USGS Monthly Groundwater News and Highlights: October 1, 2016

Featured Product: Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Groundwater Availability Study

Block diagram showing the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system, which includes the areas east of the Fall Line from Long Island to northern North Carolina. This multilayer system consists of confined aquifers and confining units capped by an unconfined, surficial aquifer. Groundwater flows predominantly from west to east from the Fall Line to the Atlantic Ocean, except where high-capacity pumping wells alter this regional flow pattern. Credit: USGS. Image is in the public domain.

Groundwater is among the Nation's most important natural resources. It provides half our drinking water and is essential to the vitality of agriculture and industry, as well as to the health of rivers, wetlands, and estuaries throughout the country. The USGS is undertaking a series of regional groundwater availability studies to improve our understanding of groundwater availability in major aquifers across the Nation.

The USGS Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain groundwater availability study focuses on improving fundamental knowledge of the water budget of this aquifer system, including the flows, storage, and use by humans and the environment. The study area extends from New York to North Carolina. An improved quantitative understanding of the aquifer system's water budget not only provides key information about water quantity, but also is essential for assessments of water quality and ecosystem health. The objectives of this study are:

to quantify the current groundwater resources of one of the Nation's priority aquifer systems;
to evaluate how this resource has changed over time; and
to provide the tools needed to forecast how this aquifer system may respond to future human and environmental stresses.

To learn more about the USGS Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Groundwater Availability study, visit:

Fact Sheet: Sustainability of groundwater supplies in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system

Press Release: Study Assesses Threats to Groundwater Availability and Sustainability in Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain (September 6, 2016)

Professional Paper: Assessment of groundwater availability in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system From Long Island, New York, to North Carolina

Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain study web site

USGS Groundwater-Related Press Releases

Animation of Groundwater Watch Active Water Level Network, 30 days

The USGS Active Groundwater Level Network includes about 20,000 wells that have been measured by the USGS or USGS cooperators at least once within the past 13 months. The animation shows a daily snapshot of water-level statistics in the network for September 2016. Credit: USGS. The image is in the public domain.

Study Assesses Threats to Groundwater Availability and Sustainability in Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain (September 6, 2016)

USGS Groundwater-Related Publications

Altitudes and thicknesses of hydrogeologic units of the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma

U.S. Geological Survey science for the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative -- 2015 annual report

Potential sources of analytical bias and error in selected trace element data-quality analyses

Construction of a groundwater-flow model for the Big Sioux Aquifer using airborne electromagnetic methods, Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Discharge, water temperature, and water quality of Warm Mineral Springs, Sarasota County, Florida: A retrospective analysis

Groundwater contaminant plume maps and volumes, 100-K and 100-N Areas, Hanford Site, Washington

User guide for MODPATH Version 7 -- A particle-tracking model for MODFLOW

Environmental conditions in the Namskaket Marsh Area, Orleans, Massachusetts: A summary of studies by the U.S. Geological Survey, 1989-2011

Simulation of groundwater withdrawal scenarios for the Redwall-Muav and Coconino Aquifer Systems of northern and central Arizona

Simulating groundwater flow in karst aquifers with distributed parameter models -- Comparison of porous-equivalent media and hybrid flow approaches

Observations of nearshore groundwater discharge: Kahekili Beach Park submarine springs, Maui, Hawaii

Sea-level rise and coastal groundwater inundation and shoaling at select sites in California, USA

Custom map projections for regional groundwater models

Groundwater-level change and evaluation of simulated water levels for irrigated areas in Lahontan Valley, Churchill County, west-central Nevada, 1992 to 2012

Significance of groundwater discharge along the coast of Poland as a source of dissolved metals to the southern Baltic Sea

Assessing groundwater depletion and dynamics using GRACE and InSAR: Potential and limitations

Assessment of managed aquifer recharge at Sand Hollow Reservoir, Washington County, Utah, updated to conditions through 2014

Science center capabilities to monitor and investigate Michigan's water resources, 2016

Holocene paleoclimate inferred from salinity histories of adjacent lakes in southwestern Sicily (Italy)

Organic petrology and geochemistry of mudrocks from the lacustrine Lucaogou Formation, Santanghu Basin, northwest China: Application to lake basin evolution

Groundwater-quality data in the Monterey-Salinas shallow aquifer study unit, 2013: Results from the California GAMA Program

Regional chloride distribution in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system from Long Island, New York, to North Carolina

Sustainability of groundwater supplies in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system

Documentation of a groundwater flow model developed to assess groundwater availability in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system from Long Island, New York, to North Carolina

Assessment of groundwater availability in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system From Long Island, New York, to North Carolina

Digital elevations and extents of regional hydrogeologic units in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system from Long Island, New York, to North Carolina

Methods for exploring uncertainty in groundwater management predictions

Fate of nutrients in shallow groundwater receiving treated septage, Malibu, CA

USGS Groundwater-Related Software Updates and New Releases

MT3D-USGS v1.0.0

Groundwater Toolbox v1.2.0

GSFLOW v1.2.1

MODFLOW-NWT v.1.1.2

USGS Groundwater Flow and Transport Model Data Releases

Note: The following links take you to data.gov

MODFLOW-NWT model used to evaluate groundwater/surface-water interactions in the Bad River Watershed, Wisconsin

MODFLOW and MODFLOW Conduit Flow Process data sets for simulation experiments of the Woodville Karst Plain, near Tallahassee, Florida with three different approaches and different stress periods

MODFLOW-NWT model used to assess groundwater availability in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system from Long Island, New York to North Carolina

Field Photo: Water quality and sampling at spring site

Understanding the interaction of groundwater and surface water is essential to water managers and hydrologists for the development of effective water-resource policy, protection, and management. Groundwater/surface-water interactions include the exchange of fluids and solutes, which can affect water quality and water supply. Groundwater is a major source of water to streams, lakes, and wetlands; surface water can also recharge (replenish) groundwater supplies.

In this photo, water quality and sampling equipment are deployed at spring site near Roaring Judy, Colorado. Groundwater discharge that flows into the Upper Colorado River Basin varies in response to drought, which is likely due to aquifer systems that contain relatively young groundwater, according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey study.

Photo of equipment in a spring-fed pool of water

Credit: USGS. Photo is in the public domain. Click on photo for larger version.

Archive of Past Highlights:

Past monthly summaries are available online.