THE WATER STORY IN CENTRAL IOWA

F.R. Twenter and R.W. Coble

Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Geological Survey Bureau,
Water Atlas No. 1, 1965, 89 p.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Central Iowa -- the setting
The land surface
Scenes of central Iowa
Population -- past, present, and future

Use of water

How much water is used?
Factors that influence the amount of water used
Conserving water by efficient management

Some features of climate

The water cycle
Precipitation replenishes streams and groundwater reservoirs

Source of water supplies
Water in streams

Streamflow -- sometimes high, sometimes low
How much runoff

The aquifers

Wells provide information on groundwater and its container
The rocks that are aquifers
The aquifers that supply water for cities and communities
Surficial aquifers -- how they occur
The bedrock surface reveals the location of the better water-bearing rocks in the surficial aquifers
The bedrock aquifers -- their altitude and configuration
Thickness of bedrock aquifers

Water in the aquifers

Water levels
What will the water level be?
How much water can be pumped?

Water -- how good is it?
Physical and chemical properties of streams change

Good water in the shallower surficial aquifers
Some good water, some poor, in the upper bedrock aquifer
Poor quality water -- a general characteristic of the middle bedrock aquifer
Potable water in much of the lower bedrock aquifer
Some water-quality problems can be solved

Availability of water

Availability from streams
Availability from surficial aquifers
Availability from upper and middle bedrock aquifers
Availability from lower bedrock aquifer

A good water supply -- where is it?
A summary chart
Where more information can be found