Project ID:2006MT104B
Title:: Student fellowship: Spatial and temporal variation of groundwater and surface water interaction along the Gallatin River, Four Corners Montana
Project Type: Research
Start Date: 03/01/2006
End Date: 06/30/2007
Congressional District: At large
Focus Categories: Groundwater, Surface Water, Water Supply
Keywords: ground water, surface water, interaction, urbanization
Principal Investigator: Custer, Stephan
Federal Funds: $ 2,000
Non-Federal Matching Funds: $ 0
Abstract: No one is certain how the West Gallatin River interacts with the underlying alluvial aquifer. In 1960 The Gallatin River, from Gallatin Gateway to Logan, was described as a gaining stream by the United States Geologic Survey (Hackett, 1960). The scale of this study encompassed the entire Gallatin Valley and based the gaining stream definition on the river's net increase in discharge at Logan, where much of Valley's groundwater is forced to the surface before the Gallatin joins the Missouri. The 1960 study is presently the only public study to address how the river and the aquifer are connected. Upstream from Logan the West Gallatin's interaction with the underlying aquifer has not been publicly studied. Decisions are being made about water management based upon limited data from the 1960 USGS study or private assessments by hired consulting firms. Does the West Gallatin River gain water, lose water, both, or neither? If it is connected; where is it connected, how it connected, and does its connection change seasonally? Answers to these questions would be very useful for making informed decisions about water resource development in the Gallatin Valley. The goal of this study is to provide answers to these questions for a 10 kilometer reach near Four Corners Montana.
Progress/Completion Report, PDF