MAPPING THE FUTURE OF ALABAMA WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT: Policy Options and Recommendations A Report to The Honorable Robert Bentley Governor of Alabama by the Alabama Water Agencies Working Group December 1, 2013 ALABAMA WATER AGENCIES WORKING GROUP MEMBERSHIP BennettL.Bearden,Chair, AlabamaWaterAgenciesWorkingGroup(AWAWG) SpecialCounselonWaterLawandPolicy BrianAtkins LanceLeFleur TomLittlepage MarilynElliott CraigKneisel VernonBarnett GlendaDean BerryH.(Nick)Tew,Jr. ScottHughes MarlonCook LynnSisk PatrickO'Neil VickieHulcher N.GunterGuy,Jr. JohnMcMillan StanCook GlenZorn ChrisGreene BrettHall Will Gunter PatrickMoody MappingtheFutureofAlabamaWaterResourcesManagement CONTENTS TERMSANDACRONYMS................................................................................................... iv EXECUTIVESUMMARY...................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................... 10 BACKGROUND...................................................................................................................... 12 CURRENTSTATUSOFWATERRESOURCESMANAGEMENTINALABAMA... 13 PARTI:RESPONSETOTHEGOVERNOR’SDIRECTIVE................................................ 15 RECONVENEAWAWG.................................................................................................. 15 CREATEACOMPREHENSIVEDATABASEOFALABAMA’SWATER RESOURCES.................................................................................................................... 19 STAKEHOLDEROUTREACH........................................................................................ 19 DOCUMENTS,EDUCATIONALOUTREACHANDENDORSEDLEGISLATION.. 23 ALABAMAWATERMAP:APROPOSEDPROCESSFOR DEVELOPMENTAND IMPLEMENTATIONOFASTATEWIDE WATERMANAGEMENTPLAN............. 25 PARTII:WATERISSUEAREAS.......................................................................................... 41 SURFACEANDGROUNDWATERASSESSMENTS................................................... 42 WATERRESOURCESMANAGEMENT....................................................................... 53 WATERRESOURCESDATA......................................................................................... 60 INSTREAMFLOW........................................................................................................... 69 WATERCONSERVATIONANDREUSE...................................................................... 77 ECONOMICDEVELOPMENT........................................................................................ 81 PUBLICANDSTAKEHOLDEREDUCATIONANDOUTREACH............................. 86 INTERBASINTRANSFERS............................................................................................ 89 RIPARIANANDOTHERLEGALISSUES.................................................................... 92 DROUGHTPLANNING................................................................................................... 97 ENHANCEDCERTIFICATESOFUSE/PERMITTING................................................. 101 INTERSTATECOORDINATION.................................................................................... 105 Pagei MappingtheFutureofAlabamaWaterResourcesManagement FIGURES Figure1. Alabamawatermanagementplanningandimplementationprocess overview............................................................................................................6 Figure2. TheAlabamaWaterMAP Process..................................................................8 Figure3. Organizationchart fortheAlabamaWaterAgencies WorkingGroup...........15 Figure4. TimelineofAWAWGactivities,August 2011-December2013....................18 Figure5. TheAlabamawaterresourcesmanagementplanningandimplementation process.............................................................................................................26 Figure6. ProposedAlabamawaterresourcesmanagementplanthemesandtopics.....29 Figure7. AlabamaWaterMAP Process........................................................................30 Figure8. AquiferrechargeareasinAlabama.................................................................42 Figure9. Groundwaterflowpaths andconnections withthelandsurface....................43 Figure10. Processesthataffectgroundwater/surfacewaterinteractionandavailability 44 Figure11. Interactionsoflandsurface,surfacewater, groundwater,andgroundwater productionimpacts..........................................................................................45 Figure12. Majorsurfacewaterusers(>1MGD)inAlabama.........................................46 Figure13. MapscomparingtheWaterUseIndexvalues onaseasonalbasisbetween 2005and2007.................................................................................................47 Figure14. Conceptualillustrationofasurfacewaterbudget...........................................48 Figure15. Depictionofflowmetrics fortheChoctawhatcheeRiveratNewton,Ala.....49 Figure16. Alabamawatermanagementplanningand implementationprocess overview..........................................................................................................54 Figure17. GeologicalSurveyofAlabamadataontheweb.............................................61 Figure18. U.S.GeologicalSurveyreal-timestreamflowdataontheweb......................62 Figure19. EntrywayforSTORETcentraldatawarehouse.............................................63 Figure20. MainmenufromeWaterapplication..............................................................64 Figure21. Classificationofinstreamflowsrelativetoecologicalfunctions...................69 Figure22. Relationshipbetweeninstreamflowandotherfactorsaffectingecological integrity...........................................................................................................70 Figure23. Representationofannualflowregimewithinstreamflowrequirement for ecologicalmaintenanceindicatedbythedarkshadedpolygon......................71 Figure24. ThreeexamplesofvaryingHUC watershedsizes..........................................89 Figure25. InterstatewatershedsinAlabama.................................................................106 Pageii