Mitigating Impact of Devils Lake Flooding on the Sheyenne River Sulfate Concentration

Abstract

Research Impact Statement: The operation of the Devils Lake outlets can be optimized to reduce the impact on sulfate concentration of the Sheyenne River.ABSTRACT: Devils Lake is a terminal lake located in northeast North Dakota. Because of its glacial origin and accumulated salts from evaporation, the lake has a high concentration of sulfate compared to the surrounding water bodies. From 1993 to 2011, Devils Lake water levels rose by~10 m, which flooded surrounding communities and increased the chance of an overspill to the Sheyenne River. To control the flooding, the State of North Dakota constructed two outlets to pump the lake water to the river. However, the pumped water has raised concerns about of water quality degradation and potential flooding risk of the Sheyenne River. To investigate these perceived impacts, a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was developed for the Sheyenne River and it was linked to a coupled SWAT and CE-QUAL-W2 model that was developed for Devils Lake in a previous study. While the current outlet schedule has attempted to maintain the total river discharge within the confines of a two-year flood (36 m 3 /s), our simulation from 2012 to 2018 revealed that the diversion increased the Sheyenne River sulfate concentration from an average of 125 to >750 mg/L. Furthermore, a conceptual optimization model was developed with a goal of better preserving the water quality of the Sheyenne River while effectively mitigating the flooding of Devils Lake. The optimal solution provides a "win-win" outlet management that maintains the efficiency of the outlets while reducing the Sheyenne River sulfate concentration to ≤600 mg/L. (

Evaluation of the Offsets of Artificial Recharge on the Extra Run-Off Induced by Urbanization and Extreme Storms Based on an Enhanced Semi-Distributed Hydrologic Model with an Infiltration Basin Module

“…This type of underestimation of the spring peaks due to snowmelt can be attributed to the limited capability of SWAT to simulate snowpack-and snowmelt-related hydrologic processes in cold regions. Similar findings were also demonstrated by Shabani et al [33], Tahmasebi Nasab et al [34], and Zeng et al [35] in their SWAT modifications and applications to watersheds in cold regions. CH_N1.sub Manning's "n" value for the tributary channels 0.065375 Note(s): * The relative method was applied for those parameters, and the replace method was applied for the rest of the parameters.…”

“…This type of underestimation of the spring peaks due to snowmelt can be attributed to the limited capability of SWAT to simulate snowpack-and snowmelt-related hydrologic processes in cold regions. Similar findings were also demonstrated by Shabani et al [33], Tahmasebi Nasab et al [34], and Zeng et al [35] in their SWAT modifications and applications to watersheds in cold regions.…”

Incorporating Wetland Delineation and Impacts in Watershed-Scale Hydrologic Modeling

“…During HRU analysis, the LULC data from the National Land Cover Database, soil types from the Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) Database, and the slopes generated from the DEM were utilized. The selected thresholds were 5% for LULC, 10% for soil, and 0% for slope [49]. Eventually, 631 HRUs were defined based on the reclassified 15 LULC types, 182 soil types, and 3 slopes.…”

Automatic Calibration for CE-QUAL-W2 Model Using Improved Global-Best Harmony Search Algorithm

“…Because of inflows from the surrounding farmlands, the lake water is nutrient rich and has low transparency. Devils Lake is well-known for its water-level fluctuations between being dry and overflowing to the Sheyenne River in response to abrupt swing between dry and wet climate cycles [8]. At the current water-surface level of 441 m, the lake encompasses an area of 502 km 2 and has a volume of 9829 km 3 .…”

“…CE-QUAL-W2 is a hydrodynamic and water-quality model for simulating physical and biogeochemical processes in lakes, rivers, estuaries, and reservoirs [1,2]. The model has been widely used to simulate water balance and water constituents, such as dissolved oxygen, total dissolved and suspended solids, and nutrients in waterbodies [3][4][5][6][7][8]. Water temperature is one of the water-quality parameters that is frequently simulated by the CE-QUAL-W2 model, because it is closely related to water mixing and physicochemical and biological processes of lakes and reservoirs [9].…”