Ground-water data: Beaver, Escalante, Cedar City, and Parowan Valleys; parts of Washington, Iron, Beaver, and Millard Counties, Utah

This report is intended to serve two purposes: (1) to make available to the public basic ground-water data useful in planning and studying development of water resources, and (2) to supplement an interpretive report that will be published later.

Records were collected during the period 1935-62 by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Utah State Engineer as part of the investigation of ground-water conditions in the Beaver, Escalante, Cedar City, and Parowan Walleys. This report will include records collected subsequent to data published in earlier reports listed in the bibliography. The interpretive material will be published in a companion report by George W. Sandberg.

This report is most useful in predicting conditions likely to be found in areas that are being considered as well sites. The person considering the new well can spot the proposed site on plate 1 and examine the records of nearby wells as shown in the tables and figure 2. From table 1 he can note such things as diameter, depth, water level, yield, use of water, and depth to aquifers in wells in the vicinity, and from the well logs in table 3 he can note the type of material that yields water to the wells. Table 2 gives several years record of yields and pumping levels of irrigation wells, and in table 4 are the chemical analyses of water from wells and springs. Figure 2 shows the historic fluctuations and trends of water levels in the four valleys. If the reader decides from his examination that conditions are favorable, he can place an application to drill a well with the State Engineer. During the past several years, however, the State Engineer has rejected new applications to appropriate water in major portions of Beaver Valley, Milford and Beryl-Enterprise districts in Escalante Valley, and Cedar City Valley. Anyone seeking to initiate a new ground-water right in any of these areas should obtain information from the State Engineer's Office in either Salt Lake City or Cedar City to determine the likelihood of approval of the required application.

The report is also useful when planning large-scale developments of water supply. This and other uses of the report will be helped by use of the interpretive report upon its release.