Project Proposal for 1999

Project number: 4598-6200 USGS Water Resources Division
Continuing Project Work Plan - FY 1999

IDENTIFYING INFORMATION
Project Title: INTERNAL SURFACE-WATER FLOWS
Geographic Area: SOUTH FLORIDA
Project Start Date: OCTOBER 1995
Project End Date: SEPTEMBER 1999 (under extension request)
Project Number: 4598-62000

Project Chief: Mitch Murray
Region: Southeast Region
Division: Water Resources Division
Section: Florida District, Miami Subdistrict
Email: mmurray@usgs.gov
Phone: 305-526-2895
Fax: 305-526-2881
Mail address: U.S. Geological Survey-Water Resources Division 9100 NW 36 St., Suite 107
Miami, Fl 33178
Program: Integrated Natural Resource Science Program
Element 5: ECOLOGICAL AND GEOLOGICAL STUDIES OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
Task 5.3: INTERNAL SURFACE-WATER FLOWS

BACKGROUND NARRATIVES

Project Summary: Proposed modified water deliveries to Indian Tribal Lands, Big Cypress National Preserve, and Water Conservation Area 3A require that flow at critical points in the interior be measured. This task provides flow data to supplement the current gaging station network in the area south of Lake Okeechobee and is an integral component of the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD)/Seminole Indian Tribal Agreement. The accurate determination of flow through the interior canal networks south of Lake Okeechobee and the C-139 basin is necessary for water budgets and regional model calibrations.

Project Objectives and Strategy: Three sites are are currently located at critical water delivery points to Tribal Lands for which information was previously lacking. A unique experiment, being conducted with much success, has provided three separate data components at each site with responsibilities allocated between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Seminole and Miccosukee Indian Tribes, and SFWMD. All sites are instrumented with USGS acoustic velocity meters (AVMâs), stage shaft encoders, data loggers with real-time flow-weighted algorithms, and radio frequency (RF) telemetry instrumentation provided by the SFWMD. RF telemetry, maintained and operated by SFWMD, is currently used to record and transmit all data from the field into data bases of the USGS Miami Subdistrict office through SFWMD data bases. The USGS mean-channel-velocity/AVM index-calibration refinement continues by performing a series of periodic streamgaging measurements utilizing the Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) when appropriate stream flow velocities are available. Continuous records of discharge are computed by the USGS and published in SFWMD/Seminole Indian Tribe data reports on a semi-annual basis. Autosamplers have been installed by SFWMD at each USGS AVM site and are maintained and operated by the Seminole Tribe (two sites) and the Miccosukee Indian Tribe (one site) for sampling real-time flow-weighted nitrates and phosphates based on USGS/SFWMD AVM algorithm triggers. All autosampler data have been processed and quality assured by the respective Tribe with direction and training to the Seminoles provided by the SFWMD and with nutrient loads computed by a separate agreement between the Tribes and SFWMD.

Potential Impacts and Major Products: The implementation of strategically located streamflow gaging points and associated data collection for nutrients are helping to define future surface-water flow requirements and to provide valuable baseline data before the establishment of new northern Storm Treatment Areas (STAâs 5 and 6), which currently are under construction. Generating continuous flow data at selected impact points for interior basins has complimented the existing eastern canal discharge network, which will allow for more accurately timed surface-water releases and provide flow and nutrient monitoring after STA implementation. One of the primary benefits of this USGS collaboration effort has been the technology transfer that has occurred through contact with Tribe and state entities. This intimate association has allowed USGS technical staff exposure to new techniques involving acoustic flow-weighted nutrient load protocols with relatively minimal funding and manpower investment. The expenditures made by the State are much larger in scope than would be possible for the Interior Flows program. The USGS, as members of the Seminole Working Group, has gained exposure to problems encountered upstream of Internal Flows stations at SFWMD sites. This exposure has aided in comprehending velocity circulation patterns previously ill defined by velocity indexes at the downstream USGS sites on the L-28 Intecepter Canal. Solving this low flow problem along with instrument experimentation by the SFWMD has allowed USGS personnel the benefits of oversight without cost expenditures. Implementation of information learned in this effort for the existing 30 station cooperative velocity index network, which is currently operated by the USGS and other cooperators, may occur in the future. Data products include daily value stage and discharge for three velocity index discharge sites and provisional daily value data produced biannually for the Seminole Working Group Report.

Collaborators and Clients: The primary entities interested in monitoring these flow ways are the Seminole and Miccosukee Indian Tribes, who have the greatest concern over water allocation and nutrient loads provided by future upstream STAâs. The SFWMD implements previously defined water-regulation schedules and also operates similar data- collection stations upstream where the primary flow ways enter the Reservations. Big Cypress National Preserve and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection are secondary concerned parties with interests in both water budgets and nutrient loads leaving Tribal Lands. These numbers will be instrumental in the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Restudy Plan, which proposes breaches (among several other alternatives) in the L-28 Intercepter Canal.
 

WORK PLAN

Timeline (FY 1999 to project end):
Major tasks: 1999 water year: ADCP streamgaging calibration, operation and maintenance, rating curve analysis, and daily value processing.
Staff: R.Solis,E. Debiak.
Data collected during the entire study will be archived in a special data base in conjunction with the Ecosystem Data base Development project. A two page synopsis will be prepared that summarizes accomplishments of the project, its relevance to management issues, and recommendations for future studies.

Deliverables:
1999 water year: USGS progress reports- October, February, and June.
1999 water year: SFWMD/Seminole Working Group progress reports bimonthly.
1999 water year: SFWMD/Seminole Semi annual Progress Report.
1999 water year: Daily value tables and statistics for stage and discharge for period of record, published in Water Resources Data-South Florida, Vol 2A, Surface Water..
1999 water year: Synopsis will be prepared as a Fact Sheet.

Products:
1999 water year: Publication of daily values tables in Water Resources
Data-South Florida, Vol 2A, Surface Water.
1999 water year: SFWMD/Seminole Semi-annual Progress Report.
1999 water year: Fact sheet synopsis report.

FY 1999 Activities: Continued ADCP calibration and analysis of low flow conditions by organizing streamgaging work details during specific flow periods where calibration is lacking. Refinement of the mean velocity/AVM line velocity relationship will be continued after future discharge measurements are obtained. Operation and maintenance of the three AVM sites will also include electromagnetic point velocity analysis at one site. Daily value stage and discharge tables will be published for period of record.

FY 1999 Deliverables and Products: Daily value stage and discharge will be published for period of record in the data report entitled: ãWater Resources Data Florida, Water Year 1999 Volume 2Aä. Statistics to be included are: monthly totals, means, maximums, minimums, annual totals, means, highest and lowest daily means, annual seven-day minimum, annual runoff in acre feet to include 10, 50, 90 exceedance percentages.

Planned Outreach Activities: Outreach will be directed to Tribes such as the Seminole and Miccosukee Indian Tribes of Florida, and other agencies such as the SFWMD, Big Cypress Basin Preserve, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and local agencies or groups that have an interest in the health of the south Florida ecosystem. Outreach will also include the production and dissemination of a two-page synopsis report as a Fact Sheet that summarizes project accomplishments.

COLLABORATORS AND CLIENTS: During the duration of the project close collaboration and exchange of technical information will be maintained with SFWMD personnel operating telemetry at the sites. The SFWMD data from AVM sites located directly upstream of the USGS sites will be routinely compared. These upstream sites will be used in a quality assurance effort to maintain mass-balance information with downstream USGS sites. The USGS will facilitate coordination of instrumentation troubleshooting and streamflow quality assurance at the multiagency sites. The USGS will also assist both Seminole and Miccosukee Indian Tribes to verify data-logger totalized flows, which will be used in quality assuring flow-weighted autosampler load totals. The USGS will also help train the two Tribes to access telemetric data through either ADAPS or the World Wide Web. Logistical support for pump and gate operations will be provided by the SFWMD. Progress and data dissemination will be communicated in monthly technical meetings and summarized for members of the monthly Seminole Working Group meetings.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS, OUTCOMES, PRODUCTS, OUTREACH

FY 1998 Accomplishments and Outcomes, Including Outreach: Three RF/AVM/autosampler (flow-weighted nutrients) sites have been operated and monitored with daily value stage and discharge computations performed for the period October 1 to February 28, 1998. Analysis for low flow computations have revealed conditions previously misunderstood which have caused inaccuracies at the low end of the velocity rating regression. Thermal stratification and wind vectors have been revealed as the causes for coarse index- velocity rating curve definition during common winter flows in the 0.00 to 0.30 ft/s (foot per second) ranges. Monthly technical mutiagency meetings have suggested similar conditions at upstream canal sites, and new documentation will be included in the SFWMD/Seminole Semiannual Progress Report to illuminate data collected during these less accurately calibrated flow conditions. New electromagnetic point-velocity equipment has been installed at one site to allow further delineation and documentation of these special conditions.

FY 1997 Deliverables, Products Completed: Daily value stage and discharges for three sites have been analyzed, processed, reviewed, and forwarded to SFWMD personnel for inclusion in the SFWMD/Seminole Semiannual Progress Report.

Project Support Requirements

Names and expertise of key project staff: Mitch Murray, supervisory hydrologist, Rick Solis and Elizabeth Debiak, hydrologic technicians.

Other required expertise for which no individual has been identified: None

Major equipment/facility needs: None
 

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