Sustainability of Dayton Groundwater Resources under Today’s Changing Climate
Presenter(s)
Amber N Johnson, Colin J Mctighe
Files
Description
Groundwater is an essential resource in the Dayton region, and is likely to experience changes with global warming. Assessing its sustainability under the changing climate regime is of great importance for the region’s social and economic development. We use stable isotope ratios of oxygen (δ18O) in precipitation to track large-scale atmospheric processes, local controlling factors and establish moisture sources for the Dayton region. Precipitation samples were collected at the University of Dayton precipitation collection station on a daily, weekly and monthly basis between March 2015 and March 2016 for a total of 120 samples. A total of 37 groundwater samples were also collected from monitoring and public supply wells across the Miami Valley Buried Aquifer. Our results indicate that warm season precipitation contributed approximately 34% to groundwater recharge, while cool season precipitation comprised the majority of recharge at 66%. Based on climate change predictions, winters in the Dayton region will become increasingly milder and will lead to more prevalent rain events in the cool season rather than snow events as witnessed this winter. As a result, cool seasonal groundwater recharge amount could be negatively impacted. The outcome of this study would help to inform local and state water resource management on the impact of climate change on the quantity and quality of the water resource in the region that supplies water to nearly 2 million people. Key words: groundwater, isotope, climate change, sustainability, recharge
Publication Date
4-5-2017
Project Designation
Capstone Project - Undergraduate
Primary Advisor
Zelalem Bedaso, Shuang-Ye Wu
Primary Advisor's Department
Geology
Keywords
Stander Symposium project
Recommended Citation
"Sustainability of Dayton Groundwater Resources under Today’s Changing Climate" (2017). Stander Symposium Projects. 1062.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/stander_posters/1062
