Ground-water availability in the Hayes-Red Willow, Frenchman, and Meeker-Driftwood irrigation districts, southwest Nebraska

Abstract

Surface-water supplies are diminishing in the Hitchcock-Red Willow and Frenchman Valley Irrigation Districts in southwest Nebraska. Stream depletions due to ground-water withdrawals upstream from Enders Reservoir (northwest of the study area) have resulted in a shortage of about 8,700 acre-feet per year. The availability of ground water to supply part of this deficit was examined. Two surficial aquifers that are currently economical to develop were investigated. The Ogallala aquifer of late Tertiary age which underlies all the area except the major stream valleys has a hydraulic conductivity averaging less than 200 gallons per day per square foot. Hydraulic conductivities and saturated thicknesses are greater north of and parallel to the Republican River from McCook to Culbertson. The most productive aquifer comprises alluvial deposits of Pleistocene and Holocene age which occupy the valleys of the Republican River and Frenchman Creek. Saturated thickness of this aquifer averages 5O feet, and hydraulic conductivity averages 1,000 gallons per day per square foot. The two aquifers are hydraulically connected except where the bedrock surface on both sides of the Republican River valley is higher than the water levels in the aquifers. Canal seepage and deep percolation have caused water levels to rise as much as 20 feet in the Hitchcock-Red Willow and Frenchman Valley Irrigation Districts north of the Republican River and as much as 40 feet in the Meeker-Driftwood Irrigation District south of the River. Streamflow accretions from ground water have not increased significantly on Frenchman, Blackwood, or Driftwood Creeks. Ground-water inflow to the Republican River has increased about 6 cubic feet per second between Trenton and McCook. A digital model of the stream aquifer system was used to simulate the pre-1976 hydrology and assess future conditions for two supply-well configurations as well as for existing private irrigation wells. The first supply-well configuration could sustain less than 37 percent of the well-field capacity of 5,970 acre-feet per year. Projected maximum stream depletions were 12 cubic feet per second on Frenchman Creek and 4 cubic feet per second on Blackwood Creek. The second supply-well configuration could sustain 79 percent of the well-field capacity of 2,780 acre-feet per year. Simulated stream depletions were less than 5 percent of mean annual flow at the end of 19 years. Model simulation indicated that existing wells could supply consumptive-irrigation requirements to district lands for at least 19 years, with well failures limited to areas in the Meeker-Driftwood District where the aquifer is thin.