The State of Water: A Multi-Aquifer Investigation into the Connection of Groundwater and Surface Water in the Nueces River Basin of West Central Texas

Keywords: water, hydrology, natural resources
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Understanding the dynamics of hydrologic systems is an important step in properly managing the resource for management and supply entities in the face of uncertain weather patterns and population growth. A lack of data, increased water use, and recent periods of extended drought followed by drastic flooding has muddled the hydrologic cycle picture of the Nueces River Basin. A detailed approach in mapping the movement of surface water recharge will increase understanding into the spatial relationship of precipitation, discharge, and recharge to the Nueces River System. Using stable isotopes of Strontium, Oxygen, and Hydrogen collected from surface and groundwater samples along the study reach we can establish the contributions to groundwater from the river in up to three different aquifers. Data retrieved from these samples will allow for analysis and conservation of the groundwater in these recharged areas, and in turn will assist in techniques to keep surface water in the river channel to recharge portions of the downstream aquifers that receive less precipitation than the headwaters. Once it is better understood where the waters of the system flow, the impact of the temporal changes to the underlying water tables, and the interconnected nature of the geology and environment, the long-term monitoring of water above and below ground in the Nueces basin can continue with a more effective approach.