Ground-Water in the Kansas River Valley, Junction City to Kansas City, Kansas

Abstract

The combined river and alluvial-aquifer systems are the principal source of water for municipal, industrial, and irrigation supplies along the Kansas River valley in northeast Kansas. This report presents current geologic and hydrologic information on the valley-fill deposits and provides quantitative information on ground-water conditions.

The depth to water in the valley-fill deposits ranges from 0 to 50 feet below land surface and averages about 25 feet. The valley-fill deposits contained about 1 million acre-feet of ground water in storage in 1967. Wells yielding more than 1,000 gallons per minute are common. Transmissivity ranges from 5,300 to 48,000 square feet per day and the long-term storage coefficient was estimated to average 0.15. The chemical quality of the ground water is suitable for most uses; however, the water is generally very hard and may contain as much as 58 milligrams per liter of total iron.