LNWB Ch10 Stream Flow

Overview:
Streamflow is part of the dynamic hydrologic system that supports a range of water dependent activities in Whatcom County, including farming, fishing and recreation. The relationship between streamflow, groundwater recharge and groundwater discharge, precipitation, fish habitat and crop production is critical for understanding how best to manage water to meet those needs. Streamflow is the best characterized, and most easily measured, component of the dynamic hydrologic system, and as such, is the primary metric used in modeling the water budget. For example, facilitating development of water management options that improve streamflow in the late summer is one of the reasons for developing the Lower Nooksack Water Budget.

The Lower Nooksack Water Budget project included a review of available streamflow measurements made available since WRIA 1 Water Management Project Phase III Task 1 (2002). For the streamflow database update (Lower Nooksack Water Budget Project, Task 2), the project team compiled available information, data, and maps of the stream data collected in the Lower Nooksack study area, as well as WRIA 1 upstream boundary conditions, and updated the database of measured streamflow from 1999 to 2011. The updated streamflow database will be used to calibrate and validate the Topnet-WM hydrologic model, and to calculate water budgets for each of the Lower Nooksack drainages; data will be available in an ASCII format for all other drainages but will not be formally summarized.

The following section begins with the list of streamflow gages in WRIA 1, followed by an explanation of how the data were used for model inputs. This information was used along with other Lower Nooksack Water Budget technical components to calculate the hydrologic model outputs working with the WRIA 1 Joint Board’s existing hydrologic model and supporting technical tools.

This resource is a subset of the Lower Nooksack Water Budget (LNWB) Collection Resource.