Summary of hydrologic conditions of the Louisville area, Kentucky

Abstract

Water problems and their solution have been associated with the growth and development of the Louisville area for more than a century. Many hydrologic data that aided water users in the past can be applied to present water problems and will be helpful for solving many similar problems in the future. Most of the water problems of Louisville, a water-rich area, concern management and are associated with the distribtuion of supplies, the quality of water, drainage, and waste disposal. The local hydrologic system at Louisville is dominated by the Ohio Piver and the glacial-outwash deposits beneath its flood plain. The water-bearing limestones in the uplands are secondary sources of water. The average flow of the Ohio River at Louisville, 73 billion gallons per day, and the potential availability of 370 million gallons per day of ground water suitable for industrial cooling purposes minimize the chance of acute water shortage in the area. Under current development, use of water averages about 211 million gallons per day, excluding about 392 million gallons of Ohio River water circulated daily through steampower plants and returned directly to the river. Optimum use ard control of the water resources will be dependent on solving several water problems. The principal sources of water are in the Ohio River bottom land, whereas the new and potential centers of use are in the uplands. Either water must be piped to these new centers from the present sources or new supplies must be developed. Available data on streamflow and ground water are adequate to plan for the development of small local supplies. Since the completion of floodwalls and levees in 1953, widespread damage from flooding is a thing of the past in the Louisville area. Some local flooding of unprotected areas and of lowlands along tributary streams still takes place. The analyses of streamflow data are useful in planning for protection of these areas, but additional streamflow records and flood-area mapping are needed to best solve the problem. Droughts are a problem only to users of sirall water supplies in the uplands, where additional water either can be imported or developed locally. Pollution and undesirable chemical quality of water for some uses are the most serious drawbacks to the optimum development of the water resources in Louisville and Jefferson County. Available chemical analyses of ground water Cl C2 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HYDROLOGY OF THE UNITED STATES are useful for determining its suitability for various uses, but additional data are needed to guide management decisions. Sources of contamination should be inventoried and water samples analyzed periodically to monitor changes in quality. PURPOSE AND SCOPE This report describes the hydrologic system and its operation, identifies Louisville's water problems, and shows how the aralysis and interpretation of basic water-resource data are applied to water problems. Special emphasis is given to ground-water problems and to summarizing data that are useful to water managers in developing and utilizing ground-water supplies in the area. Geologic investigations in the area provided data to describe the natural environment in which the hydrologic cycle operates. Hydrologic and hydraulic studies resulted in knowledge of the occurrence and movement of water within the area. The types of basic data include determinations of physical and hydrologic characteristics of soil and rock, determinations of streamflows and ground-w?,ter levels, determinations of temperature, and the physical and chemical properties of waters. Correlations of the basic data with natural phenomena, such as precipitation, and with changes in the environment imposed by man delineate the water regimen and relate the hydrologic system to the development and conservation of Louisville's water resources. RESULTS OF INVESTIGATIONS Most of the data collected and analyzed during investigations of ground-water resources in the Louisville area since 1943 ar°. incorporated in Geological Survey reports resulting from those investigations. Before the 1950's, the reports, were generally released to open file and duplicated in limited quantities. A tropical summary of basic groundwater information is given in table 1. COOPERATION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with city, county, State, or Federal agencies, and currently in cooperation with the Kentucky Geological Survey, has been active in water-resources investigations in the Louisville area since 1938. Intensive studies of ground-water resources in the area began in 1943 in cooperation with the Geological Division, Kentucky State Department of Mines and Minerals (now the Kentucky Geological Survey, a research and service department of the University of Kentucky), and with the city of Louisville. The studies were continued in cooperation with Jefferson County, the Rubber Reserve Company (a wartime agency of th°! Federal T A B L E 1 . C la ss if ic at io n of r ef er en ce s by t op ic