Ground-water development in East St. Louis area, Illinois. Urbana, IL ...

River stages were higher in June 1962 than in November
1961. During the winter and early spring months, conditions
were favorable for the infiltration of rainfall to
the water table. Ground-water levels rose appreciably
along the bluffs, the rise exceeding 7 feet in places.
Ground-water level rises along the Mississippi River
exceeded 5 feet east of Wood River and east of National
City; ground-water level rises exceeded 5 feet at the
northern end of Long Lake and near Dupo. Water levels
declined less than 1 foot around Horseshoe Lake and
between 1 and 2 feet in a small area near Monsanto.
Examples of fluctuations in water levels in the East
St. Louis area are shown in figures 44-49. The locations of
observation wells for which hydrographs are available
are given in figure 50. As illustrated by the hydrographs
for wells remote from major pumping centers in figure 44,
water levels generally recede in the late spring, summer,
and early fall when discharge from the ground-water
reservoir by evapotranspiration, by ground-water runoff
to streams, and by pumping from wells is greater
than recharge from precipitation and induced infiltration
of surface water from the Mississippi River and other
Figure 42.
Estimated change in water levels,
June 1961 to June 1962
Figure 41.
Estimated change in water levels,
June to November 1961
streams. Water levels generally begin to recover in the
early winter when conditions are favorable for the infiltration
of rainfall to the water table. The recovery of
water levels is especially pronounced during the spring
months when the ground-water reservoir receives most
of its annual recharge. Water levels are frequently
highest in May and lowest in December, depending primarily
upon climatic conditions, pumping rates, and
the stage of the Mississippi River. Water levels in wells
remote from major pumping centers have a seasonal
fluctuation ranging from 1 to 13 feet and averaging
about 4 feet.
Water levels in the East St. Louis area declined appreciably
during the drought, 1952-1956. The records of
the U.S. Weather Bureau at Edwardsville indicate that
rainfall averaged about 34.3 inches per year from 1952
through 1956, or about 6.5 inches per year below normal.
The hydrograph of water levels in well MAD 3N8W-
31.2a and the graph of annual precipitation at Edwardsville
for 1941 to 1962 in figure 45 illustrate the pronounced
effect of the prolonged drought on water levels.
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