NUREG-1710 Vol 1 History of Water
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NUREG-1710 Vol. 1 History of Water Development in the Amargosa Desert Area: A Literature Review i I I I I I I I U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste Washington, DC 20555-0001 AVAILABILITY OF REFERENCE MATERIALS IN NRC PUBLICATIONS 7 NRC Reference Material Non-NRC Reference Material As of November 1999, you may electronically access Documents available from public and special technical NUREG-series publications and other NRC records at libraries include all open literature items, such as NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room at books, journal articles, and transactions, Federal http://www.nrc.pov/reading-rm.html. Register notices, Federal and State legislation, and Publicly released records include, to name a few, congressional reports. 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NUREG-1710 Vol. 1 History of Water Development in the Amargosa Desert Area: A Literature Review Manuscript Completed: May 2004 Date Published: February 2005 Prepared by M.P. Lee*, N.M. Coleman*, and T.J. Nicholson** * Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste Staff ** Division of Systems Analysis and Regulatory Effectiveness Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste Staff Washington, DC 20555-0001 NUREG-1710, Volume 1, has been reproduced from the best available copy. ABSTRACT Historic accounts, geologic treatises, and experimental farm - the T&T Ranch. In the other key literature sources were used to late 1940s-early 1950s, permanent interest in identify factors that contributed to the the area was established, in large measure development of local ground-water resources because of Federally-sponsored desert in the Amargosa Desert area during the past reclamation programs. However, designation 150 years. The literature suggests that the of local aquifers as "protected," in 1979; earliest sources of fresh water supply were limiting soil conditions; and other factors the abundant, naturally occurring artesian have curtailed local agricultural development. springs in Ash Meadows. The first hand-dug Because of economic and technical factors, well in the area was the Franklin Well; it was alluvial aquifers have historically been the dug in 1852 for workers performing a survey most important sources of ground-water of the California-Nevada State line. The first supply. In general, drilling activity mechanically bored wells were drilled in historically preceded geologic understanding valley-fill (alluvial) deposits for local of the ground-water resource. railroads, along their respective alignments, sometime between 1905-07. About 1917, This report is the first volume in the the first irrigation well was drilled for an NUREG-1710 series. iii CONTENTS Abstract................................................................... iii Conversion Factors ............ vii Acknowledgments . ............ ix Abbreviations .............. xi 1. Introduction.......................................................... 1 1.1 Purpose of Report. 2 1.2 Geographic Setting. 3 2. Historical Developments Before 1900.. 9 2.1 Native American Occupation. 9 2.2 Western Expansion .13 2.3 Early Mineral Exploration and Mining . 14 2.4 The Homesteading Movement .......................... 19 2.5 Desert Reclamation Programs - .20 3. Historical Developments After 1900 .. 25 3.1 The Second Mining Boom .25 3.2 Introduction of Railroads ...................... 27 3.2.1 The Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad.27 3.2.2 The Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad .............................. 28 3.2.3 Significance of Railroad Siting ........... ....................... 29 3.2.4 The T&T Experimental Farm ................................... 30 3.3 Developments in Drilling and Pumping Technology ........................... 37 3.4 Role of Hydrogeologic Investigations .............................. .41 3.4.1 Early Studies ............................... 42 3.4.2 Basin-Wide Studies .............................. 43 3.5 Regulation of Water Supply .............................. 44 3.6 Agricultural Activity in the Twentieth Century .. 46 3.6.1 Improvements in Irrigation Delivery Systems .47 3.6.2 Scientific Assessment of Soil Quality .50 3.6.3 Ash Meadows Land Withdrawals .51 3.6.4 Current Farming Activities .53 3.6.5 Current Water Supply .54 3.6.6 Consumption Rates .55 4. References .57 v FIGURES 1. Location Map of the Amargosa Desert Area ..................................... 4 2. Principal Vegetation Associations in the Amargosa Desert Area ........................ 6 3. Portion of Steward's 1938 Map Showing Native American Villages and Subsistence Areas in the Death Valley Area ............................................. 11 4. Approximate Location of Emigrant Trail Routes Through Current NTS Boundaries .... ........ 15 5. Springs in the Ash Meadows Area ........................................... 21 6. Approximate Location of the T&T and LV&T Railroads in the Amargosa Desert Area. .... .... 31 7. Well Complex at the T&T Ranch ............................................ 38 8. Landsat Image of the Amargosa Desert Area ..................................... 49 TABLES 1. Primary Vegetation Associations in the Amargosa Desert Geographic Zones ................ 7 2. Resident Population in Nevada and Nye County, 1861-2000 ........................... 18 3. Discharge Rates for Springs in the Ash Meadows Area ............................. 22 4. Reported and Inferred Sources of Water Supply for the LV&T Railroad ................... 32 5. Reported and Inferred Sources of Water Supply for the T&T Railroad .................... 34 6. Water Supply Systems and Rates of Consumption for Major Communities in the Amargosa Desert Area .................................. 56 APPENDICES A. Plants and Animals in the Amargosa Desert Area ................................ A-1 B. Early Sources of Water Supply for Mining or Mining-Related Operations in the Amargosa Desert Area .B-I vi CONVERSION FACTORS The preferred system of measurement today familiar, and continue to use inch/pound is the metric system, or the "System units (the so-called U.S. customary system). Internationale (SI)." However, for some Therefore, for ease of comparison with physical quantities, many scientists and existing drilling practice, in this regard, engineers (as well as drillers) prefer the inch/pound units will be used in this report. Multiply By To obtain inch (in) 2.54 centimeter feet (ft) 0.3048 meter mile (mi) 1.609 kilometer square mile (mi2) 2.590 square kilometer gallon 0.00379 cubic meter acre 0.04047 hectare gallons per day (gpd) 0.00379 cubic meters per day barrel (31 gallons) 0.11924 cubic