Where does the water come from for Sun Lakes?

[DH]

I have had some good trips to the Sun Lakes chain this year. Does anyone know if, or how Deep, Park, Blue Lake, and Lenore are connected? Does the canal system below Banks Lake somehow feed fresh water to them? I noticed a flow in Blue Lake this fall and the lake level dropped over a weeks time. The flow was to the south where Lenore and Alkali lakes are. I find the geography and fishing of that area to be a great place to visit. Thanks. DH

[jmay]

Those are all seep lakes, ground water working its way to the surface via cracks in the basalt. Blue lake has some large underwater springs feeding it...ps those springs fish well in the summer

[michaelunbewust]

ALOT OF THEM ARE SEEP LAKES, BUT SOME OF THE WATER COMES FROM PARTS OF THE COLUMBIA BASIN IRRIGATION PROJECT, IRRIGATION DRAINAGE. SOME OTHER SEEP LAKES ARE OFF OF POTHOLES RESEVIOR, ALL THE WAY TO OTHELLO (VIRGIN,CANAL,MARCO POLO).

[YellowBear]

Hi there DH,
If you are interested in the area, you might want to check out a book called ( CATACYSMS on the COLUMBIA)
By John Eliot and Marjorie Burns with Sam C.Sargent.
Its a very interesting read.

[YellowBear]

Hi there DH,
If you are interested in the area, you might want to check out a book called ( CATACLYSMS on the COLUMBIA)
By John Eliot and Marjorie Burns with Sam C.Sargent.
Its a very interesting read.

[Marc Martyn]

Those are all seep lakes, ground water working its way to the surface via cracks in the basalt. Blue lake has some large underwater springs feeding it...ps those springs fish well in the summer

I think that JMay is correct. I got out my Gazetteer and looked closely at the area. There are springs all over the place in that area. Judging from the number of wells also in the area, I would guess that there is quite a large water table under that region.

Speaking of Lenore, has anyone fished it yet this fall?

[jmay]

I went back and looked at a geology book from "USC", University of Spokane Cheney aka EWU.

There was a volcanic fissure near present day Walla Walla the spread layers of lava over 10's of thousand of years. Between each layer water was trapped because in geologic time Eastern Washington was a moist climate. The cooled lava, basalt, is brittle and when cracked the trapped water will flow to the lowest points causing present day lakes. The trapped water is also the source of Rocky Ford's water and Gloyd seeps north or Moses Lake.

Towns like Odessa, Ritzville ect receive there drinking water by drilling wells and taking water from between each crack. Once a well runs dry you can just drill deeper to the next layer to find the next source of water. However since this is pre historic water with very little aquafer recharge there is only a finite amount.