Sandra Owen-Joyce
Biography
1978-1993: Investigated the hydrology of the stream-aquifer systems on the Verde and Colorado Rivers to appraise water resources, develop water budgets to estimate groundwater return flow and consumptive use, use remote-sensing technology to estimate evapotranspiration, evaluate the spatial and temporal differences of the variables collected at weather stations for use with satellite-image data in estimating evapotranspiration, map the aerial distribution of evapotranspiration in relation to soil moisture using geographic information system software, compare methodology results, and combine methodologies to develop an accounting system to estimate and distribute consumptive use to water users. 1993-1995: Group Leader in the Arizona District overseeing projects related to lower Colorado River funded by the Bureau of Reclamation related to Decree accounting which included the accounting surface/well inventory project. Negociated the continuation of the well inventory work along the lower Colorado River to provide data to the accounting-surface method, which involves inventoring wells, coding/entry of the data into the NWIS database, developing an image-based database for photographs of the wells, and coordinating work between Reclamation and USGS employees, the States of Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah, and the Colorado River Indian Tribes. Education MS, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, 1975, Geology BS, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1972, Earth & Space Sciences, Geology, Biology
Science and Products
Identification and Analysis of Points of Diversion along the Lower Colorado River in Support of Decree Accounting
In the United States, the Colorado River Compact of 1922 apportions the waters of the Colorado River between the upper basin States and the lower basin States (U.S. Congress, 1948, p. A17-A22). The requirement for participation of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) is stated in Article V. Water in the lower Colorado River is apportioned among the States of...
Potential depletion of surface water in the Colorado River and agricultural drains by groundwater pumping in the Parker-Palo Verde-Cibola area, Arizona and California
Water use along the lower Colorado River is allocated as “consumptive use,” which is defined to be the amount of water diverted from the river minus the amount that returns to the river. Diversions of water from the river include surface water in canals and water removed from the river by pumping wells in the aquifer connected to the river. A...
Leake, Stanley A.; Owen-Joyce, Sandra J.; Heilman, Julian A.
Update of the Accounting Surface Along the Lower Colorado River
The accounting-surface method was developed in the 1990s by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation, to identify wells outside the flood plain of the lower Colorado River that yield water that will be replaced by water from the river. This method was needed to identify which wells require an entitlement for...
Wiele, Stephen M.; Leake, Stanley A.; Owen-Joyce, Sandra J.; McGuire, Emmet H. Hydrologic conditions in the Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge and Planet Valley, Arizona, 2000
During a period of sustained base-flow conditions in the Bill Williams River below Alamo Dam in west central Arizona from March to July 2000, the channel of the river through Planet Valley was dry, and the water table sloped almost due west parallel to the main slope of the flood plain. Water from the river infiltrated into the channel bottom at...
Wilson, Richard P.; Owen-Joyce, Sandra J. Method to identify wells that yield water that will be replaced by water from the Colorado River downstream from Laguna Dam in Arizona and California
Accounting for the use of Colorado River water is required by the U.S. Supreme Court decree, 1964, Arizona v. California. Water pumped from wells on the flood plain and from certain wells on alluvial slopes outside the flood plain is presumed to be river water and is accounted for as Colorado River water. The accounting-surface method developed...
Owen-Joyce, Sandra J.; Wilson, Richard P.; Carpenter, Michael C.; Fink, James B. Identifying wells downstream from Laguna Dam that yield water that will be replaced by water from the Colorado River, Arizona and California
This report summarizes a comprehensive study and development of the method documented in Owen-Joyce and others (2000). That report and one for the area upstream from Laguna Dam (Wilson and Owen-Joyce, 1994) document the accounting-surface method to identify wells that yield water that will be replaced by water from the Colorado River. Downstream...
Owen-Joyce, Sandra J.
An accounting system for water and consumptive use along the Colorado River, Hoover Dam to Mexico
An accounting system for estimating and distributing consumptive use of water by vegetation to water users was developed for the Colorado River to meet the requirements of a U.S. Supreme Court decree and used with data from calendar year 1984. The system is based on a water-budget method to estimate total consumptive use by vegetation which is...
Owen-Joyce, Sandra J.; Raymond, Lee H.
Meteorological and associated data collected over agricultural fields in Pinal County, Arizona, 1989 and 1990
Data were collected at temporary meteorological stations installed in agricultural fields in Pinal County, Arizona, to evaluate the spatial and temporal variability of point data and to examine how station location affects ground-based meteorological data and the resulting values of evapotranspiration calculated using remotely sensed multispectral...
Owen-Joyce, Sandra J.; Brown, Paul W.
Accounting for Consumptive Use of Lower Colorado River Water in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah
In the Colorado River valley between the east end of Lake Mead and the international boundary with Mexico (see figure), the river is the principal source of water for agricultural, domestic, municipal, industrial, hydroelectric-power generation, and recreational purposes. Water is stored in surface reservoirs and in the river aquifer---permeable...
Owen-Joyce, Sandra J.; Wilson, Richard P.
Method to identify wells that yield water that will be replaced by Colorado River water in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah
Accounting for the use of Colorado River water is required by the U.S. Supreme Court decree, 1964, Arizona v. California. Water pumped from wells on the flood plain and from certain wells on alluvial slopes outside the flood plain is presumed to be river water and is accounted for as Colorado River water. A method was developed to identify wells...
Wilson, Richard P.; Owen-Joyce, Sandra J.
Determining the source of water pumped from wells along the lower Colorado River
Wilson, Richard P.; Owen-Joyce, Sandra J.
Accounting System for Water Use by Vegetation in the Lower Colorado River Valley
The Colorado River is the principal source of water in the valley of the Colorado River between Hoover Dam and the international boundary with Mexico (fig. 1). Agricultural, domestic, municipal, industrial, hydroelectric-power genera-tion, and recreation are the primary uses of river water in the valley. Most of the consumptive use of water from...
Owen-Joyce, Sandra J.