How can hydrology address water crisis issues?

The water crisis, happening nationwide but not uniformly, cannot be solved by understanding hydrology alone. It is certainly a part of the picture, but it requires us to have an understanding of how surface waters interact with groundwater, climate effects over time, permitting processes, state/federal/local regulations, and our own willingness to be a part of the solution.

Methods to solve problems involve community meetings, outreach and education, regulator expertise and cooperation, and stakeholder buy-in. This is because a water crisis is caused by people, people are the ones affected by it, and people are the ones who can solve it.

Technical software is available to solve a water crisis; dynamic simulation is often involved. Dynamic simulation mathematically integrates and balances things like:

• surface water modeling (predictions),
• groundwater modeling (predictions) of aquifer levels,
• new potential sources of water
• storage capacity of a water distribution system,
• water supplies,
• transportation of water supplies (pipelines),
• anticipated conservation
• permit requirements
• compliance metrics
• and any other system-specific requirements.

This sounds overwhelming, and it is, which is why programs like GoldSim and ExtendSim were created. Trying to put all of these calculations into Excel is just too much.

In 2016 I worked to help the Albuquerque and Bernalillo County Water Authority come up with a 100-year plan to ensure water was available for residents well into the future. Our team at Jacobs supported the Authority to come up with an integrated solution that combined all of above factors with anticipated climate change. It is located here.

I also worked to create a dynamic simulation model for the El Paso Water Utility. You can read more about it here:

View and read free hydrogeology articles on environmental regulations, groundwater modeling, water resources, stormwater pollution prevention planning (SWPPP), Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP), and site maps.

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