Date of Award:

5-1950

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Department name when degree awarded

Civil Engineering

Committee Chair(s)

Cleve H. Milligan

Committee

Cleve H. Milligan

Committee

O. W. laraelsen

Committee

J. E. Christiansen

Abstract

In irrigated areas it often becomes necessary to provide means by which the excess water may be removed. After a period of time if these drainage provisions are not made, it may become necessary, because of the saline soils or water logged condition that may develop, to abandon the land for agricultural purposes.

The increases of irrigation on the higher lands in Utah has resulted in an increased need for drainage on much of the lower land in the valleys. This increased need for drainage has long been recognized and in 1947 it influenced the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station, in cooperation with the Utah Power and Light Company, to set up an experimental drainage project (Ut. Agr. Exp. Sta. Project 285, The Drainage of Irrigated Lands). The objectives of the project were:*

  1. To develop new and improved methods of design, operation, and maintenance of drainage systems; both gravity and pumping.
  2. To develop improvements in the design, the spacing and maintenance of drainage tile, with special reference to prevention of inflow of excessive sand, silt, and clay which clogs tile drains and necessitates very costly cleaning or abandonment.
  3. To develop a clear understanding, by field inspection and experimentation, of the reason for successful drainage of 100,000 acres of Utah irrigated land, now well drained, and of the reasons for failures of the drainage systems covering an additional 100,000 cares.
  4. To find the conditions under which, and the extent to which, drainage by pumping is preferable to drainage by gravity systems and to design, locate, drill and develop drainage wells so as to obtain maximum yield per foot of drawdown, and thus decrease drainage costs.

The Utah Power and Light Company provided, as part of its cooperation, a fund for research fellows. The policy of assigning a drainage problem area to each research fellow was adopted by the cooperating agencies.

In 1947, Mr. Sterling Davis undertook the first study in the Lewiston Area, Utah. This area contains approximately 12,000 acres and is located between the Bear River and Cub River and extends south from the Utah-Idaho State line to where the rivers join. (See map Fig. 1.)* This study was carried on cooperatively by the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station, Utah Power and Light Company, East Lewiston Drainage District, Cache County Drainage Districts number 3, 5, and 6, and the Amalgamated Sugar Company. The studies of Davis are reported in a thesis for M.S. Degree at Utah State Agricultural College, 1948, "The Drainage Problem in the Lewiston Area, Utah."

Gregory L. Pearson conducted experiments on the design of a shallow well for drainage by pumping in the Lewiston Area. The design proposed by him consists of a well point placed in a horizontal position with a gravel envelope around it to prevent the flow of sand into the well point. Pearson's studies are reported in a thesis for M.S. Degree at Utah State Agricultural College, 1949, "Design of Shallow Wells for Drainage by Pumping, Lewiston Area, Utah."

Further studies of the drainage problems in the Lewiston Area and their possible solution by pumping from shallow wells are reported in this thesis. The research consisted of:

  1. Investigations as to type of well to use.
  2. Drilling of test holes to determine the depth to the low-permeability clay.
  3. Developing a system of shallow wells for experimental purposes.
  4. Test pumping a system of wells to determine the effect on lowering the water table.
  5. Cost analysis to determine the annual cost per acre.

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