Intelligent Water
Infrastructure
Initiative - IWII
Groundwater Initiative
Goals:
• Accomplish first-rate research on groundwater hydrology:
infiltration, recharge, storage and water quality changes
• End-to-End a Groundwater Resource Information &
Technology Network to improve resource management
• Front-end: Managed Aquifer Recharge Network (MARNet)
sensing system prototypes
• Back-end: Intelligent data storage, analysis and resource
management system
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USGS PP #1766
Rationale
 Population and climate change
projections point to changing
snow pack (key annual storage)
 Increasing surface
impoundments is costly,
impractical; good sites are taken,
political challenges, env. impacts
 California groundwater is
consistently over-drafted,
especially in dry years, yet
provides the best option for new
supply
 Our understanding of when and
where recharge occurs is vague
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Data from DWR’s California Water Plan Update (2009)
Scientific Challenges
 Connection between surface water infiltration and
groundwater recharge is not well understood
 Large time scales for groundwater basins (hard to observe)
 Heterogeneity of subsurface challenging to characterize
 Simulation models difficult to validate and maintain
 Recharge and GW storage require local assessment
 Each basin is different, local collaboration needed
 Connections between SW-GW, water supply and quality
 California lacks statewide statutory structure
 As enshrined in state constitution, groundwater is mostly unmanaged
 Individual basins have to develop customized approaches based on local
hydrology, climate, costs, politics
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Technical Challenge: Cyber-infrastructure
 Sensor systems are being demonstrated in isolated pilot
studies, and a physical MARNet monitoring network is feasible
 Creating a transferrable system will require common:
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Sensors and deployment methods
Data and metadata standards
First-order and near-real time analyses (e.g. raw data  flux)
Simulation modeling approaches
 Integrating software environment
 Data archiving, cleaning, gap-filling, resampling
 Model calibration, validation, forecasting (including automation)
 Systems analysis: optimal water resource management tools
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MARNet Mission
• Technology for rapid, accurate
assessment of groundwater resource
changes
• In/outflow, ET, infiltration, recharge, groundwater
migration
• Intensively instrumented model sites distributed
throughout California (and other water stressed
regions of the world)
• Automated data visualization, analysis
• Render groundwater resource management easy
and transparent
• Replicate this model locally and
integrate regionally to provide an
exemplary resource managemetn
network
• Varying geography, hydrogeology, land use,
etc.
• Explore natural and engineered infiltrationrecharge
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Sensor system conceptual diagram
 A multi-scale design of local mesh network(s) and cellular/satellite gateway(s)
 High granularity pressure/depth, flow, temperature, salinity, soil moisture, and meteorological

parameters
Low granularity water quality sensors, and supporting sampling program
adapted from
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Potential partners, pilots and funding strategies
 Establish management partners first based on established
relationships, desire for collaboration
 Not all districts/municipalities want outside help – focus on a
few type locations where we can make rapid progress,
demonstrate success
 Identify regional partners so that UC personnel can be on site a
lot – required to establish commitment, gain trust, design and
maintain proper networks, work with locals on adjusting
operations, take advantage of opportunities
 Work with a variety of management units, from large systems
that are part of statewide transfers (e.g., KWB) to smaller
basins that are “off the grid” and managing their resources
independently (e.g., PVWMA).
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Next Steps
 Achieve state support of the idea that an information
infrastructure is a critical element of the State Water
Plan with respect to groundwater monitoring
 Build a public-private consortium to fund the
development of a prototype system by 2015
 Build political support for continued funding of water
supply intelligent infrastructure investment by
California
 Establish partnerships to begin discussion and
collaboration, move forward where/when possible
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Current research assets
 Four prototype data collection systems:
 Sierra Nevada Snowpack project (Southern Sierra Critical
Zone Observatory, American River Observatory) led by
Profs. Roger Bales, UCM, and Steven Glaser, UCB
 Coastal Aquifer Recharge projects led by Prof Andrew
Fisher, UCSC
 Delta Drifter project led by Prof. Alex Bayen, UCB
 Delta Levee Safety project led by Prof. Ray Seed, UCB
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Real-time monitoring of Managed Aquifer
Recharge
Water is diverted from
nearby wetland,
infiltrates into
underlying aquifer
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The Problem: GW
recharge is highly
variable in space and
time
The Goal: Determine
patterns of recharge in
real time to assist with
operations of MAR
systems.
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The Solution:
• Heat is used as a tracer to map out
timing and locations of infiltration
• Water quality assessed in percolation
pond and monitoring wells
• Data telemetered back to base station
in real time, posted at web site for
rapid assessment and analysis of
infiltration
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IWII Groundwater Team
 Steven Glaser, Faculty Director, Berkeley
 Andrew Fisher, Santa Cruz
 Graham Fogg, Davis
 Tom Harmon, Merced
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