In Shelby County current water use is about 18 mgy for industry, and 33 mgy for mining. There are no power production facilities consuming water in Shelby County. Any future change in water uses for industry, mining, and power production could have a large impact on total water use in the county. The Des Moines Lobe is characterized by inadequate drainage, knob and kettle terrain, and lack of loess cover. The four major ground water sources for municipal, industrial, domestic, and livestock water supplies in west-central Iowa are alluvial, buried channel, basal Pleistocene, and Dakota aquifers.
Alluvium consists of permeable sand and gravel interbedded with less permeable clay and silt.
Alluvium is water deposited material in flood plains along streams and rivers. Some significant sand and gravel deposits are in buried channels. The sand and gravel in the buried channels were deposited by ancient streams that flowed before, during, or between glacial advances. Locally these buried channel deposits are productive aquifers. A basal Pleistocene aquifer consisting of sand or sand and gravel is on many of the buried bedrock ridges between buried channels in parts of west-central Iowa.