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ESTIMATING THE WATER RESOURCE FOR A HIGH SIERRA WATERSHED 1
Author(s) -
Guthe William G.,
Shelton M. L.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-1688.1987.tb02951.x
Subject(s) - surface runoff , environmental science , watershed , streamflow , groundwater recharge , hydrology (agriculture) , resource (disambiguation) , water resources , water quality , water resource management , groundwater , drainage basin , geography , geology , aquifer , ecology , computer network , cartography , geotechnical engineering , machine learning , computer science , biology
Competition for water, concerns for maintaining ground water quality, and compliance with legislative action require quantification of the water resource for high elevation watersheds in the Sierra Nevada. However, meager hydroclimatic data frequently hinder runoff assessments needed for formulating water development policies, and the selection of watershed models for estimating the water resource is limited to those requiring a minimum of observational data. A climatic water budget model and an energy slope and aspect model are employed to estimate the water resource for a small watershed in Sierra Valley north of Lake Tahoe. The models employ different assumptions and computational procedures, but the total water available estimated by both models is very similar. Measured runoff is estimated satisfactorily by the models, but streamflow is not representative of the total water resource because a substantial portion of the available water enters the regional ground water system. This conclusion is supported by hydrologic and geochemical evidence, and ground water recharge is estimated to be at least as great as measured runoff during dry years and nearly twice as large during wet years.