LESSONS LEARNED FROM EVALUATING NAVAJO NATION SURFACE WATER MEASUREMENT AND MONITORING SYSTEM

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LESSONS LEARNED FROM EVALUATING NAVAJO NATION
SURFACE WATER MEASUREMENT AND MONITORING SYSTEM

• AREGAI TECLE (Northern Arizona University,
  Flagstaff, AZ), Gregg Garfin (University of
  Arizona, Tucson, AZ), Diana Anderson and Paul
  Heinrich (Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff,
  AZ), and John Leeper and Jolene
  Tallsalt-Robertson (Navajo Department of Water
  Resources, Fort Defiance,
• AZ.

Little Colorado River Watershed Coordinating
Council, Second Annual Winter Watershed
Conference Show Low, Arizona January 28-30, 2009
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PRESENTATION INCLUDES

• Purposes for surface water measurement and
  monitoring
• Measurement devices or approaches
• Data types
• Methods of data retrieval or collection
• State of Navajo Nation stream flow
• measurement
• Conclusions
• Some recommendations

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• STREAM WATER COMES FROM SURFACE AND
  SUBSURFACE SOURCES.
• PRECISE MEASUREMENT OF THE STREAM DISCHARGE
  RATE IS NEEDED TO ACCURATELY ESTIMATE THE TOTAL
  AMOUNT OF WATER LEAVING A WATERSHED.

• Kinlichee Creek gauge

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GENERAL DATA INADEQUACY CONCERN
There are major concerns or perils due to
absence, or inadequate, or reduced monitoring of
the Nations streams and rivers (New York Times,
April 11, 2006) There are many reasons for the
need to know the amount and rate of stream flow.

Flooding in Wisconsin on 6/9/2008
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OVERARCHING REASONS FOR ACCURATE MEASUREMENT AND
MONITORING SURFACE WATER IN THE NAVAJO NATION

• Protect manage Navajo Nation surface water
  resources for economic, social, cultural and
  spiritual benefits of the Nation
• Improve the Nations capacity to monitor, plan
  and manage extreme hydrologic conditions (drought
  flooding)

Flooding in Wisconsin on 6/9/2008
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SPECIFIC PURPOSES FOR STREAM FLOW MEASUREMENT

• To enhance public safety by providing data
• for forecasting and managing flood events
• To delineate and manage flood plains
• To characterize current water-quality conditions
• To operate and design multipurpose reservoirs
• - For domestic and agricultural water supply
• - For flood control
• - For energy generation
• - Recreation and wildlife habitat
• To design highway bridges and culverts

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SPECIFIC PURPOSES FOR STREAM FLOW MEASUREMENT
Cont.

• To set minimum flow requirements to meet
• aquatic life goals (spawning area, food
  source,
• migration paths of fish and other wildlife)
• To monitor compliance with minimum flow
• requirements
• To develop or operate recreation facilities
• To allocate water for municipal, industrial,
• and agricultural uses
• To determine impacts of phreatophyte water
• consumption
• To evaluate surface- and ground-water
  interactions
• To facilitate long-term scientific studies of
  any
• changes in the hydrologic cycle

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DIFFERENT WAYS OF MEASURING SURFACE WATER FLOW
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STREAMFLOW MEASURING DEVICES
Structural example of a V-notch weir
Flume used for small stream flow measurements
Structure of a Parshall flume
Various parts of a stilling well left figure
showing most appropriate location by a bridge to
ensure channel stability right figure shows the
different parts of a stilling well.
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STREAM FLOW MEASURING DEVICES - Continue
Pressure transducer installed submerged in the
flow channel useful for long-term measurement and
operation (may also be used with no cable as
battery-operated)
Utrasonic water level sensor non-contact
measurement of water surface elevation used for
long term operation and monitoring (sensitive to
disturbances)
Electromagnetic current meter advantageous in
channels where fouling mechanical sensors is
problematic
Radar level sensor non contact measurement of
water surface, mostly used for long-term
operation and measurement (sensitive to
disturbance)
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STREAM FLOW MEASURING DEVICES - Continue
Mechanical (Pygmy) current meter for infrequent
flow measurement vertical axis
Mechanical current meter horizontal axis
Current meter acoustic doppler velocity meter
used for infrequent non-continuous water
velocity measurement (has high accuracy)
Price pigmy stream flow measuring device done
from a suspended position.
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STREAM FLOW MEASURING DEVICES - Cont.
Ultrasonic velocity with water level transducer
current meter. It is typically mounted in the
channel bottom and measures water surface
elevation and vertically-integrated velocity in
small channels.
Bubble manometer the manometer shelter can be
located at a distance from the waters edge in a
safe location and the orifice may be easily moved
to follow changing stream channel. Gas bubbles
keep the orifice from getting covered by sediment
Microwave water surface velocity gage useful
for water surface velocity measurement during
high stage floods.
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DOMSAT
GOES
Remote hydrologic Stations
User Operations
Wallops, Virginia Command and Data Acquisition
Center
( Internet )
Stage
After Chris Smith, USGS (2008)
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DATA TYPES

• Snow water equivalent
• Stream flow data
• - Stage height
• - Event stream flow rate
• or discharge rate
• - Cumulative or total
• stream flow amount

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SOURCES OF INFORMATION USED IN THIS PRESENTATION

• On-site examination of stream flow
• gaging sites and instruments
• Relevant literature review
• Interview of relevant personnel
• (NNDWR, USGS and NWS)
• Historical data acquisition
• Evaluation of NNDWR stream flow data collection,
  reporting, communication, and integration needs
• Comparing data from USGS and NDWR operated gauges

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CHUSKA AGRICULTURE CASE STUDY

• Observed Changes Decreased snow, soil moisture,
  and irrigation supply since 1999 Cessation of
  farming

Rachael Novak, CLIMAS and Univ. Arizona
Geosciences
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STREAMFLOW MEASUREMENT TYPES

• Stage height height of the water in a stream
  above a certain baseline in feet or meter.
• Stream flow or discharge is volume flow of
  water (in cubic
• Feet or meter cubic) moving past a cross-section
  of a stream during a specific period of time (in
  seconds), hence the rate of discharge is cubic
  feet per second.
• Rating curve A graphical representation of the
  relationship between the stage height and the
  discharge rate of a stream flow.

Crane, current meter, and weight used to measure
the stream flow rate from a bridge.
River bed
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OBSERVATIONS ON OPERATIONAL STREAM GAGES AND
ASSOCIATED DATA QUALITY IN THE NAVAJO NATION
Black Creek
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CHARACTERISTICS THAT INFLUENCE DATA QUALITY AND
RELIABILITY

• INSTRUMENT RELIABILITY
• INSTRUMENT MAINTENANCE
• DATA HANDLING
• DATA PROCESSING
• DATA ACCESSIBILITY (Location)
• SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION AND
• REPRESENTATIVENESS OF DATA
• KNOWLEDGEABLE AND DEDICATED PERSONNEL
  AVAILABILITY
• MAINTENANCE OF FACILITY

Captain Tom wash gage
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Gages are concentrated mainly on streams draining
the Chuska Mountains, which is a small part of
the Navajo Nation.
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BLACK CREEK GAGE CONDITION

• Instrument has been operating continuously,
  however,
• data recording has been interrupted a number of
  times

• Concerns with the gaging station
• Channel invasion by Exotic vegetation
• Channel bed sediment accumulation
• Channel aggredation degradation

Sediment accumulation
Stilling well vegetation
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BLACK CREEK STREAMFLOW CHART
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ASSAYI CREEK GAGE CONDITION

• Concerns with Assayi Creek gage
• 1. Invasion by vegetation 3. Data have
  not been regularly
• 2. Sediment accumulation taken and
  processed

June 2007
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ASSAYI CREEK DATA
The graph on the left shows sporadic stream flow
data while the dotted graph on the right shows
stage-discharge relationship of the recorded
data. The chart shows little flows for high
stage which may be due to errors in data
recording or instrument reading or due to large
amount of sediment accumulation.
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CHINLE CREEK GAGE CONDITION
Stilling well
Note stream bed sediment accumulation
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CHINLE CREEK GAGE CONDITION-Cont

• Three major concerns are apparent in this
  gauging station 1) stream braiding resulting in
  most of the flow taking place away from the
  gauge, 2) lots of sediment accumulation and 3)
  stream bottom plant and tree growth
  
• The consequences
  of these conditions are both under and
• over estimation of stream flow

streambed vegetation invasion
Flow a way from gage
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CHINLE CREEK DATA
The graph on the left hand side shows the
sporadic nature of the data collected form the
gage at Chinle, and there is little one can do
with such data. The dotted graph of
stage-discharge relationship on the right shows
low correlation between the two forms of stream
flow measurement, which reflects the channel
problem.
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WHEATFIELDS CREEK GAGE CONDITION
The gauge is in a stable cross-section. However
there is a great deal of vegetation invasion
above the bankful stage to affect the accuracy of
a stream flow measurement. As in the other
gages, we do not have a continuous record to make
much sense of the data.
The higher correlation between stage and
discharge at low flows comopared to at higher
flows is reflective of the stream cross-section.
It is stable near the bottom of the stilling well
but have vegetation at higher level.
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LUKACHUKAI CREEK GAGE CONDITION
As with the data from the other gauging stations
those from Lukachukai Creek have not followed
proper protocol to provide any important
information on the stream flow nor can they be
used in any modeling or decision-making process.

The order less scatter of the stage-discharge
relationship points on the right hand side graph
shows the poor gaging station condition. Large
sediment accumulation and in-channel vegetation
growth give a false high stage height.
Observe the tremendous amount of sediment
accumulation along the stream bed. There is also
plenty of vegetation growth along the stream bed.
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CAPTAIN TOM Wash GAUGE CONDITION

• There are lots of boulders in the stream
  cross-section where the stilling well is located.
  We could also see the sediment accumulation
  inside the stilling well. These along with the
  vegetation in the stream can affect the
  reliability of the flow data significantly. They
  need to be cleaned.

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WHISKEY CREEK GAUGE CONDITION
The flume in this station has some vegetation
growth problems, but it is relatively in good
condition. The stage-discharge data on the right
shows this relatively good condition.
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TSAILE CREEK
This is one of Navajo Nations Safety of Dams
automated stations that provide real-time data to
protect lives and property. Where gaged stream
channels are stable and well maintained,
long-term data can be generated to forecast
extreme hydrological events such as drought and
flood periods.
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TSAILE CREEK
Detail of the state-of-the-art automated
streamgage and weather Station instrumentation at
Tsaile Creek.
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TSAILE CREEK DATA
The measured stream flow record for the gage at
Tsaile is sporadic like those in most of the
other NNDWR-operated gages. However the condition
of the stream makes the stage-discharge points on
the right look good. In this situation as in
others, there is a need for continuous data
collection and processing.
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KINLICHEE CREEK GAUGE CONDITION
The gauge at kinlichee Creek is located under a
bridge which is stable with no vegetation growth
and little sediment accumulation. The effect can
be see in the near-perfect stage-discharge
relationship curve below
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LITTLE COLORADO RIVER NEAR CAMEROON ANOTHER
EXAMPLE OF A USGS-OPERATED STREAM GAUGE
Annual average stream flow (in cfs) of Little Colorado River near Cameron, Arizona
This is a long term data which can be manipulated to show different hydrologic conditions around the area of measurement. The graphs on the right hand side show wet and dry periods for 58 years, the upper one on a monthly basis in 3-D and below it is the bimodal monthly averages. The graphs to the left show the annual average (upper) and a 5-year running average (lower) showing a generally decreasing trend with time.
1947-2005 stream flow record in the Little Colorado River near Cameron, Arizona
Annual average stream flow (in cfs) of Little Colorado River near Cameron, Arizona
Monthly average stream flow (in cfs) of Little Colorado River near Cameron, Arizona
1947-2005 5-year running average of LCR discharge (in cfs) near Cameroon, Arizona
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SAN JUAN RIVER STREAM FLOW CHARACTERISTICS
The San Juan River gage is operated by the USGS.
Compared to those operated by the NNDWR, the
data can be used for many purposes. Here we use
it to show the wet season in the lower right hand
side and to show the decreasing stream flow (or
drying) condition with time in the lower left
hand side. The 3-D figure to the right shows the
monthly average stream flow for 27 years. The
figure also shows periods of high and low flows
as well as its persistent unimodal nature. We
can also use the data for modeling water yield
and peak flow or flood forecasting
1979-2006 Stream flow of San Juan River in New Mexico near the border with the Navajo Nation
A five year running average of stream flow rate (in cfs) at San Juan River
Monthly average hydrograph of 1978-2005 flow rate at San Juan River (in cfs)
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STATION INSTALLATION AND RETENTION CRITERIA

• There are many criteria to consider when
  installing or retaining a gauging station These
  include
• Presence of population centers around or
  downstream of the
• station sites
• Present or future presence of reservoirs
  downstream of the
• potential or existing station sites
• Value in the data for recreation and tourism
  enterprises
• Present or potential presence of large
  irrigated areas nearby
• the station
• Multiple versus single use of stations
• Potential for additional uses of the station
• Easy access to station location
• Proximity of station location to
  telecommunications
• Location of station in a unique or important
  ecosystem
• Station data reliability (are many data
  missing from the
• station)

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STATION INSTALLATION AND RETENTION CRITERIA-Cont.

• Presence of high density stations in close
  proximity
• High potential for land ownership or where the
  
• station becomes prone to vandalism
• Usefulness of station to wildlife monitoring
  efforts
• High potential (or a history) of site for high
  wildlife
• habitat disturbance
• Capability of station location, or the length
  of station
• record to facilitate climate change
  monitoring
• Excessive cost of operating and maintaining
  station
• Educational and research values of station
• Possibility for area economic development
  support of
• station

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CURRENT DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS

• Working with NAU AND UofA on hydroclimate data
  acquisition capacity building
• Collaborating with the USGS on stream gaging and
  data collection
• Collaborating with NWS to acquire and locate
• NOAA Weather Radio stations and other facilities
• Continuous BIA funding and assistance to continue
  develop weather, water, and climate data
  acquisition and processing capacity
• Collaborating with Corps of Engineers on
  watershed modeling
• Collaboration with private companies and
  individuals as well as other federal and state
  agencies

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CONCLUDING REMARKS

• The condition of the different streams and
  the gauging facilities in the Navajo Nation and
  the data gathered from those streams tell us many
  things.
• 1. The stream gauges operated by the Navajo
  Nation are all functioning, however,
• 2. The stream reaches where the gauges are
  located are not well maintained to provide
  reliable data
• - data are not gathered in a consistent
  and continuous manner and even if they were
• - the data from most of the gages need proper
  processing for any use in decision making
• 3. The available gauges are concentrated in a
  very small portion of the Nation to represent the
  hydrologic conditions in the Navajo Nation
• 4. The main reasons for the problems are
  inadequate funding and shortage of manpower to
  properly operate existing gages, install new
  ones, process and make data available for various
  uses.
• 5. Poor sampling leads to poor understanding of
  weather, water, and climate issues.

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CONCLUDING REMARKS Cont.
6. Limits ability to help save lives and
property. 7. Present gages are restricted to
small areas data would be needed to represent
varying climatic, topographic and land use areas
8. Some gaging stations are not in good
shape 9. Shortage of NWS retrievable climate data
for hydrologic forecasting purposes 10. Data
needed for various development needs as indicated
next.
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SOME RECOMMENDATIONS

• Since availability of accurate and
  reliable stream flow data are important for the
  various reasons stated previously, we recommend
• 1. That having adequate hydrological information
  be a priority since many important situations
  such as accurate flood forecasting, proper
  reservoir operation, reliable estimation of
  agricultural and domestic water supplies, drought
  management as well as satisfactory wildlife and
  ecosystem maintenance and management depend on
  it
• 2. Obtain adequate funding for existing
  instrument maintenance, personnel training and
  hiring new employees
• 3. Ensure that data gathered from existing gages
  are properly processed and analyzed following
  properly protocol and make it available for
  others to use
• 4. In the long-term, obtain funds for installing
  gauges in streams that are not gauged at present.
  

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RECOMMENDATIONS Cont.

• 5. Enhance data communication telemeter data
  in near real-time this will enhance usability
  and quality control
• 6. Incorporate Navajo Nation data with USGS data
  to provide reliable forecasting system
• 7. Develop a collaborative effort among local
  (Navajo) and relevant state and federal agencies
  to work together to ensure availability of needed
  hydrological information for various uses
• 8. Develop ecosystem-based and multiobjective
  water resources management.

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THANK YOU