Wetlands in the Farmington Bay Area, Davis County, Utah - An evaluation of threats posed ground-water development and drought (RI-264)

By: C. E. Bishop, M. Lowe, J. Wallace, R. L. Emerson, and J. S. Horn

The east shore area of Great Salt Lake in Davis County, which contains the Farmington Bay wetlands, is in a formerly rural area along the southeastern margin of Great Salt Lake that is now largely urban and continues to undergo population growth. Most of the development in the Farmington Bay area uses municipal water sources, principally wells completed in the east shore aquifer system, and some agricultural wells continue to be used for irrigation and stock watering. This population growth and concomitant increases in municipal ground-water pumping could significantly decrease the amount of ground water discharged from the principal aquifer system (where most wells are completed) to the shallow unconfined aquifer system.

The purpose of this study is to use existing data to estimate a water budget for the wetlands area, and to use two existing steady-state and transient ground-water-flow models developed by the U.S. Geological Survey to simulate the hydrologic effects on wetlands from various recharge rates and projected ground-water withdrawals at various projected Great Salt Lake levels. These simulations can be used to assess potential threats to wetlands from increased ground-water withdrawals and drought, and provide a basis for (1) implementing restrictions on domestic withdrawals, (2) assessing water needs for wetland preservation, and (3) encouraging the development of water conservation programs

Other Information:
Published: 2009
Pages: 36 p.
Location: Davis County