Alabama Water Policy and Law

214 Pages·2016·17.96 MB·English

MAPPING THE FUTURE OF
ALABAMA WATER RESOURCES
MANAGEMENT:
Policy Options and Recommendations
A Report to
The Honorable Robert Bentley
Governor of Alabama
by the
Alabama Water Agencies Working Group
December 1, 2013
ALABAMA WATER AGENCIES
WORKING GROUP
MEMBERSHIP
BennettL.Bearden,Chair,
AlabamaWaterAgenciesWorkingGroup(AWAWG)
SpecialCounselonWaterLawandPolicy
BrianAtkins LanceLeFleur
TomLittlepage MarilynElliott
CraigKneisel VernonBarnett
GlendaDean
BerryH.(Nick)Tew,Jr. ScottHughes
MarlonCook LynnSisk
PatrickO'Neil VickieHulcher
N.GunterGuy,Jr. JohnMcMillan
StanCook GlenZorn
ChrisGreene BrettHall
Will Gunter PatrickMoody
MappingtheFutureofAlabamaWaterResourcesManagement
CONTENTS
TERMSANDACRONYMS................................................................................................... iv
EXECUTIVESUMMARY...................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................... 10
BACKGROUND...................................................................................................................... 12
CURRENTSTATUSOFWATERRESOURCESMANAGEMENTINALABAMA... 13
PARTI:RESPONSETOTHEGOVERNOR’SDIRECTIVE................................................ 15
RECONVENEAWAWG.................................................................................................. 15
CREATEACOMPREHENSIVEDATABASEOFALABAMA’SWATER
RESOURCES.................................................................................................................... 19
STAKEHOLDEROUTREACH........................................................................................ 19
DOCUMENTS,EDUCATIONALOUTREACHANDENDORSEDLEGISLATION.. 23
ALABAMAWATERMAP:APROPOSEDPROCESSFOR DEVELOPMENTAND
IMPLEMENTATIONOFASTATEWIDE WATERMANAGEMENTPLAN............. 25
PARTII:WATERISSUEAREAS.......................................................................................... 41
SURFACEANDGROUNDWATERASSESSMENTS................................................... 42
WATERRESOURCESMANAGEMENT....................................................................... 53
WATERRESOURCESDATA......................................................................................... 60
INSTREAMFLOW........................................................................................................... 69
WATERCONSERVATIONANDREUSE...................................................................... 77
ECONOMICDEVELOPMENT........................................................................................ 81
PUBLICANDSTAKEHOLDEREDUCATIONANDOUTREACH............................. 86
INTERBASINTRANSFERS............................................................................................ 89
RIPARIANANDOTHERLEGALISSUES.................................................................... 92
DROUGHTPLANNING................................................................................................... 97
ENHANCEDCERTIFICATESOFUSE/PERMITTING................................................. 101
INTERSTATECOORDINATION.................................................................................... 105
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MappingtheFutureofAlabamaWaterResourcesManagement
FIGURES
Figure1. Alabamawatermanagementplanningandimplementationprocess
overview............................................................................................................6
Figure2. TheAlabamaWaterMAP Process..................................................................8
Figure3. Organizationchart fortheAlabamaWaterAgencies WorkingGroup...........15
Figure4. TimelineofAWAWGactivities,August 2011-December2013....................18
Figure5. TheAlabamawaterresourcesmanagementplanningandimplementation
process.............................................................................................................26
Figure6. ProposedAlabamawaterresourcesmanagementplanthemesandtopics.....29
Figure7. AlabamaWaterMAP Process........................................................................30
Figure8. AquiferrechargeareasinAlabama.................................................................42
Figure9. Groundwaterflowpaths andconnections withthelandsurface....................43
Figure10. Processesthataffectgroundwater/surfacewaterinteractionandavailability 44
Figure11. Interactionsoflandsurface,surfacewater, groundwater,andgroundwater
productionimpacts..........................................................................................45
Figure12. Majorsurfacewaterusers(>1MGD)inAlabama.........................................46
Figure13. MapscomparingtheWaterUseIndexvalues onaseasonalbasisbetween
2005and2007.................................................................................................47
Figure14. Conceptualillustrationofasurfacewaterbudget...........................................48
Figure15. Depictionofflowmetrics fortheChoctawhatcheeRiveratNewton,Ala.....49
Figure16. Alabamawatermanagementplanningand implementationprocess
overview..........................................................................................................54
Figure17. GeologicalSurveyofAlabamadataontheweb.............................................61
Figure18. U.S.GeologicalSurveyreal-timestreamflowdataontheweb......................62
Figure19. EntrywayforSTORETcentraldatawarehouse.............................................63
Figure20. MainmenufromeWaterapplication..............................................................64
Figure21. Classificationofinstreamflowsrelativetoecologicalfunctions...................69
Figure22. Relationshipbetweeninstreamflowandotherfactorsaffectingecological
integrity...........................................................................................................70
Figure23. Representationofannualflowregimewithinstreamflowrequirement for
ecologicalmaintenanceindicatedbythedarkshadedpolygon......................71
Figure24. ThreeexamplesofvaryingHUC watershedsizes..........................................89
Figure25. InterstatewatershedsinAlabama.................................................................106
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