News Release |
Address: | E-mail: | |
| 6520 Mercantile Way | jrnichol@usgs.gov | ||
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Suite 5 | ||
| U.S. Geological Survey | Lansing, MI 48911 | ||
| Release | Contact: | Phone: | Fax: |
| October 4, 2001 | James R. Nicholas, District Chief |
517-887-8906 | 517-887-8937 |
According to a new report released today by the U.S. Geological Survey, water-levels decline as much as 12 feet at distances of one and a half miles from irrigation wells during the growing season. Closer to the irrigation wells, drawdowns can exceed 20 feet. "We developed computer models that simulate irrigation wells", says Chris Hoard, hydrologist with the USGS and the report's senior author. "The models let you simulate aquifers like the ones in western Saginaw County. You can put an irrigation well in the model and make it pump pretty much like the ones in Saginaw County and see what the effects are at different distances from the irrigation well."
In some residential wells, as little as 14 feet of water-level reduction can make the well stop producing water, according to Mr. Hoard. "There are a number of factors that will determine whether a particular residential well will stop producing water as a result of nearby irrigation pumping. These include things like the type of pump, depth of well, and distance from irrigation wells that are pumping. To determine if residential well A goes dry because of pumping at irrigation well B, one would have to study the characteristics of all residential wells in the area. This detailed well-by-well analysis was not a part of the USGS study."
The report presents the results of a 13-month study conducted by USGS in cooperation with Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. The study used a combination of field data and computer simulations to arrive at its conclusions, which predict the range of drawdown to expect at various distances from large-capacity wells, in various hydrologic settings representative of the range of conditions to be found in Saginaw County. These findings should be helpful to planners and managers trying to wrestle with the problem of competing uses for the limited ground-water resources available in the County. The report is available on the Internet at http://mi.water.usgs.gov or by mail at U.S. Geological Survey, 6520 Mercantile Way, Suite 5, Lansing, MI 48911.
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Water Resources Division,
Michigan District