Groundwater
The majority of the Rattlesnake Creek subbasin overlies the Great Bend Prairie portion of the High Plains aquifer. The headwaters begin in the Ogallala - High Plains aquifer. Unconfined Dakota Aquifer underlies about 80 percent of the southwest portion of the Rattlesnake Creek subbasin. The Dakota and High Plains aquifers are hydraulically connected.
The Kansas Geological Survey, Big Bend Groundwater Management District No. 5 and the Kansas Department of Agriculture's Division of Water Resources measure water levels in the subbasin. They combine efforts to measure 161 wells annually. The Division of Water Resources collects additional water level measurements. They measure three times a year in the winter, spring and fall.
The water level charts only use winter water levels. These include measurements in December, January and February. Winter measurements are the least influenced by irrigation well pumping. The Priority Area Charts show groundwater levels in all the monitoring wells. The charts also show the five-year rolling averages. The label on the y-axis is Depth Below Land Surface (DBLS) in feet.