Impact of changes in land use on the ground-water system in the Sequim-Dungeness Peninsula, Clallam County, Washington

Water-Resources Investigations Report 83-4094
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Abstract

A digital-computer model was developed to simulate three-dimensional ground-water flow in aquifers underlying the Sequim-Dungeness peninsula, Clallam County, Washington. Analysis using the model shows that leakage from irrigation ditches is the area 's most important source of ground-water recharge. Termination of the irrigation system would lead to lower heads throughout the ground-water system. After 10-20 years of no irrigation, the water-table aquifer would have average drawdowns of about 20 feet and some areas would become completely unsaturated. Several hundred wells could be in danger of going dry. If irrigation were terminated, leakage from the Dungeness River would become the major source of ground-water recharge. As of June 1980, ground-water quality has apparently not been affected in the study area by the use of on-site domestic sewage-disposal systems. The median nitrate-plus-nitrite (as N) concentration in the water-table aquifer was 0.25 milligrams per liter, and the maximum concentration was 2.5 milligrams per liter. 

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Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Impact of changes in land use on the ground-water system in the Sequim-Dungeness Peninsula, Clallam County, Washington
Series title Water-Resources Investigations Report
Series number 83-4094
DOI 10.3133/wri834094
Year Published 1983
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Description viii, 69 p.
Country United States
State Washington
County Clallam County
Other Geospatial Sequim-Dungeness Peninsula
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