Water Resources of the Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Cox, Edward

The study described in this report is an appraisal of water resources in Grand Teton National Park where hydrologic data are needed for planning water supplies for public use. Water is used in the park for public-water supplies at National Park Service facilities, for commercial and domestic use at guest ranches and private residences, and for irrigation. Public- water supplies in the park utilize both surface and ground water. Some of the surface-water sources are in areas of heavy use by park visitors. Public-health requirements are that only ground water, if adequate in quantity and quality, should be used for public-water supplies in such areas. Ground water in alluvium and glacial deposits in Jackson Hole moves toward the Snake River and the lower reaches of Pacific Creek and Buffalo Fork, indicating gaining reaches of streams, but moves parallel to or away from several other streams, indicating losing reaches in some streams^ Measured gains in flow of the Snake River from ground-water inflow in 3 3 Jackson Hole were 5.7 ft /s (cubic feet per second) per mile or 0.10 m /s (cubic meters per second) per kilometer in a 17.5-mile (28.2-kilometer) reach 3 3 and 49.3 ft /s per mile (0.87 m /s per kilometer) in a 7.0-mile (11.3-kilometer) 3 reach. The largest measured loss from a stream was 11.7 ft /s per mile 3 (0.20 m /s per kilometer) in a 4.2-mile (6.8-kilometer) reach of Cottonwood Creek. The estimated average transmissivity is 30,000 cubic feet per day per foot (2,800 cubic meters per day per meter) for the alluvium and glacial deposits in Jackson Hole between Jackson Lake Dam and Moose. All ground and surface waters in the park that were sampled and analyzed during this study are potable and would be satisfactory, as far as chemical quality is concerned, for public, domestic, or commercial supplies. The Snake River upstream from the park contains fluoride greater than the limit recommended by the U.S. Public Health Service for drinking water but less than the concentration that constitutes grounds for rejection of such a supply. Ground-water supplies could be developed in places in and near the park. Yields of as much as 1,000 gpm (gallons per minute) (3,800 1/m) (liters per minute) of water per well could be obtained from alluvium and glacial-outwash deposits of Quaternary age in Jackson Hole and some nearby stream valleys. Each well in glacial-moraine deposits would yield from a few gallons per minute of water from clay and silt to as much as 100 gpm (380 1/m) of water from sand and gravel. The Madison Limestone of Mississippian age may yield several hundred gallons per minute per well, and the Teewinot Formation of Tertiary age may yield as much as 100 gpm (380 1/m) of water per well. Other geologic units would yield less than 100 gpm (380 1/m) of water per well; the probable yields from other geologic units are given in this report.

Water Resources of the Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

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