Managing the space-time-load continuum in TMDL planning: a case study for understanding groundwaer loads through advanced mapping techniques

Phillip Harte; Marcel Belaval; Andrea Traviglia

Treesearch

Managing the space-time-load continuum in TMDL planning: a case study for understanding groundwaer loads through advanced mapping techniques

Informally Refereed

Authors:

Phillip Harte, Marcel Belaval, Andrea Traviglia

Year:

2016

Type:

General Technical Report

Station:

Southern Research Station

Source:

In: Stringer, Christina E.; Krauss, Ken W.; Latimer, James S., eds. 2016. Headwaters to estuaries: advances in watershed science and management -Proceedings of the Fifth Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds. March 2-5, 2015, North Charleston, South Carolina. e-General Technical Report SRS-211. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 302 p.

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Abstract

The lag time between groundwater recharge and discharge in a watershed and the potential groundwater load to streams is an important factor in forecasting responses to future land use practices. We call this concept managing the “space-time-load continuum.” It’s understood that in any given watershed, the response function (the load at any given time) will differ for surface runoff and groundwater discharge. The mean age of surface runoff may be days whereas for groundwater it could be many decades. Surface runoff reflects contemporaneous land use practices and relatively quick reactions whereas groundwater load reflects past land use practices and attenuation mechanisms in the aquifer and ephemeral zone around streams. The total load combines both response functions and understanding the makeup of the two responses can improve forecasting of future loads.

Parent Publication

Headwaters to estuaries: advances in watershed science and management - Proceedings of the Fifth Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds

Citation

Harte, Phillip; Belaval, Marcel; Traviglia, Andrea. 2016. Managing the space-time-load continuum in TMDL planning: a case study for understanding groundwaer loads through advanced mapping techniques. In: Stringer, Christina E.; Krauss, Ken W.; Latimer, James S., eds. 2016. Headwaters to estuaries: advances in watershed science and management -Proceedings of the Fifth Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds. March 2-5, 2015, North Charleston, South Carolina. e-General Technical Report SRS-211. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 1 p.