Sensitivity of Groundwater Components to Irrigation Withdrawals during Droughts on Agricultural-Intensive Karst Aquifer in the Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint River Basin
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 24, Issue 3
Abstract
In southwestern Georgia, increased groundwater withdrawal for irrigation in the Lower Flint River Basin (LFRB) is greatly affecting the supply of freshwater to downstream regions during drought years. This study was undertaken to understand the sensitivity of groundwater components to changes in irrigation pumping scenarios during droughts in the highly connected karst Upper Floridan Aquifer (UFA) and assess the effectiveness of irrigation shutdown on stream-aquifer fluxes. This study was done using the United States Geological Survey (USGS) MODular Finite-Element Groundwater model (MODFE). The model was run for the water year 2011 and changes in simulated groundwater-budget components for monthly irrigation pumping rates of 50%, 75%, 100%, 125%, 150%, and 200% of that indicated by metered irrigation systems were quantified. The effect of irrigation shutdown in the vulnerable Spring Creek subwatershed was also investigated. Results show that increasing irrigation pumping in the study area decreased aquifer storage, induced recharge to the UFA (vertical leakage), and induced recharge from streams into the UFA. During the months of May–September 2011, doubling of irrigation pumping induced nearly double the recharge rate into the UFA from streams and effected a 10% decrease in discharge rate from the UFA to streams. Analysis of irrigation shutdown indicates that eliminating irrigation pumping from the Spring Creek watershed alone facilitated an increase in baseflow of , or about two-thirds the total increase in baseflow that would be realized from eliminating irrigation pumping within the entire LFRB.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge funding provided by the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Sectoral Applications Research Program (SARP), and the NOAA Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) Program for this research.
References
Abtew, W., and P. Trimble. 2010. “El Niño-Southern Oscillation link to South Florida hydrology and water management applications.” Water Resour. Manage. 24 (15): 4255–4271. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-010-9656-2.
Albertson, P., and L. J. Torak. 2002. Simulated effects of ground-water pumpage on stream-aquifer flow in the vicinity of federally protected species of freshwater mussels in the lower Apalachicola–Chattahootchee–Flint River Basin (Subarea 4), Southeastern Alabama, Northeastern Florida, and Southwestern, Georgia. Reston, VA: USGS.
Boulton, A. J., and P. J. Hancock. 2006. “Rivers as groundwater-dependent ecosystems: A review of degrees of dependency, riverine processes and management implications.” Aust. J. Botany 54 (2): 133–144. https://doi.org/10.1071/BT050740067-1924/06/020133.
Bunn, S. E., and A. H. Arthington. 2002. “Basic principles and ecological consequences of altered flow regimes for aquatic biodiversity.” Environ. Manage. 30 (4): 492–507. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-002-2737-0.
Carreira, P. M., J. M. Marques, A. Pina, A. M. Gomes, P. A. G. Fernandes, and F. M. Santos. 2010. “Groundwater assessment at Santiago Island (Cabo Verde): A multidisciplinary approach to a recurring source of water supply.” Water Resour. Manage. 24 (6):1139–1159. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-009-9489-z.
Chen, C., S. Pei, and J. J. Jiao. 2003. “Land subsidence caused by groundwater exploitation in Suzhou City, China.” Hydrogeol. J. 11 (2): 275–287. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-002-0225-5.
Cooley, R. L. 1983. “Analysis of an incongruity in the standard Galerkin finite-element method.” Water Resour. Res. 19 (1): 289–291. https://doi.org/10.1029/WR019i001p00289.
Cooley, R. L. 1992. A MODular finite-element model (MODFE) for areal and axisymmetric ground-water flow problems. Part 2—Derivation of finite-element equations and comparisons with analytical solutions. Reston, VA: USGS.
Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division. 2006. “Flint river basin regional water development and conservation plan.” Accessed January 12, 2016. https://epd.georgia.gov/sites/epd.georgia.gov/files/related_files/site_page/Plan22.pdf.
Georgia House of Representatives. 2018. “Flint river drought protection act.” Accessed November 3, 2018. https://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/Archives/19992000/leg/fulltext/hb1362.htm.
Glennon, R. J. 2002. Water follies: Groundwater pumping and the fate of America’s fresh waters, 314. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Golladay, S. W., P. Gagon, M. Kearns, J. M. Battle, and D. W. Hicks. 2004. “Response of freshwater mussel assemblages (Bivalvia: Unionidae) to record drought in the Gulf Coastal Plain of southwest Georgia.” J. North Am. Benthological Soc. 23 (3): 494–506. https://doi.org/10.1899/0887-3593(2004)023%3C0494:ROFMAB%3E2.0.CO;2.
Jones, L. E., and L. J. Torak. 2006. Simulated effects of seasonal ground-water pumpage for irrigation on hydrologic conditions in the lower Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint River Basin, southwestern Georgia and parts of Alabama and Florida, 1999–2002. Reston, VA: USGS.
Kinnaman, S. L., and J. F. Dixon. 2011. Potentiometric surface of the Upper Floridan aquifer in Florida and parts of Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama, May–June 2010. Reston, VA: USGS.
Lawrence, S. J. 2016. Water use in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, 2010, and water-use trends, 1985–2010. Reston, VA: USGS.
Mitra, S., P. Srivastava, and S. Singh. 2016. “Effects of irrigation pumpage on groundwater levels during droughts in the lower Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint River Basin.” Hydrogeol. J. 24: 1565–1582. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-016-1414-y.
Mitra, S., P. Srivastava, S. Singh, and D. Yates. 2014. “Effect of ENSO-induced climate variability on groundwater levels in the lower Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint River Basin.” Trans. ASABE 57 (5): 1393–1403. https://doi.org/10.13031/trans.57.10748.
Postel, S. 1999. Pillar of sand: Can the irrigation miracle last?, 313. New York: W.W. Norton.
Pringle, C. M., and F. J. Triska. 2000. “Emergent biological patterns and surface-subsurface interactions at landscape scales.” In Stream and groundwaters, edited by J. B. Jones and P. J. Mulholland, 167–193. San Diego: Academic Press.
Ropelewski, C. F., and M. S. Halpert. 1986. “North American precipitation and temperature patterns associated with the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO).” Mon Weather Rev. 114 (12): 2352–2362. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1986)114%3C2352:NAPATP%3E2.0.CO;2.
Rugel, K., S. W. Golladay, C. R. Jackson, and T. C. Rasmussen. 2016. “Delineating groundwater/surface water interaction in a karst watershed: Lower Flint River Basin, southwestern Georgia, USA.” J. Hydrol.: Reg. Stud. 5: 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2015.11.011.
Rugel, K., C. R. Jackson, J. J. Romeis, S. W. Golladay, D. W. Hicks, and J. F. Dowd. 2012. “Effects of irrigation withdrawals on streamflows in a karst environment: Lower Flint River Basin, Georgia, USA.” Hydrol. Processes. 26 (4): 523–534. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.8149.
Rugel, K., J. Romeis, C. R. Jackson, S. W. Golladay, D. W. Hicks, and J. F. Dowd. 2009. “Use of historic data to evaluate effects of pumping stress on streams in southwest Georgia.” In Proc., 2009 Georgia Water Resources Conf. Athens, GA: Univ. of Georgia.
Shi, X. Q., Y. Q. Xue, S. J. Ye, J. C. Wu, Y. Zhang, and J. Yu. 2007. “Characterization of land subsidence induced by groundwater withdrawals in Su-Xi-Chang area, China.” Environ. Geol. 52 (1): 27–40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-006-0446-3123.
Siebert, S., J. Burke, J. M. Faures, K. Frenken, J. Hoogeveen, P. Doll, and F. T. Portmann. 2010. “Groundwater use for irrigation—A global inventory.” Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 14 (10): 1863–1880. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-14-1863-2010.
Singh, S., P. Srivastava, A. Abebe, and S. Mitra. 2015. “Baseflow response to climate variability induced droughts in the Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint River Basin, USA.” J. Hydrol. 528: 550–561. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.06.068.
Singh, S., P. Srivastava, S. Mitra, and A. Abebe. 2016. “Climate variability and irrigation impacts on streamflows in a karst watershed—A systematic evaluation.” J. Hydrol. Reg. Stud. 8: 274–286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2016.07.001.
Sophocleous, M. 2002. “Interactions between groundwater and surface water: the state of the science.” Hydrogeol. J. 10 (1): 52–67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-001-0170-8.
Southern Environmental Law Center. 2013.“ Advocating for the long-term health of two major river basins.” https://www.southernenvironment.org.
Stanford, J. A., and J. V. Ward. 1993. “An ecosystem perspective of alluvial rivers: Connectivity and the hyporheic corridor.” J. North Am. Benthol. Soc. 12 (1): 48–60. https://doi.org/10.2307/1467685.
Tarhule, A., and M. Woo. 1997. “Characteristics and use of shallow wells in a stream fadama: A case study in northern Nigeria.” Appl. Geogr. 17 (1): 29–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0143-6228(96)00023-9.
Torak, L. J. 1993a. A MODular finite-element model (MODFE) for areal and axisymmetric ground-water flow problems. Part 1—Model description and user’s manual. Reston, VA: USGS.
Torak, L. J. 1993b. A MODular finite-element model (MODFE) for areal and axisymmetric ground-water flow problems. Part 3—Design philosophy and programming details. Reston, VA: USGS.
Torak, L. J., G. S. Davis, G. A. Strain, and J. G. Herndon. 1993. Geohydrology and evaluation of water-resource potential of the Upper Floridan aquifer in the Albany area, southwestern Georgia. Reston, VA: USGS.
Torak, L. J., and J. A. Painter. 2006. Geohydrology of the lower Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint River Basin, southwestern Georgia, northwestern Florida, and southeastern Alabama. Reston, VA: USGS.
Torak, L. J., and J. A. Painter. 2011. Summary of the Georgia agricultural water conservation and metering program and evaluation of methods used to collect and analyze irrigation data in the middle and lower Chattahoochee and Flint River basins, 2004–2010. Reston, VA: USGS.
Winter, T. C., J. W. Harvey, O. L. Franke, and W. M. Alley. 1998. Ground water and surface water: A single resource: US Geological Survey Circular 1139, 4. Reston, VA: USGS.
Zektser, S., H. A. Loaiciga, and J. T. Wolf. 2005. “Environmental impacts of groundwater overdraft: Selected case studies in the southwestern United States.” Environ. Geol. 47 (3): 396–404. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-004-1164-3.
Zienkiewicz, O. C. 1977. The finite element method, 787. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Zume, J., and A. Tarhule. 2008. “Simulating the impacts of groundwater pumping on stream–aquifer dynamics in semiarid northwestern Oklahoma, USA.” Hydrogeol. J. 16 (4): 797–810. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-007-0268-8.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 24 • Issue 3 • March 2019
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 7, 2017
Accepted: Apr 3, 2018
Published online: Dec 18, 2018
Published in print: Mar 1, 2019
Discussion open until: May 18, 2019
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.