Digital Simulation of the Glacial-Aquifer System in the Northern Three-Fourths ofBrown County, South Dakota

摘要

The drought in South Dakota from 1974-76 and the near-drought conditions in 1980-81 have resulted in increased demands on the ground-water resources within many of the intensively irrigated areas of the James River basin in eastern South Dakota. Between 1972 and 1980, the total quantity of ground-water irrigation from the glacial-aquifer system in the James River basin increased from 4,999 acre-ft/yr (South Dakota Water Resources Commission, written commun., 1973) to 35,422 acre-ft/yr (South Dakota Department of Water and Natural Resources, written commun., 1981), an increase of greater than 600%. These increases in demand for irrigation water from the glacial-aquifer system and concern about the adequacy of ground-water resources for future development have created a need for a systematic water-management program to avoid overdevelopment of these aquifers in the James River basin. The scope of this investigation included the collation and synthesis of aquifer-test data, well and test hole logs, water-level measurements, pumpage data, and other miscellaneous geohydrologic data.