356 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XI, No. 7 
lower than that of March. After September 13 the water was every¬ 
where more than 7 feet from the surface and could no longer be measured. 
Figure 16 shows in composite form the same results as are shown in 
figures 2 to 8, each curve being a composite of the four well readings at 
the given distance from the pump. The wells on the diagonal at 300 
feet distant from the pump are omitted from this diagram. 
During May the average daily discharge from the pump was about 
0.20 cubic feet per second, or slightly under 130,000 gallons per 24-hour 
day. This is sufficient to cover 1 acre 3 H inches deep every 24 hours 
and without storage facilities is too small an amount for practical farm 
irrigation. 
252 , . Ground ■Sur~/&c.e, 
350 
Af&rr 
Ap/r 
Afsy 
t/une. 
*Ju fy 
■Se-pi: 
349 
343 
247 
—.7^^ 
iJXrri 
24$ 
■" 
l / 
\ 
245 
_ 
s'* 
y 
** ,« 
\ ' 
■244 
f 
343 
242 
a — to ft /rv/rr-J 
5mfOO" - 
ump 
34/ 
0*300* « * 
d"600 * « 
340 Z.gye/ /r> Sump w5//e Pumo/ng* 
339 
333 
Fig. 16.—Composite curve showing water table from March to September, 1915, inclusive, at different 
distances from the pump. 
CONCLUSIONS 
The results of this experiment lead to the conclusion that under soil, 
irrigation, and farming conditions such as are found on the Kearney 
Park Experiment Station tract, pumping from a shallow well does not 
lower the ground-water table sufficiently to afford drainage to any 
considerable area. In this experiment, although the water table in 
the sump was maintained at a depth of about 12 feet below the ground 
surface and 5 to 7 feet below the normal ground water, the effect of the 
pumping was not appreciable beyond 100 feet from the pump. Except 
within a very short distance from the pump, the ground water rose to a 
point as near the ground surface in 1915 while the pump was in opera¬ 
tion as it did in 1914, .when no pumping was done. Seasonal variations 
are great enough to account for any differences observed. 
Contrary to the results obtained here, it has been found that the 
water table can be materially lowered by the use of tile drains for greater 
distances away from the drain than is shown in this experiment. On 
the Kearney Vineyard Experimental Drain, 1, only 2 miles away, it was 
1 Weir, W. W. preliminary report on kearney vineyard experimental drain, fresno county, 
California. Cal. Agr. Fxp. Sta. Bui. 273, p. 101-123, 11 fig. 1916. 
