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Abstract Four research projects were funded under the FY92 program, as well as information transfer activities. These four research projects relate to important water issues in the State of Wyoming and the region.
Depth-to-groundwater on a yearly basis is more important to subalpine plant community existence than is surface water except in late summer when the surface water is influent to the system. The peak median groundwater level occurred in May or early June, and the lowest median groundwater level occurred during or after August. Recharge occurred after August and varied between a gradual recharge over the winter (dry meadows) to a rapid recharge during snow melt in the spring (moist meadows). Depth-to-groundwater duration was shown to be important with respect to the existence of •certain subalpine riparian plant communities. Depth-to-groundwater suitability curves are an effective technique for quantizing the relationship between the water-level regime and the plant species response.
Monitoring dicamba and picloram movement in the vadose zone for groundwater quality protection in Wyoming. This study is being conducted to evaluate the herbicides dicamba and picloram (2 of 3 most widely used pesticides in Wyoming) interactions in agricultural and rangeland settings. The context of dicamba in soil after 80 days from application in 1993 was very low. The highest content was found at 60-90 cm for sites in which no-till-injection and chisel-broadcast combinations of tillage and fertilizer practices were implemented. All samples from sites located at the no-till with fertilizer injection treatment contained a trace amount of dicamba at all depths. The results of the con- centration of picloram in soil from the study area did not indicate any consistent rate of movement or trend in degradation. Results indicate that picloram residues were primarily limited to the top 100 cm of soil with the highest concentration in the upper 40 cm. For one site, 10% of the applied picloram remained after 34 months following treatment. Results of column studies were utilized in the LEACHP model. For this study, crops were not present and all plant related subroutines were excluded from the model. Differences in herbicide degradation rates apparently resulted from variations in application rates and the degree of saturation.
Severe drought and water shortages in the Upper Green River Basin: Modeling economic impacts and institutional alternatives for water management. A mathematical modeling technique known as discrete stochastic programming is used to simulate irrigators* water management decisions under uncertainty. This approach improves upon others used to estimate damages of drought by explicitly recognizing that cropping and management decisions must be made with only imperfect knowledge of water supply conditions and future weather conditions. The costs of water shortages in Wyoming's Green River Basin include indirect impacts in sectors supporting and supported by irrigated agriculture, and of lost consumer spending power. Estimates of total indirect income and employment impacts of reduced surface water supplies are made building upon recently completed input-output modeling of the Wyoming county economies.
Assessment of the Potential Environmental Fate and Effects of Oil-field Discharge Waters Containing Radium (226Ra). Radium being discharged from produced groundwater into skimming ponds and then into class 3 and 4 surface water streams in Wyoming tends to decrease in the surface water of the stream with distance from the point of discharge, but the sediments in the stream are increasing in radium content away from the point of discharge. Guidelines regulating the management of radium- contaminated sediments in receiving waters or skim ponds have yet to be established, and the data necessary for formulating management decisions are currently unavailable. Results of analyses of water and sediment samples were consistent with the results anticipated based on the chemical behavior of radium in aqueous solution. The concentration of radium in water decreased with increasing distance from the point of discharge. Conversely, the concentration of radium in sediment tends to increase with increasing distance from the point of discharge. Factors that may influence the rate of 226Ra deposition in the sediments include water cooling rate, pH changes caused by equilibration of dissolved gases with ambient concentrations, the retention time of water within the ponds, and the distances between ponds.
The Wyoming Water Resources Center uses several networks to inform the people of Wyoming, as well as neighboring states and regions, of what the WWRC is doing in education, research, and interagency cooperation to better manage and protect Wyoming's, and the nation's, water resources. Information transfer activities of the WWRC included: conducting, co-sponsoring and coordinating seminars, workshops and conferences on water resource issues and technological and management issues; the dissemination of water resources research results in technical reports, professional journals and presentations at conferences; coordination and participation in University of Wyoming, federal, and state agency water quality education efforts; and publication of research and education programs, research results and information transfer activities in newsletters and bulletins.
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