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Geology News
Ground Water Current Events

USGS has their Ground Water Atlas of the United States online. It describes the location, extent and geologic/hydrologic characteristics of the important aquifers of the United States.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has published a Fact Sheet titled “Preventing Groundwater Contamination”. It is a 10-page guide that explains sources of ground water contamination for a variety of types of businesses and how contamination problems can be eliminated or reduced.

The Water Sourcebooks is an EPA publication for K-12 teachers. It contains 324 activities for the following topics: Introduction to Water, Drinking Water and Wastewater Treatment, Surface Water Resources, Ground Water Resources, and Wetlands and Coastal Waters. It is free and the activity sheets can be used in classes without fee.

This article is a summary of what Steve Sibray, hydrogeologist at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, has been telling people all over Nebraska… “There are certain physical realities about ground water systems that Nebraskans should understand when they make rules or policies.”

Mike and Astri Kilburn have been heating their Vermont home with a ground water geothermal system for about 25 years. This article tells about their experience.

“A new model to simulate ground-water and surface-water interactions has been released by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The Ground-water and Surface-water FLOW (GSFLOW) model simultaneously accounts for climatic conditions, runoff across the land surface, subsurface flow and storage, and the connections among terrestrial systems, streams, lakes, wetlands, and ground water.” Quoted from the USGS release.

The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources is out looking for water wells that were damaged during the 2005 hurricane season. They are placing a temporary cap on these wells and may close them completely later. The goal is to limit contamination.

The Soil Science Society of America has a publication on the use of ground penetrating radar to do the following and more: identify soil layering, locate water tables, follow wetting front movement, estimate soil water content, assist in subsurface hydraulic parameter identification, assess soil salinity, and support the monitoring of contaminants.

Here’s a site where you can download and print free graph papers in a variety of formats. Square grid paper, polar coordinate paper, isometric paper and axis graph paper.

The ground-water systems underlying many of the valleys in eastern Nevada and western Utah are not isolated but rather contribute or receive flow from adjoining basins. USGS has a new report detailing White Pine County, Nevada, as a critical recharge area for several major regional flow systems that extend north to the Great Salt Lake and, south to the Colorado River.

Homeowners in La Quinta, California are preparing to sue the Coachella Valley Water District because the agency’s overuse of ground water caused subsidence that damaged their homes. The homeowners are supplied with water by CVWD.

USGS has a collection of publications related to the Great Lakes. These include information on ground water, precipitation, stream inflow, water use, lake levels, water availability, maps and much more.

A small area in Manitoba has lots of water supply wells with elevated fluoride content. The geographic distribution of this problem is coincident with an ancient impact crater.

USGS reports that methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), a gasoline additive, is widespread in New Hampshire’s ground water. Ground water from Rockingham, Strafford, Hillsborough and Merrimack Counties were the most likely to contain MTBE. However, even in these counties MTBE concentrations were significantly below the state drinking water limit and the federal drinking water advisory.

Communities in the Coachella Valley are seeing subsidence, sometimes over one inch per year. USGS and local agencies are blaming the subsidence on ground water production at rates greatly exceeding recharge.

The High Plains Aquifer, often called the Ogallala Aquifer, is a very important source of water for agriculture in the southern Great Plains. It has been heavily pumped for decades and now some areas have seen over 150 feet of water table decline.

The Kansas Geological Survey will measure more than 500 water wells in western and south-central Kansas during the first week of January. This is part of their annual program to detect changes in ground water levels of the High Plains Aquiifer. Lots of the wells show a long term decline.

Earth fissures are cracks in the ground that are often associated with heavy ground water production. They have been a special problem in Pinal County, Arizona. This article presents the problem and refers to a free downloadable report on Land Subsidence and Earth Fissures at the Arizona Geological Survey’s website.

This is one of the frequently asked questions at USGS…. “How can you find out how deep the water table is in a specific location?”

USGS Image

As population and business activity increase around public water supply wells the number of contamination problems increase. USGS has released a report: Anthropogenic Organic Compounds in Ground Water and Finished Water of Community Water Systems in the Northern Tampa Bay Area, Florida, which documents this problem.

A municipal well in Chandler, Arizona produces naturally hot water that is delivered to residential taps at up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit - and sometimes higher. Although people who are supplied by the well do not have “cold running water” but the city enjoys its 3 million gallons per day production capacity. We know some people in northern climates who would love to own that well!

Colorado Map

In 1969 a 43 kiloton nuclear bomb was detonated at a depth of 8,426 feed below Colorado. This was Project Rulison, a test to determine if an underground nuclear blast could be used to stimulate natural gas production from a low grade field. The gas was too reactive to be sold commercially. Today drillers are seeking permission to drill close to the buffer zone around the Rulison site and property owners are concerned about escaping radiation or the contamination of ground waters.