Ground Water Availability Assessment
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Assessment of the Availability of Groundwater for Residential Development in the Rural Parts of Yakima County, Washington January 2016 John Vaccaro, Vaccaro G.W. Consulting, LLC (Under Contract by Yakima County) For Technical Analysis and Assessment of Groundwater Mitigation Strategies Table of Contents Foreword and Acnowledgments ………………………..…………………………………………………………………vi Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................. 4 Purpose and Scope of this Report .............................................................................................................................. 7 Characterization of Groundwater Domains Department of Ecology Scoping Map ......................................................................................................................... 7 Information Analyzed for Characterization of Domains ............................................................................................. 10 Background Information ........................................................................................................................................ 10 Map and Data Information ..................................................................................................................................... 12 Land ownership ................................................................................................................................................. 13 Land use/Zoning ................................................................................................................................................ 15 Major water district boundaries .......................................................................................................................... 15 Census Data ...................................................................................................................................................... 15 Existing Residences and Residential-Land Undeveloped Parcels..................................................................... 16 Location of Irrigation Districts and Canals/Laterals............................................................................................ 18 Points of Diversion for Surface Water--Allowable Quantity and Priority Date .................................................... 19 Fish Coverages ................................................................................................................................................. 20 Hydrogeology .................................................................................................................................................... 21 Groundwater Levels .......................................................................................................................................... 22 Well Records ..................................................................................................................................................... 23 i Pumpage Records ............................................................................................................................................. 23 Groundwater Recharge ..................................................................................................................................... 25 Building Permit Trends ...................................................................................................................................... 26 Definition of Groundwater Domains .......................................................................................................................... 26 Upper Naches ....................................................................................................................................................... 33 Nile Creek ............................................................................................................................................................. 35 Dry Creek .............................................................................................................................................................. 37 Rattlesnake Creek................................................................................................................................................. 39 Tieton River ........................................................................................................................................................... 41 Lower Naches River .............................................................................................................................................. 43 Upper Yakima River .............................................................................................................................................. 46 Wenas Creek ........................................................................................................................................................ 48 Cowiche Creek ...................................................................................................................................................... 52 Wide Hollow/Ahtanum ........................................................................................................................................... 57 Moxee ................................................................................................................................................................... 59 Rattlesnake Hills ................................................................................................................................................... 65 Mabton .................................................................................................................................................................. 68 Groundwater Mitigation Strategies ............................................................................................................................ 71 References Cited ...................................................................................................................................................... 84 Appendix A……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...85 ii Figures Figure 1. Location of Yakima County, Washington ................................................................................................ 6 Figure 2. Location of relevant lands within Yakima County ................................................................................. 14 Figure 3. Location of residential land, undeveloped parcels within Domains ...................................................... 18 Figure 4. Location of surface-water rights and associated quantity ..................................................................... 20 Figure 5. Extent of surficial hydrogeologic units ................................................................................................... 22 Figure 6. Location of Upper Naches Domain and residential land, undeveloped parcels. ................................... 35 Figure 7. Location of Nile Creek Domain and residential land, undeveloped parcels. ......................................... 37 Figure 8. Location of Dry Creek Domain and residential land, undeveloped parcels. ......................................... 39 Figure 9. Location of Rattlesnake Creek Domain and residential land, undeveloped parcels. ............................ 41 Figure 10. Location of Tieton River Domain and residential land, undeveloped parcels. ................................... 43 Figure 11. Location of Lower Naches Domain and residential land, undeveloped parcels. ................................ 46 Figure 12. Location of Upper Yakima River Domain and residential land, undeveloped parcels. ....................... 48 Figure 13. Location of Wenas Creek Domain and residential land, undeveloped parcels. .................................. 52 Figure 14. Location of Cowiche Creek Domain and residential land, undeveloped parcels. ............................... 57 Figure 15. Location of Wide Hollow/Ahtanum Domain and residential land, undeveloped parcels. .................... 59 Figure 16. Location of Moxee Domain and residential land, undeveloped parcels. ............................................. 65 Figure 17. Location of Rattlesnake Hills Domain and residential land, undeveloped parcels. ............................. 66 Figure 18. Location of Moxee Domain and residential land, undeveloped parcels. ............................................. 69 Figure 19. Estimated sources of mitigation water for the domains, Yakima County, Washington. ...................... 73 Figure 20. Mitigation Water for Upper Naches and Tieton Domains………………………………………………….75 Figure 21. Mitigation Water for Upper Yakima, Wenas, and Cowiche Domains…………………………………….77 Figure 22. Mitigation Water for Ahtanum/Wide Hollow, Moxee, Rattlesnake Hills and Mabton Domains………..81 iii Tables Table 1. Relation between water demand items and domains, Yakima County, Washington ............................ 32 Table 2. Upper Naches and Tieton Domains .................................................................................................... 74 Table 3. Upper Yakima, Wenas, and Cowiche Domains……………………………………………………………..76 Table 4. Wide