Equus Beds Ground-Water Recharge Project

Index

• Injection Permit Monitoring Results

Highlights

• Gallons of Water Recharged
• Ground-Water Quantity and Levels
• Changes in Ground-Water Storage - Water Level Maps
• Surface-Water Quantity
• Real-Time Streamflow
• Water Quality
• Real-Time Water Quality

Maps of Equus Beds Recharge Data-Collection Sites

• Little Arkansas River Basin
• Areal Assessment Wells

Publications

• Water Quality
• Ground Water

Additional Equus Beds Information

• Equus Beds Information Resource
• Equus Beds Mineral Intrusion Project
• High Plains Regional Ground Water (HPGW) Study
• HiPlain - The High Plains Aquifer Information Network

Schematic of the artificial recharge process

Description of Study

The water supply for the city of Wichita, south-central Kansas, currently comes from the Equus Beds aquifer and Cheney Reservoir. Because these sources are not expected to meet projected city water needs into the 21^st century (Warren and others, 1995), artificial recharge of the Equus Beds aquifer is being investigated as one alternative to meet future water-supply demands. An additional potential benefit of artificial recharge includes preventing degradation of the water quality of the aquifer by saltwater plumes from the Arkansas River to the southwest and the Burrton oil field to the northwest (Ziegler and others, 1999).

In 1995, the Equus Beds Ground-Water Recharge Demonstration Project began evaluation of artificial recharge techniques and their effects on water quality in the aquifer. The demonstration project was a cooperative effort among the city of Wichita, Bureau of Reclamation (U.S. Department of the Interior), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Water from the Little Arkansas River was diverted for artificial recharge when flow in the river exceeded base flow in accordance with the Kansas Department of Agriculture, Division of Water Resources, permit conditions (Burns and McDonnell, 1998). Water was artificially recharged to the Equus Beds aquifer, which is part of the High Plains aquifer and consists of alluvial (river-deposited) sediments of sand and gravel interbedded with clay and silt.

At the Halstead diversion well site, water was diverted from the Little Arkansas River by pumping a diversion well completed immediately adjacent to the river that induces the surface water into the well. This diverted source water then was pumped to the Halstead recharge site and recharged to the aquifer by basin, trench or injection well. Artificial recharge of the Equus Beds aquifer began at the Halstead site in May 1997.

Recharge water for the Sedgwick recharge site was diverted directly from the Little Arkansas River. It was treated to reduce turbidity (the cloudy appearance of water caused by suspended matter) and to remove organic compounds, including the herbicide atrazine, using powder activated carbon (PAC). Artificial recharge of the Equus Beds aquifer at the Sedgwick site began in April 1998.

Monitoring of the water quantity and quality has continued in the Little Arkansas River and at monitoring wells throughout the study area since the completion of the demonstration phase of the Equus Recharge Project (May 2002). An areal assessment for water quantity and water quality in the Equus Beds aquifer also began in November 2001. The areal assessment monitoring wells are completed in both the shallow and deep zones of the Equus Beds aquifer and cover approximately 300 square miles north of the Arkansas River and west of the Little Arkansas River.

Much of the water supply for the City of Wichita comes from the Equus Beds aquifer. The available water supply for the city of Wichita must be increased to meet its future water needs through 2050. In order to meet this need, the Equus Beds Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) Project Phase I began in 2006 “to inject ground water into the Equus Beds Aquifer for the purpose of storage and later recovery of the ground water and to form a hydraulic barrier to a known brine plume” (Kansas Underground Injection Control Area Permit Class V Injection Well, Kansas Permit No. KS-05-079-001).

Detailed information regarding the water-quantity and water-quality in the Equus Beds aquifer can be found in the “Highlights” section of this website.