Fourteen years of springflow data at Arches National Park

Weissinger, Rebecca; Moran, Mary

Monthly springflow monitoring began at four springs in the Courthouse Wash–Sevenmile Canyon complex of Arches National Park in December 2000, to support water rights negotiations with the State of Utah. Sites were selected to represent three sections of a dissected local aquifer in the Moab Member of the Curtis Formation. One spring, Sleepy Hollow, emerges from the eastern section of the aquifer, which is entirely protected within the park. Two springs, Poison Ivy and Sevenmile Boundary, flow from the western section of the aquifer, which includes lands not protected by the park. The fourth spring, Courthouse Boundary, has a more complex flow path fed by the northern section of the aquifer and wash-bottom alluvium, both of which extend beyond park boundaries. This report presents the results of 14 years of springs monitoring at those sites. Sleepy Hollow Spring, emerging from the eastern sector, had stable springflow from 2001 to 2014. Both springs emerging from the western sector showed significant declines in springflow. Courthouse Boundary Spring also had a statistically significant decline in flow, but its record is complicated by multiple changes in measurement locations and methods and increasing sedimentation. Springflow measurements were discontinued at Courthouse Boundary Spring in 2011, due to increasing instability at the site. The cause of declining springflow at Poison Ivy and Sevenmile Boundary springs is unknown, and additional analyses of climate relationships are necessary. Existing groundwater withdrawals are unlikely to affect recharge in the western sector due to geologic controls on the recharge area. The water-rights agreement signed in May 2015 between Arches National Park and the State of Utah protects the Moab Member of the Curtis Formation aquifer from additional groundwater withdrawals in the future.

Fourteen years of springflow data at Arches National Park

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