干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Persistent drought and the threat of a permanent shift to a more arid climate have forced water managers in the southwestern United States, and many other places in the world, to rethink their sources of water and their management of storm water runoff. Once considered to be a threat or a nuisance, storm water is increasingly regarded as an increasingly important source of water for direct use, aquifer recharge, and habitat restoration. Of course protection of property and life from flood events remains crucial, and flood water in many areas carries the added threat of chemical or biological contamination. The challenge, then, is to develop a new paradigm for storm water management that continues to recognize the threats presented by it, but balances the threat with potential benefits. In pursuit of this goal, the current study is applied to Diez Lagos near Sunland Park, NM, a new pond system developed by Elephant Butte Irrigation District (EBID). The Diez Lagos pond area is the natural downstream adjoining area for three main watersheds. It includes two significant north and south ponds with a total area of 49.95 acres (0.02003 square kilometer) and a total potential storage volume of about 200 acre-feet (247,000 cubic meters). The existing drainage system in Diez Lagos is connected both to groundwater through seepage and to the Rio Grande (RG) through operational gates. These two gates can be scheduled as a diverting system for releasing stored water to the RG through the existing drainage system. In this study, in order to optimize the management of stochastic flood runoffs, we evaluate the potential opportunities for direct water use for riparian habitat restoration, which simultaneously reduces flood damages and creates opportunity for E. coli remediation from storm water.