NVWSC: Hydrology of the Walker River Basin

Irrigated Acreage Delineated from Landsat-Derived Maximum Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) 1975-2010, Walker River Basin Nevada and California

USGS Data Release

These data represent the extent and spatial distribution of irrigated acreage delineated from maximum Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) derived from Landsat scenes in the Walker River Basin, California and Nevada, at five-year intervals from 1975-2010...

Knowing Requires Data

Ground Water

Groundwater-flow models are often calibrated using a limited number of observations relative to the unknown inputs required for the model. This is especially true for models that simulate groundwater–surface water interactions. In this case, subsurface temperature sensors can be an efficient means for...

Quantifying seepage using heat as a tracer in selected irrigation canals, Walker River Basin, Nevada, 2012 and 2013

Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5133

The Walker River is an important source of water for western Nevada. The river provides water for agriculture and recharge to local aquifers used by several communities. Farmers began diverting water from the Walker River in the 1860s to support growing agricultural development. Over time,the reduced inflows...

Hydrologic data for the Walker River Basin, Nevada and California, water years 2010–14

Data Series 967

Walker Lake is a threatened and federally protected desert terminal lake in western Nevada. To help protect the desert terminal lake and the surrounding watershed, the Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Geological Survey have been studying the hydrology of the Walker River Basin in Nevada and California since 2004. Hydrologic...

Simulation of the Lower Walker River Basin hydrologic system, west-central Nevada, using PRMS and MODFLOW models

Scientific Investigation Report 2014-5190

Walker Lake is a terminal lake in west-central Nevada with almost all outflow occurring through evaporation. Diversions from Walker River since the early 1900s have contributed to a substantial reduction in flow entering Walker Lake. As a result, the lake is receding...

Collaborative modelling and integrated decision support system analysis of a developed terminal lake basin

Journal of Hydrology, v. 517

A terminal lake basin in west-central Nevada, Walker Lake, has undergone drastic change over the past 90 yrs due to upstream water use for agriculture. Decreased inflows to the lake have resulted in 100 km ² decrease in lake surface area and a total loss of fisheries due to....

Early impacts of biological control on canopy cover and water use of the invasive saltcedar tree (Tamarix spp.) in western Nevada, USA

Oecologia, v. 165

The success of biological control programs is rarely assessed beyond population level impacts on the target organism. The question of whether a biological control agent can either partially or completely restore....

Water Budgets of the Walker River Basin and Walker Lake, California and Nevada

Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5157

The Walker River is the main source of inflow to Walker Lake, a closed-basin lake in west-central Nevada. The only outflow from Walker Lake is evaporation from the lake surface. Between 1882 and 2008, upstream agricultural diversions resulted in a lake-level decline of more than 150 feet and storage loss...

Hydrologic Setting and Conceptual Hydrologic Model of the Walker River Basin, West-Central Nevada

Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5155

The Walker River is the main source of inflow to Walker Lake, a closed-basin lake in west-central Nevada. Between 1882 and 2008, agricultural diversions resulted in a lake-level decline of more than 150 feet and storage loss of 7,400,000 acre-ft. Evaporative concentration increased dissolved solids from 2,500 to 17,000 milligrams...

Evapotranspiration from the Lower Walker River Basin, West-Central Nevada, Water Years 2005-07

Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5079

Evapotranspiration is the ultimate path of outflow of nearly all water from the Lower Walker River basin. Walker Lake is the terminus of the topographically closed Walker River basin, and the lake level has been declining at an average rate of about 1.6 feet per year (ft/yr) since 1917. As...

Bathymetry of Walker Lake, West-Central Nevada

Scientific Investigations Report 2007-5012

Walker Lake lies within a topographically closed basin in west-central Nevada and is the terminus of the Walker River. Much of the streamflow in the Walker River is diverted for irrigation, which has contributed to a decline in lake-surface altitude of about 150 feet and an increase in dissolved solids...

Trace Element and Radionuclide Concentrations in Walker River Bottom Sediment and Weber Reservoir Sediment Core, West-Central Nevada, 2005

Journal of the Nevada Water Resources Association

The Walker River Paiute Tribe is concerned that operations at the Yerington copper mine in Lyon County, Nevada, have contaminated water resources on the Walker River Indian Reservation. Mining in the Walker River Basin, including at the Yerington site...

Science to Sustain Terminal Lakes: The Walker River Basin Study

Fact Sheet 2005-3124

Section 2507 of Public Law 107-171 (2002 Farm Bill) provided $200,000,000 to be used by the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Commissioner of Reclamation, to provide water to at-risk natural desert terminal lakes. This bill was later amended under Public Law 108-7, Section 207 to include language 'Restoration...

Mercury in the Walker River Basin, Nevada and California--Sources, Distribution, and Potential Effects on the Ecosystem

Scientific Investigations Report 2004-5147

Mercury is one of the most serious contaminants of water, sediment, and biota in Nevada because of its use during 19th century mining activities to recover gold and silver from ores. In 1998, mercury problems were discovered in the Walker River Basin of California and Nevada...

Flood characteristics of the Wassuk Range near Hawthorne, Nevada

Fact Sheet 100-00

Floods are among the most frequent and costly natural disasters in terms of human hardship and economic loss. In July 1992, for example, flooding of several drainages near Hawthorne, Nevada, caused road closures and damage to homes and businesses...

Flood of January 1997 in the Walker River Basin, California and Nevada

Fact Sheet 182-97

Northern California and western Nevada were devastated by floods during January 1-3, 1997. Flood waters in the Walker River Basin contributed to $19.5 million in projected damages in Lyon County (Reno Gazette-Journal, 1997). Flooding was extensive throughout the Walker River Canyon, to the town of Yerington, and to local highways...

Field screening of water quality, bottom sediment, and biota associated with irrigation drainage in and near Walker River Indian Reservation, Nevada 1994-95

Water-Resources Investigations Report 96-4214

A study was begun in 1994 to determine whether the quality of irrigation drainage from the Walker River Indian Reservation, Nevada, has caused or has potential to cause harmful effects on human health or on fish and wildlife...

Water Budget and Salinity of Walker Lake, Western Nevada

Fact Sheet 115-95

Walker Lake is one of the rare perennial, terminal lakes in the Great Basin of the western United States. The lake is the terminus for all surface-water and ground-water flow in the Walker River Basin Hydrographic Region that is not consumed by evaporation, sublimation, or transpiration...

Sulfur speciation and isotopic analyses of sediment samples from Walker Lake, Nevada

Open-File Report 89-4

As part of an investigation of paleoclimates in the Basin and Range Province, sediment cores were obtained from Walker Lake, Nevada, in July, 1984. The purpose of the investigation was to obtain information from the sedimentary record...

Preliminary paleolimnologic data for the Walker Lake subbasin, California and Nevada

Water-Resources Investigations Report 87-4258

In order to understand the chemical evolution of Walker Lake and past changes in the Walker River hydrologic system, the Walker Lake subbasin in California and Nevada has been the site of gravity, piston,...

Late Quaternary paleolimnology of Walker Lake, Nevada

Journal of Paleolimnology

Diatoms, crustaceans, and pollen from sediment cores, in conjunction with dated shoreline tufas provide evidence for lake level and environmental fluctuations of Walker Lake in the late Quaternary. Large and rapid changes of lake chemistry and level apparently resulted from variations in the course and discharge of the Walker River...

Ground-water quality downgradient from copper-ore milling wastes at Weed Heights, Lyon County, Nevada

Open-File Report 80-1217

To determine the extent of ground-water contamination associated with milling-waste fluids at Weed Heights, 17 shallow test wells were drilled in the valley-floor sedimentary deposits immediately downgradient from ponds used...

An appraisal of the water resources of the Walker River Indian Reservation, Nevada

Open-File Report 80-427

Increasing interest in expanding the livestock and agricultural operations on the Walker River Indian Reservation, Nev., has prompted the Walker River Paiute Tribe to have the present and available water resources of the reservation appraised and proposed sites for new wells evaluated. Flow of the Walker River into the reservation...

Hydrology of the Walker River Basin

Publications