Effect of Irrigation Runoff on Surface Water Supplies

Cunningham, Morrison B.; Haney, Paul D.; Bendixen, Thomas W.; Howard, C. S.

doi:10.1002/j.1551-8833.1953.tb20193.x

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Other studies have suggested possible sources of salinity related to agricultural activities (e.g., evapotranspiration from agricultural field and return flows, displacement of shallow groundwater, irrigation use of groundwater, and application of fertilizers), urban/industrial inputs (e.g., point sources of treated or non-treated waste effluents), and shallow geological sources (e.g., dissolution of secondary evaporites in soil zones, and shallow brackish groundwater) (Figure 1B; Lippincott, 1939;Haney and Bendixen, 1953;Wilcox, 1957;Ellis et al, 1993;Moore and Anderholm, 2002;Phillips et al, 2003;Witcher et al, 2004;Hogan et al, 2007;Szynkiewicz et al, 2011;Moyer et al, 2013;Driscoll and Sherson, 2016).…”

Section: Multiple Sources Of Solute and Salinity In Rio Grande Watershedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining Uranium, Boron, and Strontium Isotope Ratios (234U/238U, δ11B, 87Sr/86Sr) to Trace and Quantify Salinity Contributions to Rio Grande River in Southwestern United States

et al. 2021

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In semi-arid to arid regions, both anthropogenic sources (urban and agriculture) and deeper Critical Zone (groundwater with long flow paths and water residence times) may play an important role in controlling chemical exports to rivers. Here, we combined two anthropogenic isotope tracers: uranium isotope ratios (234U/238U) and boron isotope ratios (δ11B), with the 87Sr/86Sr ratios to identify and quantify multiple solute (salinity) sources in the Rio Grande river in southern New Mexico and western Texas. The Rio Grande river is a major source of freshwater for irrigation and municipal uses in southwestern United States. There has been a large disagreement about the dominant salinity sources to the Rio Grande and particularly significant sources are of anthropogenic (agriculture practices and shallow groundwater flows, groundwater pumping, and urban developments) and/or geological (natural groundwater upwelling) origins. Between 2014 and 2016, we collected monthly river samples at 15 locations along a 200-km stretch of the Rio Grande river from Elephant Butte Reservoir, New Mexico to El Paso, Texas, as well as water samples from agricultural canals and drains, urban effluents and drains, and groundwater wells. Our study shows that due to the presence of localized and multiple salinity inputs, total dissolved solids (TDS) and isotope ratios of U, B, and Sr in the Rio Grande river show high spatial and temporal variability. Several agricultural, urban, and geological sources of salinity in the Rio Grande watershed have characteristic and distinguishable U, Sr, and B isotope signatures. However, due to the common issue of overlapping signatures as identified by previous tracer studies (such as δ18O, δD, δ34S), no single isotope tracer of U, Sr, or B isotopes was powerful enough to distinguish multiple salinity sources. Here, combining the multiple U, Sr, and B isotope and elemental signatures, we applied a multi-tracer mass balance approach to quantify the relative contributions of water mass from the identified various salinity end members along the 200-km stretch of the Rio Grande during different river flow seasons. Our results show that during irrigation (high river flow) seasons, the Rio Grande had uniform chemical and isotopic compositions, similar to the Elephant Butte reservoir where water is stored and well-mixed, reflecting the dominant contribution from shallow Critical Zone in headwater regions in temperate southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. In non-irrigation (low flow) seasons when the river water is stored at Elephant Butte reservoir, the Rio Grande river at many downstream locations showed heterogeneous chemical and isotopic compositions, reflecting variable inputs from upwelling of groundwater (deeper CZ), displacement of shallow groundwater, agricultural return flows, and urban effluents. Our study highlights the needs of using multi-tracer approach to investigate multiple solutes and salinity sources in rivers with complex geology and human impacts.

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Section: Multiple Sources Of Solute and Salinity In Rio Grande Watershedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining Uranium, Boron, and Strontium Isotope Ratios (234U/238U, δ11B, 87Sr/86Sr) to Trace and Quantify Salinity Contributions to Rio Grande River in Southwestern United States

et al. 2021

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“…They include inadequate knowledge of the following: (1) Precipitation, both as to volume and chemical content; (2) volumes of water lost by evapotranspiration and degree of consequent concentration of mineral content of the water; (3) volumes and concentrations of diversions and return flows; and (4) sources from which minerals in solution are added to the system. The runoff and Cl concentrations of the Rio Grande in 1945 were given by Cunningham andothers (1953, p. 1166) It is clear that most of the water in the system originates in the headwaters most of the mineralization occurring downstream. Van Denburgh and Feth (1965) estimated that less than 5 percent of the Cl load was brought in by precipitation.…”

Section: The Cycle At Higher Concentrationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chloride in natural continental water--A review

Feth¹

1981

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“…During the process of being used, 20-60 per cent of the water returns to the stream, carrying with it the minerals from the soil and the concentration of solids left after evapotranspiration. Evaporation and transpiration by plants on irrigated land may increase the dissolved solids in the return flow by as much as five times (4).…”

Section: Sources Of Pollutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discussion

Metzler

1958

Journal AWWA

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Effect of Irrigation Runoff on Surface Water Supplies

Cited by 4 publications

References 11 publications

Combining Uranium, Boron, and Strontium Isotope Ratios (234U/238U, δ11B, 87Sr/86Sr) to Trace and Quantify Salinity Contributions to Rio Grande River in Southwestern United States

Combining Uranium, Boron, and Strontium Isotope Ratios (234U/238U, δ11B, 87Sr/86Sr) to Trace and Quantify Salinity Contributions to Rio Grande River in Southwestern United States

Chloride in natural continental water--A review

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