Groundwater and Surface Water Interaction of Several Irrigation Systems in the Mississippi River Basin Alluvial Aquifer

The Lower Mississippi River Basin alluvial aquifer provides irrigation water for agriculture in most of eastern Arkansas, western Tennessee, southeastern Missouri, western Mississippi and northeastern Louisiana. The alluvial aquifer depth to water has been declining by approximately 1 foot per year due to unsustainable pumping levels. Replacing groundwater with surface water sources in the Lower Mississippi River Basin is one of the many solutions to declining groundwater stores that has taken root in the region, especially in eastern Arkansas. Surface water irrigation systems consist of an on-farm reservoir and tailwater recovery. The reservoir is used to store water for later use during wet periods of the year and the tailwater recovery creates a closed basin of the irrigation system, allowing for use and re-use of irrigation water. Several irrigation systems were instrumented to further understand the interaction between surface water and groundwater in alluvial aquifer region. Three reservoirs, 9 streams and ditches, and 8 groundwater wells were instrumented in fall of 2011. Groundwater potentiometric surface under the storage reservoirs showed a rebound while a potentiometric surface falls sharply south and west moving away from the storage reservoirs. Preliminary results from the findings from these sites are presented.