Stream-Groundwater Interactions Along Streams of the Eastern Sierra Nevada, California: Implications for Assessing Potential Impacts of Flow Diversions

Abstract

One of the most fundamental hydrologic determinations to be made in assessing the probable impacts of flow diversions on riparian vegetation is whether flows are gaining or losing water to groundwater in the reach of interest. Flow measurements on eight streams in the Owens River and Mono Lake basins show that stream- groundwater interactions can produce substantial changes in flow; these changes can vary among streams, along one stream, and in different seasons. Over one stream reach, autumn baseflow increased nearly three-fold from groundwater contributions; in another, summer flow decreased 50 percent.

Parent Publication

• Proceedings of the California riparian systems conference: protection, management, and restoration for the 1990s; 1988 September 22-24; Davis, CA.

Citation

Kondolf, G. Mathias. 1989. Stream-Groundwater Interactions Along Streams of the Eastern Sierra Nevada, California: Implications for Assessing Potential Impacts of Flow Diversions. In: Abell, Dana L., Technical Coordinator. 1989. Proceedings of the California Riparian Systems Conference: protection, management, and restoration for the 1990s; 1988 September 22-24; Davis, CA. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-110. Berkeley, CA: Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; p. 352-359