Evaluation of the effects of Lake Audubon on ground- and surface-water levels in the Lake Nettie area, eastern McLean County, North Dakota
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Abstract
Water logging and flooding of some roads and agricultural lands have become a problem in the Lake Nettie area of eastern McLean County. Part of the flooding is caused by the raising of Lake Audubon about 13 feet from an elevation of about 1,835 feet to 1,848 feet and its effect on ground-water levels in the upper unit of the Lake Nettie aquifer by way of leakage from the lower unit. The major part of the flooding is caused by the greater than normal precipitation and the resulting runoff.
Recharge to the aquifer is from the direct infiltration of precipitation and snowmelt, the lateral percolation of water from the adjacent Fort Union Formation and glacial-drift aquifers, and from Lake Audubon. Discharge is by evapotranspiration and by ground-water movement into undrained surface-water basins in the Lake Holmes-Lake Williams area and southward through Lake Ordway or westward to Lake Audubon.
Trends shown on hydrographs indicate that near equilibrium between recharge and discharge has been reestablished in the lower unit of the Lake Nettie aquifer in the area between Lake Audubon and Lake Nettie, but east of Lake Nettie water levels are still rising. As of 1982, water-level rises caused by the raising of Lake Audubon are as much as 4 feet in the lower unit of the Lake Nettie aquifer and are between 1 and 2 feet in the upper unit of the Lake Nettie aquifer, which is hydraulically connected to Lake Nettie, Crooked Lake, and Slough No. 1. There is a rise in Slough No. 1, about 2 miles east of Lake Audubon, that can be attributed to the higher levels of Lake Audubon. Apparently rises also have occurred in many other sloughs.
Water levels have risen in the Turtle Lake aquifer both as a result of raising the water level in Lake Audubon to an elevation of about 1,848 feet and the McClusky Canal to an elevation of about 1,844 feet. Water levels have risen as much as 6 feet near the canal, but generally less than 1 foot at distances of about 0.5 mile.
Study Area
| Publication type | Report |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | USGS Numbered Series |
| Title | Evaluation of the effects of Lake Audubon on ground- and surface-water levels in the Lake Nettie area, eastern McLean County, North Dakota |
| Series title | Water-Resources Investigations Report |
| Series number | 83-4242 |
| DOI | 10.3133/wri834242 |
| Year Published | 1983 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | U.S. Geological Survey |
| Contributing office(s) | North Dakota Water Science Center, Dakota Water Science Center |
| Description | iv, 41 p. |
| Country | United States |
| State | North Dakota |
| County | McLean County |
| Other Geospatial | Lake Nettie area |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |