Assignments
Our assignments for this class will focus on practical issues related to the city of Seattle's main water supply, the Cedar River Watershed.
Week 1: Groundwater Flow and Flow Nets
Lab 1: Assignment Sheet
To answer question 1, you will need to read about the Masonry Dam and Pool:
First, read about the history of the Cedar River watershed, and take the "virtual tour."
Next, read a short history of how the town of Moncton was innundated by the creation of Rattlesnake Lake.
If interested, you can access historic archives of photographs of the building of the Masonry Dam here.
You can also read historic newspaper articles about the "Boxley Blowout," where a side of the embankment washed away, flooding the town of Edgewick in 1918.
However, if you're not interested in history, a short, concise, scientific summary can be found in Robert Hirsch's 1975 thesis, Glacial Geology and Geomorphology of the Upper Cedar River Watershed.
If you're having trouble drawing flow nets, several additional resources can be found below. These include the same information, how to draw flow nets and what flow nets represent, from several different sources. Feel free to print and use whichever source is most useful to you.
Humbolt State University's Geology 556 Class on Hydrogeology
University of Texas Class Notes on Flow Nets
Your textbook is also an excellent source.