Integrated Water Resource Management
of Freshwater in Louisiana Beginning
with Surface Water Modeling
Michele Eddy, Bryan Piazza, David Harlan, Kimberly Sparks, and Jessie Allen
AWRA 2016
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www.rti.org
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WaterFALL®: Watershed Flow and ALLocation Model
**Upcoming JAWRA Article expected February 2017**
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Generalized WaterFALL Work Flow
Sitespecific
conditions
Model
Customization
Georeference
inputs to
catchments
Calibration
Collect/
Format
Input Data
Collect/
Evaluate
Flow Data
Climate
Land
Cover
Time Series
Flow Data
Run
Model
Data
Storage
Soils
Scenario Iterations
Human
Water
Use/Alts
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LA/MS WaterFALL Domain
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LA WaterFALL Details
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Louisiana
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15 watersheds and subwatersheds (including Pearl)
15,011 HUC12s
58,053 individual catchments
30-year simulation period at daily time step
Includes tabulated withdrawals and discharges
throughout the state
Major reservoirs simulated
Boundary conditions established for major rivers outside
state boundaries using USGS and/or USACE gaged
data
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Challenges in Data and Modeling
NHDPlus Catchments with Agriculture in LA & MS
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Water Use –
location & quantity
Hydrology within
bayous and heavy
ditched Ag areas
Navigation and
routing across
NHDPlus and
HUC12s
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Pilot Study of Integrated Groundwater Model
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Coupled regions method
Link RTI’s WaterFALL surface water model with the
MODFLOW groundwater model
Only major surface water
bodies in MERAS
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Example Model Performance in LA
Ouachita Watershed Calibration Gages
Gage ID
07366200
07369000
07364133
07364150
07364200
07362100
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Site Name
Little Corney Bayou
near Lillie, LA
Bayou Lafourche near
Crew Lake, LA
Bayou Bartholomew
at Garrett Bridge, AR
Bayou Bartholomew
at McGehee, AR
Bayou Bartholomew
near Jones, LA
Smackover Creek
near Smackover, AR
DA
(mi2)
208
%
NSE BIAS
0.73
-5
R2
0.74
361
0.84
-5
0.86
380
0.70
9
0.71
576
0.67
19
0.71
1,187
0.49
36
0.66
385
0.65
6
0.66
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LA/MS WaterFALL Scenarios
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4 scenarios modeled
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Current conditions
Projected water use change
Projected climate change
Combined water use and
climate change
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Scenario Metric: Ecochange
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Ecosurplus: fraction of water now
available in excess of baseline
Ecodeficit: fraction of water lost
from baseline
Represented through flow
duration curves
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The Freshwater Network
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Developed by The Nature Conservancy
A common platform capable of hosting a variety of
water-focused decision support and analysis tools
developed by different groups to foster collaboration
Interactive map interface
Several Apps developed by TNC and partners to date,
but for this project specifically RTI developed:
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HydroFlows: Hydrologic results presented as maps, flow metrics,
and charts
OysterFlows: Streamflow results utilized to assess impact of flow
changes on receiving lake salinity levels
“Lightning Talks” tomorrow in 8:30 am session
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HydroFlows App
FreshwaterNetwork.org
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FreshwaterNetwork.org
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OysterFlows
App
FreshwaterNetwork.org
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A Next Phase of Work
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Cooperative Effort Proposed Between
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The Nature Conservancy – Louisiana
RTI International
Louisiana State University
Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law and Policy
The Water Institute of the Gulf
Combine the expertise and existing models/assessments
from each entity into an integrated, multi-media model
for the state’s water resources
Test integrated model in a pilot region before moving
statewide
Provide future decision support for water policy and
management
Questions?
Michele C. Eddy
RTI International
919.990.8458
[email protected]
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