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U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Open-File Report 2008-1133

In cooperation with the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa

Simulation of Contributing Areas and Surface-Water Leakage to Potential Replacement Wells Near the Community of New Post, Sawyer County, Wisconsin, by Means of a Two-Dimensional Ground-Water-Flow Model

By Paul F. Juckem and Randall J. Hunt

Abstract

A two-dimensional, steady-state ground-water-flow model of the shallow ground-water-flow system near the community of New Post, Sawyer County, Wis., was refined from an existing model of the area. Hydraulic-conductivity and recharge values were not changed from the existing model for the scenario simulations described in this report. Rather, the model was refined by adding detail along the Chippewa Flowage and then was used to simulate contributing areas for three potential replacement wells pumping 30,000 gallons per day. The model also was used to simulate potential surface-water leakage out of the Chippewa Flowage captured by replacement-well pumping. A range in resistance to vertical ground-water flow was simulated along the Chippewa Flowage for each potential replacement-well location to bound the potential effects of representing three-dimensional flow with a two-dimensional model. Results indicate that pumping from a replacement well sited about 130 feet from the Chippewa Flowage could capture as much as 39 percent of the total pumping from the flowage. Pumping from either of two potential replacement wells sited at least 400 feet from the Chippewa Flowage did not induce surface-water leakage out of the flowage regardless of the resistance applied along the flowage for simulations described in this report.

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Send questions or comments about this report to the author, Paul Juckem, (608) 821-3845.

For more information, visit the Wisconsin Water Science Center.