USGS Water Resources of Michigan - A Flow Model for Source Water Assessment in the St. Clair-Detroit River Connecting Channels

A Flow Model for Source Water Assessment in the St. Clair-Detroit River Connecting Channels

Project Chief
Dave Holtschlag

Statewide Water Resources Monitoring

Protection of Drinking Water Sources

Effects of Land Use on Water Quality

Restoring Natural Flow Regimes

Water Availability

Great Lakes Issues

Research and Technical Assistance at Contaminated Sites

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St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, and Detroit River Satellite Image

Source Water Assessment and Protection (SWAP)

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) is completing a Source Water Assessment Program as required by the 1996 reauthorization of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The 1996 amendments to the SDWA require states to:

Identify the areas that supply public drinking water.
Inventory contaminants and assess water susceptibility to contamination.
Inform the public of the results.

Water for about half of the residents in Michigan comes from the 80-mile long waterway formed by St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, and Detroit River between southeastern Michigan and southwestern Ontario, Canada. This study will develop a sophisticated computer model to identify likely sources of water to public supply intakes and provide a basis for planning emergency responses to contaminant spills along the waterway. The flow model is being developed by USGS in partnership with MDEQ, City of Detroit, USACE, and NOAA. Information is also coordinated with Environment Canada. The flow model will provide two-dimensional (depth-averaged) flow information in real time, and will provide a basis for future water-quality studies to describe the transport of sediments and the fate of conservative and non-conservative constituents.

Drifting Buoy Deployments on St. Clair River near Public Water Intakes - October 3-5, 2000

Buoys drifting on Detroit River near the Renaissance Center

Drifting Buoy Deployments on St. Clair River from October 3- 5, 2000

Flow Modeling Study of the St. Clair - Detroit River Waterway

Portable Document Format (PDF) of report is at:

A Two-Dimensional, Transient Flow Model of the St. Clair - Detroit River Waterway (167KB)

If you do not have Adobe® Acrobat® Reader, then you can download it for free at:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
Use of this software product does not imply endorsement by U.S. Government.

Reference:

Holtschlag, D. J., and Koschik, J. A., 2001, Steady-state flow distribution and monthly flow duration in selected branches of St. Clair and Detroit Rivers within the Great Lakes Waterway: U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Investigations Report 01-4135, 50 p.

Sweat, M.J. and Wolf, J.R., 1996, Combined-sewer overflow data and methods of sample collection for selected sites, Detroit, Michigan: U.S. Geological Open-File Report 96-646, 43 p., 2 diskettes.

Cooperators:

MDEQ Source Water Assessment Program

Detroit Water and Sewerage Department