Conceptio › Archive › USGS Publications

USGS Publicationspublic full text

Drought-Vulnerability Assessment of Public Water Systems in West Virginia

Matthew R. Kearns, Kaycee E. Faunce, Terence Messinger, S. Bachmair, K. Stahl, K. Collins · U.S. Geological Survey

USGS Publications · Papers · License: Public Domain

assessment drought filereport public usgsopen virginia vulnerability water

usgs, geological survey, united states, science, government publication, usgs open-file report, 2023, 1057, drought, vulnerability, assessment, public, water, systems, west, virginia

Open-File Report 2023–1057

U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey

Drought-Vulnerability Assessment of Public Water Systems in West Virginia By Matthew R. Kearns, Kaycee E. Faunce, and Terence Messinger

Open-File Report 2023–1057

U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey

U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2023

For more information on the USGS—the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment—visit https://www.usgs.gov or call 1–888–392–8545. For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, visit https://store.usgs.gov/ or contact the store at 1–888–275–8747. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public domain, it also may contain copyrighted materials as noted in the text. Permission to reproduce copyrighted items must be secured from the copyright owner. Suggested citation: Kearns, M.R., Faunce, K.E., and Messinger, T., 2023, Drought-vulnerability assessment of public water systems in West Virginia: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2023–1057, 14 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20231057. Associated data for this publication: Kearns, M.R., and Faunce, K.E., 2023, Water withdrawal data of selected public water systems in West Virginia, 2014–2020: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9GHK4Y0. ISSN 2331-1258 (online)

iii

Acknowledgments The authors would like to acknowledge the U.S. Geological Survey’s Risk Research and Applications Community of Practice for their support with funding and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services, the West Virginia Division of Emergency Management, and the National Weather Service for their assistance with data provision and end-user feedback. The authors also thank Sam Austin, Cheryl Dieter, Katherine Trickey, and Mitchell McAdoo of the U.S. Geological Survey for their review of the manuscript for this report, the data release, and the web tool.

Contents Acknowledgments��iii Abstract��1 Introduction��1 Purpose and Scope��1 Description of Study Area��2 Study Methods��2 Drought-Vulnerability Assessment��2 Water Withdrawal Rates��2 Streamflow Statistics��2 Near Real-Time PWS Drought-Awareness Web Tool��4 Discussion of Drought-Vulnerability Assessment��7 Limitations of Drought-Vulnerability Assessment��7 Limitations of Near Real-Time Drought-Awareness Web Tool��8 Summary��8 References Cited��9 Appendix 1. Seasonal Variation in Drought-Vulnerability Assessment of Public Water Systems in West Virginia��11

Figures 1.

Map showing approximate locations of 71 surface water withdrawal intakes for public water systems in West Virginia included in the drought-vulnerability assessment��3

Tables 1.

Drought-vulnerability assessment of 71 selected public water systems in West Virginia��5

Conversion Factors U.S. customary units to International System of Units

Multiply

To obtain

Length inch (in.)

2.54

centimeter (cm)

inch (in.)

25.4

millimeter (mm)

foot (ft)

0.3048

meter (m)

yard (yd)

0.9144

meter (m)

Area square mile (mi2)

259.0

square mile (mi2)

hectare (ha)

2.590

square kilometer (km2)

Volume gallon (gal)

3.785

liter (L)

gallon (gal)

0.003785

cubic meter (m3)

gallon (gal)

3.785

cubic decimeter (dm3)

acre-foot (acre-ft)

1,233

acre-foot (acre-ft)

cubic meter (m3)

0.001233

cubic hectometer (hm3)

Flow rate cubic foot per second (ft3/s)

0.02832

cubic meter per second (m3/s)

International System of Units to U.S. customary units

Multiply

To obtain

Length centimeter (cm)

0.3937

inch (in.)

millimeter (mm)

0.03937

inch (in.)

meter (m)

3.281

foot (ft)

1.094

yard (yd)

meter (m)

Area hectare (ha)

0.003861

square mile (mi2)

square kilometer (km2)

0.3861

square mile (mi2)

Volume liter (L) cubic meter (m3)

0.2642 264.2

gallon (gal) gallon (gal)

cubic decimeter (dm3)

0.2642

cubic meter (m3)

0.0008107 acre-foot (acre-ft)

cubic hectometer (hm3)

810.7

gallon (gal) acre-foot (acre-ft)

Flow rate cubic meter per second (m3/s)

35.31

cubic foot per second (ft3/s)

vii

Abbreviations 1Q10

1-day, 10-year hydrologically based flow

IS-6

Incident Specific Annex 6

LQU

Large Quantity User

NWM

National Water Model

PWS

public water system

USGS

U.S. Geological Survey

WVDEM

West Virginia Division of Emergency Management

WVDEP

West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection

WVDHHR West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

viii

Drought-Vulnerability Assessment of Public Water Systems in West Virginia By Matthew R. Kearns, Kaycee E. Faunce, and Terence Messinger

Abstract Water withdrawn from rivers and streams accounts for approximately 80 percent of the public water supply in West Virginia. Localized and (or) seasonal droughts may threaten future water availability in the state, particularly in rural communities located in the headwaters of unregulated watersheds. Monthly water withdrawal data obtained from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s Large Quantity User program’s regulatory database was used to calculate all-time, seasonal, and monthly 75th quantile withdrawal rates for 109 public water system (PWS) intakes withdrawing from surface waters in West Virginia. A droughtvulnerability assessment value was calculated by comparing PWS withdrawal rates to the 1-day, 10-year hydrologically based streamflow statistic (1Q10) for 71 of the 109 PWS in locations with valid streamflow statistics. Withdrawal rates were evaluated against thresholds representing different levels of drought-related impacts from the West Virginia interagency drought plan and ecological-flow literature. The drought-vulnerability assessment found 33 of 71 PWS have 75th quantile withdrawal rates greater than 100 percent of 1Q10 streamflow. Forty-five of 71 PWS have 75th quantile withdrawal rates more than 10 percent of 1Q10 streamflow, suggesting some level of ecological impairment during severe drought. Additionally, a publicly available, near real-time drought-awareness web tool was created to compare the estimated withdrawal rate for 109 PWS with forecast streamflows from the National Water Model to support decision-making for emergency and water managers.

Introduction Approximately 80 percent of West Virginia’s public water supply comes from rivers and streams (Dieter and others, 2018; West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, 2022). Although Appalachia historically has enjoyed an abundance of water across large geographical and temporal scales, localized and (or) seasonal drought conditions do occur. In October 2019, 50 percent of the state experienced moderate to severe drought and the remainder experienced abnormally dry

conditions, resulting in the Governor of West Virginia declaring a drought emergency (Justice, 2019; National Drought Mitigation Center, 2022). Furthermore, regional climate modeling suggests that seasonal droughts may increase in frequency or severity throughout much of West Virginia because of increased evapotranspiration and aridity driven by rising temperatures (Fernandez and Zegre, 2019). Drought impacts are not experienced uniformly across the state. The public water systems (PWS) of West Virginia’s largest municipalities are located along or near major watercourses with streamflow regulated by dams. These municipalities are likely to be affected only during the most severe or prolonged droughts. The PWS in smaller, rural communities located in the headwaters of unregulated watersheds may be at the greatest risk for drought-related supply shortfalls, as suggested by local reporting from the 2019 drought (Steelhammer, 2019). Although there are several metrics and indices to measure the meteorological and hydrologic severity of drought, there is less understanding of when these environmental conditions begin to have societal impact (Bachmair and others, 2016). This report uses local data and nationally available models to provide a basic understanding of PWS drought vulnerability in West Virginia. Additionally, a monitoring tool was developed to help West Virginia’s emergency, environmental, and public health managers at the Federal, State, and local levels with drought planning, forecasting, or decision making.

Purpose and Scope This report documents a drought-vulnerability assessment and the methods used to create a near real-time droughtawareness web tool for West Virginia PWS. This analysis informs at-risk municipalities and the Federal and State agencies tasked with drought response under the direction of West Virginia Division of Emergency Management’s Incident Specific Annex 6 (IS-6) drought guidelines (West Virginia Division of Emergency Management, 2016). These agencies include the National Weather Service, West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP), West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (WVDHHR), and West Virginia Division of Emergency Management (WVDEM), all of which cooperated on this study.

2 Drought-Vulnerability Assessment of Public Water Systems in West Virginia

Description of Study Area West Virginia is located among the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States. River systems west of the eastern continental divide drain into the Ohio River watershed; river systems east of the eastern continental divide drain into the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The state has a continental climate with an average of 45 inches of precipitation annually: spring and early summer are the wettest periods of the year; late summer and fall are the driest periods of the year (Wiley and Atkins, 2010). Runoff from precipitation is the primary surface water source for 109 PWS, comprising approximately 80 percent of all PWS withdrawals by volume (West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, 2022). Most of West Virginia’s biggest municipalities utilize source water from large river systems with multi-purpose dams actively managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. However, there are dozens of smaller communities located higher in the watersheds of West Virginia’s mountainous terrain, upstream from active flow regulation or management structures, which are heavily reliant upon natural streamflow for their water supply. These PWS are the focus of the drought vulnerability-assessment and are shown in figure 1.

Study Methods The drought-vulnerability assessment compares PWS surface water withdrawal rates derived from a WVDEP regulatory database against U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamflow statistics (Wiley, 2008). A higher ratio of PWS water withdrawal to low-flow water availability suggests greater vulnerability during drought conditions. To support decision-making for water resource managers, the ratio of PWS surface-water withdrawals to forecast streamflows from the National Water Model (NWM; Cosgrove and Gochis, 2018; Cosgrove and Klemmer, undated) are calculated and are publicly available through a near real-time drought-awareness web tool (https://rconnect.usgs.gov/wv-surface-withdrawals/).

Drought-Vulnerability Assessment Water Withdrawal Rates Monthly water-withdrawal information was obtained upon request from the WVDEP Large Quantity User (LQU) program, which requires annual reports from all water users that withdraw more than 300,000 gallons per month from West Virginia’s water resources (West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, 2022). The LQU database was filtered to include only those PWS intakes using surface water sources, with at least two years of available data, and still in operation as of 2022. PWS intakes using springs and groundwater wells were excluded from the study, as these water

sources are not comparable with USGS streamflow statistics. With these restrictions in place, the database yielded LQU data from 2003 onwards; data collected from 2014 through 2020 were judged most consistent, due to regulatory and reporting changes over time. Quality-control checks of data, including basic plots and summary statistics, identified infrequent errors that were subsequently corrected. The most common identifiable error (3.5 percent of PWS) stemmed from water operators submitting annual reports with monthly withdrawals recorded in “thousands of gallons” and not “gallons” as the LQU program requests. The error was discoverable as a three-ordersof-magnitude stepwise change in water use from year to year. To safeguard PWS identities in accordance with USGS guidance (N. Booth, U.S. Geological Survey, written commun., 2014), each PWS withdrawal intake was given a unique identifier (Project ID) specific to this project. Each PWS intake’s reported monthly withdrawal in gallons was converted to cubic feet per second (ft3/s), assuming a constant withdrawal rate throughout a given month and a conversion factor of 7.4805 gallons to 1 cubic foot. Five PWS with redundant intakes on the same waterbody (a “primary” and “secondary”) were assumed to use only the primary intake. For this assessment, any withdrawals reported from a secondary intake were added to the primary intake withdrawal and the secondary intakes (ID007, ID073, ID084, ID098, ID101) were removed from the analysis. Failure to complete this step for these systems would artificially lower the ratio of withdrawal rate to streamflow during subsequent analysis. The open-source statistical programming language “R” (version 4.0.3, R Core Team, 2020) was used to derive and plot all-time (2014–2020), seasonal, and monthly summary statistics for each PWS intake’s withdrawal rate. Upon review of time-series and box plots, and in consultation with State-agency cooperators, the 75th quantile withdrawal rate was selected as the best representation of water use for the drought-vulnerability assessment and web tool. The all-time 75th quantile withdrawal rate is representative of the typical seasonal increase in PWS withdrawals during the summer months when drought is most likely. On seasonal or monthly scales, the 75th quantile withdrawal rate represents moderately high-use scenarios while also avoiding outlier withdrawal rates. Outlier values are likely related to water system leaks and maintenance (West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, 2022). All PWS monthly withdrawal volumes and calculated withdrawal rates included in this study are available from Kearns and Faunce (2023).

Streamflow Statistics Specific locations of PWS withdrawal intakes were provided by State-agency cooperators for this analysis but are not included in any subsequent report, data release, or web tool to comply with USGS guidance (N. Booth, U.S. Geological Survey, written commun., 2014) and West Virginia

Study Methods 3 80°

82°

78°

80 KILOMETERS

80 MILES

ID051

OHIO

40°

PENNSYLVANIA

ID014

MARYLAND

ID019

ID028

ID103

ID090 ID071 ID041

ID104 ID083 ID081

ID008 ID001

ID058

ID055 ID054 ID034

ID037

WEST VIRGINIA

ID105

ID062

ID077

ID110 ID015 ID050

ID078 ID025 ID080 ID100 ID102 ID066 ID032 ID010

ID094 ID091

ID095 ID056

ID061 ID053

ID012

ID043 ID093

ID027

ID013

ID023

ID082

ID024

ID022

ID079

ID046

ID074 ID069

KENTUCKY

VIRGINIA

ID112

38° ID018 ID088

ID033 ID031

EXPLANATION

ID057

ID048

ID085 ID029

ID076

ID097

ID111 ID068

Major stream ID085

Project site and identifier

ID108 ID064 ID030

ID065 ID063

ID021

Base from State of West Virginia, U.S. Geological Survey, and Esri and its licensors, copyright 2023; Albers Equal-Area Conic projection, standard parallels 36°40' and 39°20' N, central meridian 79°30' W North American Datum of 1983

Figure 1. Map showing approximate locations of 71 surface water withdrawal intakes for public water systems in West Virginia included in the drought-vulnerability assessment.

state law (West Virginia Legislature, 2023). Coordinates for each PWS withdrawal intake were visually compared to satellite and aerial imagery for accuracy and corrected as needed. Coordinates for 19 percent of the PWS intakes were corrected, resulting in locations changing by more than 100 meters. PWS withdrawal intakes were then assigned to the nearest

10-meter stream-grid cell used by the USGS StreamStats batch-processing application (U.S. Geological Survey, 2022). StreamStats solves regional regression equations to estimate annual and seasonal low-flow statistics (Wiley, 2008; Wiley and Atkins, 2010). Drainage-area transfer equations were used to estimate streamflow for streams with published streamgage

4 Drought-Vulnerability Assessment of Public Water Systems in West Virginia statistics, and regional-regression equations were used to estimate streamflow for ungaged and gaged streams without published streamgage statistics (Wiley 2006; Wiley, 2008). Streamflow estimates derived from low-flow regression equations or drainage-area transfer from streamgage statistics computed from unregulated periods of record are not valid on regulated streams (Wiley, 2008). Of the 109 PWS surfacewater intakes in this study, 38 are located below dams with active flow regulation, as determined by a WVDEP-provided watershed flow tool (Technical Applications and GIS Unit, undated). Therefore, these 38 PWS are excluded from the drought-vulnerability assessment but are included in the near real-time drought-awareness web tool, which does not use the low-flow stream statistics. From the regression and drainage-area transfer equations, the 1-day, 10-year hydrologically based streamflow (1Q10) statistic was selected as the best available representation of a severe drought. The 1Q10 statistic is the minimum average one-day streamflow expected (on average) once every 10 years (Wiley, 2008). The 1Q10 is the lowest-magnitude streamflow statistic currently available for West Virginia. Droughts at intervals with a lower probability of occurrence (for example 20-, 50-, or 100-year droughts) would all be expected to have lower magnitudes than the 1Q10 streamflow statistic. The drought-vulnerability assessment described in this report uses a simple assumption: a PWS that withdraws a greater percentage of the available streamflow is more likely to be impacted by droughts. The 75th quantile of all monthly withdrawal rates (2014–2020) was divided by the 1Q10 streamflow statistic to derive a withdrawal to streamflow ratio (table 1). These 75th quantile withdrawal to 1Q10 streamflow ratios are the drought-vulnerability assessment: the greater the ratio, the greater vulnerability of the PWS to drought, and the greater the potential impact on human and (or) ecological systems during drought. Variations in drought vulnerability due to seasonal fluctuation of both 1Q10 (Wiley and Atkins, 2010) and the PWS 75th quantile withdrawal rate are provided in appendix 1.

Near Real-Time PWS Drought-Awareness Web Tool Although the drought-vulnerability assessment suggests the likelihood of a drought impacting a PWS, it does not provide the real-time information that emergency managers, water utilities, and others need to make decisions regarding potential impacts of drought on the water supply. West Virginia’s interagency drought plan (West Virginia Division of Emergency Management, 2016) states that water-conservation measures should be enacted whenever water withdrawals exceed 25 percent of streamflow. However, there is no realtime PWS withdrawal rate reporting requirements and the majority of PWS considered by this report do not occur on stream reaches where continuous streamflow monitoring is available to inform these decisions. To increase awareness of

those actionable drought-management thresholds, the PWS withdrawal rates used to assess drought vulnerability are leveraged in a publicly available web tool that calculates and displays PWS water-withdrawal ratios using hourly streamflow estimates from the NWM short-range forecasts (Cosgrove and Gochis, 2018; Cosgrove and Klemmer, undated). The NWM is a hydrologic model built upon the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF-Hydro; Gochis and others, 2013) that incorporates real-time meteorological data, reservoir levels, and measured streamflows from the USGS and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gages (Cosgrove and Gochis, 2018). The NWM simulates water movement for 2.7 million river reaches of the 1:100,000 scale National Hydrology Dataset Plus Version 2.1 (NHDPlus; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2012). NWM short-range forecasts are updated hourly and fill spatial gaps where monitored streamflow data are not available. Because assumptions regarding actively managed and regulated flows are not present in the NWM, 38 PWS withdrawal intakes excluded from the drought-vulnerability assessment are included in the drought-awareness web tool. The web tool subsequently shares information for 109 PWS withdrawal intakes. To link PWS intakes with the NWM, each PWS intake location was assigned to the nearest NHDPlus stream reach with a valid NWM output. Four PWS (ID048, ID054, ID061, ID068) did not return a valid NWM output (“-9999,” indicating missing data in the model) and were instead linked to the nearest downstream stream reach with a valid output. Once assigned a reach, the forecasted streamflow is evaluated against the PWS intake’s 75th quantile withdrawal rate for the applicable month. The web-tool user interface groups PWS by county or watershed (10-digit hydrologic code, HUC10; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2012) without showing specific PWS intake locations, which could conflict with USGS guidance (N. Booth, U.S. Geological Survey, written commun., 2014) and West Virginia state law (West Virginia Legislature, 2023). A user selects a county or watershed in the web tool, and information for each PWS within that area is provided in an information panel. The information panel displays the estimated PWS withdrawal rate (75th quantile of historical monthly withdrawal rate), current short-range NWM streamflow forecast for the reach associated with the intake, the estimated-withdrawal to forecast-streamflow ratio, and other relevant information regarding the source waters for each PWS in the selected area. Information in the tool is updated hourly to coincide with the frequency of NWM shortrange forecast updates. The web tool’s user interface is color-coded for easy identification of potential PWS drought-related impacts. Estimated PWS 75th quantile monthly withdrawals greater than 25 percent of NWM forecast streamflow (the conservation threshold from WVDEM IS-6) are used as the uppermost category, displayed in orange. Estimated PWS 75th quantile monthly withdrawals between 10 to 25 percent of NWM forecast streamflow were selected as an intermediate category

Study Methods 5 Table 1. Drought-vulnerability assessment of 71 selected public water systems in West Virginia. [ID, identifier; mi2, square mile; 1Q10, 1-day, 10-year hydrologically based flow; ft3/s, cubic feet per second; WD, withdrawal; 75th WD/1Q10, 75th quantile withdrawal to 1-day, 10-year hydrologically based flow ratio; *, “divide by zero” error in 75th WD/1Q10 ratio; NA, not available; —, null values; contents organized from highest risk (greatest ratio) to lowest risk (smallest ratio)]

Project ID

Station name

Drainage 1Q102 area1 (ft3/s) (mi2)

75th quantile WD3 (ft3/s)

75th Reservoir On-stream WD/1Q10 ratio storage5 4 storage (percent) (acre-feet)

ID014

Intake on Cameron Reservoir 19454517

0.4

0.1429

Reservoir

ID025

Intake on North Fork Blackwater River 3775885

1.19

0.1615

Reservoir

ID030

Intake on J.P. Bailey Reservoir 6909475

1.05

0.2768

Reservoir

250

ID053

Intake on Hurricane Creek 19315460

5.3

0.8994

Reservoir

ID061

Intake on Poplar Fork 19315530

9.91

5.0591

Reservoir

ID063

Intake on Ada Reservoir 6909509

1.25

1.0665

Reservoir

240

ID064

Intake on Horton Reservoir 6909515

1.02

1.5558

Reservoir

380

ID071

Intake on Jones Run 3715724

10.3

0.3314

Reservoir

ID077

Intake on Silcott Fork 19313070

3.26

0.2208

Reservoir

200

ID103

Intake on Fairfax Pond 3770326

1.99

0.4615

Reservoir

ID104

Intake on Deckers Creek 3768762

4.71

0.4586

Reservoir

ID105

Intake on Charles Fork 19419681

3.98

1.1024

Reservoir

1,600

ID019

Intake on Cobun Creek 3768582

11.7

0.02

5.8165

29,100

Reservoir

ID062

Intake on Mill Creek 19442441

135

0.01

1.6513

16,500

Weir

—

ID033

Intake on Shavers Lake 3777389

2.78

0.01

0.732

7,320

Reservoir

ID076

Intake on Glade Creek 6920946

25.8

0.2

11.7217

5,860

Reservoir

1,900

ID041

Intake on North Fork Hughes River 19414131

0.02

0.8746

4,370

Reservoir

3,700

ID065

Intake on Kee Reservoir 6909439

2.08

0.01

0.3027

3,030

Reservoir

970

ID040

Intake on Laurel Creek Reservoir 6909139

5.32

0.03

0.6853

2,280

Reservoir

280

ID108

Intake on Glenwood Lake 6909327

10.9

0.07

1.484

2,120

Reservoir

1,600

ID022

Intake on Panther Creek 4546776

11.5

0.07

0.6472

925

Weir

—

ID008

Intake on Middle Island Creek 15432570

110

0.07

0.4255

608

Weir

—

ID048

Intake on Buffalo Creek 6933832

13.4

0.09

0.5437

604

Weir

—

ID028

Intake on North Fork Fishing Creek 15429208

42.2

0.02

0.1041

521

Weir

—

ID046

Intake on North Fork Cherry River 4546774

35.8

0.31

1.2064

389

Weir

—

ID054

Intake on Tygart Valley River 4352968

268

0.85

3.1977

377

Reservoir

ID078

Intake on Mill Run 14365556

4.97

0.07

0.2492

356

Reservoir

ID095

Intake on Mill Creek 4352790

16.1

0.11

0.2824

257

Weir

—

ID037

Intake on Buckhannon River 4353190

197

1.42

3.3669

237

Weir

—

ID029

Intake on Laurel Fork 6934372

56.2

0.54

1.0103

187

—

ID051

Intake on Buffalo Creek 19451633

148

0.2

0.2896

145

—

ID015

Intake on New Creek 14364804

52.1

1.4

1.5294

109

—

ID094

Intake on Elk Run 5894528

17.9

0.34

0.3472

102

—

ID090

Intake on Middle Island Creek 15431930

355

0.19

0.1528

—

ID027

Intake on Gauley River 4545684

0.76

0.5452

—

ID032

Intake on Parker Hollow Reservoir 8433336

6.91

0.1

0.0609

Reservoir

ID031

Intake on Leatherbark Creek 12103894

6.73

0.04

0.0232

Weir

—

ID100

Intake on South Fork South Branch Potomac River 8419916

285

8.77

4.9923

Weir

—

ID034

Intake on Tygart Valley River 4352996

219

0.84

0.4663

—

190

140 88

6 Drought-Vulnerability Assessment of Public Water Systems in West Virginia Table 1. Drought-vulnerability assessment of 71 selected public water systems in West Virginia.—Continued [ID, identifier; mi2, square mile; 1Q10, 1-day, 10-year hydrologically based flow; ft3/s, cubic feet per second; WD, withdrawal; 75th WD/1Q10, 75th quantile withdrawal to 1-day, 10-year hydrologically based flow ratio; *, “divide by zero” error in 75th WD/1Q10 ratio; NA, not available; —, null values; contents organized from highest risk (greatest ratio) to lowest risk (smallest ratio)]

Project ID

Station name

Drainage 1Q102 area1 (ft3/s) (mi2)

75th quantile WD3 (ft3/s)

75th Reservoir On-stream WD/1Q10 ratio storage5 4 storage (percent) (acre-feet)

ID024

Intake on Meadow River 4547418

289

1.01

0.4741

—

ID093

Intake on Gauley River 4545948

245

2.68

0.7731

—

ID097

Intake on Guyandotte River 6934966

203

2.77

0.7046

—

ID110

Intake on Patterson Creek 14368832

253

4.83

0.7873

Weir

—

ID055

Intake on Tygart Valley River 4351508

408

2.89

0.3967

—

ID023

Intake on Gauley River 4548030

611

11.73

1.5427

Reservoir

190,000

ID001

Intake on Tygart Valley River 4352184

916

18.8

1.9492

Weir

—

ID012

Intake on Coal River 6929054

887

20.33

2.0553

—

ID057

Intake on Greenbrier River 12107418

1,010

30.51

3.0785

—

ID080

Intake on Blackwater River 3774989

60.6

2.29

0.2091

Reservoir

ID074

Intake on Tug Fork 435154

935

33.94

2.9522

Weir

—

ID079

Intake on Knapps Creek 12104384

108

3.78

0.311

—

ID088

Intake on Tug Fork 434794

1,040

1.7349

—

ID013

Intake on Coal River 6928118

830

16.6

0.7953

—

ID058

Intake on Shavers Fork 3780353

211

8.9

0.3292

—

ID083

Intake on Cheat River 3775677

1,010

35.64

1.1584

—

ID043

Intake on Elk River 19323513

170

6.28

0.204

—

ID056

Intake on South Fork South Branch Potomac River 8423472

101

2.3

0.0609

—

ID068

Intake on Bluestone Lake 6906551

4,620

146

3.8848

Reservoir

38,000

ID010

Intake on South Branch Potomac River 8421608

656

72.9

1.4569

Weir

—

ID066

Intake on Dry Fork 3775187

347

9.22

0.1789

—

ID069

Intake on Tug Fork 435286

854

32.77

0.5938

—

ID018

Intake on Tug Fork 434540

1,280

39.12

0.6557

—

ID085

Intake on Greenbrier River 12107522

1,330

43.44

0.6484

—

ID082

Intake on Tug Fork 433830

1,560

44.63

0.4274

Weir

—

ID091

Intake on Shenandoah River 8445112

3,010

298.78

2.6928

—

ID050

Intake on South Branch Potomac River 8420162

1,400

86.9

0.7487

—

ID081

Intake on Cheat River 3775731

936

34.14

0.2159

—

ID112

Intake on Greenbrier River 12105110

624

11.5

0.0554

—

1,560

ID111

Intake on Greenbrier River 12107566

47.23

0.1735

—

ID021

Intake on Rich Creek 6907585

26.6

0.21

0.0002

—

ID102

Intake on South Branch Potomac River 8420282

888

56.53

0.0593

—

1Drainage area from USGS StreamStats (U.S. Geological Survey, 2022). 21Q10 computed using methods from Wiley (2008). 3WD calculated as the 75th quantile of all reported monthly withdrawals 2014–2020 (West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, 2022). 4On-stream storage indicated as either “reservoir” suggesting documented impoundment or “weir” suggesting a smaller in-stream control structure. 5Reservoir storage data from National Inventory of Dams (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2023).

Discussion of Drought-Vulnerability Assessment 7 displayed in yellow. Estimated PWS 75th quantile monthly withdrawals less than 10 percent of NWM forecast streamflow are colored green. The 10 percent streamflow-withdrawal threshold was selected as a “presumptive standard” from the literature of ecological-flow science, which suggests that in the absence of more detailed analysis, an utilization rate of no more than 10 percent of streamflow offers high ecological protection for aquatic habitats (Richter and others, 2012). Counties or watersheds with more than one PWS intake are represented by the PWS intake with the greatest estimated withdrawal to streamflow ratio. Information for all PWS in the web tool is also summarized in a downloadable data table, organized from the PWS with the greatest estimatedwithdrawal to forecast-streamflow ratio to the least. Withdrawal-rate data and ancillary information for PWS used by the web tool are available from Kearns and Faunce (2023). The near real-time PWS drought-awareness web tool is available at https://rconnect.usgs.gov/wv-surface-withdrawals/.

Discussion of Drought-Vulnerability Assessment The drought-vulnerability assessment (the ratio of 75th quantile PWS withdrawals to 1Q10 streamflow statistic) suggests that 33 of the 71 PWS (46 percent) have 75th quantile withdrawal rates greater than 100 percent of available lowflow streamflow (table 1). Twelve of these 33 PWS have a 1Q10 of zero, indicating that they may not have any available streamflow during low-flow events that approach or exceed the 1Q10. Forty-one of the 71 PWS (58 percent) have 75th quantile withdrawal rates that exceed the 25 percent threshold of 1Q10 streamflow in WVDEM IS-6 that may trigger additional considerations for water conservation. Six of 71 PWS have 75th quantile withdrawal to 1Q10 streamflow ratios between 10 and 25 percent. While this range does not exceed the water-conservation threshold from WVDEM (25 percent), it is above the 10 percent presumptive standard for ecological protection of streamflow, suggesting potential impairment of aquatic habitat during drought (Richter and others, 2012). Additionally, 13 PWS with 75th quantile withdrawal rates exceeding 10 percent of 1Q10 streamflow are without any on-stream water storage, suggesting limited options for the PWS to mitigate the social or ecological impact of a severe drought. Seasonal variability in both 75th quantile withdrawals and 1Q10 low-flow statistics suggests that the highest 75th quantile withdrawal to 1Q10 streamflow ratios—and the greatest drought risk—occurs in summer (July to September) and continues to a slightly lesser extent into the fall (October to December; appendix 1). The primary driver of increased seasonal risk is the sharp decline in the 1Q10 streamflow statistic during the summer and fall months.

Limitations of Drought-Vulnerability Assessment The withdrawal rates and 1Q10 streamflow statistics used in this drought-vulnerability assessment are estimates created from statistical analysis of available data. The ratios derived from these statistics represent a hypothetical condition. The 75th quantile of all reported monthly withdrawals was used to represent a moderately-high water demand scenario that could be expected during drought-like conditions while avoiding outliers resulting from system leaks or other anomalies. A “normal” (median or average) withdrawal rate would likely be lower than the 75th quantile value and may have resulted in an underestimate of drought vulnerability. The 1Q10 low-flow statistic was selected as the best representation of a severe drought. It is the smallest magnitude low-flow statistic with available estimates and equations; however, historical data suggest that streamflow during extreme droughts may be well below the 1Q10 and therefore underestimated by the drought-vulnerability assessment. For example, the 1Q10 at a USGS streamgage on the Tygart Valley River (USGS site 03054500) is 9.37 ft3/s and the minimum flow on record is 4.90 ft3/s on October 10, 1953 (Wiley, 2006). As another example, the Big Coal River at Ashford, West Virginia (USGS Site 03198500) with a 1Q10 of 4.76 ft3/s recorded zero flow for over a week in late September 1930 (Wiley, 2006). Tree ring studies in the Potomac River watershed, which includes eastern West Virginia, contain evidence of droughts more severe than anything in the period of record for streamgage instrumentation (Maxwell and others, 2011). Thirty-eight of the 109 PWS withdrawal intakes are below actively managed dams where regulated streamflow does not follow natural patterns. Such conditions did not meet the basic assumption of the available low-flow estimation methods, so these PWS were excluded from the droughtvulnerability assessment. However, many stream control and storage structures on smaller rivers and streams without reported flow regulation were noted while reviewing databases, geospatial information, and satellite and aerial imagery for the remaining 71 PWS. These structures may provide low-flow augmentation for PWS. As used in this report, a “reservoir” includes a documented impoundment, and a “weir” suggests a smaller in-stream “run-of-river” control structure. Twenty-five reservoirs and 15 weirs were noted. These structures are noted with the drought-vulnerability assessment to provide additional context for high withdrawal rates, which could be sustained during low-flow scenarios given enough water storage. Table 1 includes the normal water storage for reservoirs (in acre-feet) from the National Inventory of Dams (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2023). Estimating the amount of water storage for other in-stream structures is beyond the scope of this assessment.

8 Drought-Vulnerability Assessment of Public Water Systems in West Virginia

Limitations of Near Real-Time Drought-Awareness Web Tool The greatest limitation of the web tool is the relatively static nature of the estimated PWS withdrawal rate (75th quantile of historical monthly withdrawal rates) in comparison to the hourly updates of the NWM short-range streamflow forecast. Monthly PWS withdrawal volumes are the best available information under current regulatory and reporting requirements. Monthly PWS withdrawal volumes were converted to monthly PWS withdrawal rates assuming a constant operating schedule (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) and the lowest possible withdrawal rate to meet the reported withdrawal volume. A PWS withdrawing the same volume of water over a shorter period (for example, an 8- or 12-hour workday) could drastically increase the actual withdrawal rate over the estimated rate used in the web tool. Additionally, on-stream water storage at some PWS intake sites can skew the forecast streamflow and (or) sustain high estimated withdrawal to forecast streamflow ratios. By incorporating the NWM short-range streamflow forecasts, the web tool also contains any assumptions, limitations, uncertainty, or errors present in the NWM and the datasets and models (such as WRF-Hydro) the NWM is built upon. At the time of this report’s publication, the NWM continues updates and versioning. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Weather Prediction considers the current NWM “experimental” and not an official river level forecast. The authors acknowledge these limitations and recognize the difficulty of modeling and forecasting streamflow without continuous, real-time monitoring on every stream reach. The NWM, however, represents the best available near real-time estimates of ungaged streams at state-wide scale. While the NWM offers multiple streamflow forecasting capabilities, State-agency cooperators determined that “current conditions” were sufficient to meet their needs (B. Carr, West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, and D. Newell, West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, written commun., 2023). Uncertainties in NWM streamflow forecasts greatly increase as the forecast range increases, with the short-range forecast having the least uncertainty. Therefore, the short-range NWM streamflow forecasts were used for the web tool. The intent of the drought-vulnerability assessment, the near real-time PWS drought-awareness web tool, and this report is to increase understanding and awareness of drought risk for PWS in West Virginia. These products are intended to support planning and decision-making of water operators and government agencies in accordance with drought-response guidelines from WVDEM IS-6. The estimates and assumptions inherent in this approach are best used as a screening tool and would require in situ measurements and verification

of withdrawal rates, water-supply storage, and streamflow for greatest accuracy. Users of the web tool should compare forecast conditions to actual conditions prior to taking any other action.

Summary Surface-water withdrawals account for the majority (approximately 80 percent) of West Virginia’s public water supply. Historic climate data and future climate modeling suggest localized and (or) seasonal droughts will continue to threaten water availability in the state, particularly in rural communities located in the headwaters of unregulated watersheds. Members of West Virginia’s interagency drought task force lack key information about the potential impact of drought on public-water supplies to sufficiently prepare for and manage drought situations. To assist water managers, a drought-vulnerability assessment was developed and conducted. Monthly waterwithdrawal data obtained from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s Large Quantity User program’s regulatory database were used to calculate all-time, seasonal, and monthly 75th quantile withdrawal rates for 109 public water system (PWS) intakes withdrawing from surface waters in West Virginia. The drought-vulnerability assessment compares the all-time 75th quantile withdrawal rate to the 1-day, 10-year (1Q10) low-flow streamflow statistic calculated from U.S. Geological Survey tools and reports (U.S. Geological Survey, 2022; Wiley, 2008) for 71 of the 109 PWS with valid streamflow statistics (not below dams with regulated flow). The drought-vulnerability assessment found 33 of 71 PWS with 75th quantile withdrawal rates greater than 100 percent of 1Q10 streamflow. Forty-one of 71 PWS have 75th quantile withdrawal rates more than 25 percent of 1Q10 streamflow, exceeding the State’s drought-response threshold for water conservation. Forty-five of 71 PWS (63 percent) have 75th quantile withdrawals rates greater than 10 percent of 1Q10 streamflow, suggesting some level of ecological impairment during severe drought. To support decision-making for emergency and water managers across West Virginia at the Federal, State, and local level, a near real-time drought-awareness web tool compares monthly 75th quantile withdrawal rates for 109 PWS to hourly streamflow forecasts from the National Water Model (Cosgrove and Gochis, 2018; Cosgrove and Klemmer, undated) and thresholds representing different levels of drought-related impacts from the West Virginia interagency drought plan and ecological-flow literature. Monthly PWS water withdrawal data for 2014–2020 and other ancillary site information used in this report and by the web tool are available from Kearns and Faunce (2023).

References Cited 9

References Cited Bachmair, S., Stahl, K., Collins, K., Hannaford, J., Acreman, M., Svoboda, M., Knutson, C., Helm Smith, K., Wall, N., Fuchs, B., Crossman, N., and Overton, I., 2016, Drought indicators revisited—The need for a wider consideration of environment and society: WIREs. Water, v. 3, p. 516–536, accessed January 26, 2022, at https://doi.org/10.1002/ wat2.1154. Cosgrove, B., and Gochis, D., 2018, The National Water Model: Overview and Future Development: USGS National Hydrography Dataset Newsletter, v. 17, no. 6, accessed January 26, 2022, at https://www.usgs.gov/national- hydrography/nhd-newsletter-archive. Cosgrove, B., and Klemmer, C., [eds.], [undated], The national water model: Office of Water Prediction web page, accessed January 26, 2022, at https://water.noaa.gov/ about/nwm. Dieter, C.A., Maupin, M.A., Caldwell, R.R., Harris, M.A., Ivahnenko, T.I., Lovelace, J.K., Barber, N.L., and Linsey, K.S., 2018, Estimated use of water in the United States in 2015: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1441, 65 p. [Also available at https://doi.org/10.3133/cir1441.] Gochis, D.J., Barlage, M., Dugger, A., Fitzgerald, K., Karsten, L., McAllister, M., McCreight, J., Mills, J., RafieeiNasab, A., Read, L., Sampson, K., Yates, D., Yu, W., 2013, The WRF-Hydro modeling system technical description (ver. 5.0, updated 2018): NCAR Technical Note, 107 p., accessed January 26, 2023, at https://ral.ucar.edu/sites/ default/files/public/WRF-HydroV5TechnicalDescription_ update512019_0.pdf. Fernandez, R., and Zegre, N., 2019, Seasonal changes in water and energy balances over the Appalachian Region and beyond throughout the twenty-first century: Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, v. 58, no. 5, p. 1079–1102, accessed January 26, 2022, at https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/apme/58/5/jamc- d-18-0093.1.xml. [Also available at https://doi.org/10.1175/ JAMC-D-18-0093.1.] Justice, J., 2019, State of West Virginia Executive Order on State of Emergency—October 3, 2019: West Virginia web page, accessed January 26, 2022, at https://governor.wv.gov/ Documents/2019%20Proclamations/2019-October-Drought- State-of-Emergency-Declaration.pdf. Kearns, M.R., and Faunce, K.E., 2023, Water withdrawal data of selected public water systems in West Virginia, 2014–2020: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9GHK4Y0.

Maxwell, R.S., Hessl, A.E., Cook, E.R., and Pederson, N., 2011, A multispecies tree ring reconstruction of Potomac River streamflow (950–2001): Water Resources Research, v. 47, no. 5. [Also available at https://doi.org/10.1029/ 2010WR010019.] National Drought Mitigation Center, [2022], U.S. drought monitor: University of Nebraska-Lincoln website, accessed January 26, 2022, at https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/ Data.aspx. R Core Team, 2020, R—A language and environment for statistical computing, version 4.0.3: R Foundation for Statistical Computing, accessed January 14, 2021, at https://www.R-project.org. Richter, B.D., Davis, M.M., Aspe, C., and Konrad, C., 2012, A presumptive standard for environmental flow protection: River Research and Applications, v. 28, no. 8, p. 1312–1321. [Also available at https://doi.org/10.1002/ rra.1511.] Steelhammer, R., 2019, Drought threatens drinking water supplies in southern WV counties: Charleston Gazette, September 30, 2019, accessed January 26, 2022, at https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/drought-threatens- drinking-water-supplies-in-southern-wv-counties/article_ 4f4db555-73f4-5144-b737-cc9fdc58e40f.html. Technical Applications and GIS Unit, [undated], 7Q10 flow estimates mapping application: West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, accessed August 24, 2022, at https://tagis.dep.wv.gov/streamflow/. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2023, National inventory of dams: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers website, accessed March 6, 2023, at https://nid.sec.usace.army.mil/. U.S. Geological Survey, 2022, The StreamStats program: U.S. Geological Survey website, accessed December 13, 2022, at https://www.usgs.gov/streamstats. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2012, National Hydrography Dataset Plus streams—NHDPlus (version 2.1): U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website at https://www.epa.gov/waterdata/nhdplus-national- hydrography-dataset-plus. West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, 2022, 2022 Annual water resources report: Joint Legislative Oversight Commission on State Water Resources, prepared by West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Water and Waste Management, and Water Use Program, accessed February 22, 2023, at https://dep.wv.gov/ WWE/wateruse/Documents/2022%20Annual%20 Report.pdf.

10 Drought-Vulnerability Assessment of Public Water Systems in West Virginia West Virginia Division of Emergency Management, 2016, Incident Specific Annex 6—Drought: West Virginia Emergency Operations Plan, accessed January 26, 2022, at http://dhsem.wv.gov/Preparedness/Resources/Documents/ WV%20EOP%202016/IS%2006%20-%20Drought%20 FINAL%201-6-16.pdf. West Virginia Legislature, 2023, Article 26—Water Resources Protection Act, chap. 22 article 26 of Environmental Resources: West Virginia Code web page, accessed May 24, 2023, at https://code.wvlegislature.gov/22-26/. Wiley, J.B., 2006, Low-flow analysis and selected flow statistics representative of 1930–2002 for streamflow-gaging stations in or near West Virginia: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2006–5002, 190 p. [Also available at https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20065002.] Wiley, J.B., 2008, Estimating selected streamflow statistics representative of 1930–2002 in West Virginia: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2008–5105, 24 p. [Also available at https://doi.org/10.3133/ sir20085105.] Wiley, J.B., and Atkins, J.T., Jr., 2010, Estimation of selected seasonal streamflow statistics representative of 1930–2002 in West Virginia: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2010–5185, 20 p. [Also available at https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20105185.]

Appendix 1. Seasonal Variation in Drought-Vulnerability Assessment of Public Water Systems in West Virginia 11

Appendix 1. Seasonal Variation in Drought-Vulnerability Assessment of Public Water Systems in West Virginia A drought-vulnerability assessment using the seasonal variability in 75th quantile withdrawal rate and 1Q10 low-flow streamflow statistics derived from Wiley and Atkins (2010) for 71 West Virginia public water systems with withdrawal intakes on surface waters without active flow regulation (table 1.1).

References Cited West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, 2022, 2022 Annual water resources report: Joint Legislative Oversight Commission on State Water Resources, prepared by West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Water and Waste Management, and Water Use Program, accessed February 22, 2023, at https://dep.wv.gov/ WWE/wateruse/Documents/2022%20Annual%20 Report.pdf. Wiley, J.B., and Atkins, J.T., Jr., 2010, Estimation of selected seasonal streamflow statistics representative of 1930–2002 in West Virginia: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2010–5185, 20 p. [Also available at https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20105185.]

[Seasonal 1-day, 10-year hydrologically based flow (1Q10) in cubic-feet-per-second (ft3/s) computed using methods from Wiley and Atkins (2010). Withdrawal (WD) rate in ft3/s calculated as the 75th quantile of all reported in-season monthly withdrawals 2014–2020 (West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, 2022). ID, identifier; WD/1Q10, withdrawal to 1-day, 10-year hydrologically based flow ratio; *, “divide by zero” error in 75th WD/1Q10 ratio]

Project identifier

Station name

ID001 Intake on Tygart Valley River 4352184 ID008 Intake on Middle Island Creek 15432570

Winter (January–March)

Spring (April–June)

Summer (July–September)

Fall (October–December)

1Q10 75th WD WD/1Q10 (ft3/s) (ft3/s) (percent)

313

115

23.2

1.8548

26.8

1.8269

2.2408

1.9156

7.82

0.4339

0.9

0.4092

0.05

0.4336

867

0.24

0.4304

179

ID010 Intake on South Branch Potomac River 8421608

117.23

1.5072

109.88

1.4485

52.15

1.4014

61.38

1.3592

ID012 Intake on Coal River 6929054

366.26

2.1971

189.65

1.9946

27.64

1.9797

44.25

1.9337

ID013 Intake On Coal River 6928118

165

20.5

0.8075

23.9

0.786

0.1723

0.1627

ID014 Intake on Cameron Reservoir 19454517 ID015 Intake on New Creek 14364804

0.8047

101

0.7858

0.02

0.1328

664

0.1352

3 *

5.02

1.5866

6.19

1.5942

1.39

1.4788

106

1.64

1.3542

160.72

0.7293

142.87

0.6061

44.43

0.5966

44.77

0.6953

ID019 Intake on Cobun Creek 3768582

1.5

8.978

599

0.15

6.2002

4,130

0.5021

0.04

4.0848

10,200

ID021 Intake on Rich Creek 6907585

1.25

1.2

0.0001

0.27

0.0007

0.41

0.0002

ID022 Intake on Panther Creek 4546776

1.96

0.6905

0.41

0.6334

154

0.09

0.6183

687

0.15

0.6398

427

ID023 Intake on Gauley River 4548030

275.45

1.5989

61.03

1.5166

13.2

1.5478

23.74

1.5077

ID024 Intake on Meadow River 4547418

63.97

0.4381

17.9

0.473

1.72

0.4935

2.33

0.4509

ID025 Intake on North Fork Blackwater River 3775885

0.2

0.1649

0.02

0.1576

788

0.01

0.1656

1,660

0.01

0.1553

1,550

ID027 Intake on Gauley River 4545684

29.1

0.5593

4.41

0.5483

0.96

0.5578

1.35

0.5259

ID028 Intake on North Fork Fishing Creek 15429208

3.52

0.1028

0.39

0.1021

0.01

0.1052

1,050

0.07

0.1053

150

ID029 Intake on Laurel Fork 6934372

8.55

1.0208

3.15

1.0102

0.69

1.0221

148

0.9549

ID030 Intake on J P Bailey Reservoir 6909475

0.03

0.3022

1,010

0.02

0.2678

1,340

0.2537

0.01

0.2704

2,700

ID031 Intake on Leatherbark Creek 12103894

1.05

0.0237

0.2

0.0221

0.05

0.0248

0.08

0.0239

ID032 Intake on Parker Hollow Reservoir 8433336

0.63

0.0581

0.45

0.0665

0.1

0.0666

0.16

0.0605

ID033 Intake on Shavers Lake 3777389

0.67

0.8681

130

0.07

0.4714

673

0.02

0.5342

2,670

0.03

0.7483

2,490

ID034 Intake on Tygart Valley River 4352996

55.27

0.5179

14.43

0.5325

0.99

0.4645

1.87

0.4338

ID037 Intake on Buckhannon River 4353190

67.51

3.4986

10.65

3.2667

1.91

3.4695

182

2.39

3.3327

139

ID040 Intake on Laurel Creek Reservoir 6909139

0.17

0.714

420

0.15

0.688

459

0.04

0.69

1,730

0.06

0.6225

1,040

ID041 Intake on North Fork Hughes River 19414131

5.33

0.9382

0.62

0.8669

140

0.01

0.9135

9,140

0.1

0.8305

831

ID043 Intake on Elk River 19323513

75.67

0.2079

18.07

0.2108

6.59

0.2116

10.54

0.1744

ID046 Intake on North Fork Cherry River 4546774

10.5

1.3329

1.76

1.1658

0.39

1.1471

294

0.58

1.1863

205

ID048 Intake on Buffalo Creek 6933832

1.85

0.575

0.5

0.5393

108

0.11

0.5394

490

0.18

0.5349

297

0.8105

0.7809

0.7398

98.5

0.6965

ID018 Intake on Tug Fork 434540

ID050 Intake on South Branch Potomac River 8420162

188

190

12 Drought-Vulnerability Assessment of Public Water Systems in West Virginia

Table 1.1. Seasonal variation in drought-vulnerability assessment of 71 selected West Virginia public water systems.

Table 1.1. Seasonal variation in drought-vulnerability assessment of 71 selected West Virginia public water systems.—Continued

Project identifier

Station name

ID051 Intake on Buffalo Creek 19451633

Winter (January–March)

Spring (April–June)

Summer (July–September)

Fall (October–December)

1Q10 75th WD WD/1Q10 (ft3/s) (ft3/s) (percent)

16.3

0.3178

2.32

0.2781

0.14

0.2965

212

0.53

0.2635

ID053 Intake on Hurricane Creek 19315460

0.12

0.8709

ID054 Intake on Tygart Valley River 4352968

66.32

3.3901

ID055 Intake on Tygart Valley River 4351508

109.62

726

0.01

0.9144

9,140

0.918

0.8489

10.44

2.9923

1.04

3.1444

303

2.43

3.0003

124

0.4078

26.34

0.3955

3.15

0.3945

5.39

0.3899

8.73

0.0569

6.65

0.0608

2.35

0.0627

3.99

0.057

ID057 Intake on Greenbrier River 12107418

173.74

3.0905

103.81

3.1034

31.67

3.1349

41.1

2.955

ID058 Intake on Shavers Fork 3780353

81.41

0.3462

41.06

0.3356

10.07

0.3075

15.18

0.3098

ID061 Intake on Poplar Fork 19315530

0.26

7.6345

2,940

0.02

4.8175

24,100

1.3039

4.4508

ID062 Intake on Mill Creek 19442441

6.18

1.6693

0.72

1.6702

232

0.01

1.6655

16700

0.08

1.551

1,940

ID063 Intake on Ada Reservoir 6909509

0.04

0.9453

2,363

0.02

0.9151

4,580

0.01

1.2114

12100

0.01

1.0654

10,700

ID064 Intake on Horton Reservoir 6909515

0.03

1.9033

6,344

0.02

1.762

8,810

1.4656

0.01

1.113

11,100

ID065 Intake on Kee Reservoir 6909439

0.07

0.439

627

0.04

0.1116

279

0.01

0.2897

2900

0.02

0.2067

1,034

ID066 Intake on Dry Fork 3775187

126.25

0.1774

42.42

0.1806

9.69

0.18

16.25

0.1689

ID068 Intake on Bluestone Lake 6906551

795

4.0127

928

3.8175

178

3.9064

181

3.8029

ID069 Intake on Tug Fork 435286

97.37

0.5946

101.64

0.5824

36.83

0.6307

35.75

0.5504

ID071 Intake on Jones Run 3715724

0.81

0.3929

0.07

0.3353

479

0.3547

0.01

0.2795

2,800

ID074 Intake on Tug Fork 435154

107.23

3.141

107.06

2.8463

38.13

2.8004

37.27

2.8884

ID076 Intake on Glade Creek 6920946

2.31 11.8202

512

1.15 11.4844

0.26 11.9648

4,600

0.4

11.3585

2,840

ID077 Intake on Silcott Fork 19313070

0.1

0.2309

231

0.01

0.2209

2,210

0.2268

0.2036

ID078 Intake on Mill Run 14365556

0.66

0.2566

0.4

0.2514

0.07

0.2372

339

0.13

0.2299

177

ID079 Intake on Knapps Creek 12104384

15.6

0.3816

14.39

0.3173

3.77

0.2901

6.61

0.2894

ID080 Intake on Blackwater River 3774989

20.45

0.2063

9.21

0.2067

2.44

0.2206

3.51

0.2084

ID081 Intake on Cheat River 3775731

335.84

0.2147

155.43

0.2112

38.3

0.215

49.48

0.223

ID082 Intake on Tug Fork 433830

235.1

0.4272

202.59

0.4267

0.44

53.88

0.4248

ID083 Intake on Cheat River 3775677

364.37

1.1444

169.52

1.1738

40.71

1.1989

49.98

1.1267

ID085 Intake on Greenbrier River 12107522

221.2

0.666

138.93

0.64

45.13

0.6483

57.09

0.656

ID088 Intake on Tug Fork 434794

167

1.7936

135

1.718

27.2

1.7392

31.1

1.7075

ID090 Intake on Middle Island Creek 15431930

26.15

0.1455

0.1543

0.28

0.1591

0.47

0.1467

ID056

Intake on South Fork South Branch Potomac River 8423472

3.42

999

Appendix 1. Seasonal Variation in Drought-Vulnerability Assessment of Public Water Systems in West Virginia 13

Winter (January–March)

Spring (April–June)

Summer (July–September)

Fall (October–December)

1Q10 75th WD WD/1Q10 (ft3/s) (ft3/s) (percent)

ID091 Intake on Shenandoah River 8445112

544.23

2.6067

571.29

2.7936

318.6

2.7251

338.55

2.6519

ID093 Intake on Gauley River 4545948

89.12

0.773

30.36

0.7848

4.23

0.7709

3.67

0.7283

ID094 Intake on Elk Run 5894528

1.7

0.3453

1.29

0.3614

0.35

0.3747

107

0.5

0.3278

ID095 Intake on Mill Creek 4352790

6.07

0.2983

0.63

0.2785

0.14

0.2809

201

0.23

0.2769

120

ID097 Intake on Guyandotte River 6934966

23.24

0.6957

21.2

0.6843

3.47

0.7204

4.53

0.7045

Intake on South Fork South Branch Potomac ID100 River 8419916

25.56

4.9796

24.24

4.974

9.32

5.2519

11.95

4.8014

ID102 Intake on South Branch Potomac River 8420282

141.58

0.0928

130.94

0.0245

57.15

0.083

69.33

0.0928

ID103 Intake on Fairfax Pond 3770326

0.23

0.4556

198

0.02

0.449

2,250

0.459

0.4781

ID104 Intake on Deckers Creek 3768762

0.57

0.4401

0.05

0.4536

907

0.4883

0.01

0.4198

4,200

ID105 Intake on Charles Fork 19419681

0.13

1.1152

858

0.01

1.1003

11,000

1.08

1.0801

ID108 Intake on Glenwood Lake 6909327

0.48

1.4481

302

0.38

1.411

371

0.09

1.5723

1750

0.14

1.5762

1,130

ID110 Intake on Patterson Creek 14368832

18.21

0.8346

13.57

0.8128

5.05

0.7681

6.51

0.7245

ID111 Intake on Greenbrier River 12107566

240.14

0.1746

159.68

0.1671

49.64

0.1742

60.52

0.1721

ID112 Intake on Greenbrier River 12105110

124

0.0554

70.2

0.0555

14.3

0.0534

0.0537

Project identifier

Station name

14 Drought-Vulnerability Assessment of Public Water Systems in West Virginia

Table 1.1. Seasonal variation in drought-vulnerability assessment of 71 selected West Virginia public water systems.—Continued

For more information, contact Director, Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center U.S. Geological Survey 1730 East Parham Road Richmond, VA 23228 Or visit our website at https://www.usgs.gov/centers/virginia-and- west-virginia-water-science-center. Publishing support provided by the Baltimore Publishing Service Center

Kearns and others—Drought-Vulnerability Assessment of Public Water Systems in West Virginia—OFR 2023–1057

ISSN 2331-1258 (online) https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20231057

Drought-Vulnerability Assessment of Public Water Systems in West Virginia

Related documents