Ground water fluctuations at Kearney Park, California

Abstract does not appear. First page follows.

Introduction

Many of the problems which confront the engineer in irrigated regions would be much simplified if there were available reliable and detailed information concerning the fluctuation and movement of underground waters. Probably the two most important of these problems are the design of drainage works and the development of underground water supplies for irrigation.

The height to which the water table rises, the rate of rise and fall as it fluctuates at different seasons, the time at which maximum and minimum heights occur and the rate of yearly increase or decrease have an important bearing on the size, location, and depth of artificial drains and on the size, location, number and capacity of pumping plants, whether used for irrigation or drainage.

Unfortunately, the collection of data on ground water movements is seldom begun until its need becomes so urgent that studies can not be continued for sufficient time to make them entirely reliable. The studies carried on by the writer at Kearney Park near Fresno, California, are no exception to this rule. They are, however, of more than usual length and are in sufficient detail to be of considerable value for the purpose in mind, namely, the designing of a drainage system.