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(draft revision) THE LOWER PORTNEUF RIVER VALLEY AQUIFER: A GEOLOGIC / HYDROLOGIC MODEL AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR WELLHEAD PROTECTION STRATEGIES FINAL REPORT for the EPA Wellhead Protection Demonstration Project and the City of Pocatello Aquifer Geologic Characterization Project John Welhan Idaho Geological Survey Chris Meehan Idaho State University Ted Reid Idaho State University July, 1996 (draft revision) (draft revision) Table of Contents Executive Summary 1. Introduction 1.1. Overview and Background 1.2. Funding Sources 1.3. Objectives 1.4. Scope 2. Previous work and data sources 2.1. Publications and Reports 2.1.1. Geology 2.2.2. Hydrogeology 2.2. Sources of Data 2.3. Work in Progress 3. Geology 3.1. Regional geology 3.2. AQUIFER Geology 3.2.1. Descriptive Cross-Sections 3.2.2. Lithologic Units Upper Gravels Tertiary Basin Fill and Transitional Units Bedrock 3.2.3. Late Cenozoic Valley Evolution 4. Hydrology 4.1. Regional Hydrology 4.2. Aquifer Hydrology 4.2.1. Aquifer Water Levels and Hydraulic Gradients 4.2.2. Aquifer Hydraulic Characteristics 5. Ground Water Quality 5.1. Historic Water Quality Trends 5.1.1. Overview of Production Well Data 5.1.2. Temporal and Spatial Trends in Historic Data 5.2. Current Water Quality Trends 5.2.1. Water Quality Trends in the Southern Aquifer 5.2.2. Chemical Mass Balance Approach 5.2.3. Evidence for Local Contamination Sources in the Southern Aquifer 5.2.4. Evidence for Contribution of a Low-TDS Water to the Southern Aquifer 5.2.5. Chemical Impacts of Chloride and Sulfate in the Southern Aquifer (draft revision) 6. Aquifer Water Balance 6.1. Principle Recharge Sources 6.1.1. Precipitation 6.1.2. Other Potential or Suspected Recharge Sources 6.2. Water balance 6.2.1. Physical Constraints Pumping Withdrawals Aquifer Outflow Portneuf Gap Underflow Aquifer Storage Change Water Balance Residual 6.2.2. Implications and Discussion of Water Balance Results 7. Well Head Protection 7.1. Objectives 7.2. Implications of the aquifer model for WHP 7.3. Capture zone modeling 7.4. Hydrogeologic mapping and recharge zone delineation 8. Conclusions 8.1. Major Features of the Hydrogeologic Model 8.2. Inorganic Salt Contamination 8.3. Aquifer Water Balance 9. recommendations 9.1. Implications for Contaminant Remediation 9.2. Delineation of WHP Areas and WHP Management 10. References Appendices (draft revision) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Scope This report summarizes the findings of a multi-year study of the lower Portneuf River Valley (LPRV) aquifer system, funded by the EPA Wellhead Protection Demonstration Grant Program, the City of Pocatello Water Department, the Idaho Water Resources Research Institute and the Idaho Geological Survey with support from the U.S. Geological Survey. The EPA study concluded in January of 1995 and a Draft Final Report was issued at that time for review by the EPA and the City of Pocatello, but the final version of was delayed until gravity data collected from recent microgravity surveying in the northern and southern valley was available for inclusion. The geographic scope of the report focuses on the southern portion of the LPRV aquifer system, comprising that portion of the Portneuf Valley between the Portneuf Gap and Red Hill and its principle recharge source areas, namely the southern Bannock Range and groundwater inflow through the Portneuf Gap. Available information on the northern portion, from Red Hill to Tyhee, is also included for completeness and to provide a regional context. Water balance calculations and recent water quality data are based on detailed hydrologic data collected between April, 1993 and October, 1994 with reference to historical data dating back to 1970. The objective of the report is to summarize the best available information on the geohydrology of this aquifer system, to describe the current hydrogeologic conceptual model and to use this information to design a rational wellhead protection approach for management of the municipal water supply. Major findings of the report are summarized below. Conceptual Hydrogeologic Model The LPRV aquifer system is a unique ground water reservoir which is of critical importance to the cities of Pocatello and Chubbuck. The aquifer system comprises two very different sub-systems: the northern aquifer system and the southern aquifer. Based on recent gravity surveys, the northern aquifer sub-system appears to be several thousand feet deep, and is hydraulically confined by two or more aquitards. Unfortunately, the lack of subsurface information in this part of the system precludes an in-depth analysis of the northern system's hydrogeology. This is particularly frustrating because the northern aquifer system is potentially of the greatest importance to future water resource development in the LPRV because of its tremendous storage potential and because it is currently threatened by perchloroethylene (PCE) contamination and other urban/industrial land use impacts. Ground water in the southern aquifer recharges most of the northern aquifer system. The southern aquifer is a narrow, relatively shallow strip aquifer hosted in very permeable, coarse gravels, characterized by high linear flow velocities and physically separated from the northern aquifer by a prominent subsurface bedrock high. It appears to be lithologically unconfined but shows hydraulic indications of semi-confinement. The mean hydraulic conductivity estimated from wells in the southern aquifer is 2400 ft/d , with a range of 200-8200 ft/d. Based on estimates of hydraulic conductivity, hydraulic gradient and cross-sectional flow area, the southern aquifer's ground water underflow is estimated at 23 ft3/s (5.3 billion gallons/year). At an effective porosity of 0.3, ground water flow velocity is of the order of 5 - 25 ft/day. 4 (draft revision) The eastern aquifer is a minor but important component of lower Portneuf Valley hydrogeology, separated from the southern aquifer by the Portneuf Basalt. It is of low to intermediate permeability and of small total saturated volume, so it does not directly contribute to the municipal water supply. Much of its ground water is contaminated and these contaminants are appearing in Pocatello's municipal production wells in the Ross Park area. Ground Water Quality The eastern aquifer is contaminated with relatively high concentrations of inorganic salts of chloride, sulfate and nitrate. High-volume pumping in the Ross Park area has created a chronic hydraulic sink that appears to be drawing contaminated water from the eastern aquifer under and/or through the Portneuf Basalt. Dissolved salt contamination is also present in the northern aquifer, possibly emanating from the mouth of Pocatello Creek. Ground water in the highly permeable southern aquifer suffers from trichloroethylene (TCE) contamination of uncertain origin. Localized salt contamination also exists around some private wells in the southern aquifer, indicating that contaminated surface water is communicating with the aquifer, probably along well casings that are improperly sealed. Southern Aquifer Water Balance Ground water flow from the Bannock Range and the Portneuf Gap are the principal sources of recharge to the LPRV aquifer system, with Bannock Range sources representing about 30% of the total recharge during 1994 (a dry year) and more than 50% during 1993 (an above-average water year). Aside from these sources, there is no verified evidence of substantial river recharge, and although the eastern aquifer may contribute some recharge, on chemical grounds it appears that leakage from the eastern aquifer represents less than 10% of the Bannock Range flux. In terms of the magnitudes of water balance components, southern aquifer pumping needs were almost completely met by the amount of ground water that flowed into the LPRV through the Portneuf Gap during 1993/94. Similarly, water withdrawn in the northern well field represented 95% of the outflow from the southern aquifer. Total well field pumping withdrawal during the 1993/94 water balance accounting period represented about 90% of the total known recharge to the LPRV aquifer, suggesting that the aquifer system may be approaching its maximum safe yield during sustained drought conditions such as have existed for the past 8 years. Implications for Wellhead Protection Strategies Analytically-modeled capture zones defined for the southern aquifer production wells are considered to be very coarse approximations of true capture zone geometry. Effective delineation of capture zones should be accomplished with a numerical flow and particle-tracking model. Because of the uncertainties in the time-of-travel zones defined for production wells in the southern aquifer and their potential for extending well into the upper Portneuf basin and the Bannock Range recharge zones, the prospect for developing individual WHP areas for 5-year time of travel that are both manageable and technically defensible appears slim. It is recommended, instead, that emphasis be focused on defining basin-wide WHP Recharge Zones defined by hydrogeologic boundaries. 5 (draft revision) The concentration of TCE in well PA-7, the only monitoring well in the southern aquifer which is completed solely in Tertiary sediments underlying the aquifer gravels, is as high as in other wells completed in the aquifer's Upper Gravel unit. This would suggest that part of the Tertiary section may be actively involved in transport and that the effective base of the southern aquifer may be deeper than that defined by the base of the Upper Gravel unit. If such is the