Hydrogeology and aquifer test of the San Andres-Glorieta aquifer on the southwest part of the Zuni Indian Reservation, Cibola County, New Mexico
A large-yield aquifer test of the confined San Andres-Glorieta aquifer was conducted in 1988 to estimate aquifer properties and evaluate the potential effects of large-scale development on the aquifer by pumping from a cave-fracture system on the southwest part of the Zuni Indian Reservation. The San Andres-Glorieta aquifer underlies the reservation and in much of the area is the only aquifer capable of yielding large volumes of water. Two observation wells were drilled 1.2 and 2.7 miles from the pumped well. Water-level responses were recorded at distances from 179 feet to about 5 miles from the pumped well at these and other wells and at Rainbow Spring. Water levels declined at all observation wells and Rainbow Spring in response to pumping for more than 10 days at about 2,580 gallons per minute. Drawdown after 9 days varied from about 4 feet at the pumped well to about 0.2 foot at the most distant observation well and Rainbow Spring. If pumping continued at the average rate as the first 9 days of the test, 2,540 gallons per minute, and aquifer response remained constant, Rainbow Spring would have nearly 2 feet of drawdown after 30 years, and probably would be accompanied by a reduction in springflow of about 65 percent, to about 210 gallons per minute. Water quality remained generally unchanged throughout the aquifer test and is practically the same as that of samples collected at well ZS-1 in 1984 and Rainbow Spring in 1979.