Ground water for irrigation near Lake Emily, Pope County, west-central Minnesota

In the Lake Emily area, thickness of the glacial drift ranges from about 200 feet to more than 400 feet. Within the drift are sand and gravel aquifers, some of which can yield adequate water supplies for irrigation. Outwash, as much as 60 feet thick, lies at the surface. The outwash has saturated thicknesses of more than 40 feet and transmissivities of more than 50,000 gallons per day per foot locally in the northern and western parts of the area. In the places of large saturated thickness and high hydraulic conductivity, the aquifer should yield more than 600 gallons per minute to wells. Theoretical maximum yields to wells in most of the area are more than 100 gallons per minute.

Chemically, water in the buried and surficial aquifers is mainly of a calcium magnesium bicarbonate type and is suitable for irrigation. Calculated and estimated sodium adsorption ratios and salinity and boron concentrations are below the limits recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.