Scientific Investigations Report 2005-5227
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Scientific Investigations Report 2005-5227
Numerous reports document investigations regarding the physical framework and hydrologic characteristics of the SVRP aquifer, some regional in nature and some site-specific. Each investigation has contributed to an improved understanding of the aquifer within the limitations of the scope of the particular investigation or investigative techniques available at the time the study was conducted.
The earliest aquifer-wide studies were done in the early 1930s by Fosdick (1931) and Newcomb (1933). These investigators described basic geologic, physiographic, and hydrologic features of the aquifer and its recharge and discharge areas. In the 1940’s, Piper and Huff (1943), Huff (1943), and Piper and La Rocque (1944) studied the aquifer in more detail and provided water-level data from a series of wells, made estimates of hydraulic gradient, and made estimates of recharge and discharge from various sources.
Interest in the aquifer grew considerably in the 1950s. Nace and Fader (1950) tabulated all available USGS data on wells tapping the aquifer. In support of developing water resources for irrigation needs on the Rathdrum Prairie, the Bureau of Reclamation summarized the sources and volumes of water, seepage losses, storm flows, and recharge in several unpublished documents (Lenz, 1950, Anderson, 1951, Meneely, 1951). Fader (1951) compiled water-level data from wells on the Rathdrum Prairie and near Lakes Pend Oreille, Hayden, and Coeur d’Alene. Weigle and Mundorff (1952) compiled well records and water-level and water-quality data for wells in the Washington part of the aquifer. Newcomb and others (1953) provided the first thickness information for the aquifer with the results of his seismic refraction profiles done near the Washington–Idaho state line and in the Hillyard Trough.
Sources and amounts of recharge to the aquifer were studied by Thomas (1963), Frink (1964) and Walker (1964). In 1968, Pluhowski and Thomas developed a ground-water budget for the aquifer. Cline (1969) studied the western end of the aquifer in Washington and the Little Spokane River basin to the north.
Hammond (1974) described the hydrogeologic framework and ground-water movement in the northern Rathdrum Prairie area between Lake Pend Oreille and the town of Rathdrum. In 1976, a 13-volume report on water resources of the metropolitan Spokane region was compiled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Kennedy-Tudor Engineers (1976) that focused on waste-water management considerations. Drost and Seitz (1978b) produced a report that was used in the “sole source” petition to USEPA. Based on data available at the time, they described the hydrologic characteristics, patterns of water use and disposal, water quality in the aquifer, and alternative water sources.
Bolke and Vaccaro (1981) summarized a ground-water flow model for the Washington part of the aquifer. Hydrologic data used in model construction is summarized in Bolke and Vaccaro (1979). Jehn (1988) summarized existing hydrologic and land-use data for the Rathdrum Prairie aquifer and identified major potential contaminant sources. Molenaar (1988) described the geologic history and the water-bearing and water-quality characteristics of the Spokane aquifer in a report designed to appeal to the lay reader.
Painter (1991a) described ground water contamination and monitoring activities on the Rathdrum Prairie and identified areas outside USEPA’s designated Sole Source Aquifer that are in direct hydraulic connection with the aquifer. Painter (1991b) provided an estimate of recharge from all sources to the Rathdrum Prairie aquifer. In the late 1990s, hydrogeologic investigations were conducted and associated ground-water flow models were constructed for the Washington part of the aquifer as part of the city of Spokane and the Spokane Aquifer Joint Board’s Wellhead Protection Programs (CH2M HILL, 1998, 2000a).
Golder Associates, Inc. (2003, 2004) described data collection and modeling efforts during the Little and Middle Spokane Watershed Assessment Program that included parts of Spokane, Pend Oreille, and Stevens Counties, including a small northwestern part of the SVRP aquifer. MacInnis and others (2000, 2004) produced the 2000 version and the 2004 update of the popular Spokane Valley–Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer Atlas that describes the aquifer’s formation, use, history, and physical characteristics.
Caldwell and Bowers (2003) studied the surface-water/ground-water interactions of the aquifer and the Spokane River between Post Falls, Idaho, and Spokane, Washington. Stevens (2004) described the hydrogeology and water chemistry of the Rathdrum Prairie near Twin Lakes. Baldwin and Owsley (2005) described the hydrogeology of the Middle (Ramsey) Channel adjacent to Round Mountain on the Rathdrum Prairie.
For more information about USGS activities in Washington, visit the USGS Washington District home page .
U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey
URL: https://pubsdata.usgs.gov/pubs/sir/2005/5227/section4.html
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