Conjunctive Use in Sevier River System, Utah
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 113, Issue 1
Abstract
The Sevier Desert and Sanpete Valley are two subbasins within the Sevier River System in south‐central Utah in which groundwater is extensively used in conjunction with surface water for irrigation. The conjunctive use has developed more by accident than by deliberate planning. The surface‐water supply in the two areas was basically developed by 1920. Severe droughts in the early 1920s and early 1950s focused attention on groundwater development as a supplemental supply. Well construction gradually increased between the mid‐1940s and 1960 in both basins until the problems of water rights and overdraft essentially halted further development. Groundwater pumpage in both the Sevier Desert and Sanpete Valley has fluctuated inversely with the available surface‐water supplies and climatic conditions. Overdraft has not occurred and the sustained yield of the groundwater basins seems to have been established.
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References
1.
Arrow, T., et al., “Developing a State Water Plan, Ground‐Water Conditions in Utah, Spring of 1964,” U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with Utah Water & Power Board, Cooperative Investigations Report No. 2, 1964.
2.
Cox, L. H., Decree Adjudicating the Sevier River System, 1936.
3.
Feltis, R. D., and Mower, R. W., “Ground‐Water Data, Sevier Desert, Utah,” U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with Utah State Engineer, Basic‐Data Report No. 9, 1964.
4.
Mower, R. W., and Feltis, R. D., “Ground‐Water Hydrology of the Sevier Desert, Utah,” U.S. Geological Survey Water‐Supply Paper 1854, 1968.
5.
Robinson, G. B., Jr., “Selected Hydrologic Data, San Pitch River Drainage Basin, Sanpete County, Utah,” U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights, Basic‐Data Report No. 14, 1968.
6.
Robinson, G. B., Jr., “Ground‐Water Hydrology of the San Pitch River Drainage Basin, Sanpete County, Utah,” U.S. Geological Survey Water Supply Paper 1896, 1971.
7.
United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Forest Service, Soil Conservation Service, and Utah Department of Natural Resources, “Water and Related Land Resources, Sevier River Basin, Utah,” 1969.
8.
Woolley, R. R., “Utilization of Surface‐Water Resources of Sevier Lake Basin, Utah,” U.S. Geological Survey Supply Paper 920, 1947.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 113 • Issue 1 • February 1987
Pages: 131 - 140
Copyright
Copyright © 1987 ASCE.
History
Published online: Feb 1, 1987
Published in print: Feb 1987
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