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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Tucson, Arizona » SWRC » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #87195
Title: MONITORING BANK STORAGE IN THE SAN PEDRO RIPARIAN NATIONAL CONSERVATION AREA, ARIZONA 1203

Author
item WHITAKER, M. - UNIV. OF ARIZ.
item MADDOCK III, T. - UNIV. OF ARIZ.
item MACNISH, B. - UNIV. OF ARIZ.
item Goodrich, David - Dave
item GOFF, B. - 5342-45-00 (U. OF ARIZ.)

Submitted to: American Meteorological Society
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/21/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Water is the key to life in arid and semi-arid regions. In order to manage both agriculture and municipal development, as well as minimize our impacts on the environment in these regions we must have better knowledge of the quantities and pathways of water. One pathway that is not well understood is the way in which streamflow and runoff water seeps into and out of the stream banks. It is thought that bank storage of storm runoff water may b very important for maintaining riparian vegetation along semi-arid streams. An experiment was carried out on the San Pedro River in southeastern Arizona during the summer of 1997 to monitor and measure bank storage in this important riparian habitat. It was found that increases in stream level of as little as three feet caused a prolonged increase in bank storage. Additionally, the bank storage varied day by day due to the water used by stream side trees and other vegetation. These results and the data acollected will help improve our ability predict changes in groundwater, runoff water and bank storage and their impacts on critical riparian habitats in semi-arid regions.

Technical Abstract: This paper describes the instrumentation, data collection and preliminary results for monitoring bank storage at the Lewis Springs site within the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area (SPRNCA), located in southeastern Arizona. Bank storage is a critical variable for accurately modeling the water budget in semi-arid riparian systems, but is particularly difficult to assess and quantify. It is especially essential for understanding ground-water/surface-water interactions.