USGS North Carolina Water Science Center
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Piedmont-Mountains Ground Water
Background Ground-water flow in the regolith-crystalline bedrock aquifer of North Carolina is complex and not well understood. The ground-water resources of the Piedmont and Blue Ridge Physiographic Provinces are critical to the welfare of the State. A regional characterization of land use, ground-water quality, recharge and discharge relations, soils, land use, hydrogeologic characterizations, and ground-water flow is needed in order to appropriately manage the resources. However, detailed, site-specific information also is needed to understand and manage site-specific problems and solutions. The existing ambient ground-water-quality monitoring network of wells is not currently sufficient to address ground-water-resource and water-quality questions in the NC Piedmont and Mountains. This project provides a program to assess ambient ground-water quality in the Piedmont and Mountain Region and identify water-quality trends. Both the water-quantity and water-quality aspects of an ambient ground-water program are needed to manage and protect the resource. Objectives The investigation is designed as an ongoing program to improve the level of understanding of the ground-water system in the Piedmont and Mountain Region of North Carolina. The objective for year 1 (1999) of this investigation was to compile and evaluate existing hydrologic data from the Piedmont and Mountain Region of North Carolina, identify deficiencies in information and/or data, identify potential type areas for future intensive study, and generate a plan of study (Daniel and Dahlen, 2002) for subsequent years. The objectives for years 2-10 are to:
Approach This program is an ongoing, long-term collaborative USGS/North Carolina Division of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR) Division of Water Quality (DWQ) Groundwater Section investigation. Because of the inherent complexity of such a large regional area, a more feasible approach is to select areas of the Piedmont and Mountain Region that are most representative of the area's land use, geology, and hydrology to obtain an understanding of the hydrologic processes in these areas and transfer the knowledge from these areas to similar hydrogeologic areas. Research stations will be constructed in these type areas to facilitate data collection efforts. Hydrogeologists from the DENR DWQ Groundwater Section central office and five regional offices (Asheville, Mooresville, Winston-Salem, Fayetteville, Raleigh) will participate. Drilling equipment and crews will be provided by the DENR DWQ Groundwater Section's Kinston office. Progress (July 2005) Research Site (RS) Activities: (listed by DWQ Regions shown in fig. 1)
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Figure 1. Field site locations and real-time data
Map# | Study Site | County | DENR Region | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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1 | Langtree Peninsula at Lake Norman/Davidson College | Iredell | Mooresville | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2 | North Carolina State University (NCSU) Lake Wheeler Field Research Laboratory | Wake | Raleigh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
3 | NCSU Upper Piedmont Agricultural Research Station | Rockingham | Winston-Salem | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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4 | Bent Creek Demonstration Forest | Buncombe | Asheville | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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5 | Cullasaja Watershed/Town of Highlands | Macon | Ashevillle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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6 | Raleigh Hydrogeologic RS | Wake | Raleigh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
7 | Allison Woods Hydrogeologic RS | Iredell | Mooresville | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
8 | Coweeta Hydrogeologic RS | Macon | Asheville |
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