Wyoming Water Forum

October 8, 2024: Bart Geerts:  Predicting changes in precipitation and seasonal mountain snowpack in Wyoming: likely trends and uncertainties 

Dr. Geerts has a PhD from the University of Washington (1990). He co-authored ~150 papers in the peer-reviewed literature and has advised and graduated ~40 graduate students. Dr. Geerts is the recipient of the 2012 National Institutes for Water Resources Program IMPACT Award, and is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society. 

As part of WyACT, we are conducting regional climate modeling for Wyoming and the western USA using output from an array of CMIP6 climate models, through dynamic downscaling down to 1 km resolution, focusing on global warming levels anticipated in the next few decades and out to ~2100. In this talk, we use this model output to describe anticipated average trends in precipitation and snowpack. We also examine changes in probabilities of extreme events, especially persistent droughts and flooding. 

November 12, 2024: Danny Hogan:  Recent Upper Colorado River Streamflow Declines Driven by Loss of Spring Precipitation 

Danny Hogan is a PhD student at the University of Washington in Seattle working with the Mountain Hydrology research group under Dr. Jessica Lundquist. His research interests lie at the interface between the atmosphere and mountain systems mainly through studying how changing weather impacts hydrologic processes at various scales. 

This presentation will cover background, methods, and results from a recent publication in Geophysical Research Letters titled: "Recent Upper Colorado River Streamflow Declines Driven by Loss of Spring Precipitation". The talk will focus on explaining recent decreases in streamflow from the headwaters of the Colorado River and center on the role that decreasing spring precipitation has played. A brief discussion of future projections and forecasting implications will be provided. 

December 10, 2024: Thad Kuntz, P.G. :  HydroData: A Water Resources Data Management Tool 

Thad Kuntz, P.G. is the Principal Hydrogeologist/Co-Owner of Adaptive Resources, Inc. and Co-Owner of Longitude 103, Inc., located in Scottsbluff, NE and Fort Morgan, CO. He received his B.S. in Environmental Geology from Colorado State University. Over the last 20 years, he has worked as a hydrogeologist in both consulting and as a joint employee of North Platte Natural Resources District (North Platte NRD) and South Platte NRD in the Nebraska Panhandle. He is also the sales manager for Longitude 103, Inc. Thad is a Licensed Professional Geologist in Wyoming and Nebraska. Thad has worked in numerous western states, completing hydrogeological investigations, ground water models, and water resources analyses. Additionally, over the past several years, Thad has been meeting and working with natural resources and ground water management districts throughout the nation to promote the HydroData application, a Longitude 103, Inc. software product that allows for effective and efficient water resources and ground water data management. Thad, his wife Amber, and their two beautiful little girls, Brin and Kiley, have a small ranch and irrigated farm east of Scottsbluff, raising cattle and sheep. 

HydroData (https://hydrodata.app/) is a tool helping entities across Nebraska, Colorado, and other states manage and collect water resource information using web and mobile platforms. Our platform is cloud-hosted and currently stores information such as irrigated tracts, entities (landowners, operators, and contacts), wells (location, completion data, etc.), flowmeters and flowmeter readings, ground water levels, water quality tests, soil samples, crop reports, farm management reports, and chemigation/fertigation. In the very near future, we will store, display, and allow the user to manage information on high-hazard dams (information, inspections, reports, maintenance, etc.) and surface water structures (diversions, headgates/turnouts measurements, return structures, recharge pits, etc.). Our system can access telemetry data such as McCrometer flowmeters, Sutron stage-discharge recorders, OTT Hydromet transducers and other hardware, and in the future InSitu transducers. Our system also allows entities, landowners, farmers, or others access to their water resources data through ProducerConnect web and mobile applications. ProducerConnect also allows those entities to record information such as flowmeter readings, soil samples, and crop and farm management reports, among other data. In short, we are a tool to help water resources managers, agencies, and others to view, understand, work with, and manage their water resources information. 

January 14, 2025: Samir Budhathoki : Evaluation and Techno-economic assessment of Lithium extraction technologies from the produced water brines in WY 

Mr. Budhathoki comes from a small town of Tulsipur, Dang, Nepal. Mr. Budhathoki completed his master’s degree in environmental engineering from the University of Wyoming under the supervision of Dr. Michael Urynowicz in Spring of 2021. Mr. Budhathoki is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree in Energy and Petroleum Engineering under the supervision of Dr. Maohong Fan and he started his degree program in the Summer of 2022. His major research topic includes Lithium and Rare earth elements extraction in produced water, Carbon capture using liquid sorbents. Mr. Budhathoki has been currently working in a USGS and Wyoming state funded project at University of Wyoming to explore the prospects of Lithium in the produced water brines and their economic viability. He will be presenting his work on this project. 

Lithium is a major critical mineral often termed as the "white oil for the future." Some researchers term it as the "Element of the 21st century." Lithium has several robust electrochemical properties that makes it suitable for its application as an important valuable asset for renewable energy production to meet the increasing global energy consumption demand. Lithium is used to manufacture lithium ion batteries which are used in the electric vehicles that has longer service life and are environmentally friendly technology. Lithium, a valuable future asset, can be extracted from several rock and minerals, however, its extraction from minerals is currently becoming more challenging due to the depletion of the ores and minerals itself. Produced water/brines are another important resource for the Lithium. Wyoming has a huge potential for the lithium and its extraction from both rock and minerals as well as from the produced water. Wyoming is a home to one of the nations largest coal producers, Powder River Basin, where several oil and gas production activities and energy production activities are going around. They produce a huge amount of produced water that are simply discharged as a waste in to the water bodies which not only have resulted to the environmental problems but it also has resulted the loss of critical minerals which might have been discharged in the water unknowingly. So, brine management can potentially recover Lithium from produced water. Using these concepts and principles, we conducted a research where we initially collected water samples from seven different water formations located in the several regions of Powder River Basin and tested the Lithium concentration in the collected water samples using ICP OES. The results showed that these formation had the significant amount of Lithium at mg/L (ppm levels) up to 40 mg/L. After testing the samples, we performed the detailed literature review and decided to use Nanofiltration and performed the Technoeconomic assessment on the relevant technology. The detailed technoeconomic assessment results showed that Nanofiltration can effectively extract Lithium from these produced water suggesting that brine management can actually recover Lithium. This initial preliminary study demonstrated that the adoption of nanofiltration can effectively extract Li from the produced water that will generate revenue to the state of WY by providing employment opportunities and boost the state economy. 

February 11, 2024: Robert Ettema :  Can Hydraulic Structures Handle Ice? 

Rob Ettema joined Colorado State University's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in August, 2015 to further augment the university's water and infrastructure program. Ettema received his undergraduate and graduate education at Auckland University, New Zealand. He has held faculty and administrative positions at The University of Iowa and the University of Wyoming prior to joining Colorado State University. His main research and expertise interests involve the following range of aspects regarding water engineering: hydraulic structures, river mechanics, and cold-regions considerations. He has served as Editor of the American Society of Civil Engineer’s Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, Associate Editor of ASCE’s Cold Regions Engineering Journal, and has consulted and written extensively on numerous hydraulics and cold-regions problems. 

The title question of this seminar poses the question – Can hydraulic structures handle ice? The answer to this question is a qualified “no”. Though progress certainly has been made, ice concerns remain inadequately addressed or the possibility of ice concerns being forgotten. This paper addresses the question in terms of spatial scales: molecular, hydraulic structure, and global. Water is a material whose behavior is dictated by its molecules in response to pressures and temperatures exerted at the scales of hydraulic structure and Earth. Also, this paper argues that the further the hydraulic structure is located towards the lower extents of so-called “cold regions” consideration of ice concerns decrease and are at risk of being forgotten (e.g., Wyoming and Colorado). When a structure is at a high latitude (commonly subject to frigid conditions), ice is considered, but there may be no assurance that such consideration is included in design or operation of a hydraulic structure. 

March 11, 2025 : Kristi Hansen and Mahdi Asgari  :  Economic Impacts of Water Conservation and Curtailment in Southwestern Wyoming 

Kristiana Hansen and Mahdi Asgari are, respectively, Associate Professor and Extension Water Resource Economist and Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wyoming. Their current research project focuses on the economic impact of water conservation policies in the Wyoming Colorado River headwaters through developing a region-level hydro-economic model for the upper Green River basin drainage area.

The dry hydrology in the Colorado River Basin (CRB), mounting demand for water, and future climate projections set a trajectory that may trigger a mandatory curtailment of water use under current laws. On the other hand, policymakers could employ a multi-year Demand Management (DM) program to minimize or reduce curtailment risk. Whether policymakers should devise a DM program or focus instead on curtailment responses depends in part on the economic impact of each policy. This presentation highlights the current state of the research on quantifying the economic impacts of curtailment under different climate profiles in Southwestern Wyoming.

May 13, 2025: Eli Boardman: Wind River Range Snow Water Supply Forecast: 2024-2025 Update 

Eli Boardman is founder and chief scientist of Mountain Hydrology LLC and a PhD candidate in Hydrology at the University of Nevada, Reno. Personal research interests include all aspects of the natural mountain water cycle and downstream water resource resilience. Commercial projects through Mountain Hydrology LLC include snow surveys, water supply forecasting, and agricultural resilience consulting. 

This presentation will provide an update to Mountain Hydrology LLC's snow water supply forecasting project in the Wind River Range through the Bureau of Reclamation. Results from the 2024 water year will be summarized, including the airborne lidar snowpack survey, daily to seasonal streamflow forecast performance, and glacier recession rates. An overview of the upcoming 2025 forecast season will be provided, including the planned timing of surveys, streamflow forecast points, and deliverables that may be useful to water managers, scientists, and stakeholders. 

June 10, 2025: Maggie O'Neill: Responding to the Future of Water: Perspectives of Agricultural Leaders of the Green River Basin, Wyoming 

My name is Maggie O'Neill, and I am a graduate research assistant at the University of Wyoming. I was born and raised in New Hampshire and have worked all over the United States on ecological, marine, and/or sociological research projects. I am excited to have the opportunity to present my graduate work at the Wyoming Water Forum and learn from all who will participate! 

I would present results of my graduate research project that explores how agricultural operators of the Green River basin are responding or want to respond to changes in water availability, what facilitates and constrains their decision making, and how formal and informal institutions may influence local level action around water. 

IrrMapper Presentation

IrrMapper Presentation Recording

Cloud Seeding Presentation Recording

Wyoming Association of Rural Water Presentation

Crow Creek Hydrology Presentation

Crow Creek Hydrology Presentation Recording

USGS: Capturing Irrigated Lands Presentation

USGS: Capturing Irrigated Lands Presentation Recording

Demand Management Demonstration Project Presentation

USGS: Wyoming Stream Stats Presentation Recording

USGS: Suspended Sediment Data Presentation Recording

USGS: 3D National Topography Model