Hydrologic technicians use electronic tapes to measure groundwater in wells. The tape beeps or lights up when makes contact with water.
Upper Klamath Basin Groundwater Studies Active
Since the late 1990s, USGS has worked to characterize the regional groundwater hydrology of the upper Klamath Basin. Research focuses on collecting data to evaluate the groundwater system and its response to external stresses, and to develop computer models that provide insights for water management. These efforts build on earlier USGS studies going back to the 1950s.
Overview:
The upper Klamath Basin has a large regional groundwater-flow system that provides much of the water to major streams and lakes. The underlying volcanic rocks have abundant interconnected pore spaces, allowing water to flow underground at relatively high rates. The volcanic rocks are interlaid with sedimentary rocks, some composed of fine-grained lake sediments. The sedimentary layers tend to restrict water flow and are generally poor productivity aquifers. Groundwater moves through the interconnected layers of rock and eventually emerges into streams, lakes, and springs. Large amounts of groundwater supply the Wood River Subbasin, and the lower Williamson River, and provide some direct inflow to upper Klamath Lake. The groundwater supply to upper Klamath Lake somewhat buffers the lake water levels during dry seasons.
In the previous century, high demand for water in the Klamath Basin and frequent drought conditions increased the strain on groundwater resources. In 2001, limits on surface-water use for irrigation began. Limits on surface water are meant to keep enough water in streams and rivers for critically endangered fish habitat but the limits consequently can reduce the amount of water available for irrigation. As a result, groundwater pumping from wells for irrigation increased substantially since 2001. USGS is helping define and summarize the effects of increased pumping. USGS scientists monitor groundwater levels using various instruments deployed in wells throughout the basin. The water-level data inform resource-management decisions on the relationship between pumping and groundwater-level change.
Groundwater modeling:
Groundwater discharging into streams and agricultural drains is an important water source for downstream irrigation and aquatic habitats. USGS develops models to provide insight into the relationship between groundwater movement and the effects that pumping has on groundwater flow into streams and drains. One area of interest focuses near the Klamath Irrigation Project. This project provides water to about 240,000 acres of crop land and relies upon supplemental groundwater pumping when surface-water availability cannot meet irrigation demands. The overall goal of modeling efforts is to better understand the groundwater-flow system and help understand how patterns and rates of groundwater pumping impact the hydrologic system in the basin.
Modeling insights:
Groundwater models indicate that pumping from wells close to groundwater discharge features, such as springs, drains, and certain streams, can decrease water levels and groundwater discharge within weeks or months of the onset of pumping. When pumping locations are distant from discharge features, it can take many years or decades for the effects to be felt.
In the southern part of the Upper Klamath Basin, the Tule Lake subbasin, agricultural drains are an important water source for irrigators, Tule Lake, and the Lower Klamath Lake National Wildlife Refuge. An agricultural-drain flow analysis indicates that groundwater flow to drains has decreased substantially since 2000. Model results for the Tule Lake subbasin indicate that increased supplemental pumping is the main stress on the groundwater system in the area.
Throughout the Klamath Basin, increased use of groundwater combined with drought and climate change have decreased groundwater levels. In some parts of the basin, groundwater levels have declined as much as 30 ft. since 2001. These declines have been concerning for people who rely on shallow private wells for household needs. USGS monitoring and research on the groundwater-flow system will remain important to future considerations by resource managers, local citizens, and Tribal partners.
Related data releases.
Depth-to-water data and calculated vertical hydraulic gradient at the sediment-water interface in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2017
Photos from field work:
Hydrologic technicians use electronic tapes to measure groundwater in wells. The tape beeps or lights up when makes contact with water.
Related publications.
Benthic vertical hydraulic gradients in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2017
Groundwater levels, trends, and relations to pumping in the Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project, Oregon and California
Effects of groundwater pumping on agricultural drains in the Tule Lake subbasin, Oregon and California
Evaluation of alternative groundwater-management strategies for the Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project, Oregon and California
Groundwater simulation and management models for the upper Klamath Basin, Oregon and California
Ground-Water Hydrology of the Upper Klamath Basin, Oregon and California
Ground water in selected areas in the Klamath Basin, Oregon
Related web tools.
USGS Upper Klamath Basin Well Mapper
This mapper identifies wells that are monitored in the Upper Klamath Basin Oregon and California by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD), and California Department of Water Resources (CDWR). This web page provides access to current and historic groundwater-level data collected by those agencies, as well as water-level graphs and maps.
Related news and updates.
Partners associated with this project.
- Overview
Since the late 1990s, USGS has worked to characterize the regional groundwater hydrology of the upper Klamath Basin. Research focuses on collecting data to evaluate the groundwater system and its response to external stresses, and to develop computer models that provide insights for water management. These efforts build on earlier USGS studies going back to the 1950s.
Overview:
The upper Klamath Basin has a large regional groundwater-flow system that provides much of the water to major streams and lakes. The underlying volcanic rocks have abundant interconnected pore spaces, allowing water to flow underground at relatively high rates. The volcanic rocks are interlaid with sedimentary rocks, some composed of fine-grained lake sediments. The sedimentary layers tend to restrict water flow and are generally poor productivity aquifers. Groundwater moves through the interconnected layers of rock and eventually emerges into streams, lakes, and springs. Large amounts of groundwater supply the Wood River Subbasin, and the lower Williamson River, and provide some direct inflow to upper Klamath Lake. The groundwater supply to upper Klamath Lake somewhat buffers the lake water levels during dry seasons.
In the previous century, high demand for water in the Klamath Basin and frequent drought conditions increased the strain on groundwater resources. In 2001, limits on surface-water use for irrigation began. Limits on surface water are meant to keep enough water in streams and rivers for critically endangered fish habitat but the limits consequently can reduce the amount of water available for irrigation. As a result, groundwater pumping from wells for irrigation increased substantially since 2001. USGS is helping define and summarize the effects of increased pumping. USGS scientists monitor groundwater levels using various instruments deployed in wells throughout the basin. The water-level data inform resource-management decisions on the relationship between pumping and groundwater-level change.
Groundwater modeling:
Groundwater discharging into streams and agricultural drains is an important water source for downstream irrigation and aquatic habitats. USGS develops models to provide insight into the relationship between groundwater movement and the effects that pumping has on groundwater flow into streams and drains. One area of interest focuses near the Klamath Irrigation Project. This project provides water to about 240,000 acres of crop land and relies upon supplemental groundwater pumping when surface-water availability cannot meet irrigation demands. The overall goal of modeling efforts is to better understand the groundwater-flow system and help understand how patterns and rates of groundwater pumping impact the hydrologic system in the basin.
Modeling insights:
Groundwater models indicate that pumping from wells close to groundwater discharge features, such as springs, drains, and certain streams, can decrease water levels and groundwater discharge within weeks or months of the onset of pumping. When pumping locations are distant from discharge features, it can take many years or decades for the effects to be felt.
In the southern part of the Upper Klamath Basin, the Tule Lake subbasin, agricultural drains are an important water source for irrigators, Tule Lake, and the Lower Klamath Lake National Wildlife Refuge. An agricultural-drain flow analysis indicates that groundwater flow to drains has decreased substantially since 2000. Model results for the Tule Lake subbasin indicate that increased supplemental pumping is the main stress on the groundwater system in the area.
Throughout the Klamath Basin, increased use of groundwater combined with drought and climate change have decreased groundwater levels. In some parts of the basin, groundwater levels have declined as much as 30 ft. since 2001. These declines have been concerning for people who rely on shallow private wells for household needs. USGS monitoring and research on the groundwater-flow system will remain important to future considerations by resource managers, local citizens, and Tribal partners.
- Data
Related data releases.
Depth-to-water data and calculated vertical hydraulic gradient at the sediment-water interface in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2017
Ten groundwater piezometers and lake-level stilling wells were deployed in Upper Klamath Lake (UKL), Oregon during May through October 2017. Piezometers and stilling wells were deployed in pairs so that water levels could be measured relative to a common measuring point (MP) at each location. Piezometers were installed in the lakebed sediment, with screens from 3.92 to 4.92 feet below the sediment - Multimedia
Photos from field work:
Measuring wells in Klamath CountyHydrologic technicians use electronic tapes to measure groundwater in wells. The tape beeps or lights up when makes contact with water.
Hydrologic technicians use electronic tapes to measure groundwater in wells. The tape beeps or lights up when makes contact with water.
- Publications
Related publications.
Benthic vertical hydraulic gradients in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2017
Groundwater piezometers and lake stilling wells were deployed as paired sets at 10 locations in Upper Klamath Lake in south-central Oregon from May to October 2017 to measure hydraulic heads in and beneath the lake. Continuous water-level data from piezometers and stilling wells were then used to calculate the vertical hydraulic gradient (VHG) across the sediment-water interface to determine the dAuthorsNicholas Corson-DoschGroundwater levels, trends, and relations to pumping in the Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project, Oregon and California
The use of groundwater to supplement surface-water supplies for the Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project in the upper Klamath Basin of Oregon and California markedly increased between 2000 and 2014. Pre-2001 groundwater pumping in the area where most of this increase occurred is estimated to have been about 28,600 acre-feet per year. Subsequent supplemental pumping rates have been as high as 128,AuthorsMarshall W. Gannett, Katherine H. BreenEffects of groundwater pumping on agricultural drains in the Tule Lake subbasin, Oregon and California
Since 2001, irrigators in the upper Klamath Basin have increasingly turned to groundwater to compensate for reductions in surface-water allocation caused by shifts from irrigation use to instream flows for Endangered Species Act listed fishes. The largest increase in groundwater pumping has been in and around the Bureau of Reclamation’s Klamath Irrigation Project, which includes the Tule Lake subbAuthorsEsther M. Pischel, Marshall W. GannettEvaluation of alternative groundwater-management strategies for the Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project, Oregon and California
The water resources of the upper Klamath Basin, in southern Oregon and northern California, are managed to achieve various complex and interconnected purposes. Since 2001, irrigators in the Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Irrigation Project (Project) have been required to limit surface-water diversions to protect habitat for endangered freshwater and anadromous fishes. The reductions in irrigation dAuthorsBrian J. Wagner, Marshall W. GannettGroundwater simulation and management models for the upper Klamath Basin, Oregon and California
The upper Klamath Basin encompasses about 8,000 square miles, extending from the Cascade Range east to the Basin and Range geologic province in south-central Oregon and northern California. The geography of the basin is dominated by forested volcanic uplands separated by broad interior basins. Most of the interior basins once held broad shallow lakes and extensive wetlands, but most of these areasAuthorsMarshall W. Gannett, Brian J. Wagner, Kenneth E. LiteGround-Water Hydrology of the Upper Klamath Basin, Oregon and California
The upper Klamath Basin spans the California-Oregon border from the flank of the Cascade Range eastward to the Basin and Range Province, and encompasses the Klamath River drainage basin above Iron Gate Dam. Most of the basin is semiarid, but the Cascade Range and uplands in the interior and eastern parts of the basin receive on average more than 30 inches of precipitation per year. The basin has sAuthorsMarshall W. Gannett, Kenneth E. Lite, Jonathan L. La Marche, Bruce J. Fisher, Danial J. PoletteGround water in selected areas in the Klamath Basin, Oregon
GROUNDWATER FEATURES OF SIX LOWLAND AREAS IN THE KLAMATH BASIN OF OREGON--KLAMATH MARSH AREA, AND SPRAGUE RIVER, SWAN LAKE, YONNA, POE, AND LANGELL VALLEYS--ARE DESCRIBED. RUGGED MOUNTAINS AND RIDGES SURROUND AND SEPARATE THESE LOWLANDS WHERE FLOORS RANGE IN ALTITUDE FROM 4,100 FEET IN POE VALLEY TO 4,600 FEET NORTH OF KLAMATH MARSH. THE SIX AREAS EXTEND OVER A NORTH-SOUTH DISTANCE OF 70 MILES, ANAuthorsA.R. Leonard, A.B. Harris - Web Tools
Related web tools.
USGS Upper Klamath Basin Well Mapper
This mapper identifies wells that are monitored in the Upper Klamath Basin Oregon and California by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD), and California Department of Water Resources (CDWR). This web page provides access to current and historic groundwater-level data collected by those agencies, as well as water-level graphs and maps.
- News
Related news and updates.
- Partners
Partners associated with this project.