Figure 1: WIMAS Opening Screen
WIMAS was first written as an AML based, ArcInfo application that ran in a UNIX, X-Windows environment. By integrating data sets from both the KDA-DWR and the USGS, WIMAS allowed users the ability to analyze the availability and use made of water in a spatial context. Although WIMAS was the first GIS application to both map and simplify the intricacies of queries to the KDA-DWR water rights data, its use outside of the cooperating agencies was minimal. Users were required to have access to a UNIX workstation running a licensed copy of ArcInfo.
In 1994, the KDA-DWR decided to migrate its water rights information from a mainframe based, SUPRA database, to a client-server ORACLE RDBMS. The water rights database was re-structured to represent a true, relational database model. As such, the water rights database was no longer in a format compatible with the WIMAS GIS application. With the combination of the KDA-DWR database migration, advancements in ArcView and its programming language of AVENUE, and the increase in the numbers of ArcView users in the State, the Kansas GIS Policy Board provided funds to re-write and enhance the functionality of the WIMAS to run as an ArcView application. The goal of the WIMAS program is to provide a GIS-based application to query and map water rights in the State of Kansas to the general public.
The primary spatial component of water right information is the point of water diversion, often referred to as a PD. PDs are either ground water wells or surface water pumps and/or diversions where water is withdrawn from its natural place of origin or flow. A single water right may have authorization to divert water from one or several PDs, while a single PD may have one or several water rights associated with it. The complexity between water rights and PDs increases when authorized appropriated quantity, pumping rates, and reported water use are added. Appropriated quantity and pumping rates can be assigned to the water right as a whole, to the individual use made of the water by the water right, or to the water right's PD(s). In addition, the yearly reported water use for a water right may be reported by several different correspondents for a single PD.
To facilitate the use of data stored in WRIS for the WIMAS program, AVENUE scripting and ArcView's open database connectivity are utilized. The premise of the data set used by WIMAS is to provide the most current year of publishable water use on record and authorized quantity information for all active water rights since that year of water use. Based on a series of SQL requests to WRIS, an ArcView script queries, joins, and exports the relevant water right data to a single dBase file that contains a single year of reported water use, all authorized quantity and pumping rates for active water rights, and many administrative descriptors. All of this data is tied to PDs which provides the principle spatial aspect of a water right.
Based on stored geographic coordinates, the PDs are added to ArcView as an Event Theme, which in turn, is converted to a shape file. Since water rights are dynamic, the calendar date of the WRIS access date is coded as a database field within the PD shape file. From this single shape file, the WIMAS application will map and access all its water right information.
WIMAS uses several supporting GIS data layers throughout the application. These include alluvial deposits, cities and towns, counties, ground water management districts, surface hydrology, potential annual ground water recharge, KDA-DWR special water use areas, subbasins, and Public Land Survey System sections and townships. These data sets were either created by the KDA-DWR or obtained from the State's GIS repository, the Data Access and Support Center (DASC). The DASC and available GIS data sets can found at http://gisdasc.kgs.ukans.edu/.
The first GUI, referred to as the WIMAS Start Screen (Fig. 1), provides options to define a study area to analyze water right activity. The user has the choice to establish their study area as a Kansas county, KDA-DWR identified subbasin, an area defined by a user-drawn polygon, an existing water right with a buffer around the associated PDs, or an area where a new water right application may be filed. The WIMAS Start Screen GUI also provides an option to list summary statistics on all the water rights within the state, a metadata text and graphic browser to review the data layers used in WIMAS (Fig. 2), and the ability to define a projection or coordinate system to be used throughout the program.
Figure 1: WIMAS Opening Screen
Figure 2: Metadata and Theme Reviewer for WIMAS Data Layers
The second customized GUI, the WIMAS Analysis Screen, provides the mapping and analysis options for the defined study area. Upon the GUI's activation, WIMAS zooms to the extent of the selected or self-defined study area, sets up display parameters of the supporting themes, and selects all the PDs and the associated water rights within that region (Fig. 3). Once a study area is defined and the display screen has been established, WIMAS provides several water right analysis options for the entire or selected portions of the study area.
Figure 3: WIMAS Analysis GUI
A common question often asked to the KDA-DWR is how much water is appropriated and how much water was used in an certain area or region of the state. To answer this type of question, WIMAS provides a summary dialog (Fig. 4). From this dialog, the total amount of water authorized for points of diversion in the study area is summarized by a matrix of water source and use made, the total number of acres authorized under irrigation water rights, and listing of the individual water rights and their associated PD(s). The user then has the option to export the listed water rights to a dBase, INFO, or ASCII file, generate a report that is passed to Windows WordPad word processor, or create a graph of authorized quantity. This same dialog is also used for reported water use values by showing values (total water reported used and acres actually irrigated) from the latest reported water use year on record with KDA-DWR. At the bottom of the form, the user is informed of the date the values represent and the number of water rights and points of diversions they have currently selected.
Figure 4: Appropriation Summary Dialog
WIMAS also provides the user the ability to access information by either an individual water right or PD. Figure 5 demonstrates the complexity associated with some water rights. A single water right may have multiple uses made of water (e.g. irrigation and stock-watering), it may be authorized to divert water from several PDs, which may be located in one or more special water right areas designated by the KDA-DWR. Based on the water right, use made of water, and PD selection, the dialog will update the appropriate information on the form and a graphic star symbol will be drawn over the selected PD on the display map. Since a PD may have several water rights associated with it, a second separate dialog displays the same information only by individual PD rather than by water right.
Figure 5: Water Right Information Dialog
The user has several selections and display tools to assist them in their water right appraisals. Water rights within the study area can be further selected for analysis by selecting PDs interactively on the screen or by their spatial relationship to other map features. For example, the user can select segments of a major stream course and then, by specifying a buffer distance, examine the water right activity within a certain distance to the stream. The user also has several options to change the map display. This includes zooming in, out, and panning, toggling labels on and off, and classifying PDs by their use made of water or water source. Individual theme layers can also be turned on and off.
WIMAS provides the option to print the map display to a hardcopy output. After selecting a paper size, the user is prompted to accept or change a default map title and map scale. Based on the currently selected printer in Windows, a map is created and the user has the options to print or convert the map to an image format (Fig. 6). A map legend, state index map, and scale in both a bar and text format are placed on the map.
Figure 6: WIMAS Developed Map
A common tool applied by the KDA-DWR to recommend approval or denial of a ground water application is the Safe Yield Analysis. This evaluation procedure is based on a two-mile circle around the proposed location of the ground water well listed in the application. WIMAS provides the capability to plot the location of the proposed PD, run the Safe Yield Analysis and make other checks on that point in assessing the potential of issuing a permit to establish a water right.
The user has the option to specify where the proposed PD will be located by giving in decimal degrees, the longitude and latitude of the point, or more commonly, giving its location in feet from the southeast corner of a section in the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) also noting the township and range (Fig. 7). Both options plot the proposed PD, select all existing PDs within the specified buffer distance (default is two miles), and sets up display parameters of the supporting themes.
Figure 7: PLSS Section Dialog for Locating a Proposed Point of Diversion
Once the proposed PD is located, WIMAS provides the safe yield analysis and checks for possible restrictions pertaining to the new water right application. The intention of the safe yield analysis is to identify how much water is available for appropriation given the annual potential recharge and amount of water currently appropriated within the two mile circle of the proposed PD. WIMAS first establishes the potential annual recharge within the circle based on the location of the proposed PD to a shape file representing ground water recharge. The recharge shape file was converted from a 3 x 3 km ArcInfo Grid which, in turn, was interpolated from a isoline recharge map digitized from a USGS publication. Based on the identified recharge value and the area of the circle, the volume of water that is recharged to the hydrologic system is calculated.
WIMAS then identifies other factors affecting the safe yield values. The location of the proposed PD is examined to see if it lies in an area that is closed or under special restrictions to new water right applications. WIMAS also defines the percentage of the safe yield value that is available for appropriation. This percentage is established the KDA-DWR and is dependent on the PD's location within the state. The total amount of water authorized within the circle is calculated and all the information is then passed to a dialog for the user's review (Fig. 8). The dialog allows the user to update the variables used in the safe yield analysis, recalculate the value and print a report of the water rights and variables used.
Figure 8: Safe Yield Analysis Results Dialog
In addition to the Safe Yield Analysis, users can check for other restrictions that may pertain to the water right application. WIMAS identifies if the PD is within the boundaries of a special water area and lists the policy governing the area. WIMAS will also report on whether the proposed PD meets the well spacing requirement for that location (Fig. 9) to avoid direct impact on another water right.
Figure 9: Restriction Check for a Proposed Point of Water Diversion>
The State of Kansas GIS Policy Board for funding support.