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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
780-427-2672
Alberta Geological Survey
Edmonton, Alberta
www.ags.gov.ab.ca