Ground Water in the Republican River Area, Cloud, Jewell, and Republic Counties, Kansas

Abstract

Both surface and ground water are used for irrigation in parts of Cloud, Jewell, and Republic counties in north-central Kansas. The combination of surface-water irrigation and recharge from precipitation has caused some high ground-water levels in some of the upland areas.

In the lowland areas, alluvial deposits yield as much as 1,400 gallons a minute to wells, and about 12,300 acre-feet of ground water is pumped annually for irrigation and other uses. It is estimated that 710 acre-feet of this quantity was removed from the Republican River in 1963 by the pumping of ground water. Coefficients of transmissibility from 61 well sites were used in making the above estimate.

Ground-water recharge from precipitation in the area was estimated to be 0.6 inch and ground-water losses to evapotranspiration to be less than 0.2 inch.

Chlorides in ground water in northern Cloud County are tabulated and the areas mapped where the ground water might be unfit for use in irrigation.