Scientific Investigations Report 2006–5205
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Scientific Investigations Report 2006–5205
There is a long history of constructing water wells in the basin concurrent with the development of the surface-water systems. Continual growth in the basin in the late 1880s resulted in more households in the river valleys without access to surface-water supply from streams. This growth led to digging shallow, 10–40-ft deep, wells that were generally completed in the alluvial deposits. Continued development of new drilling methods for water wells (Carlston, 1943), especially deep wells, resulted in the search for artesian water throughout many parts of the United States (Darton, 1902). This search began in earnest in the basin in the 1890s. A 700-ft deep well was drilled to basalt in the Kittitas basin in the early 1890s, but the water level was 48 ft below land surface and the well was abandoned (Russell, 1897). In 1890, a well was drilled to 400-ft depth in the Wenas basin with water at 152 ft and another well was drilled in the same year to 270-ft depth in the Selah basin at Rye Grass Flat (Smith, 1901).
During 1891–1901, 24 wells were drilled in the Moxee area and ranged in depth from 225 to 1,000 ft; all these wells were artesian wells and were capable of irrigating about 1,000 acres (Smith, 1901). Several of these wells are still in use as of 2005. The front cover of this report shows a picture of the ‘Clark Well No. 1’ from Smith’s early report (Smith, 1901) and the front of the original drillers’ log from USGS files is shown in figure 6. This well irrigated 250 acres in 1900 and supplied water to an additional 47 acres for 8 small ranches (Smith, 1901). Another drillers’ log for the 702-ft deep Haines well (the driller of many of these wells) is shown in figure 7; this well was used for irrigating 85 acres (Smith, 1901).
Population growth after 1900 and lack of unappropriated irrigation water from smaller streams during the low-flow season resulted in a need for additional water supply; therefore, the number of dug or drilled wells continued to increase. Based on information from the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS) and information compiled as part of this investigation, at least 200 wells were constructed by 1910. The increase in the number of wells generally follows population growth in the basin. The number of wells constructed each year records were available, starting in 1890, is shown in figure 8. The compilation of well information for this investigation was mostly completed by 2002, so the number of wells for 2002-04 is not fully represented. By 2004, digital files compiled as part of this study indicated that at least 22,000 water wells were in the basin and more than 60 percent were in Yakima County. This estimate undoubtedly is low because, except for water-right wells, drillers’ logs were not generally available for the first half of the 20th century and were not commonly recorded with the State until after 1970. Digital files and information compiled for this study to estimate ground-water pumpage indicate that on the order of 45,000 water wells currently are in the basin.
As the number of wells increased, depths also increased because households and croplands irrigated with ground water were established farther from streams and river valleys. Compiled information for the three county area indicates that 90 percent of the wells are less than 456-ft deep, 70 percent are less than 240-ft deep, and 50 percent are less than 151-ft deep. Well-depth percentiles are similar for each of the three counties. The spatial distribution of about 21,000 wells, shown by well depth, indicates most are in or near the low-lying basins (fig. 9); well locations and depths are from digital files developed as part of this study. The distribution and depths of wells on figure 9 is not for detailed analysis because locations of many wells were determined from information on drillers’ logs that could be incorrect. About 55 percent of the wells are finished in the basin-fill deposits and the remaining wells are finished in bedrock materials, primarily basalt, based on well depth and the altitude of the top of bedrock maps constructed as part of this investigation (Jones and others, 2006).
U.S.
Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological
Survey
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