U.S. Geological Survey
National Water-Quality Assessment Program

USGS Internal Access Only

Regional Framework

The degree of confinement of the Upper Floridan aquifer is the major hydrogeologic control on the amount of recharge, discharge, and ground-water flow.  The Upper Floridan aquifer’s unique hydrogeologic features of a thin soil layer, high water table, porous limestone, and large amounts of rainfall, coupled with its rapid population growth, result in a ground water resource extremely vulnerable to contamination. Degree of confinement of the Upper Floridan aquifer (the primary drinking water unit) was the first level of stratification for water-quality assessments in the Floridan aquifer and will be used to prioritize and select major land-use study areas. The major land uses of concern for water-quality issues, urban and agriculture, are the second level of stratification  (to be used for land-use studies).