Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-6-2016
Publication Title
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection
Keywords
Bedrock Valley, Glacial Sediments, Numerical Modeling, Agriculture, Groundwater Management
Abstract
Within McHenry County, IL, the fastest growing county in Illinois, groundwater is used for 100% of the water needs. Concerns over water resources have prompted the investigation of the surficial sand and gravel aquifers of the county. While the eastern portion of the county is urbanizing, the western portion remains devoted to agriculture. High-capacity irrigation wells screened within the surficial sand and gravel aquifer are used for crop production. To assess the impacts of the irrigation wells on the aquifer, a groundwater flow model was developed to examine five different scenarios reflecting drought conditions and increased pumping. Results show that the surficial sand and gravel aquifer is capable of meeting current water demands even if recharge is decreased 20% and pumping is increased 20%. The additional loss of discharge and increases in pumping result in head differences throughout the aquifer.
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/gep.2016.45005
Recommended Citation
Seipel, L., Peterson, E., Malone, D. and Thomason, J. (2016) Role of Multiple High-Capacity Irrigation Wells on a Surficial Sand and Gravel Aquifer. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 4, 43-53. doi: 10.4236/gep.2016.45005.
Comments
This article was originally published in Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, vol. 4, no. 5, May 2016; http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/gep.2016.45005.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.