WSGS Groundwater Group
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Keith E. Clarey, P.G. |
Water Resources in Wyoming
Wyoming’s water resources are constitutionally the property of the state: these resources consist of water in the solid, liquid, and gas phases, and include surface water, groundwater, precipitation (rain, sleet, hail, and snow), snow fields, ice fields, glaciers, and water vapor in the atmosphere. The Wyoming State Engineer’s Office (WSEO) regulates beneficial use of both surface water and groundwater, and a WSEO permit is required to use state waters. Wyoming’s water is used for agriculture (crop irrigation and livestock watering), domestic supply, public water system supply, lawn/garden watering, fish hatching/rearing, environmental purposes (groundwater remediation and monitoring), electric power generation, recreation, and many industrial purposes.
To protect human health and the environment, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Water Quality Division (WDEQ-WQD) regulates the quality of both surface water and groundwater. The WSEO-WQD issues various permits to regulate business and other activities that involve Wyoming’s water. A permit is required to discharge water into state waters. The Denver office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Region 8 regulates and has primary control (primacy) over Wyoming’s public drinking water. Wyoming is the only state in the country where the USEPA has primacy over state drinking water systems. The USEPA monitors water quality for the several hundred public water systems located in Wyoming. For more information, visit the USEPA website. Water resources in the West are renewable but often limited in supply. Annual precipitation is ultimately the source of both surface water and groundwater. Variations in the amount and distribution of annual precipitation may limit available water supplies and create water shortages in areas of high demand. Population growth has increased demand and competition for Wyoming’s water, both within the state and in downstream states. |
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The Groundwater Group
The Groundwater group works closely with other state and federal agencies to provide information about Wyoming’s water resources.
Groundwater Resources
Unconsolidated deposits (river sediment composed of mixtures of clay, silt, sand, and gravel) and bedrock formations (sandstone and limestone) hold Wyoming’s groundwater in aquifers. An aquifer is defined as the water-saturated portion of an unconsolidated deposit or geologic bedrock formation which may yield usable quantities and qualities of groundwater through springs and/or wells.
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Wyoming has many unconsolidated deposits and bedrock aquifers. Spatial occurrence of the aquifers is predominantly controlled by local geology, including the stratigraphic and structural setting of the geologic formations. Groundwater available to springs and wells varies widely in both quantity and quality. Many freshwater bedrock aquifers located along the shallow margins of structural basins in Wyoming also produce oil and gas from petroleum reservoirs deeper in the basins. Groundwater in petroleum-producing formations is typically more saline (has higher concentrations of dissolved minerals and salts), and therefore unsuitable for drinking and agriculture. |
Water wells function to withdraw groundwater for use or to monitor water levels and quality in various aquifers. Groundwater from aquifers may also be discharged along the beds of streams and rivers through alluvial deposits and bedrock formations. Complex groundwater and surface water interactions commonly occur in areas where aquifers are located along streams and rivers. Springs are natural discharge points for groundwater from saturated aquifers.
Current Activities
The Groundwater Group responds to inquiries related to water issues, aquifers, wells, and springs, and assists private citizens, other government agencies, educators, consultants, and industry.
The group is currently compiling a list of references on Wyoming water resources and assembling a reference library of published and unpublished water resource documents.
The group is also working to complete the three-year Southern Powder River Basin Project funded by the Wyoming Water Development Commission (WWDC). They are investigating water resources and compiling data on tens of thousands of coalbed natural gas (CBNG) wells and other wells in a study area in northeastern Wyoming. With the WSGS Modeling and Visualization Section, they will model groundwater in the study area.
Links
- University of Wyoming Libraries, Laramie
- Water Resources Data Center (WRDS), University of Wyoming, Laramie
- Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Water Quality Division (WDEQ-WQD), Cheyenne
- Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (WOGCC), Casper
- Wyoming State Engineer’s Office (WSEO), Cheyenne
- Wyoming Water Development Commission (WWDC), Cheyenne
- Wyoming Association of Conservation Districts (WACD), Cheyenne
- Wyoming Association of Rural Water Systems (WARWS), Glenrock
- Wyoming Water Association (WWA), Cheyenne
- Wyoming Water Well Association (WWWA), Wheatland
- U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
- U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Wyoming Water Science Center, Cheyenne (http://wy.water.usgs.gov)
- U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Denver
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), Wyoming Drinking Water, Local Drinking Water Information