Ground-Water Hydrology and Projected Effects of Ground-Water Withdrawals in the Sevier Desert, Utah (TP-79)

By: W. F. Holmes

The principal ground-water reservoir in the Sevier Desert is the unconsolidated basin fill. The fill has been divided generally into aquifers and confining beds, although there are no clear-cut boundaries between these units--the primary aquifers are the shallow and deep artesian aquifers. Recharge to the ground-water reservoir is by infiltration of precipitation; seepage from streams, canals, reservoirs, and unconsumed irrigation water; and subsurface inflow from consolidated rocks in mountain areas and from adjoining areas. Discharge is by wells, springs, seepage to the Sevier River, evapotranspiration, and subsurface outflow to adjoining areas.

The U.S. Geological Survey evaluated the ground-water reservoir of the Sevier Desert, Utah, during 1979-82, in cooperation with the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights. The objectives of the study were to add to the understanding of the area's ground-water hydrology, to determine changes in ground-water conditions since the 1961-64 study by Mower and Feltis, and to project the effects on water levels in the artesian aquifers of potential future ground-water withdrawals.

Other Information:
Published: 1984
Pages: 54 p.
Plates: 1 pl.
Location: Juab County and Millard County
Media Type: Paper Publication