Geology topics

Research about Pavant Valley

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Pavant Valley.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS1965

Ground-water resources of Pavant Valley, Utah

Pavant Valley, in eastern Millard County in west-central Utah, is in the Great Basin section of the Basin and Range province. The area of investigation is 34 miles long from north to south and 9 miles wide from east to west and comprises about 300 square miles. Agriculture, tourist trade, and mining are the principal industries. The population of the valley is about 3,500, of which about half live in Fillmore, the county seat of Millard County. The climate is semiarid and temperatures are moderate. Average normal annual precipitation in the lowlands is estimated to range from 10 to 14 inches. Precipitation is heaviest during the late winter and spring, January through May. The average monthly temperature at Fillmore ranges from 29 ° F in January to 76 ° F in July; the average annual temperature is 52 ° F. Because of the aridity, most crops cannot be grown successfully without irrigation. Irrigation requirements were satisfied for about 60 years after the valley was settled by diverting streams tributary to the valley. Artesian water was discovered near Flowell in 1915. By 1920 flowing artesian wells supplied about 10 percent of the irrigation water used in the valley, not including water from the Central Utah Canal. The Central Utah Canal was constructed in 1916 to convey water to the Pavant Valley from the Sevier River. Especially since 1916, the quantity of surface water available each year for irrigation has changed with the vagaries of nature. The total percentage of irrigation water contributed by ground water, on the other hand, gradually increased to about 15 percent in 1945 and then increased rapidly to 45 percent in 1960; it will probably stabilize at about 50 percent.

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USGS1963

Selected hydrologic data, Pavant Valley, Millard County, 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 1959-62 by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Utah State Engineer as a part of the investigation of ground-water conditions in Pavant Valley in Millard County, Utah. The interpretive material will be published in a companion report by Reed W. Mower. 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 l and examine the records of nearby wells as shown in the tables. From tables l and 3 he can note the type of material that yields water to wells in the vicinity; from table 1 he can note (1) the depth and diameter of wells in the vicinity and the yield of some of those wells, and (2) the depth to water or the feet of water pressure in the vicinity; from table 2 he can note the historic fluctuations and trends of water levels in the vicinity; from table 4 he can note the chemical quality of the water from wells in the vicinity; and from table l he can find the use made of the well water. If the reader decides from his examination that conditions are favorable, he can place an application to drill a well with the State Engineer. If the State Engineer believes unappropriated water is available, the application may be approved after minimum statutory requirements have been satisfied. 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.

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USGS1946

Ground water in Pavant Valley

The users of wells for irrigation in Pavant Valley, particularly in the Flowell district, have long been cognizant of their utter dependency upon ground water for livelihood, and were among the first in the State to make an organized effort to conserve supplies by prevention of waste. Since passage of the State ground-water law in 1935, the State Engineer has not approved applications for new wells in the areas of most concentrated development, and has deferred adjudication of existing water rights until adequate data concerning the ground-water resources become available. The investigation of ground-water resources in Pavant Valley was suggested by the State Engineer and constitutes one of a series that are being made in the important groundwater basins of Utah by the Federal Geological Survey in cooperation with the State Engineer. The investigation was under the general supervision of Oscar E. Meinzer, geologist in charge of the ground-water division of the Federal Geological Survey. H. E. Thomas, in charge of groundwater investigations in Utah, returned from military service overseas in time to assist in the completion of the manuscript, and edited the report.

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