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Water > Aquifers > Highlands Basin Aquifer System

Highlands Basin Aquifer System

Support Document   Morris, Passaic, and Sussex Counties New Jersey  September 1987

I. Introduction

A. Statement of Section 1424 (e)

The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), Public Law 93-523, of December 16, 1974 contains a provision in Section 1424(e), which states that:

If the Administrator determines, on his own initiative or upon petition, that an area has an aquifer which is the sole or principal drinking water source for the area and which, if contaminated, would create significant hazard to public health, he shall publish notice of that determination in the Federal Register. After the publication of any such notice, no commitment for Federal financial assistance (through a grant, contract, loan guarantee, or otherwise) may be entered into for any project which the Administrator determines may contaminate such aquifer through a recharge zone so as to create a significant hazard to public health, but a commitment for Federal financial assistance may, if authorized under another provision of law, be entered into to plan or design the project to assure that it will not so contaminate the aquifer.

This section allows for the specific designation of areas which are dependent upon ground water supplies. Following designation, the review process will ensure that federal agencies will not commit funds toward projects which may contaminate these ground water supplies.

B. Receipt of Petition

On March 14, 1985 the Township of West Milford and the Passaic River Coalition petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator to declare the Highlands Aquifer System, as defined in the petition, a Sole Source Aquifer (SSA) under the provisions of the SDWA.

C. Area of Consideration

The boundary of the area of consideration specified in the petition submitted by the Township of West Milford and the Passaic River Coalition is defined by the outer boundary of the Pochuck, Wanaque, and Pequannock River drainage basins. However, based on EPA's review of the hydrogeologic information, the Pochuck River drainage basin has been deleted from the final sole source designation area. Although the ground water divides generally correspond to the surface water divides in this area, the Agency has deleted the Pochuck River drainage basin from this designation for the following reasons: (1) The Pequannock and WanaqueRivers drain into the Passaic River while the Pochuck drains into the Walkill River; therefore, the basin divide between them is a part of the divide between two major river basins in New Jersey; and (2) there is no evidence that the ground water in the Pochuck River basin is in hydraulic connection with the aquifer in the other two basins.

D. Topography

The Highlands Aquifer System area is in the northern part of the New Jersey Highlands, which is a subdivision of the Reading Prong of the New England physiographic province. The altitudes range from approximately two-hundred to one-thousand five-hundred feet (200 - 1500') above sea level. The entire area was subject to the Wisconsin Stage glaciations. The direction of ice movement and the structural orientation of the rocks have dictated northeastsouthwest trending valleys and ridges (Carswell and RDoney, 1976). There are also eastwest trending cross faults and joints that are discernable on aerial photographs as well defined trenchlike structures (Hotz, 1953) and as the dominant eastwest alignment of streams (Carswell and Rooney, 1976).

This area is largely developed as a watershed for surface water supply. In the Pequannock River Basin, Oak Ridge, Clinton, and Charlottesburg Reservoirs, and Echo Lake, are regulated surface water bodies utilized for water supply by the City of Newark. Upper and Lower Greenwood Lakes and Wanaque Reservoir in the Wanaque River Basin are used for water supply by the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission.

E. Climate

The service area has a continental climate with moderately cold winters and hot wet summers. Snow can be expected between November and April.

It is controlled largely by winds from the northeast in the winter and from the southwest in the summer; however, the bulk of the precipitation is produced by tropical coastal storms moving inland from the Atlantic. The precipitation in the area averages forty-eight inches (48") annually and is distributed evenly throughout the year. The average temperature is in the upper sixties in summer and midtwenties in winter.

II. Hydrogeology

A. Geologic Framework

The rock formations of the region is composed mostly of Precambrian metamorphic and intrusive igneous rocks, with Paleozoic sandstones and conglomerates. Quaternary glacial deposits are found in the valleys and the lower slopes of the hills.

The Wisconsin glaciation removed the soils and regolith (overburden) from the bedrock. Both in outcrop and beneath the till, the bedrock is relatively unweathered (Salisbury, 1894, and Carswell and Rooney, 1976).

The Precambrian rocks are generally gneissic, granitoid, foliated, and structurally complex. Their regional strike runs northeast. They are cut by minor longitudinal and oblique reverse faults, and by transverse normal faults. There are also several sets of joints; parallel to the regional structure, transverse to it, oblique to it, and nearly horizontal (Carswell and Rooney, 1976).

Paleozoic rocks of Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian ages underlie a two to three-and-one-half (2.0 - 3.5) milewide belt in western Passaic County. The units in this synclinal area include the Hardyston Quartzite, Kittatinny Limestone, an unnamed black shale, Green Pond Conglomerate, Longwood Shale, Decker Limestone, Kanouse Sandstone, Cornwell Shale, Bellvale Sandstone, and Skunnemunk Conglomerate. The syncline trends northeasterly. On the southeast side, the Paleozoic rocks lie unconformably on the Precambrian gneiss along a line trending from approximately one third of a mile west of Green Pond, along the western side of Macopin Lake, and along the western side of Greenwood Lake. The syncline is truncated on the northwest by a fault which places the Devonian strata in contact with the Precambrian. This fault lies along a line trending from Lake Hopatcong, along the west side of the Oak Ridge and Clinton Reservoirs, and through Upper Greenwood Lake.

Like the Precambrian, the Paleozoic is cut by northeast trending reverse faults and joint sets running parallel, traverse, and oblique to the regional strike. According to Sims (1958) this "probably reflects prominent joint sets in the Precambrian rocks" (Carswell and Rooney, 1976).

The entire area was subjected to the glaciation of the Wisconsin Stage of the Pleistocene Epoch. Much of the bedrock is concealed under glacial deposits. These deposits are thin or absent on the hills and thickest in the present day valleys. They are particularly thick where the present day valleys coincide with the preglacial or interglacial valleys. Stratified deposits formed prior to the last advance of the glacier are generally two to fifty feet (2 - 50') thick sands and gravels. They occur near the base of the preglacial and interglacial valleys, buried under till and lake deposits. The maximum thickness is about two-hundred-twenty feet (220') and is found in the Pequannock River near Pompton Lakes.

B. Geologic Setting

The Highlands Aquifer System is situated in the New Jersey Highlands section of the New England physiographic province. The topography in the Highlands is marked by frequent flattopped ridges rising to about 1,000 feet in elevation. Many of the larger ridges trend northeast-southwest.

C. Ground Water Hydrology

The water table in the Highlands Aquifer System area occurs at depths to forty feet (40') below the land surface on the hilltops and intersects the land surface in valleys. It is contiguous with the upper surface of streams, lakes, and swamps (Carswell and Rooney, 1976).

Ground water flow systems in the region are generally small and the aquifer boundaries are coincident with surface water divides. There is no regional ground water flow system (Carswell and Rooney, 1976); however, there is no evidence that the common boundaries of the Pequannock and Wanaque can be considered a ground water divide, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (Van Abs, 1987).

Ground water moves through intergranular openings in the unconsolidated deposits and through cleavage planes, joints, fractures, and faults in the consolidated rocks of the area. These openings become fewer and smaller with depth. Most of the wells in the consolidated rock penetrate more than one producing fracture or zone which have different hydraulic heads. Because of this, natural flow is short circuited by the wells, and contamination from one fracture or zone can easily enter other zones (Carswell and Rooney, 1976).

The Precambrian is a major source of ground water for domestic wells throughout the Pequannock and Wanaque basins, in both New Jersey and New York. Yields range from one to 200 gal/min, with the highest yields in the larger valleys near surface water bodies.

The Paleozoic rocks are also used primarily for domestic supply. They characteristically yield one to 35 gal/min, but can yield significant supplies on a localized basis, due to their friability and secondary porosity (Carswell and Rooney, 1976). Jefferson Township's public water supply wells are completed in the bedrock. The Paleozoic rocks are hydraulically connected to the Precambrian by proximity and fracturing.

The hydrology of the Quaternary glacial deposits is controlled largely by their topographical setting. The upland deposits are generally thin (less than twenty feet (20')) discontinuous till, too impermeable to be productive. In the lowlands, however, where ancestral stream channels or valleys existed, glacial deposits can obtain thicknesses of up to three-hundred-fifty feet (350'). These deposits can be quite productive. Reported well yields range from four to 920 gal/min. Most public supply wells are in these deposits.

In a recent study of the upper Rockaway Quarternary Deposits (designated as a sole source aquifer in 1984) the New Jersey Geological Survey located extensions of the Rockaway Aquifer into the Highlands Aquifer System area.

1. Recharge

Recharge in this area is almost entirely from precipitation. The soils are very thin because of removal of the overburden by the glaciers, and, with the exception of the pockets of impermeable till, the entire land surface in the drainage basin acts as the recharge area. The recharge area is also delineated by the Pequannock and Wanaque River drainage basin boundaries. All precipitation within these boundaries has the possibility of recharging the aquifer system.

2. Discharge

The ground water flow is down and toward the river valleys in the uplands, and up and toward the streams in the valley bottoms. The ground water discharges from the aquifer system by seepage into streams lakes and swamps, by evapotransporation, and by flow to pumping wells.

3. Streamflow Source Zone

The streamflow source zone is the upstream area of losing streams which flow into the recharge area. There are no streams flowing into the Highlands Aquifer System recharge area; therefore, there is no streamflow source zone. Because of this, the project review area is coincident with the designated aquifer area.

D. Ground Water Use

Table 1 shows the water suppliers, population served, and amount of water withdrawn from all sources in the Aquifer Service Area (ASA). For the ASA in New Jersey, these figures were acquired from the Federal Reporting Data System (FRDS). For the New York area, the figures were acquired from the New York State Department of Health 1982 Atlas of Community Water System Sources and from the Orange County Department of Health.

Table 2 shows the number of people in the ASA that rely on public water systems (PWS) and those on private wells. In New Jersey, the total population was acquired from the 1980 Census by the New Jersey Department of Labor, Office of Demographics and Economic Analysis. For most of the Townships, the population in the ASA was estimated on the basis of zip code; however, for Vernon, Hardyston and Pompton Lakes, the population was estimated using an approximation of the percentage of the Township's area covered by the ASA. This method was also employed in New York, using population information from the Orange County Department of Health. Throughout the ASA, the population on private wells was found by subtracting the population on PWS, both surface and ground water, from the total population in the service area.

The population relying on ground water versus those relying on surface water is shown in Table 3. In the ASA, eighty-five percent (85%) of the population relies on ground water.

Table 4 shows, in terms of actual pumping rates, the same relationship as Table 3. The withdrawal from private wells was estimated based on use of one-hundred (100) gallons of water per day per person. The percentage withdrawal from ground water is eighty-one percent (81%). This is well in excess of the 50% threshold in the SSA criteria.

E. Ground Water Quality

Almost all the ground water in the area contains less than 500 mg/l dissolved solids and ranges in temperature from 10øC to 15øC. The water quality varies from aquifer to aquifer due to (1) differences in the composition of the rock, (2) the pattern of groundwater movement from recharge to discharge, and (3) the length of time that the water is in contact with the various rock types (Carswell and RDoney, 1976).

Water from the Precambrian ranges from soft to moderately hard (34 to 104 mg/l) and is low in total dissolved solids (66 to 159 mg/l). It is slightly alkaline (7.3 pH). The low mineral content is due to the highly insoluble nature of the minerals comprising these rocks.

The water quality in the Paleozoic is quite similar to that of the Precambrian.

In the Quaternary deposits, the water quality is also very good. It is moderately hard (65 to 83 mg/l) and low in dissolved solids. The pH ranges from slightly acidic to slightly alkaline (6.5 to 7.6).

The area is defined as the glacial deposits and bedrock within the Pequannock and Wanaque River drainage basins. The aquifer service area is the same as the aquifer area. Figure 2 shows the location and boundaries of the designated area.

III. Susceptibility to Contamination

The Highlands Aquifer System is vulnerable to contamination from many sources. The thinness of the soils, the high permeability of the stratified glacial deposits, and the fractured nature of the bedrock contribute to the vulnerability and spread of contamination. m is problem is complicated by the fact that most of the bedrock wells in the area penetrate more than one water producing zone having different hydraulic heads. This causes the short circuiting of natural flow and swifter spread of contamination (Carswell and Rooney, 1976).

The following is are potential sources of contamination, many of which may receive federal financial assistance through agencies such as the Federal Highway Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Transportation Routes and Facilities

Several highways, many county routes, and two railroads pass through the aquifer area. The potential exists for an accidental spill on the land overlying the aquifer which could result in serious and direct contamination of the ground water supply. Tons of petroleum products and industrial and agricultural chemicals are carried through and used in the area each year.

On Site Septic Disposal

Most development depends upon onsite septic systems. These systems, depending on design and soil conditions, may lead to contamination of the ground water system.

Storm Water Runoff

Rain and snow-melt runoff may contain various potential contaminants that can enter the aquifer system. These include deicing salts, animal excrement, pesticides, fertilizers, petroleum products, bacteria, and particulates fram air pollutants.

Commercial and Industrial Facilities

There are various cammercial and industrial facilities located within the aquifer boundaries. These facilities use or store chemicals and substances that could be hazardous if allawed to enter the ground water system. A oommon example is the storage of heating oil and gasoline, often in under ground tanks. Leakage and/or accidental spills frcm the storage tanks is a potential source of graund water contamination.

Future Development

Future commercial, industrial, and residential development is also a poten tial source of contamination to the aquifer. The Highlands Aquifer area is under intensive development pressure. It is unlikey to ease in the future. Therefore, projects should be designed to avoid significant increases in contaminant loading to the aquifer system.

IV. Alternative Sources of Drinking Water

Much of the land in the Highlands Aquifer System area is a protected watershed for drinking water reservoirs. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Water Allocation has allocated the surface water in these reservoirs to the City of Newark and the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission.

Even if this allocation were to be changed, the dispersed nature of the population, the mountainous terrain, and the hardness of the Precambrian bedrock would preclude the construction of a large public distribution system in most of the designated area.

V. Summary

Based upon the information presented, the Highlands Aquifer System meets the technical requirements for SSA designation. More than fifty percent (50%) of the drinking water for the aquifer service area is supplied by the Highlands Aquifer System. In addition, there are no economically feasible alternative drinking water sources which could replace the Highlands Aquifer System. It is therefore recommended that the Highlands Aquifer System be designated a SSA. Designation will provide an additional review of those projects for which Federal financial assistance is requested, and will ensure protection measures, incorporating state and local measures whenever possible, for only those projects which request Federal financial assistance.

VI. Selected References

1. Carswell, L.D. and Rooney, J.G., 1976. Summary of Geology and Ground Water Resources of Passaic County, New Jersey: Trenton, New Jersey, U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Investigations, No. 7675.

2. Frimpter, M.H., 1972, Ground Water Resources of Orange and Ulster Counties, New York: Albany, New York, U.S. Geological Survey, Water Supply Paper No. 1985.

3. Gill, H.E. and Vecchioli, John, 1965, Availabilty of Ground Water in Morris County, New Jersey: Trenton, New Jersey, U.S. Geological Survey, Division of Water Policy and Supply, Special Report No. 25.

4. Hagstrom Map Company, 1983, Map of Morris County: Maspeth, NY.

5. Hagstrom Map Company, 1983, Map of Passaic County: Maspeth, NY

6. Holtz, P.E., 1953, Magnetite Deposits of the Sterling Lake, New York, Ringwood, New Jersey, Area: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 982F.

7. New Jersey Department of Labor, 1980 Census: Trenton, New Jersey, Office of Demographics and Economic Analysis.

8. New York State Department of Health, 1982, Atlas of Community Water Ssystem Sources:Albany, New York, Bureau of Public Water Supply Protection.

9. Salisbury, R.D., 1894, Surficial Geology Report of Progress, in Annual Report of the State Geologist for the Year 1894: Geological Survey of New Jersey, P. 1149.

10. Sussex County Policy Advisory Board, 1979, Sussex County 208 Water Quality Management Plan: Newton, New Jersey.

11. Telephone Communication, July 27, 1987, M.J. Schleifer, P.E., Assistant Commissioner, Orange County Department of Health, Goshen, New York, RE: Public water suppliers in Orange County, New York.

12. Telephone Communication, August 10, 1987, D.J. Van Abs, Environmental Scientist, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Water Quality Standards and Analysis, Trenton, New Jersey, RE: Aquifer interelationship in the Highlands area.

13. U.S. EPA, 1987, Federal Reporting Data System, PWS Indentification, Morris, Passaic, and Sussex Counties, New Jersey.

VII. Tables

Table 1. Public Water Suppliers in the Highlands Aquifer System Area

GW = Ground Water SW = Surface Water
* = Estimates based on use of 100 gallons per day per person.
+ = From New York State DOH, 1982 Atlas of Community Water System Sources.
# = From Mr. Schleifer, P.E., Asst. Commissioner, Orange County DOH.
All other data is from the Federal Reporting Data System (FRDS).

Table 2. Population on Public and Private Supplies

Table 3. Population on Surface and Ground Water

Table 4. Water Withdrawal Statistics

VIII. Figures

Figure 1. Highlands Aquifer System Designated Area

(Displayed USGS 7.5 Minute Quadrangles)

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