EARTHCACHE LOCATIONS:
This is a two stage Earthcache. The distance between the two stages is approximately a half a mile and can either be driven or turned into a short hike; you choose.
STAGE 1:
The above coordinates (44° 55.047 W097° 11.294) will take you to the boulevard of the city of Watertown's Water Filtration Plant. Please park on the side of the road. Do not block the driveway. It is occasionally used by the Water Filtration Plant Staff. Please note that a picture is requested to be taken at this location as part of the logging requirements.
This facility no longer provides drinking water for the city of Watertown, however, it is still used as a United States Geological Survey (USGS) gaging station for Lake Kampeska. This gaging station is used to monitor the lake's level and forecast if flooding will occur at the lake and in the Watertown area. It is also used to determine if the gates at the inlet/outlet weir are to be open or closed.
USGS Gaging Station 06479449
Lake Kampeska At Water Plant At Watertown, SD
Hydrologic Unit 10170202
Datum of gage: 1,697.93 feet above sea level NGVD29
Drainage area: 28.8 square miles
Contributing drainage area: 28.8 square miles
(This area does not include upstream drainage area of the Big Sioux River, which can contribute inflow to the lake.)
This station is part of the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Water Information System (NWIS). NWIS is a comprehensive and distributed application that supports the acquisition, processing, and long-term storage of water data. NWISWeb serves as the publicly available portal to a geographically seamless set of much of the water data maintained within NWIS.
Nationally, USGS surface-water data includes more than 850,000 station years of time-series data that describe stream levels, streamflow (discharge), reservoir and lake levels, surface-water quality, and rainfall. The data are collected by automatic recorders and manual field measurements at installations across the Nation.
Data are collected by field personnel or relayed through telephones or satellites to offices where it is stored and processed. The data relayed through the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) system are processed automatically in near real time, and in many cases, real-time data are available online within minutes as is the case for this station.
Once a complete day of readings are received from a site, daily summary data are generated and made available online. Annually, the USGS finalizes and publishes the daily data in a series of water-data reports. Approved daily data and peak data are updated annually following publication of the reports.
STAGE 2:
Now drive up the road and park at 44° 55.344 W097° 10.818. Lake Kampeska was formed many years ago by glacial processes (probably the melting of a remnant ice block) in a zone of glacial stagnation on the boundary between end-moraine till and outwash deposits (Steece, 1957). The composition of bed material of the lake shortly following the lake’s formation probably consisted of till with overlying outwash in some parts. Because of the uncertainty concerning the specific formation processes, the extent and thickness of outwash in the original lake bed is not known.
There is a direct connection between the Big Sioux River and Lake Kampeska. Near Lake Kampeska, the Big Sioux River has a meandering channel, and relief in the area is only a few feet. It is possible that the Big Sioux River and Lake Kampeska were naturally connected early in their history and that surface connection may have been reduced or eliminated as the Big Sioux River deposited sands and gravels along the northeast side of the lake. The modern history of the connection is uncertain, but some connection, at least when the Big Sioux River was at flood stages, probably occurred since the late 1800’s based on old newspaper accounts. In the 1930’s, the surface-water connection between the river and the lake was channelized (Madison, 1994); however, this channelization may have been an enhancement of a connection that had been in existence for some time based on historical information (Watertown Public Opinion, 1969). Since the 1940’s, the inlet also has served as the outlet after the original outlet along the southeastern part of the lake was blocked during the construction of an airport (Madison, 1994).
LOGGING REQUIREMENTS:
In order to count this Earthcache as a find, you must complete the following tasks and email the answers to me.
- Post a picture of yourself/team with the Water Filtration Plant in the background (optional).
- Go to this website (Click Here) and determine the most recent instantaneous gage height. Email me the gage height.
- Remembering the homes and the level of water in the lake near Stage 2, what do you think would happen if the level of the lake was a gage height of 24 feet (approximately six (6) feet over full)? This was the approximate level of the lake during the spring of 1997.
- Based on the graph below, was the level of the water in the lake higher or lower than normal in 2009 (in general)?
Resources:
Sediment Accumulation and Distribution in Lake Kampeska, Watertown, South Dakota by Bryan D. Schaap and Steven K. Sando.