National Water-Quality Assessment Pilot --
Ground-Water Quality on the Delmarva Peninsula
WRD
PROJECT #: MD086
PROJECT CHIEF: Denver, Judith M.
BEGIN DATE: 01-March-1986
END DATE: 30-September-1994
Customers currently supporting the project:
U.S. Geological Survey
Problem
Assessing ground-water quality on a national or regional scale is extremely difficult. Past site-specific studies indicate that local problems exist on the Delmarva Peninsula, but ground-water quality has never been comprehensively addressed on a regional scale. The data that do exist are not available in a form suitable for evaluating ground-water-quality trends. Additionally, there is no precedent for a ground-water-quality monitoring strategy on this scale.
Objectives
The study has two general objectives. The first is to describe the nature and extent of water-quality problems in the study area. The second is to develop methods and strategies for conducting assessments in large geographic regions such as the Delmarva Peninsula. More specific objectives include the following:
- Develop an understanding between recharge-discharge relations and ground- water-quality patterns.
- Determine the scope of contamination from manmade sources, particularly agricultural chemicals and volatile organic compounds.
- Develop an understanding of relations between water quality and mappable features such as surficial geology, soils, geomorphology, and land use.
Approach
Several major work elements that overlap in time will be performed. Existing water-quality information will be collected, summarized, and analyzed to identify data needs. A broad survey of a wide range of chemical constituents of water-quality concern will be done for the principal aquifers at sites geographically distributed around the Peninsula. Local studies of patterns of ground-water flow and chemistry will be done in areas thought to be representative of the major hydrogeologic and land-use settings in the Peninsula. Relations between water quality and mappable features will be explored using statistics and a computerized geographic information system.
