Greater Kaweah Groundwater Sustainability Agency 2022 First Amended Groundwater Susteainability Plan

Greater Kaweah Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GKGSA) | July 20th, 2022

Due to size, this file has been divided. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10

Due to size, this file has been divided. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10

Greenhouse gas emissions from US irrigation pumping and implications for climate-smart irrigation policy

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | January 23rd, 2024

Ground Water in the Central Valley, California - A Summary Report

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | June 1st, 1991

The agricultural productivity of the Central Valley depends on irrigation. Half of the 22 million acre-feet of irrigation water applied annually is ground water. The va

The agricultural productivity of the Central Valley depends on irrigation. Half of the 22 million acre-feet of irrigation water applied annually is ground water. The valley is a long, narrow structural trough filled with about 32,000 feet of sediment in the south and as much as 50,000 feet in the north. Nearly all the fresh ground water is contained in the continental rocks and deposits younger than Eocene age. Streamflow, an important factor in recharging the aquifer system, is influenced by precipitation in the mountains surrounding the valley. The majority of recharge from infiltration of streamflow occurs on the east side of the valley. Ground-water pumpage, which greatly exceeds the natural recharge rate, has dramatically altered the ground-water flow in the Central Valley. During the 1960's and 1970's, the recharge rate was more than five times that of the predevelopment period and was largely derived from percolation of imported surface water or recirculated pumped ground water rather than precipitation and recharge from streams. Prior to development, most ground water was discharged as evapotranspiration; however, in recent years, most discharge has been well pumpage. Computer simulation of the Central Valley aquifer system suggests that the total flow through the system has increased from about 2 million acre-feet per year to nearly 12 million acre-feet per year. The vertical movement of ground water has been artificially enhanced by many of the 100,000 irrigation wells that contain long intervals of perforated casing. When unpumped, these wells permit vertical flow between permeable layers within the aquifer system. The total fresh ground water presently (1986) in storage in the upper 1,000 feet of the aquifer system is about 800 million acre-feet. During the 1960's and 1970's, ground water in storage was depleted at an average rate of 800,000 acre-feet annually. In the San Joaquin Valley from the 1940's to the late 1960's, substantial withdrawals of ground water were accompanied by hundreds of feet of head decline. This head decline caused inelastic compaction of fine-grained beds, resulting in land subsidence that is unequaled anywhere else in the world. More than one-half of the San Joaquin Valley (or about 5,200 square miles) underwent subsidence of more than 1 foot. In one location, subsidence exceeded 29 feet. Within the areas of heavy withdrawals, subsidence is greatest where the aquifer system contains thick sections of montmorillonite clay. Land subsidence created engineering and economic problems, including damage to canals and drainage systems, and loss of irrigation wells caused by casing failure. More recently (since the drought of 1976-77), surface-water imports have increased, ground-water pumpage has decreased, and in places, ground-water levels have recovered. Land subsidence has virtually ceased; however, it could resume with increased pumpage, if water levels decline below previous lows. Ground-water quality in the Central Valley is generally influenced by the water from streams that are a major source of recharge. In general, water on the east side of the valley and from east-side streams contains low concentrations of dissolved solids compared to water on the west side and from west-side streams. Concentrations of dissolved solids in ground water generally are lower in the northern part of the valley than in the southern part. There are, however, localized exceptions in many places through the valley. Local concentrations of boron, chloride, and nitrate in the ground water of the Central Valley are large enough to be a problem either to crops or humans. Human activities have some influence on the concentration and location of water-quality problems in the valley. Significant increases in concentrations of dissolved solids and, specifically, dissolved nitrate indicate that ground-water quality is degrading as a result of increasing application of fertilizer in agricultural areas and the growth of urban population. Pesticides such as dibromochloropropane (DBCP) as well as selenium and other trace elements in agricultural drainage water cause ecological and health problems in the San Joaquin Valley.

Ground-Water Conditions in Amargosa Desert, Nevada-California, 1952-87

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | July 1st, 1991

Ground-Water Conditions in Las Vegas Valley, Clark County, Nevada, Part 1, Hydrogeologic Framework

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | July 1st, 1989

Click here for Part 2

Click here for Part 2

Ground-Water Conditions in Las Vegas Valley, Clark County, Nevada, Part 2, Hydrogeology and Simulation of Ground-Water Flow

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | July 1st, 1996

Click here for part 1

Click here for part 1

Ground-Water Flow in the Central Valley, California

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | June 15th, 1989

The agricultural productivity of the Central Valley is dependent on the availability of water from irrigation. About 7.3 million acres of cropland in the Central Valley

The agricultural productivity of the Central Valley is dependent on the availability of water from irrigation. About 7.3 million acres of cropland in the Central Valley receives about 22 million acre-feet of irrigation water annually. One half of this irrigation water is supplied by ground-water, which amounts to about 20 percent of the Nation's ground-water pumpage. Ground water is important as a stable supply of irrigation water because of the high variability of surface-water supplies in the Central Valley. This large ground-water development during the past 100 years has had major impacts on the aquifer system, such as decline in water levels, land subsidence, depletion of the aquifer storage, and increase in recharge. The flow conditions before and during development were simulated on a regional scale using a three-dimensional finite-difference flow model. The Central Valley is a large (20,000-square-mile) structural trough filled with poorly permeable marine sediments that are overlain by coarser continental sediments. In general, previous investigators have conceptualized the northern one-third of the valley the Sacramento Valley as a water-table aquifer and the southern two-thirds the San Joaquin Valley as a two-aquifer system separated by a regional confining clay layer. A somewhat different concept of the aquifer system was suggested during this study by analyses of water-level measurements, texture of sediments interpreted from electric logs, and flow model simulations. Vertical hydraulic head differences are found through out much of the Central Valley. Early in development, flowing wells and marshes were found throughout most of the central part of the valley. More than 50 percent of the thickness of the continental sediments is composed of fine-grained lenticular deposits that are discontinuous but are distributed throughout the stratigraphic section in the entire Central Valley. The concept presented in this report considers the entire thickness of the continental deposits as one aquifer system which has varying vertical leakance that depends on several factors, including amount of fine-grained sediments. The average horizontal hydraulic conductivity is about 6 feet per day, and the average thickness of the continental deposits is about 2,400 feet. Irrigation use, which averaged 22 million acre-feet of water per year during 1961-77, increased evapotranspiration about 9 million acre-feet per year over its predevelopment value. This is a large figure compared with the average annual surface-water inflow to the Central Valley of 31.7 million acre-feet per year. Precipitation on the valley floor is mostly lost to evapotranspiration. The overall post-development recharge and discharge of the aquifer system was about 6 times greater than the predevelopment estimated values. The increases of pumpage associated with development mostly in the San Joaquin Valley have caused water-level declines that exceed 400 feet in places and have resulted in the largest known volume of land subsidence due to fluid withdrawal in the world. Water in aquifer storage declined about 60 million acre-feet from predevelopment to 1977; 40 million acre-feet were derived from the water-table zone, 17 million acre-feet from compaction of sediments, and 3 million acre-feet from elastic storage. During 1961-77, ground water withdrawn from aquifer storage averaged about 800,000 acre-feet per year. The flow model constructed during this study was calibrated principally in accordance with the hydrologic data observed during 1961-75 because little predevelopment data were available for analysis. An explicit algorithm to simulate land subsidence was developed and calibrated. The simulated land subsidence was within 6 percent of the estimated observed volume; however, the time lag associated with this type of subsidence was not adequately simulated. Simulated water level changes averaged 2.6 and 12 feet higher than observed water level changes for the water table and the lower pumped zones, respectively, and the standard deviation of the simulated changes minus the observed change was 22 and 27 feet, respectively. The flow model was tested for the period of 1976-77 drought with good results. The simulations indicated that vertical leakance greatly increased from the predevelopment values as a result of water flowing through some of the more than 100,000 irrigation well casings that are open to different aquifer layers.  

Ground-Water Hydrology of the Upper Klamath Basin, Oregon and California

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | April 15th, 2010

The upper Klamath Basin spans the California-Oregon border from the flank of the Cascade Range eastward to the Basin and Range Province, and encompasses the Klamath River

The upper Klamath Basin spans the California-Oregon border from the flank of the Cascade Range eastward to the Basin and Range Province, and encompasses the Klamath River drainage basin above Iron Gate Dam. Most of the basin is semiarid, but the Cascade Range and uplands in the interior and eastern parts of the basin receive on average more than 30 inches of precipitation per year. The basin has several perennial streams with mean annual discharges of hundreds of cubic feet per second, and the Klamath River at Iron Gate Dam, which represents drainage from the entire upper basin, has a mean annual discharge of about 2,100 cubic feet per second. The basin once contained three large lakes: Upper and Lower Klamath Lakes and Tule Lake, each of which covered areas of 100 to 150 square miles, including extensive marginal wetlands. Lower Klamath Lake and Tule Lake have been mostly drained, and the former lake beds are now cultivated. Upper Klamath Lake remains, and is an important source of irrigation water. Much of the wetland surrounding Upper Klamath Lake has been diked and drained, although efforts are underway to restore large areas. Upper Klamath Lake and the remaining parts of Lower Klamath and Tule Lakes provide important wildlife habitat, and parts of each are included in the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges Complex. The upper Klamath Basin has a substantial regional ground-water flow system. The late Tertiary to Quaternary volcanic rocks that underlie the region are generally permeable, with transmissivity estimates ranging from 1,000 to 100,000 feet squared per day, and compose a system of variously interconnected aquifers. Interbedded with the volcanic rocks are late Tertiary sedimentary rocks composed primarily of fine-grained lake sediments and basin-filling deposits. These sedimentary deposits have generally low permeability, are not good aquifers, and probably restrict ground-water movement in some areas. The regional ground-water system is underlain and bounded on the east and west by older Tertiary volcanic and sedimentary rocks that have generally low permeability. Eight regional-scale hydrogeologic units are defined in the upper Klamath Basin on the basis of surficial geology and subsurface data. Ground water flows from recharge areas in the Cascade Range and upland areas in the basin interior and eastern margins toward stream valleys and interior subbasins. Ground water discharges to streams throughout the basin, and most streams have some component of ground water (baseflow). Some streams, however, are predominantly ground-water fed and have relatively constant flows throughout the year. Large amounts of ground water discharge in the Wood River subbasin, the lower Williamson River area, and along the margin of the Cascade Range. Much of the inflow to Upper Klamath Lake can be attributed to ground-water discharge to streams and major spring complexes within a dozen or so miles from the lake. This large component of ground water buffers the lake somewhat from climate cycles. There are also ground-water discharge areas in the eastern parts of the basin, for example in the upper Williamson and Sprague River subbasins and in the Lost River subbasin at Bonanza Springs. Irrigated agriculture is an integral part of the economy of the upper Klamath Basin. Although estimates vary somewhat, roughly 500,000 acres are irrigated in the upper Klamath Basin, about 190,000 acres of which are part of the Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project. Most of this land is irrigated with surface water. Ground water has been used for many decades to irrigate areas where surface water is not available, for example outside of irrigation districts and stream valleys. Ground water has also been used as a supplemental source of water in areas where surface water supplies are limited and during droughts. Ground water use for irrigation has increased in recent years due to drought and shifts in surface-water allocation from irrigation to instream uses. The shifts in surface-water allocation have resulted from efforts to improve habitat for fish listed under the Federal Endangered Species Act. The ground-water system in the upper Klamath Basin responds to external stresses such as climate cycles, pumping, lake stage variations, and canal operation. This response is manifest as fluctuations in hydraulic head (as represented by fluctuations in the water-table surface) and variations in ground-water discharge to springs. Basinwide, decadal-scale climate cycles are the largest factor controlling head and discharge fluctuations. Climate-driven water-table fluctuations of more than 12 feet have been observed near the Range, and decadal-scale fluctuations of 5 feet are common throughout the basin. Ground-water discharge to springs and streams varies basinwide in response to decadal-scale climate cycles. The response of the ground-water system to pumping is generally largest in areas where pumping occurs. Annual drawdown and recovery cycles of 1 to 10 feet are common in pumping areas. Long-term drawdown effects, where the water table has reached or is attempting to reach a new level in equilibrium with the pumping, are apparent in parts of the basin. Since 2001, ground-water use in the upper Klamath Basin has increased by about 50 percent. Much of this increase has occurred in the area in and around the Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project, roughly tripling ground-water pumping in that area. This focused increase in pumping has resulted in ground-water level declines in the pumped aquifer in excess of 10 to 15 feet over a large part of the Project between 2001 and 2004. If pumping rates of recent years are continued, the aquifer could achieve a new equilibrium; however, the final configuration of the water table (depth to water) and the spatial and temporal distribution of the resulting effects to streams are unknown. Historical water-level data suggest that the water table should recover from recent declines if pumping is reduced to pre-2001 rates.

Ground-Water Resources of Honey Lake Valley, Lassen County, California, and Washoe County, Nevada

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | December 15th, 1990

Honey Lake Valley is a 2,200-square-mile, northwest-trending, topographically closed basin about 35 miles northwest of Reno, Nevada. Unconsolidated basin-fill deposits on

Honey Lake Valley is a 2,200-square-mile, northwest-trending, topographically closed basin about 35 miles northwest of Reno, Nevada. Unconsolidated basin-fill deposits on the valley floor and fractured volcanic rocks in the northern and eastern uplands are the principal aquifers. Ground water in the Nevada part of the basin is being considered as a potential source of public supply to the Reno area. This report describes the ground-water resources of the basin and the potential hydrologic effects of ground-water development in its eastern part. During an average year, about 1.1 million acre-feet of precipitation falls on the 1,700-square-mile study area within the valley, and an estimated 86,000 acre-feet enters the study area as streamflow in the Susan River and Long Valley Creek. Almost 90 percent of this water runs off, evaporates, or is transpired by plants before it can infiltrate and become ground-water recharge; this includes about 130,000 acre-feet per year that reaches Honey Lake as surface-water inflow. About 130,000 acre-feet recharges the aquifer system annually, about 40 percent by direct infiltration of precipitation over the study area and about 60 percent by infiltration of streamflow and irrigation water. Balancing this is an equal amount of ground-water discharge, of which about 65 percent evaporates from the water table or is transpired by phreatophytes, about 30 percent is withdrawn from wells, and about 5 percent leaves the basin as subsurface outflow to the east. A ground-water flow model of the eastern part of the study area, where withdrawals for public supply have been proposed, was used to evaluate components of the water budget and to estimate the long-term hydrologic effects of hypothetical increased development. Results of the evaluation indicate conditions under which a new equilibrium would be established if 15,000 acre-feet of water were withdrawn from the Fish Springs Ranch area annually. The model indicates that, as a result of such an increase in pumpage, water levels would decline more than 100 feet from present (1988) levels in the vicinity of the pumping, and as much as 40 feet at the California-Nevada State line. Evapotranspiration and subsurface outflow to the east would each be reduced by about 60 percent, but hydrologic effects would be minimal at the western boundary of the flow-model area (just east of Honey Lake). Within the modeled area, the simulation indicates that the increased withdrawals would cause the net flow of ground water eastward across the State line to increase from about 700 acre-feet per year to about 2,300 acre-feet per year.

Ground-water storage depletion in Pahrump Valley, Nevada-California, 1962-1975

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | July 1st, 1982