aera km2) 100 000+ 50 000 ~5000

ECC

SARGs

Sub-basin:

05CC

• Ensures reasonable boundary

conditions at sub-basin scale

Transition Curve Analysis

• Well established in the literature

• Uses steady-state model

• Water-budget based method to determine ratios of pumped volume from model boundary conditions

• Transition Curve Analysis is A.K.A.:

o Response Functions

o Capture Fraction Method

Transition Curve Analysis: Why is it a good tool for policy & regulation?

• Transition curves can be generated for

every saturated cell in model domain

• Allows use of superposition concept

• Does not require running the model for

evaluation of proposed GW development

• Allows mapping of hydrogeological

response characteristics

Losing

Losing

Empress 1 Sand River Fm.

S S S

IR

IR

IR RD-Riv

RD-Riv

RD-Riv RD-Lake RD-Lake

RD-Lake

Cold Lake Beaver River Basin Transition Curves

Metrics from Transition Curve Analysis

• Time to reach equilibrium

• Proportion of pumped water coming from

various boundary conditions vs. time

o Lakes

o Rivers

o Induced Recharge

o Storage

Leake et al., 2010

Capture Fraction Method

• Determines fraction of

pumped water to be captured

from Head-Dependant Flux

Boundaries

• Allows maps to be made

showing areas that interact

with boundary conditions

• Quantity of water taken from

specific parts of a boundary

such as a reach of a river can

be determined

From Transition Curves to Maps & Metrics

Developmental Questions

• Architecture to host & view models and

model results

• Quantifying uncertainty

• Assist AEW in determining risk

• Criteria to determine hydrogeological/

hydrological response areas

• Defining what is sustainable use of the

resources and thresholds for cumulative

impact assessment

Conclusions

• Phase II results pending

o Edmonton-Calgary Corridor sub-basins

o Cold Lake Beaver River Basin

• Phase III already started through technical

committee meetings

• Need to establish International Review

Panel for program

• Once methods are vetted and approved,

complete SSRB & subsequent regions

Acknowledgments

Steve Wallace, AEW

AGS Edmonton-Calgary Corridor Phase I Project Team:

L. Andriashek, A.Barker, D.Chao, R.Elger, R.Huff, S.Lyster,

T.Lemay, H. Moktan, K. Parks, S.Slattery, S. Stewart

Questions & Contact Information

Joe Riddell

Joseph.Riddell@ercb.ca

780-427-2672

Alberta Geological Survey

Edmonton, Alberta

www.ags.gov.ab.ca