This award will support the continued development and subsequent use of an integrated groundwater surfacewater mikeshe model to design, compare, and assess regional water management strategies that…

This Cooperative Agreement award from the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management under the Threatened and Endangered Species program (CFDA 15.246) will support the continued development and use of an integrated groundwater-surface water modeling system. The goal is to design, compare, and assess regional water management strategies that will directly benefit the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area (SPRNCA), its groundwater-dependent riparian and aquatic habitats, and associated species.

The $543,400 award to the City of Sierra Vista, Arizona will fund the comprehensive modeling effort, which includes documenting the model structure and functions, managing related data, and performing additional calibration and scenario analyses. This technical tool will help prioritize water management strategies through a collaborative partnership between federal and local agencies, enabling informed decisions to ensure adequate water supplies within the SPRNCA. The award period runs from September 2024 to September 2029.

This award will support the continued development and subsequent use of an integrated groundwater surfacewater mikeshe model to design, compare, and assess regional water management strategies that will most directly benefit the sprnca, its groundwater dependent riparian and aquatic habitats, and the associated species. The combination of extended drought, increasing temperatures, and ongoing groundwater use in this region, like others across the nation, present formidable challenges in terms of ensuring that the water needs of this national riparian conservation area continue to be met. The availability of water within the riparian corridor is almost entirely dependent on water use and management actions that take place outside of its boundaries on adjacent lands, managed by other federal or local agencies and or private landowners. This project will develop the necessary technical tools to prioritize water management strategies for a collaborative partnership between key federal and local agencies and organizations. Specifically, the results of this modeling work will clarify how complex groundwater processes that maintain the underground aquifer can best be managed through various alternatives, including retirement of existing pumping, avoidance of future pumping, and or managed recharge projects in specific locations, to ensure that adequate water supplies are available within the sprnca. Development of an integrated mikeshe model, that can predict surface water and groundwater interactions has been initiated by the blms conservation partners and private consultants since 2021, but adequate funding to fully develop the model, document its structure and functions, manage related data, and perform additional calibration and actual running of various management scenarios is needed.