Physical meaurements of groundwater contributions to a large lake

Nicole Pyett, Craig Nichol

In the proceedings of: GeoMontréal 2013: 66th Canadian Geotechnical Conference; 11th joint with IAH-CNC

Session: General Hydrogeology II

ABSTRACT: Population increases and climate change are expected to increase water stress in the semi-arid Okanagan Valley in the Interior of British Columbia. This study used seepage meters and Darcy flux calculations to estimate the groundwater discharge between July 2011 and May 2013 along a 17 km section of Okanagan Lake immediately adjacent to the City of Kelowna. The site, which has been identified as a significant contributor of groundwater to the overall lake budget, exhibited strong temporal and inter-annual variation. Groundwater flux rates ranged from 10-11 to 10-8 m3/m2/s over a year and the September - December 2012 period contributed only 25% of the September to December 2011 discharge. The final groundwater discharge measurement at this site will be used to constrain groundwater values in a basin-scale water balance model constructed to inform water use and planning decisions within the Okanagan Valley.

RÉSUMÉ: Nous pouvons nous attendre à l™augmentation du stress sur l™eau dans les régions semi-arides de l™intérieur de la Colombie Britannique, plus précisément dans la Vallée de l™Okanagan, due aux changements climatique et à la croissance démographique. Cette étude utilise des méthodes physiques pour estimer les décharges d™eau souterraine de 2.3 x 106 m3/année sur une section du Lac Okanagan de 17 km, directement adjacente à la Ville de Kelowna, dans le but précis de restreindre les valeurs d™eau souterraine utilisées dans un bassin - à l™échelle ‚™Mike She™™ et sur un modèle d™eau balancée. Ce model sera utilisé par ‚™Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB) pour informer sur l™utilisation et la planification de l™eau dans la vallée. Le site fut particulièrement choisi pour la recherche sur les eaux souterraines puisqu™il est identifié comme étant un contributeur principal d™eau souterraine dans l™ensemble du budget du lac.

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Cite this article:
Nicole Pyett; Craig Nichol (2013) Physical meaurements of groundwater contributions to a large lake in GEO2013. Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Geotechnical Society.

@article{GeoMon2013Paper450,author = Nicole Pyett; Craig Nichol,title = Physical meaurements of groundwater contributions to a large lake,year = 2013}