Hydrologic and Human Aspects of the 1976-77 Drought Hydrologic and Human Aspects of the 1976-77 Drought By HOWARD F. MATTHAI GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 1 130 UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFIGE, WASHINGTON : 1979 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR CECIL D. ANDRUS, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY H. William Menard, Director Library of Congress number 79-600188 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 Stock number 024-001-03243-1 CONTENTS Conversion factors ......... v Water quality. ........ 36 Abstract.............. 1 Activities resulting from Introduction ............ 1 the drought ........ 36 Historical setting .......... 3 Missouri Basin WRC Region 10 Drought and its ramifications ..... 5 (lower part) ......... 36 Impacts on people .......... 14 Previous droughts ....... 37 Public water supplies ....... 14 Precipitation and runoff .... 37 Rural water supplies ....... 15 Ground-water conditions .... 38 Water for irrigation ....... 16 Water quality. ........ 38 Water for hydroelectric power ... 16 Activities from the drought . 39 Water for forests ........ 16 Arkansas-White-Red WRC Water quality .......... 17 Region 11 .......... 39 Water for fisheries ........ 18 Precipitation and runoff .... 39 Water for recreation ....... 18 Ground-water conditions .... 41 Water for navigation ....... 18 Water quality. ........ 41 Adaptation to drought ........ 19 Activities resulting from Short-term planning ....... 19 the drought ........ 41 Changes in water use ..... 19 Upper Colorado WRC Region 14 . 41 Changes in irrigation practices . 19 Precipitation and runoff .... 43 The role of forecasting .... 20 Ground-water conditions .... 46 Weather ......... 20 Water quality. ........ 46 Runoff .......... 20 Activities resulting from Ground-water use ..... 20 the drought ........ 46 Base flow projections .... 20 The Great Basin WRC Region 16 . 47 Long-term planning ....... 21 Previous droughts ....... 47 Legal aspects .......... 22 Precipitation and runoff .... 49 Chronology of the 1976-77 drought . .23 Ground-water conditions . .50 Great Lakes WRC Region 04 . .24 Water quality. ........ 51 Precipitation and runoff .... 24 Forests ........... 51 Ground-water conditions . .26 Activities resulting from Water quality. ........ 26 the drought ........ 53 Activities resulting from Pacific Northwest WRC the drought ........ 26 Region 17 .......... 53 Upper Mississippi WRC Region Previous droughts ....... 53 07 and Souris-Red-Rainy WRC Precipitation and runoff .... 54 Region 09 .......... 27 Ground-water conditions .... 58 Previous droughts ....... 28 Water quality. ........ 59 Precipitation and runoff .... 29 Forests ........... 59 Ground-water conditions .... 31 The fishery. ......... 59 Water quality. ........ 32 Activities resulting from Activities resulting from the drought ........ 60 the drought ........ 32 California WRC Region 18 . 61 Missouri Basin WRC Region 10 Precipitation and runoff .... 62 (upper part) ......... 33 Ground-water conditions .... 66 Precipitation and runoff .... 34 Water quality. ........ 67 Ground-water conditions . .35 Land subsidence ....... 69 111 IV CONTENTS Hydroelectric power The eleven other WRC Regions . 74 generation ........ 71 Precipitation and runoff .... 74 Forests ........... 71 Ground-water conditions .... 75 Activities resulting from Water quality. ........ 75 the drought ........ 71 Activities resulting from Hawaii WRC Region 20 ..... 72 the drought ........ 75 Previous droughts ....... 72 Epilogue ............ 76 Precipitation and runoff .... 73 Summary ............. 77 Ground-water conditions .... 73 A look to the future ......... 77 Water quality. ........ 74 Selected references ......... 83 Activities resulting from the drought ........ 74 ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURE 1. Map of the United States showing regions designated by Water Resources Council ..................... 2 2. Graphs of low-flow frequency curves for six streams in areas affected by the drought ................... 7 3. Maps of United States showing number of months of deficient streamflow. ........................ 8 4. Graph of water level decline caused by reduced natural recharge during the drought ................. 10 5. Graph of fluctuations, of water level, 1960-77, in well 16/15-34N4 near Cantua Creek, 35 miles southwest of Fresno, Calif. ..... H 6. Maps of United States showing values of the Palmer index on four selected dates in 1976 ................ 12 7. Maps of United States showing values of the Palmer index on four selected dates in 1977 ................ 13 8. Photograph of stunted ears of corn caused by drought in Midwest . 17 9. Map of Great Lakes WRC Region 04 ............. 25 10. Graph of monthly discharge of Fox River at Rapide Croche Dam, near Wrightstown, Wis. ................... 27 11. Map of Upper Mississippi WRC Region 07 and Souris-Red- Rainy WRC Region 09 ................... 28 12. Photograph of parched soil in Iowa in 1976 ........... 30 13. Map of Missouri Basin WRC Region 10 (upper part) ....... 34 14. Map of Missouri Basin WRC Region 10 (lower part) ....... 37 15. Map of Arkansas-White-Red WRC Region 11 ......... 40 16. Map of Upper Colorado WRC Region 14. ........... 42 17. Photographs of snow cover in Colorado Rockies a. April 1976. ...................... 44 b. April 1977 ...................... 45 18. Map of the Great Basin WRC Region 16. ........... 48 19. Map of Pavant Valley, Utah showing change of water levels from March 1977 to March 1978 ............. 52 20. Map of Pacific Northwest WRC Region 17 .......... 54 21. Graph of water content of Columbia River basin snowpack as a percentage of the April 1 average ............. 55 CONTENTS 22. Photographs of snow cover in the Cascades, Washington a. April 1976 ....................... 56 b. April 1977 ....................... 57 23. Map of California WRC Region 18 .............. 61 24. Graph of water content of snowpack in California as a percentage of the April 1 average ............... 63 25. Graph of monthly mean discharges for four selected drought years, North Fork American River at North Fork Dam, Calif. ... 64 26. Graph showing trends in streamflow at selected sites in California, October 1975 to January 1978 ........... 65 27. Photographs showing depleted conditions of water in storage in two reservoirs a. Pardee Reservoir near Valley Springs, Calif., March 26, 1977 67 b. Shasta Lake near Redding, Calif., September 5, 1977 . 67 28. Map of California showing ground-water level changes 1975-77 . 68 29. Map of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta showing annual maximum intrusion of salinity for selected years ........ 70 30. Map of Hawaii WRC Region 20 ............... 72 CONVERSION FACTORS Inch-pound Multiply by Metric 2 acre 4.047 x 10"3 km (square kilometer) 2 0.4047 hm (square hectometer) -3 acre-ft (acre-foot) 1.233 x 10 hm 3 (cubic hectometer) -3 board-foot 2.360 x 10 m (cubic meter) bushel 35.24 L (liter) 3 2 bushels per acre 0.0871 m /hm (cubic meter per square hectometer) 3 -3 ft /s (cubic foot per second) 28.32 x 10 m /s (cubic meter per second) ft (foot) 0.3048 m (meter) -3 3 gal/d (gallons per day) 3.785 x 10 m /d (cubic meters per day) bgd (billion gallons per day) 3.785 hm 3 /d (cubic hectometers per day) in. (inch) 25.40 mm (millimeter) mi (mile) 1.609 km (kilometer) 2 mi (square mile) 2.590 km (square kilometer) HYDROLOGIC AND HUMAN ASPECTS OF THE 1976-77 DROUGHT By Howard F. Matthai ABSTRACT them, a severe one, occurred in many parts of the United States in 1976 and 1977. The drought of 1976-77 was the most By the late winter of 1977-78, enough rain severe one in at least 50 years in many parts and snow had fallen over much of the drought of the United States. Record low amounts of areas that the drought was considered by many rainfall, snowfall, and runoff, and increased people to be over. The wet period, however, withdrawals of ground water were prevalent. may be only a brief interruption in an extended The use of carry-over storage in reservoirs dry period. Historical records show that a wet during 1976 maintained streamflow at near period or year has occurred in the midst of a normal levels, but some reservoirs went dry or number of dry periods or years and, converse­ dropped below the outlet works in 1977. ly, that dry years have occurred among groups Carry-over storage in the fall of 1977 was very of wet ones. low. This report was prepared to document the Ground-water levels were at or near record drought of 1976-77 in the United States as a low levels in many aquifers, hundreds of wells hydrologic event, how it affected humans, and went dry, and thousands of wells were drilled. how they reacted to it. Whether this report is Yet no wide-spread deterioration of ground- a final report or an interim one depends mainly water quality was reported. Water-quality upon the weather in the future. problems arose in some streams and lakes, but Many people have rather short memories in most were localized and of short duration. relation to droughts in the past, some have Water rationing became a way of life in nu­ vivid recollections of experiences in their merous areas, and water was hauled in many younger days, and a few have such active rural areas and to a few towns. Water use was imaginations that their stories about past affected by legal agreements or decisions, events have little relation to reality. To put some of which were modified for the duration the 1976-77 drought into context, several brief of the drought, and by the inability of water descriptions of previous