This paper is concerned with the development of the application of theoretical aquifer concepts to the administration of water rights from ground-water sources, and exam- ples of the application are given. Kansas operating under the Appropriation Doctrine is applying the rule of priority of right, the first in time is the first in right, to the administra- tion of water rights from ground-water sources. The application is not absolute in that some mutual interference pre-scribed by the reasonable raising and lowering of the water level must be allowed as specified in the law.



The application of hydrologic considerations in the administration of problems between individual wells is first given. The scope is then expanded and data presented for the application to large basin development where pumpage is largely from storage, using the current situation in the high plains area of western Kansas for the example.



An addition to the normal ground-water basic data collection program called a “Key Well” program is proposed where the key well is a production well. This well is to be fully instrumented to give information on diversion costs and evaluate methods of construction, as well as identify any changes in aquifer characteristics with respect to time.

Some Technical Aspects of Ground‐Water Administrationa

The Geological Survey has been the foremost agency in the investigation of ground-water resources in the United States beginning about 1910. Most of the basic principles of modern ground-water hydrology were developed in the Survey's program of cooperative investigations.



Use of ground water in the United States in 1960 was about 17½ percent of all water uses, excluding water power. The use will probably increase, though at a decreasing rate. Although amount of use may level off, the need to know about it will not.



While coordinating its activities with those of the Office of Water Data Coordination and the Office of Water Resources Research, the Survey expects to step up its work in all three areas of data collection, investigations, and research. However, there will be changes of emphasis.



Collection of raw data will tend to stress key observation points, and more and more observation of temperature and quality, including contaminants. Investigations will be aimed at upgrading reconnaissance coverage to general coverage for most of the Nation. The areal basis will be stream drainage basins and special hydrologic terranes, rather than political units. There will be an increase in the preparation of analog models for representative ground-water systems.



In research, the problem-oriented basis will continue. Stress will be on basic principles that pertain to artificial recharge, and the natural recharge and discharge of ground-water reservoirs; and also on the application of geologic principles on a regional scale. These are critical elements in the management of surface-water and ground-water resources conjunctively in river basins.

Plans of the U. S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Division for Research, Investigations, and Data Collection in Ground Watera

C. L. McGuinness — Hydrogeologist, Writer, Teachera

Ground water has emerged from a quantitatively minor (though incalculably valuable) source meeting widespread small-scale needs to a source that is meeting a substantial percentage of the nation's total water demand and is capable of doing even more than it is. At the same time, many scientific, economic, legal, and managerial problems stand in the way of full development and must be solved if ground water is to make its maximum contribution to the nation's welfare.



In recent decades ground water has accounted for something between one-fifth and one-sixth of the nation's total withdrawal use of water, which was about 170 billion gallons per day (bgd) in 1950, 240 bgd in 1955, and 270 bgd in 1960. As the total demand increases (estimates by the Senate Select Committee on National Water Resources, perhaps somewhat optimistic, call for 559 bgd in 1980 and 888 bgd in 2000), the fraction taken from the ground may go up or down or stay about the same, but the absolute withdrawal of ground water cannot help increasing. Furthermore, underground aquifers will play an increasingly important role as storage reservoirs for surplus surface water, through artificial recharge.



Well drillers, as producers of both the ground water itself and much of the basic information needed for scientific prediction of the behavior of complex hydrologic systems, will play a key part in man's efforts to dominate his water problems before they dominate him.

Ground Water – A Key Resourcea

Four principal trends in ground water are apparent:



(1) Increasing use of ground water for domestic supplies. Geohydrologists must learn to quantitatively evaluate the supply under conditions of maximum development, not merely determine the availability of a supply that does not strain the aquifer. (2) Aquifers will be looked to increasingly as possible storage media for surplus flood water, in place of dams and reservoirs. The key here is economics – optimum utilization of resources. The job of the geohydrologist is to do enough research and experimentation to determine when, where, and how ground-water reservoirs can be recharged artificially at a reasonable cost. (3) Saline aquifers will be looked at as sources of water supply. The cost curves of developing new supplies of fresh water are ascending while the cost curves for desalinization are declining, and inevitably they will cross in one area after another. There is a paucity of information on saline ground-water aquifers; hence, the utmost skill must be used in evaluating the resource. (4) With efforts to prevent stream pollution, aquifers will be looked to increasingly as possible storage media for industrial and domestic waste effluents. Control is urgently needed so the effects of waste injection can be predicted, the technology for confining those effects as intended can be developed, and a basis can be provided for a rational decision as to whether waste injection or an alternative use of the chosen aquifer is best for the economy in the long run. However, there is little legal basis for control, and the cost of such control may make the practice unfeasible in many situations.



A systems-analysis approach is needed to develop a working model of a given hydrologie and socio-economic problem from which quantitative answers can be given to water planners.

C. L. McGuinness

Papers

Ground Water – A Key Resourcea

New Thrusts in Ground Watera