Ground-water-quality assessment of the Carson River basin, Nevada and California: Analysis of available water-quality data through 1987

Abstract

One of the great challenges faced by water-resources scientists is providing reliable water-quality information to guide the management and protection of the Nation's water resources. That challenge is being addressed by Federal, State, interstate, and local water-resources agencies and by academic institutions. Many of these organizations are collecting water-quality data for a host of purposes, including compliance with permits and water-supply standards; development of remediation plans for specific contamination problems; operational decisions on industrial, wastewater, or water-supply facilities; and research to advance our understanding of water-quality processes. In fact, during the past two decades, tens of billions of dollars have been spent on water-quality data-collection programs. Unfortunately, the utility of these data for present and future regional and national assessments is limited by such factors as the area! extent of the sampling network, the frequency of sample collection, the varied collection and analytical procedures, and the types of water-quality characteristics determined. To address this deficiency, the Congress appropriated funds for the U.S. Geological Survey, beginning in 1986, to test and refine concepts for a National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program that, if fully implemented, would: 1. Provide a nationally consistent description of water-quality conditions for a large part of the Nation's water resources; 2. Define long-term trends (or lack of trends) in water quality; and 3. Identify, describe, and explain, as possible, the major factors that affect observed water-quality conditions and trends. As presently envisioned, a full-scale NAWQA Program would be accomplished through investigations of a large set of major river basins and aquifer systems that are distributed throughout the Nation and that account for a large percentage of the Nation's population and freshwater use. Each investigation would be conducted by a small team that is familiar with the river basin or aquifer system. Thus, the investigations would take full advantage of the region-specific knowledge of persons in the areas under study. Four surface-water projects and three groundwater projects are being conducted as part of the pilot program to test and refine the assessment methods and to help determine the need for and the feasibility of a full-scale program. An initial activity of each pilot project is to compile, screen, and interpret available data to provide an initial description of water-quality conditions and trends in the study area. The results of this analysis of available data are presented in individual reports for each project. The pilot studies depend heavily on cooperation and information from many Federal, State, interstate, and local agencies. The assistance and suggestions of all are gratefully acknowledged.

Investigating Childhood Leukemia in Churchill County, Nevada

“…A pipeline runs through downtown Fallon, delivering a continuous supply of JP-8 jet fuel to the base. Both municipal and NAS water supplies have historically reported naturally occurring arsenic levels that exceed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) standards (Welch and Lico 1998; Welch et al 1989). Fallon is also a center for melon and alfalfa production, and agricultural pesticides are applied to fields surrounding the city.…”

Environmental and hydrologic settings of the Las Vegas Valley Area and the Carson and Truckee River basins, Nevada and California

“…This zone may be a regional ground-water flow path, containing water that discharges from carbonate-rock aquifers (Mifflin, 1968;Naff and others, 1974;Hess and Mifflin, 1978;Noack, 1988). This zone trends northwestward from Sunrise Mountain and corresponds with the deepest part of the bedrock within the basin (Plume, 1989).…”

“…3 Rocks older than 570 million years also called Precambrian, a time term without specific rank. (Longwell and others, 1965;Bell, 1981;Plume, 1989). Basin-fill deposits are laterally and vertically discontinuous because of the different depositional environments.…”

“…Ground water in the southwestern part of the valley is derived primarily from the southern Spring Mountains. It is influenced chemically by clastic sandstone, conglomerate, shale, limestone, iron-rich red beds, and gypsum deposits (Dettinger, 1987;Plume, 1989). In this part of the valley, ground water contains more sulfate and chloride than ground water in the northwestern area.…”

Evaluation of management options for disposal of salt and trace element laden agricultural drainage water from the Fallon Indian Reservation, Fallon, Nevada

“…Much of the interpretive work in this report draws heavily on this earlier report. More recently, the need for potable groundwater has motivated local and regional assessment of the hydrogeology and water quality in the Lahontan Valley (Sinclair and Loeltz, 1963;Lico et al 1986;Glancy, 1986;and Welch et al 1989). The search for geothermal sources of hot water and steam also provided relevant data on the subsurface geology of the FIR (Morgan, 1982).…”