Since the late 1990s the USGS has worked to characterize the regional groundwater hydrology of the upper Klamath Basin. Research focuses on collecting data to help evaluate the state of the groundwater system and its response to external stresses, and to develop computer models to provide insights useful for water management. These efforts build on earlier USGS studies in the basin going back to the 1950s.
Overview of the Groundwater Hydrology of the Upper Klamath Basin
The upper Klamath Basin has a substantial regional groundwater flow system. The volcanic rocks that underlie the region are generally permeable and compose a system of interconnected aquifers. Interbedded with the volcanic rocks are sedimentary rocks composed of fine-grained lake sediments and basin-filling deposits. These sedimentary deposits have low permeability, are not good aquifers, and probably reduce groundwater movement in some areas. The regional groundwater system is underlain and bounded on the east and west by older volcanic and sedimentary rocks that have generally low permeability.
Overview of the Regional Groundwater Model
The U.S. Geological Survey MODFLOW model simulations show that the timing and location of the effects of groundwater pumping vary markedly depending on pumping location. Pumping from wells close to groundwater discharge features, such as springs, drains, and certain streams, can affect those features within weeks or months of the onset of pumping, and the impacts can be essentially fully manifested in several years. Simulations indicate that seasonal variations in pumping rates are buffered by the groundwater system, and peak impacts are closer to mean annual pumping rates than to instantaneous rates. Thus, pumping effects are, to a large degree, spread out over the entire year. When pumping locations are distant from discharge features, the effects take many years or decades to fully impact those features, and much of the pumped water comes from groundwater storage over a broad geographic area even after two decades. Moreover, because the effects are spread out over a broad area, the impacts to individual features are much smaller than in the case of nearby pumping.
Overview of Groundwater Management Modeling Efforts
A groundwater management model was developed to identify optimal strategies to meet water-user needs while not violating defined constraints on impacts to groundwater levels and streamflows. The overall goal of the modeling effort was to determine the patterns and rates of groundwater pumping that meet the supplemental groundwater demands of the Klamath Reclamation Project. To ensure that groundwater development does not adversely affect groundwater and surface-water resources, the groundwater-management model includes constraints to withdrawal and drawdown. The model indicates that supplemental groundwater pumping can be managed to avoid adverse effects to groundwater discharge that supports critical aquatic habitat.
USGS active surface-water sites
OWRD active surface-water sites
National Water Information System (NWIS) - Oregon
National Water Information System: Mapper (Oregon)
Below are publications associated with this project.
Benthic vertical hydraulic gradients in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2017
Groundwater levels, trends, and relations to pumping in the Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project, Oregon and California
Effects of groundwater pumping on agricultural drains in the Tule Lake subbasin, Oregon and California
Evaluation of alternative groundwater-management strategies for the Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project, Oregon and California
Groundwater simulation and management models for the upper Klamath Basin, Oregon and California
Ground-Water Hydrology of the Upper Klamath Basin, Oregon and California
Below are news stories associated with this project.
Below are partners associated with this project.
- Overview
Since the late 1990s the USGS has worked to characterize the regional groundwater hydrology of the upper Klamath Basin. Research focuses on collecting data to help evaluate the state of the groundwater system and its response to external stresses, and to develop computer models to provide insights useful for water management. These efforts build on earlier USGS studies in the basin going back to the 1950s.
Overview of the Groundwater Hydrology of the Upper Klamath Basin
The upper Klamath Basin has a substantial regional groundwater flow system. The volcanic rocks that underlie the region are generally permeable and compose a system of interconnected aquifers. Interbedded with the volcanic rocks are sedimentary rocks composed of fine-grained lake sediments and basin-filling deposits. These sedimentary deposits have low permeability, are not good aquifers, and probably reduce groundwater movement in some areas. The regional groundwater system is underlain and bounded on the east and west by older volcanic and sedimentary rocks that have generally low permeability.
Overview of the Regional Groundwater Model
The U.S. Geological Survey MODFLOW model simulations show that the timing and location of the effects of groundwater pumping vary markedly depending on pumping location. Pumping from wells close to groundwater discharge features, such as springs, drains, and certain streams, can affect those features within weeks or months of the onset of pumping, and the impacts can be essentially fully manifested in several years. Simulations indicate that seasonal variations in pumping rates are buffered by the groundwater system, and peak impacts are closer to mean annual pumping rates than to instantaneous rates. Thus, pumping effects are, to a large degree, spread out over the entire year. When pumping locations are distant from discharge features, the effects take many years or decades to fully impact those features, and much of the pumped water comes from groundwater storage over a broad geographic area even after two decades. Moreover, because the effects are spread out over a broad area, the impacts to individual features are much smaller than in the case of nearby pumping.
Overview of Groundwater Management Modeling Efforts
A groundwater management model was developed to identify optimal strategies to meet water-user needs while not violating defined constraints on impacts to groundwater levels and streamflows. The overall goal of the modeling effort was to determine the patterns and rates of groundwater pumping that meet the supplemental groundwater demands of the Klamath Reclamation Project. To ensure that groundwater development does not adversely affect groundwater and surface-water resources, the groundwater-management model includes constraints to withdrawal and drawdown. The model indicates that supplemental groundwater pumping can be managed to avoid adverse effects to groundwater discharge that supports critical aquatic habitat.
- Data
USGS active surface-water sites
OWRD active surface-water sites
National Water Information System (NWIS) - Oregon
National Water Information System: Mapper (Oregon)
- Publications
Below are publications associated with this project.
Benthic vertical hydraulic gradients in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2017
Groundwater piezometers and lake stilling wells were deployed as paired sets at 10 locations in Upper Klamath Lake in south-central Oregon from May to October 2017 to measure hydraulic heads in and beneath the lake. Continuous water-level data from piezometers and stilling wells were then used to calculate the vertical hydraulic gradient (VHG) across the sediment-water interface to determine the dAuthorsNicholas Corson-DoschGroundwater levels, trends, and relations to pumping in the Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project, Oregon and California
The use of groundwater to supplement surface-water supplies for the Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project in the upper Klamath Basin of Oregon and California markedly increased between 2000 and 2014. Pre-2001 groundwater pumping in the area where most of this increase occurred is estimated to have been about 28,600 acre-feet per year. Subsequent supplemental pumping rates have been as high as 128,AuthorsMarshall W. Gannett, Katherine H. BreenEffects of groundwater pumping on agricultural drains in the Tule Lake subbasin, Oregon and California
Since 2001, irrigators in the upper Klamath Basin have increasingly turned to groundwater to compensate for reductions in surface-water allocation caused by shifts from irrigation use to instream flows for Endangered Species Act listed fishes. The largest increase in groundwater pumping has been in and around the Bureau of Reclamation’s Klamath Irrigation Project, which includes the Tule Lake subbAuthorsEsther M. Pischel, Marshall W. GannettEvaluation of alternative groundwater-management strategies for the Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project, Oregon and California
The water resources of the upper Klamath Basin, in southern Oregon and northern California, are managed to achieve various complex and interconnected purposes. Since 2001, irrigators in the Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Irrigation Project (Project) have been required to limit surface-water diversions to protect habitat for endangered freshwater and anadromous fishes. The reductions in irrigation dAuthorsBrian J. Wagner, Marshall W. GannettGroundwater simulation and management models for the upper Klamath Basin, Oregon and California
The upper Klamath Basin encompasses about 8,000 square miles, extending from the Cascade Range east to the Basin and Range geologic province in south-central Oregon and northern California. The geography of the basin is dominated by forested volcanic uplands separated by broad interior basins. Most of the interior basins once held broad shallow lakes and extensive wetlands, but most of these areasAuthorsMarshall W. Gannett, Brian J. Wagner, Kenneth E. LiteGround-Water Hydrology of the Upper Klamath Basin, Oregon and California
The upper Klamath Basin spans the California-Oregon border from the flank of the Cascade Range eastward to the Basin and Range Province, and encompasses the Klamath River drainage basin above Iron Gate Dam. Most of the basin is semiarid, but the Cascade Range and uplands in the interior and eastern parts of the basin receive on average more than 30 inches of precipitation per year. The basin has sAuthorsMarshall W. Gannett, Kenneth E. Lite, Jonathan L. La Marche, Bruce J. Fisher, Danial J. Polette - News
Below are news stories associated with this project.
- Partners
Below are partners associated with this project.