Hydrogeology of Cave, Dry Lake and Delamar Valleys
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HYDROGEOLOGY OF CAVE, DRY LAKE AND DELAMAR VALLEYS IMPACTS OF PUMPING UNDERGROUND WATER RIGHT APPLICATIONS #53987 THROUGH 53092 Presented to the Office of the Nevada State Engineer On behalf of Great Basin Water Network June, 2011 Prepared by: ________________________________________________ Thomas Myers, Ph.D. Hydrologic Consultant Reno, NV June 17, 2011 Date Table of Contents INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 Hydrology of the Study Area .......................................................................................................... 3 Geology ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Hydrogeology ............................................................................................................................. 8 Conceptual Flow Model .............................................................................................................. 9 Water Balance ......................................................................................................................... 9 Recharge Estimates ............................................................................................................... 10 Discharge Estimates .............................................................................................................. 13 Interbasin Flow Estimate ...................................................................................................... 31 White River Flow System: Water Budget and Water Availability ....................................... 38 Water Availability ................................................................................................................. 40 Conclusion of Water Budget Analysis .................................................................................. 41 Impact Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 42 Changes in Flux ........................................................................................................................ 49 Conclusion from Model Analysis ............................................................................................. 55 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 56 References ..................................................................................................................................... 57 Appendix 1: Well Logs ................................................................................................................... 61 TABLE OF FIGURES Figure 1: Location of target and surrounding basins, select springs, perennial streams, and SNWA’s water rights applications (see Table 1 for description). ................................................... 2 Figure 2: General geology of Cave Valley. Blue squares are springs (Figure 1). ............................ 5 Figure 3: General geology of Dry Lake Valley. Blue squares are springs (Figure 1). ..................... 6 Figure 4: General geology of Delamar Valley. Blue squares are springs (Figure 1). ..................... 7 Figure 5: Phreatophytes along Cave Valley wash, observed to be dense shrubs dominated by rabbitbrush. The area extends from Parker Station on the south north about 2.5 miles along the wash, or about 720 acres. ...................................................................................................... 16 Figure 6: Phreatophytes along Haggerty Wash about 1.5 miles southwest of Parker Station. Parker Station is in the green area on the upper right corner. .................................................... 16 Figure 7: Phreatophytes and drainage patterns near springs in Cave Valley, including the drainage below Sheep Spring; the photo also shows ranch house and water impoundment. The southerly strip of green commencing south of the light area is Cave Valley Spring and drainage. ....................................................................................................................................................... 17 Figure 8: Sparse shrubland north of the Cave Valley playa. Photo by Tom Myers, 9/25/2007. 19 Figure 9: Map of northern Cave Valley showing location of springs from Welch and Bright (2007). Basemap USGS 1:100000 scale Garrison UT. .................................................................. 21 Figure 10: Map of southern Cave Valley showing location of springs from Welch and Bright (2007). Basemap USGS 1:100000 scale Wilson Creek Range. ..................................................... 22 Figure 11: Map of northern Cave Valley showing location of springs from Welch and Bright (2007). ........................................................................................................................................... 23 Figure 12: Detailed topographic map of Cave Spring, Sheep Spring and vicinity. Note that the map does not show green riparian areas. .................................................................................... 24 Figure 13: Discharge hydrographs from selected springs in White River Valley. ........................ 25 Figure 14: More discharge hydrographs from selected springs in White River Valley. .............. 26 Figure 15: Application dates of water rights in the White River Valley. The figure shows that stream and spring rights were developed first and that UG rights were developed later. ......... 27 Figure 16: Location, depth and depth to water of wells as a function of their north‐south location as defined by township in the White River Valley. ......................................................... 28 Figure 17: Hydrograph of five wells in the southern part of White River Valley. Water level data from the National Water Information System. .................................................................... 28 Figure 18: Hydrograph of six wells in the central part of White River Valley. Water level data from the National Water Information System. ............................................................................ 29 Figure 19: Hydrograph of four wells in the north part of White River Valley. Water level data from the National Water Information System. ............................................................................ 30 Figure 20: Phreatophytes and narrow riparian zone along the Pahranagat River between Hiko and Pahranagat Lakes. .................................................................................................................. 31 Figure 21: Groundwater contours in the carbonate aquifer as snipped from Welch et al (2008), Plate 3............................................................................................................................................ 32 Figure 22: Water balance fluxes for White River Valley snipped from Welch et al (2008), Plate 4..................................................................................................................................................... 33 Figure 23: Telescoped grid for the RASA model. .......................................................................... 45 Figure 24: Hydrograph of flux into and out of Cave Valley for pumping SNWA’s entire application amount; includes change in storage. 2000 years of pumping. ................................ 50 Figure 25: Hydrograph of flux into and out of Cave Valley for pumping SNWA’s entire application amount; includes change in storage. 50 years of pumping. .................................... 51 Figure 26: Hydrograph of flux from nearby springs. 2000 years of pumping. ............................ 51 Figure 27: Hydrograph of flux from nearby springs. 50 years of pumping. ................................ 52 Figure 28: Hydrograph of flux into and out of Dry Lake Valley for pumping SNWA’s entire application amount; includes change in storage. 2000 years of pumping. ................................ 53 Figure 29: Hydrograph of flux into and out of Delamar Valley for pumping SNWA’s entire application amount; includes change in storage. 2000 years of pumping. ................................ 53 Figure 30: Cumulative storage lost and recovered in Cave, Dry Lake and Delamar for pumping the full application amount from each valley. 2000 years of pumping. ...................................... 54 Figure 36: Cumulative flow lost from the regional springs, including the Muddy River springs (which decreased by up to 0.5 cfs). .............................................................................................. 55 2 TABLE OF TABLES Table 1: SNWA's Water Rights Applications for Cave, Delamar and Dry Lake Valleys ................... 1 Table 2: Recharge estimates by various methods for the targeted basins. ................................ 12 Table 3: Well logs including legal description and depth to static water level (ft bgs) for Cave Valley. All data from NV State Engineer Web page (8/31/07). ................................................... 14 Table 4: Cave Valley groundwater discharge calculations from BARCASS (Welch and Bright 2007, Appendix A). ........................................................................................................................ 15 Table 5: Groundwater Level observations for well 180 N10 E63 25A. Data source USGS NWIS web page, 8/31/07. ......................................................................................................................