Geology and Water Resources of Portage County Wisconsin
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Geology and Water Resources of Portage County Wisconsin GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1796 Prepared in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey Geology and Water Resources of Portage County Wisconsin By C. L. R. HOLT, JR. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1796 Prepared in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1965 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STEWART L. UDALL, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Thomas B. Nolan, Director Library of Congress catalog-card No. GS65^327 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 CONTENTS Page Abstract _______-_-_-_--_____-_---_______--____--_-___---__-__---- 1 Introduction. ______-___-_-_-_____-____-___--___________---__-___-_ 2 Purpose ______.----.____--___-___---_-_--_-__-_-------------__ 2 Location and development.___________________________________ 3 Climate ______.__________-_______-________________-___-------_ 4 Previous reports.._____________________________________________ 4 Acknowledgments. _________---_-_---___-_____--__-____-__----._ 5 Numbering system.______-___-------___-__--__-__-___-___-_--- 5 Hydrologic system.._______________________________________________ 5 Source of water._________________-______--____-________-_-_-----__ 7 Water budget_____.-____.______-______--___--__-_-_._-__.._-__--._ 7 Evapotranspiration- ___---____-____________--___-___-_-_-_-------_- 9 Evapotranspiration of surface water__-__--_-___-_-___-_--------- 9 Evapotranspiration of soil water_______________________________ 9 Potential evapotranspiration___-______--_-______-______-_-_----- 10 Soil-moisture deficiency_____-_-___-___---_-____--_-__-------__- 10 Interrelation of surface and ground water____-___________---__--_-__ 12 Surface water_____________________-_----_-_________-_-_---------_- 13 Drainage basins._______________-_--_---__-_-___-_-------_----- 13 Wisconsin River basin._________--____--________________-___--- 15 Waupaca River basin______-____-_____-_____-___-_________-____ 18 Little Wolf River basin.__.._._.___.___-__.._________.__ 18 Lakes----.---.-------..--____________________-------- 19 Wetlands------.--------.------------------------------------- 19 Ground water._-___-_______-_-_____-____-__--________-____-_-__--- 20 Rocks and their water-yielding characteristics.-.------.----------- 21 Crystalline rocks__________________________________________ 21 Sandstone ________________________________________________ 23 Deposits of glacial drift____________________________________ 24 Arnott moraine_____--------------__-_----------------- 24 Border Drift of Hole (1943)_.__________________ 26 Gary Drift..________________________________ 27 Outwash deposits____________________________________ 28 Postglacial deposits_-_-_---_-_-----------_-_---_-------_--- 31 Alluvium.--_______---_-__---_----___-_-_-_--_-__----_ 31 Dune sand___________-_----__--_________-----------_ 31 Ground-water provinces_____-_________-__-_-_-_-__-___------_-- 31 Drift-crystalline rock province_____-_--____-___________----_ 32 Sand-plain province_____-_-_____-_----__---_-_-__---------- 32 in IV CONTENTS Ground water Continued Ground-water provinces Continued Page Drift province..__________________________________________ 33 Hydraulic properties of aquifers--__------_------_-_--_-_________ 34 Specific yield_-----_-----_-----------------_----_------____ 34 Pumping test determinations of aquifer characteristics _________ 35 Effects of pumping on water levels____-_-_-__________________ 37 Specific capacity of wells__-----------_--_----_-__--________ 39 Movement_____- __________ __..__ _________________ 39 Water-level fluctuations________________________________________ 43 Recharge __________________---___--__-__--_____-__.__-________ 48 Natural recharge..._____--_-_-_-_-----_--__--___-__-___-__ 48 Induced recharge._________________________________________ 50 Discharge ____________________________________________________ 52 Ground-water runoff___________-__________________________ 52 Underflow_-----___- _-_-____-_----__-_____________ 53 Pumpage._ _______________________________________________ 54 Evapotranspiration ________________________________________ 54 Quality of water_____________________________________________ 54 Chemical character__--_-_-----_-____------______--________ 54 Hardness.____________________________________________ 55 Iron.________________________________________________ 55 Sodium____ _ __________________________________________ 59 Temperature_ _______________________________________ 59 'Pollution____________________________________ 59 Water use._______________________________________________________ 61 Private industry_____________________________________________ 62 Public supply______ ___________________________________________ 63 Domestic and stock__________________________________________ 63 Irrigation__ _________________________________________________ 63 Wildlife and recreation____________________-__-__-___-__________ 65 Water-management problems and their possible solutions.-_____________ 65 Pollution..-..__________-__---_-_____--__-___-___-___-____ 65 Inadequate water supply_____--__-__-_-__---_-____-_-__-_-_____ 66 Excessive declines in water level___----_-_-----_-_-___-------___- 67 Undesirable chemical quality_____-_-_-__-_--_-_-_-___-_---___-_- 67 Conflict of interests___-_-_-___-----_-____------_-_-_---------_- 67 Floods..__________________-----_______-_-_-__ 68 Recommendations for future studies----.-.--.----------.------------ 68 Conclusions__________-_-________----_-_-_____---_-_-___----------. 69 Selected references_______________________________________________ 73 Index_________.___________________________ 75 ILLUSTRATIONS PLATE 1. Map showing surface geology and sections showing sub surface geology of Portage County, Wis_ __________ In pocket 2. Map of Portage County, Wis., showing configuration of watertable, May 1954____________ _____ In pocket CONTENTS V Page FIGURE 1. Index map showing location of Portage County, Wis_ _ _ _ _ 3 2. Sketch showing well-numbering system, _______________ 6 3. Sketch showing generalized water budget for Portage County,1960___________________________________ 8 4. Graphs showing comparison of precipitation to estimated potential evapotranspiration_ ______________________ 11 5. Map showing hydrologic divides between Waupaca, Wis. and Little Wolf Rivers drainage basins_______________ 14 6. Graph showing duration curves of daily flow per square mile____________________________________________ 16 7. Map showing altitude of surface of crystalline rocks_ _____ 22 8. Map showing location of moraines_____________________ 25 9. Map showing thickness of unconsolidated deposits, ______ 29 10. Sample log of well Pt-21/9/22-265__ ___________________ 30 11. Graph showing distance-drawdown relation for high-capac ity wells tapping the sand and gravel aquifer_ _________ 38 12-15. Graphs showing changes in water level in 12. Well Pt-22/8/1-30, 1945-55-____________________ 44 13. Wells Pt^22/7/35-35, Pt-23/7/34-34, and Pt- 24/6/2-82, 1950-60__________________________ 45 14. Wells Pt-24/8/2-40 and Pt-24/10/28-15, 1950-60__ 46 15. Well Pt-24/6/2-82 and climatological data, 1952_ _ _ 47 16. Map and cross section showing effects of pumping from wells on water table in Stevens Point well field _________ 51 17. Map showing distribution of hardness in ground water ___ _ 57 18. Map showing distribution of ironinground water________ 58 19. Graph showing pumpage for irrigation from wells and pits, 1949-60_________________________________________ 64 20. Map showing ground-water provinces, _______________ 71 TABLES Page TABLE 1. Water budget for Portage County, Wis---------------- 9 2. Summary of laboratory analysis of samples from well Pt- 23/9/18-362, Little Plover River basin, Wisconsin,--__ 35 3. Hydraulic characteristics determined from pumping tests. 36 4. Yields and specific capacities of wells in the sand-plain provi nee _________________________________________ 40 5. Yields and specific capacities of wells in the drift pro vince-___ -________-_________________-_--_----_-__ 41 6. Selected chemical analyses of ground water in Portage County, Wis------___-__-____--_-____---_-------- 56 7. Use of ground water in ground-water provinces in Por tage County, Wis., 1960_-_-__-_----_-------------- 62 GEOLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES OF PORTAGE COUNTY, WISCONSIN By C. L. E. HOLT, JR. ABSTRACT Portage County has abundant resources of generally good quality water and, although water problems exist locally, depletion or general scarcity of water is not likely in the foreseeable future. The county receives annually about 31 inches of precipitation, of which about 21 inches is lost as evaportranspiration. The average annual water yield is about 10.6 inches and consists of about 10.3 inches of runoff to streams, about 0.2 inch of water which leaves the county as underflow, and about 0.1 inch of water which is used consumptively. The surface-water resources include 104 lakes, about 110 miles of streams that discharge about 600 cfs (cubic feet per second) to the Wisconsin, Waupaca, and Little Wolf Rivers, and the Wisconsin River which has an average flow of about 2.400 cfs. Extensive deposits of outwash sand and gravel, sandy till, and alluvium release annually about 460 cfs of ground water to the streams. The principal source of ground water is thick deposits of glacial drift that occur over all