Water Budget Science in Oklahoma and Texas Active
A water budget is an accounting of hydrologic components of the water cycle, transfers between the components, and their relative contributions within a water system. Water budgets help define how much water is available, how much water is used, where the water comes from, and at what rate water is replenished or consumed. In its simplest form, a water budget defines the amount of water entering and leaving a water system. The USGS Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center (OTWSC) provides data and information about water-budget components that are needed to manage water resources in Texas. Visit the links below for more information on our data and science.
Basic components of water budgets are precipitation, evapotranspiration, surface-water and groundwater flow into and out of the watershed or aquifer, change in surface-water and groundwater storage, and human withdrawals and interbasin transfers.
WATER BUDGET SCIENCE CAPABILITIES
OTWSC has expertise in water budget science applications, including, but not limited to:
- Modeling analysis to estimate water-budget components under different climate and water-use scenarios
- Quanitifying potential changes in hydrologic budgets due to vegetative land-cover changes at a watershed scale.
- Estimating groundwater recharge using statistical regression techniques
- Monitoring evapotranspiration rates to evaluate how changes in land cover and soil moisture content may change water budgets
- Determining groundwater sources, recharge, discharge, and mixing zones
- Collecting streamflow data.
CURRENT WATER BUDGET SCIENCE
Coastal Lowlands Regional Groundwater Availability Study (CLAS)
Evapotranspiration Monitoring at Huisache Removal Site
Hydrogeologic Atlas for Fort Bliss
Hydrogeologic Framework of Gaines, Terry, and Yoakum Counties
Hydrologic Monitoring of Medina and Diversion Lakes, San Antonio Area
Projects related to water budgets are listed below.
Data and tools related to water budgets are listed below.
Publications related to water budgets are listed below.
Statistical analyses of hydrologic system components and simulation of Edwards aquifer water-level response to rainfall using transfer-function models, San Antonio region, Texas
Diffuse-flow conceptualization and simulation of the Edwards aquifer, San Antonio region, Texas
Conceptualization and simulation of the Edwards aquifer, San Antonio region, Texas
Results of streamflow gain-loss studies in Texas, with emphasis on gains from and losses to major and minor aquifers, Texas, 2000
Simulation of flow and effects of best-management practices in the upper Seco Creek basin, south-central Texas, 1991-98
Water budget for the Nueces Estuary, Texas, May-October 1998
Computer-model analysis of ground-water flow and simulated effects of contaminant remediation at Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant, Dallas, Texas
Hydrogeology, hydrologic budget, and water chemistry of the Medina Lake area, Texas
Hydrogeology and ground-water flow in the Edwards-Trinity aquifer-system, west-central, Texas
Estimated depth to the water table and estimated rate of recharge in outcrops of the Chicot and Evangeline aquifers near Houston, Texas
Geology and hydrology of the Edwards Aquifer in the San Antonio area, Texas
Water-budget studies of lower Mesilla Valley and El Paso Valley, El Paso County, Texas
- Overview
A water budget is an accounting of hydrologic components of the water cycle, transfers between the components, and their relative contributions within a water system. Water budgets help define how much water is available, how much water is used, where the water comes from, and at what rate water is replenished or consumed. In its simplest form, a water budget defines the amount of water entering and leaving a water system. The USGS Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center (OTWSC) provides data and information about water-budget components that are needed to manage water resources in Texas. Visit the links below for more information on our data and science.
Basic components of water budgets are precipitation, evapotranspiration, surface-water and groundwater flow into and out of the watershed or aquifer, change in surface-water and groundwater storage, and human withdrawals and interbasin transfers.
WATER BUDGET SCIENCE CAPABILITIES
OTWSC has expertise in water budget science applications, including, but not limited to:
- Modeling analysis to estimate water-budget components under different climate and water-use scenarios
- Quanitifying potential changes in hydrologic budgets due to vegetative land-cover changes at a watershed scale.
- Estimating groundwater recharge using statistical regression techniques
- Monitoring evapotranspiration rates to evaluate how changes in land cover and soil moisture content may change water budgets
- Determining groundwater sources, recharge, discharge, and mixing zones
- Collecting streamflow data.
CURRENT WATER BUDGET SCIENCE
Coastal Lowlands Regional Groundwater Availability Study (CLAS)
Evapotranspiration Monitoring at Huisache Removal Site
Hydrogeologic Atlas for Fort Bliss
Hydrogeologic Framework of Gaines, Terry, and Yoakum Counties
Hydrologic Monitoring of Medina and Diversion Lakes, San Antonio Area
- Science
Projects related to water budgets are listed below.
- Data
Data and tools related to water budgets are listed below.
- Publications
Publications related to water budgets are listed below.
Filter Total Items: 24Statistical analyses of hydrologic system components and simulation of Edwards aquifer water-level response to rainfall using transfer-function models, San Antonio region, Texas
In 2003 the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the San Antonio Water System, did a study using historical data to statistically analyze hydrologic system components in the San Antonio region of Texas and to develop transfer-function models to simulate water levels at selected sites (wells) in the Edwards aquifer on the basis of rainfall. Water levels for two wells in the confined zone inAuthorsLisa D. Miller, Andrew J. LongDiffuse-flow conceptualization and simulation of the Edwards aquifer, San Antonio region, Texas
A numerical ground-water-flow model (hereinafter, the conduit-flow Edwards aquifer model) of the karstic Edwards aquifer in south-central Texas was developed for a previous study on the basis of a conceptualization emphasizing conduit development and conduit flow, and included simulating conduits as one-cell-wide, continuously connected features. Uncertainties regarding the degree to which conduitAuthorsR. J. LindgrenConceptualization and simulation of the Edwards aquifer, San Antonio region, Texas
A new numerical ground-water-flow model (Edwards aquifer model) that incorporates important components of the latest information and plausible conceptualization of the Edwards aquifer was developed. The model includes both the San Antonio and Barton Springs segments of the Edwards aquifer in the San Antonio region, Texas, and was calibrated for steady-state (1939–46) and transient (1947–2000) condAuthorsRichard J. Lindgren, A.R. Dutton, S.D. Hovorka, S.R.H. Worthington, Scott PainterResults of streamflow gain-loss studies in Texas, with emphasis on gains from and losses to major and minor aquifers, Texas, 2000
Data for all 366 known streamflow gain-loss studies conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in Texas were aggregated. A water-budget equation that includes discharges for main channels, tributaries, return flows, and withdrawals was used to document the channel gain or loss for each of 2,872 subreaches for the studies. The channel gain or loss represents discharge from or recharge to aquifers crosAuthorsRaymond M. Slade, J. Taylor Bentley, Dana MichaudSimulation of flow and effects of best-management practices in the upper Seco Creek basin, south-central Texas, 1991-98
The Hydrological Simulation Program— FORTRAN model was used to assess the effects of two best-management practices—brush management (removal of woody species locally known as cedar) and weather modification (rainfall enhancement)—on selected hydrologic processes in six subbasins that compose the upper Seco Creek Basin in south-central Texas. A parameter set for use with the model was developed toAuthorsDavid S. Brown, Timothy H. RainesWater budget for the Nueces Estuary, Texas, May-October 1998
The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), and Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) are charged by the Texas Legislature with determining freshwater inflows required to maintain the ecological health of streams, bays, and estuaries in Texas. To determine required inflows, the three agencies collect data and conduct studies on the needs fAuthorsD.J. OckermanComputer-model analysis of ground-water flow and simulated effects of contaminant remediation at Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant, Dallas, Texas
In June 1993, the Department of the Navy, Southern Division Naval Facilities Engineering Command (SOUTHDIV), began a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Facility Investigation (RFI) of the Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant (NWIRP) in north-central Texas. The RFI has found trichloroethene, dichloroethene, vinyl chloride, as well as chromium, lead, and other metallic residuum in the sAuthorsRene A. Barker, Christopher L. BraunHydrogeology, hydrologic budget, and water chemistry of the Medina Lake area, Texas
A three-phase study of the Medina Lake area in Texas was done to assess the hydrogeology and hydrology of Medina and Diversion Lakes combined (the lake system) and to determine what fraction of seepage losses from the lake system might enter the regional ground-water-flow system of the Edwards and (or) Trinity aquifers. Phase 1 consisted of revising the geologic framework for the Medina Lake area.AuthorsRebecca B. Lambert, Kenneth C. Grimm, Roger W. LeeHydrogeology and ground-water flow in the Edwards-Trinity aquifer-system, west-central, Texas
Two finite-element ground-water flow models were developed for the Edwards–Trinity aquifer system, west-central Texas, to gain a better understanding of the flow system; one ground-water flow model was developed at a large scale to simulate the regional system and contiguous, hydraulically connected units, and one model was constructed at a smaller more detailed scale to simulate the most active aAuthorsEve L. Kuniansky, Ann F. ArdisEstimated depth to the water table and estimated rate of recharge in outcrops of the Chicot and Evangeline aquifers near Houston, Texas
In 1989, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Harris-Galveston Coastal Subsidence District, began a field study to determine the depth to the water table and to estimate the rate of recharge in outcrops of the Chicot and Evangeline aquifers near Houston, Texas. The study area comprises about 2,000 square miles of outcrops of the Chicot and Evangeline aquifers in northwest Harris CouAuthorsJ. E. Noble, P. W. Bush, M. C. Kasmarek, D.L. BarbieGeology and hydrology of the Edwards Aquifer in the San Antonio area, Texas
The Edwards aquifer, which is the sole source of water for the city of San Antonio, is one of the most permeable and productive carbonate aquifers in the United States. The aquifer is composed of extensively faulted, fractured, and cavernous limestone and dolomite of Early Cretaceous age lying within the Balcones fault zone a series of normal en echelon strike faults that separate the Edwards PlatAuthorsRobert W. MaclayWater-budget studies of lower Mesilla Valley and El Paso Valley, El Paso County, Texas
The total inflow of water to the lower Mesilla Valley in 1970 was 390,510 acre-feet. Of this amount, 43,300 acre-feet was consumptively used by crops and phreatophytes and 4,700 acre-feet was lost by evaporation. Ground-water storage increased by 320 acre-feet, and 360,860 acrefeet left the valley as surface- and ground-water outflow. Ground-water recharge was approximately 26,170 acre-feet.ThAuthorsW.R. Meyer, J.D. Gordon