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High Water Levels in Ground‐Water Dominant Lakes — A Case Study from Northwestern Wisconsin
Author(s) -
RinaldoLee M. B.,
Anderson M. P.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6584.1980.tb03406.x
Subject(s) - groundwater recharge , hydrology (agriculture) , water level , trough (economics) , precipitation , shore , groundwater , surface water , geology , streams , environmental science , aquifer , geography , oceanography , geotechnical engineering , computer network , cartography , environmental engineering , meteorology , computer science , economics , macroeconomics
An investigation into the cause of high lake levels during the early 1970's in a ground‐water dominant lake in northwestern Wisconsin was conducted from December 1976 to July 1978, in part to address allegations by shoreline property owners that regulation of water levels in a reservoir 2.4 km south of the lake had caused the high lake levels. High lake levels also coincided with above average precipitation. Data collected during the study allowed the definition of the ground‐water flow system around the lake and the calculation of the water budget for the lake. Field data indicated that there is no ground‐water flow between the reservoir and the lake and that ground water flowing out of the reservoir is intercepted by a trough in the potentiometric surface. The trough is probably oriented along a permeable fault zone or a buried river valley. A ground‐water flow model was used to determine whether increased recharge rates of the magnitude that probably occurred as a result of above average precipitation in the early 1970's would be sufficient to account for the observed rise in lake level or whether regulation of the water level in the reservoir could be expected to affect lake level.