Table of Contents
In this project, the Center for Research in Water Resources (CRWR) of the University of Texas at Austin, and the National Water Commission (CNA) of Mexico will cooperate to develop a geodatabase to build hydrologic information systems, which can be used to support hydrologic analysis and modeling of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo basin. The geodatabase will consist of an ArcHydro-based geographic information system and relational data base containing hydrologic, hydraulic and related data for the basin. The geodatabase will be made available to Mexican and U. S. federal, state, and local organizations, and training will be provided in Spanish and English to facilitate its use. It will assist in developing bi-national cooperation between Mexico and the United States concerning water in the Rio Grande basin, providing accurate and reliable data necessary for analysis and resolution of water resources issues.
The Rio Grande/Rio Bravo River is a transboundary water source shared by the United States and Mexico. The river is the lifeblood for much of the economic activity in the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo valley on both sides of the border. Recent drought conditions have increased tensions over water sharing in the basin. Several areas of conflict and possible negotiated remedies have been identified, but there is a lack of data available to use in analysis of alternative solutions to these problems. This project seeks to solve the fundamental problem of making available accurate climatic hydrologic, hydraulic, and related data. These data will be provided in the form of an industry-standard (ArcHydro) spatial-temporal information system. It will provide ready access to data needed for independent hydrologic and policy analysis using a wide variety of hydrologic, water quality, and environmental models.
PARAMETERS DEFINED FOR THE RIO GRAND PROJECT
RIO GRAND MAPPING SYSTEM (RGMS)
Coordinate System:
Albers
False_Easting: 1000000.000000
False_Northing: 1000000.000000
Central_Meridian: -103.000000
Standard_Parallel_1: 27.416667
Standard_Parallel_2: 34.916667
Latitude_Of_Origin: 31.166667
GCS_North_American_1983
Datum: D_North_American_1983
Prime Meridian: 0
Rio Grand/Bravo basin divided by sub regions according to the NHD-USGS code. Region 13 on the American side includes 9 hydrologic subregions, while Region 24 on the Mexican side includes 7 hydrologic subregions.
DEMs for the Rio Grand/Bravo basin divided by hydrologic subregions. The grid size is 30 m and every DEM includes a buffer of 10 Km. the projection is Albers; datum NAD1983
3. Assigning Regional HydroID to every feature class in the Rio Grande/Bravo basin
1. Every feature class that includes information from the Mexican and American agencies was included into a personal geodatabase. This geodatabase contains the hydrographic map (river network and waterbodies), Gage stations, climatic stations, Water withdrawal points, Water right points, among the others.
2. The HydroKeyTable and HydroIDTable were created using the ApUtilities menu in the ArcHydro tools
3. Starting the editing process, the Layer Key Table was populated as it is showed below:
Feature class = a consecutive number
E.g. MonitoringPointXX = 1
HydroEdgeXX = 2
Where “XX” represents the hydrologic subregion.
4. The Application Utilities (ApUtilities) of the ArcHydro Tools was used to populate the HydroID table with the appropriate numbers according to the next classification, using the “HydroID Tables Manager” option:
· The first digit (blue box) describes the Hydrologic Region, number 1 for the Region 13 on the American side and 2 for the region 24 on the Mexican side
· The second two digits (yellow boxes) describe the Hydrologic SubRegion. The basin is divided in 9 subregions on the American side and 7 subregions for the Mexican side
· The next two digits (red boxes) correspond to the feature class number.
§ MonitoringPoint was assigned 01
§ HydroEdge was assigned 02
§ WaterBody was assigned 03
§ Watershed was assigned 04
§ Prime Control Points 05
§ Secondary Control Points 06
§ And so on
· The last five digits (green boxes) will describe the feature number, which could reach 99 999 positions.
Original hydrography from a digitalized map 1:50K for the Rio Conchos basin including the regional HydroID
Watershed and HydroEdge Attribute tables for the Rio Conchos basin on the Mexican side using the regional HydroID
4. Drainage Line from DEM versus Hydrography from a digitalized map
Comparison between the Drainage Lines (red line) generated from the DEM and the Blue lines gotten from a digitalized map 1:50K for the Rio Conchos basin
5. Applying the WRAPHydro tools to the Rio Conchos basin
Comparison between the SubCuencas at the Rio Conchos basin defined by INEGI (Red line) and the WRAPWatershed created using the WRAPHydro Tools (color polygons). The SubCuencas were defined using a topographic map 1:250K, while the WRAPWatershed feature considers a WRAPEdge 1:50K (from a digitalized map) and a DEM resolution of 30 m close to the border and 90 m for the rest of the Rio Conchos basin. Several Control Points are also included.
6. Available information for the entire basin
Complete Hydrographic map for the entire basin, including the information from the NHD (1:100K) and the river network for the Mexican side (1:50K)
Gage stations for the entire basin
Control Points for the entire basin, which include water rights and return flow points
Carlos Patino
Graduate Research Assistant
Center for Research in Water Resources
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Texas at Austin
(512) 471-0073
These materials may be used for study, research, and education, but please credit the authors and the Center for Research in Water Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. All commercial rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Center for Research in Water Resources.