Ground-Water Conditions in Southern Utah Valley and Goshen Valley, Utah
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STATE OF UTAH DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES Technical Publication No. 28 GROUND-WATER CONDITIONS IN SOUTHERN UTAH VALLEY AND GOSHEN VALLEY, UTAH by R. M. Cordova Hydrologist, U. S. Geological Survey Prepared by The United States Geological Survey in cooperation with The Utah Department of Natural Resources Division of Water Rights 1970 CONTENTS Page Abstract ... 1 Introduction .3 Location of the area .3 Purpose and scope of investigation .3 History and methods of investigation .3 Previous investigations .5 Physiography ... .5 Terminology .5 The valley floor .6 Surface streams .6 Utah Lake .7 The Central Utah Project .8 Acknowledgments .... .8 Well- and spring-numbering system .9 Use of metric units . 10 Geology of the ground-water reservoir 11 General features . 11 Southern Utah Valley 11 Goshen Valley .... 11 Aquifers in southern Utah Valley and Goshen Valley · 13 Ground water .23 Recharge .23 Seepage from waterways and irrigated land. ...25 Infiltration of precipitation .28 Subsurface flow .30 Discharge . .30 Drains and springs · 31 Wells . · 31 Evapotranspiration .33 Infiltration into municipal sewer systems .34 Discharge into Utah Lake . .36 Imbalance between recharge and discharge .37 Water-level fluctuations ........... .39 III CONTENTS-colltinued Page Ground water-continued Movement ..... .40 Southern Utah Valley .40 Goshen Valley ... .46 West Mountain area .46 Aquifer tests . .46 Description of an extensive aquifer test .49 Description of local aquifer tests. .50 Storage . .56 Ground-water development by wells .57 History of development .57 Well yields . .57 Legal status of water rights .60 Chemical quality .... .60 Relation to source · 61 Southern Utah Valley · 61 Goshen Valley · 61 Relation to use .. .63 Public supply .63 Irrigation .. .63 Temperature of ground water .66 Wells . .66 Springs, mines, and tunnels .66 Management of the ground-water reservoir .66 Increased withdrawal of water from wells .66 Wastage of water from wells .69 Saltcedar infestation .70 Sewage disposal .70 The Central Utah Project .70 Summary of conclusions · 71 References cited ..... .73 Publications of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights . .75 IV ILLUSTRATIONS Page Plate 1. Map of southern Utah Valley, Goshen Valley, and part of northern Utah Valley showing physiographic units, lines of geologic sections, contours of the water table in March 1965, and general areas of phreatophytes in 1966 In pocket Plate 2. Map showing depths to tops of and thicknesses of the shallow and deep Pleistocene artesian aquifers and their unconfined extensions In pocket Plate 3. Map of southern Utah Valley and Goshen Valley showing distribution of selected wells and springs In pocket Plate 4. Map showing dissolved-solids and chloride contents and dominant anions in ground and surface waters in and near southern Utah Valley and Goshen Valley .... In pocket Figure 1. Map of Utah Lake Valley showing location and extent of northern Utah Valley, southern Utah Valley, and Goshen Valley. ............. .4 Figure 2. Diagram showing well- and spring-numbering system used in Utah .9 Figure 3. Map of southern Utah Valley and Goshen Valley showing distribution by percentage of gravel and coarser materials in the upper 400 feet of valley fill . 12 Figure 4. Geologic section A-A', from near Payson in southern Utah Valley to 3 miles north of Provo in northern Utah Valley 15 Figure 5. Geologic section 8-8', from near Utah Lake to Mapleton, near the Wasatch Range. 16 Figure 6. Geologic section 8-8", from near Utah Lake to the Wasatch Range, near the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon 17 Figure 7. Geologic section C-C', from near Utah Lake to Salem 18 Figure 8. Geologic section D-D', from near Utah Lake to the Wasatch Range, near Payson 19 Figure 9. Geologic section E-E', from near Goshen in Goshen Valley to Palmyra in southern Utah Valley . 20 Figure 10. Geologic section F-F', from near the south end of Goshen Valley to near the Mosida Hills 21 Figure 11. Geologic section G-G', from Provo in northern Utah Valley to West Mountain in southern Utah Valley 22 Figure 12. Map showing depth to top of the Tertiary artesian aquifer and its unconfined extensions ......................................... .24 Figure 13. Map of southern Utah Valley and Goshen Valley showing change of water levels from March 1966 to March 1967 38 V I LLUSTRATIOI\lS-contillued Page Figure 14. Hydrographs of water levels in a deep and a shallow well in southern Utah Valley . .40 Figure 15. Hydrographs of water levels in five selected wells in Goshen Valley and cumulative departure from the 1931-60 normal annual precipitation at Elberta .. 41 Figure 16. Hydrographs showing the relation of water levels in the three artesian aquifers in southern Utah Valley to the cumulative departure from the 1931-60 normal annual precipitation at Payson 42 Figure 17. Map showing contours of the potentiometric surface of the shallow Pleistocene artesian aquifer and its unconfined extensions, March 1965 43 Figure 18. Map showing contours of the potentiometric surface of the deep Pleistocene artesian aquifer, March 1965 44 Figure 19. Map showing contours of the potentiometric surface of the Tertiary artesian aquifer, March 1965 ......................... 45 Figure 20. Profiles of the water table in Goshen Gap and Genola Gap areas . 47 Figure 21. Map of southern Utah Valley showing locations of wells used in aquifer tests. ........ .48 Figure 22. Map showing locations of wells, depths of wells, distances from pumped well to observation wells, and observed drawdown in the vicinity of Spanish Fork ..... 51 Figure 23. Map showing locations of wells, depths of wells, distances from pumped wells to observation wells, and observed drawdown in the vicinity of Springville and Mapleton. ......................... 52 Figure 24. Map showing locations of wells, depths of wells, distances from pumped well to observation wells, and observed drawdown in the vicinity of Payson 53 Figure 25. Map showing location of wells, depths of wells, distances from pumped well to observation wells, and observed drawdown in the vicinity of Santaquin 53 Figure 26. Water-level hydrographs of selected observation wells used in an extensive aquifer test in southern Utah Valley, 1967 . 55 Figure 27. Diagram showing the relation between sodium-adsorption ratio and conductivity of water from selected wells in southern Utah Valley 64 Figure 28. Diagram showing the relation between sodium-adsorption ratio and conductivity of water from selected wells in Goshen Valley 65 Figure 29. Graph showing drawdown in an ideal aquifer caused by continuous discharge of a well 68 VI TABLES Page Table 1. Ground-water recharge, acre-feet, in 1966 .................... .. 23 Table 2. Minimum seepage, in acre-feet, to the ground-water reservoir from waterways and irrigated land 25 Table 3. Summary of results of seepage runs made in 1965 and 1966 on selected reaches of the main waterways 26 Table 4. Seepage from perennial streams and from land irrigated with water from perennial streams in 1966 27 Table 5. Ground water from mines, springs, and tunnels in the bordering mountains which flowed into southern Utah Valley in 1966 .. 29 Table 6. Ground-water discharge, in acre-feet, in 1966 . 30 Table 7. Ground-water discharge from the Lake Bonneville Group by the major springs and drains in 1966 . 32 Table 8. Discharge from wells, in acre-feet, in 1966 .33 Table 9. Evapotranspiration of ground water by phreatophytes .34 Table 10. Municipal use of water and infiltration of ground water into municipal sewer systems, in acre-feet, in southern Utah Valley in 1966 ...... 35 Table 11. Summary of selected test-well data and aquifer-test evaluations. .54 Table 12. Ground water recoverable by wells from storage in the upper 400 feet of the ground-water reservoir . 58 Table 13. Classification of wells as of December 31, 1966 .59 Table 14. Summary of selected chemical-quality data and temperature of ground water in and near southern Utah Valley and Goshen Valley 62 VII GROUND-WATER CONDITIONS IN SOUTHERN UTAH VALLEY AND GOSHEN VALLEY, UTAH by R. M. Cordova Hydrologist, U. S. Geological Survey ABSTRACT Southern Utah Valley and Goshen Valley are in the southern part of Utah Lake Valley, which is in the Great Basin physiographic province. Unconsolidated deposits fill the valleys to generally unknown depths and include four main aquifers-a water-table aquifer and three artesian aquifers. The water needs of southern Utah Valley and Goshen Valley are supplied mainly by (1) streams and springs in the Wasatch Range and other bordering mountains, (2) imported surface water from the Colorado River Basin and Juab Valley, and (3) wells, drains, and springs in the valley fill. Recharge to the ground-water reservoir underlying the two valleys is by (1) seepage from waterways and irrigated land, (2) infiltration of precipitation, and (3) subsurface inflow from the bordering mountains. The estimated minimum recharge in 1966 was 150,000 acre-feet. This estimate is a minimum because neither seepage from ephemeral and intermittent streams nor subsurface inflow could be determined. Both items are therefore excluded from the estimate, but either could be of significant magnitude. Discharge from the ground-water reservoir is by (1) drains and springs, (2) wells, (3) seepage into waterways, (4) evapotranspiration, (5) infiltration into municipal sewer systems, and (6) discharge into Utah Lake. The estimated minimum discharge in 1966 was 220,000 acre-feet, of which about 29,000 acre-feet was withdrawn from storage in the aquifer. The estimate is a minimum because the amount of discharge into Utah Lake could not be com pletely determined, but the undetermined discharge is considered to be small. The estimated discharge, after adjusting for the change in storage, exceeds the estimated recharge by 41,000 acre-feet. This discrepency probably is due to excluding from the recharge estimate the two items of subsurface inflow and seepage from ephemeral and intermittent streams; it is believed the amount of recharge from these two sources is large enough to account for the discrepency.