Location of Weather Stations

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Precipitation, Streamflow and a Look at Little
Bear River Contaminants
Becky Goode Brook Demitropoulos Bimayendra
Shrestha CEE 5440/6440 Final Project
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The Hydrologic Cycle
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The Main Focus of Our Project

• Determine and analyze the relationship that
  exists between
• Precipitation
• Streamflow
• Look at contamination in the Little Bear River

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Simplified Process

• Looking only at precipitation and streamflow
• Infiltration and Snow melt are not considered

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Study Area Little Bear Logan
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Location of Weather Stations
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Weather Station locations on the Little Bear
Logan Watershed
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Long-term Precipitation in Little Bear-Logan
(inches)
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Area Average Precipitation

• Thiessen Polygon Method
• Associates each point in the watershed with the
  nearest weather station
• Produces a table providing the number of grid
  cells in the watershed associated with each
  weather station

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Area Average Precipitation
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Area Average Precipitation

• Calculation of Average Area Precipitation
• Join thiessen grid table with weather station
  table
• Use the equation
• Count Number of grid cells associated with each
  weather station

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Long-term Average Precipitation in Little Bear -
Logan
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Streamflow Gauging Stations
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Location of Streamflow gauges
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(No Transcript)
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Daily Streamflow based on 83 years of record
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Long time average Monthly Streamflow (cfs)
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Long time average Streamflow data (inches)
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Average Precipitation and Streamflow
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Runoff Ratios

• Average Yearly Streamflow / Average Yearly
  Precipitation the runoff ratio

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POLLUTION CONCERNS IN LITTLE BEAR RIVER
Reference Little Bear River Watershed TMDL, Utah
Department of Environmental Quality
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Land Use
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Cropland
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Major Environmental Problems

• Sediments
• Nutrients
• Erosion
• Runoff from dairies, feedlots and irrigated
  croplands
• Poor riparian conditions
• Degradation of Hyrum Reservoir
• Degraded stream channels and stream banks

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Little Bear River Watershed TMDL

• Total Maximum Daily Load
• The Maximum amount of a pollutant that a
  waterbody can receive and still meet water
  quality standards
• Goal is to meet state water quality standards for
  the designated beneficial uses of the waterbody
• Determined by the state
• Takes into account the use of the waterbody such
  as drinking, contact recreation, aquatic life
  support, irrigation etc

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State Beneficial Use Classification
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Little Bear River Beneficial Use Classification

• Classification 2B
• Protected for secondary contact recreation such
  as boating, wading
• Classification 3A
• Protected for cold water species of game fish
  and other cold water aquatic life
• Classification 3D
• Protected for waterfowl, shore birds and other
  wildlife
• Classification 4
• Protected for agricultural uses including
  irrigation of crops and stock watering

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Calculation of Flow

• The concentration of contaminants depends on the
  flow in the river
• For point source contaminants does not vary with
  the flow rate
• However, non-point source contaminants input is
  greatest during high flow runoff periods.
• Which flow to use?

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Water Quality Indicator Phosphorus (max allowed
0.05 mg/l)
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Steps for improvement

• Streambank stabilization
• Riparian rehabilation
• Animal waste management
• Point source control

Reference Little Bear River Watershed TMDL, Utah
Dept of Environmental Quality