The suitability of a combined water system (CWS) is assessed for meeting drinking-water demand for the city of Arkhangelsk (northwestern Russian Federation), instead of using the polluted surface water of the Northern Dvina River. An appropriate aquifer system (Permilovo groundwater basin) was found and explored in the 1980s, and there were plans then to operate an abstraction scheme using traditional pumping methods. However, the 1980s planned water system was abandoned due to projected impermissible stream depletion such that complete interception of the cone of depression with the riverbed would cause the riverbed to become dry. The design of a CWS is now offered as an approach to addressing this environmental problem. Several sets of major pumping wells associated with the CWS are located on the banks of Vaymuga River and induce infiltration from the stream. The deficiency of the stream flow in dry seasons is compensated for by pumping from aquifer storage. A numerical model was constructed using MODFLOW-2000. The results of the simulation showed the efficiency of the compensation pumping. The streamflow depletion caused by the CWS is equal to the minimum permissible stream flow and is lower than the depletion projected by the abandoned plan. Application of the CWS in the Permilovo groundwater basin makes it possible to meet water demands during water-limited periods and to avoid environmental problems.

The Hydrograph model (a distributed process-based model) was applied to the simulation of soil freeze-thaw and runoff processes, to assess the viability of the model approach and the influence of specific environmental factors in a permafrost environment. Three mountainous permafrost watersheds were studied, at the Kolyma Water Balance Station in north-eastern Russia. The watersheds include rocky talus, mountainous tundra and moist larch-forest landscape regimes, and they were modelled at daily time-steps for the period 1971–1984. Simulated results of soil freeze-thaw depth and runoff showed reasonable agreement with observed values. This study reveals and mathematically describes the dependence of surface and subsurface flow on thawing depth and landscape characteristics. Process analysis and modelling in permafrost regions, including ungauged basins, is suggested, with observable properties of landscapes being used as model parameters, combined with an appropriate level of physically based conceptualization.

Groundwater pumping and changes in climate-induced recharge lead to lower groundwater levels and significant changes in the water balance of a catchment. Water previously discharged as evapotranspiration can become a source of pumpage. Neglecting this effect leads to overestimated streamflow depletion. A small river basin (Sudogda River Basin, Russia) with a boreal climate and with long-term records of groundwater head and streamflow rate (showing that the measured stream depletion is less than the pumping rate) was investigated. The role of evapotranspiration in the water balance was analyzed by a hydrogeological model using MODFLOW-2005 with the STR package; the annual variation in recharge was obtained with the codes Surfbal and HYDRUS. The Sudogda River Basin was classified according to landscape and unsaturated-zone texture classes, and for each classified zone, the unsaturated-zone flow simulation was used to calculate the annual recharge dynamics for the observation period. Calibration of the regional flow model was conducted using flow and head observations jointly for two steady-state flow conditions—natural (before pumping started) and stressed (pumping). The simulations showed that pumped water originates from three sources: intercepted baseflow (75% of the annual total pumping rate), the capture of groundwater evapotranspiration discharge plus increased groundwater recharge (17%), and induced stream infiltration (8%). Additionally, multi-year precipitation records were analyzed to detect any long-term recharge and pumping water-budget changes. The results showed that increasing groundwater recharge by natural precipitation leads to (1) decreased intercepted baseflow and induced streamflow infiltration and (2) increased intercepted evapotranspiration discharge, thereby reducing stream depletion.