Project Work Plan

Study Title: Synthesis of the Regional Hydrostratigraphic Framework for the Floridan Aquifer System, Southern and Central Florida and Relevancy to Aquifer Storage and Recovery
Study Start Date: October 2004 Study End Date: September 2005
Web Sites:
Location (Subregions, Counties, Park or Refuge): Central and southern Florida
Funding Source: USGS Greater Everglades Priority Ecosystems Science (GE PES)
Other Complementary Funding Source(s): None
Principal Investigator(s): Ronald S. Reese (USGS) and Emily Richardson (SFWMD)
Study Personnel: None
Supporting Organizations: South Florida Water Management District; Army Corps of Engineers
Associated / Linked Studies: "Hydrogeologic Framework" study under the CERP Regional ASR program

Overview & Objective(s): Aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) in south Florida is proposed on a large scale in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) as a cost-effective water-supply alternative that can help meet needs of agricultural, municipal, and recreational users while providing the water critical for Everglades ecosystem maintenance and restoration. In CERP, plans are to employ ASR on an unprecedented scale using the Upper Floridan aquifer (UFA) of the Floridan aquifer system (FAS).

The objectives of this PES project is to: 1) publish a new regional synthesis and delineation of the hydrostratigraphic FAS framework in central and southern Florida, making it available to other workers who study the FAS in the various regions covered in the CERP study, and 2) provide maps of the UFA, the primary ASR target storage zone, allowing for better comparisons of existing ASR sites and their performance in terms of recovery of injected freshwater, 3) provide guidance in locating CERP ASR wells.

Specific Relevance to Major Unanswered Questions and Information Needs Identified: (Page numbers below refer to DOI Science Plan.)

This study supports two of the projects listed in the DOI science plan. It supports the (1) Aquifer Storage and Recovery Pilots and Regional Study under the Kissimmee-Okeechobee Watershed and the Everglades Agricultural Area project as it provides baseline information that could be used in water-quality studies [p. 27] and (2) Comprehensive Integrated Water Quality Feasibility Study under the Landscape-Scale Science Needed to Support Multiple CERP Projects as its synthesis information could lead to a better understanding of the water-quality impact of ASR activities on the natural system [p. 86]. Additionally, this study supports science needs identified in the CROGEE 2001 report ASR in the CERP Plan: A critique of the pilot projects and related plans for ASR in the Lake Okeechobee and western Hillsboro areas. Specifically, under "Regional Science Issues" (p. 12) of this CROGEE report: "assessing the impacts of ASR at the scale proposed in the CERP requires a regional, fairly detailed characterization of the hydrogeologic framework."

Status: New study

Recent Products: None

Planned Products: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report

WORK PLAN

Title of Task 1: Hydrogeologic mapping
Task Funding: USGS Greater Everglades Priority Ecosystems Science (GE PES)
Task Leaders: Ronald S. Reese
Phone: 305-717-5821
FAX: 305-717-5821
Task Status (proposed or active): Active
Task priority: High
Time Frame for Task 1:
Task Personnel: Ronald Reese (USGS) and Emily Richardson (SFWMD)

Task Summary and Objectives: Determine hydrogeologic boundaries for the UFA and map these surfaces.

Work to be undertaken during the proposal year and a description of the methods and procedures:

A database for the top and base of the UFA will be developed using previous studies. Additionally, tops will be determined in other wells using lithologic and geophysical log data, including wells at all of the ASR sites in southern Florida. Surfaces of these hydrogeologic boundaries and the thickness of the UFA will be generated by ordinary kriging techniques using mapping software. In support of this mapping, regional hydrogeologic cross sections will be produced showing the UFA and shallower and deeper aquifers and confining units.

This task supports science needs identified in the CROGEE 2001 report ASR in the CERP Plan: A critique of the pilot projects and related plans for ASR in the Lake Okeechobee and western Hillsboro areas, specifically, under "Regional Science Issues" (p. 12). This report states "a regional, fairly detailed characterization of the hydrogeologic framework" is required.

Specific Task Product(s):

Boundary surfaces and thickness of the Upper Floridan aquifer (by the 3^rd quarter in FY05)

Hydrogeologic cross sections (by the 3^rd quarter in FY05)

Title of Task 2: Report preparation and publishing
Task Funding: USGS Greater Everglades Priority Ecosystems Science (GE PES)
Task Leaders: Ronald S. Reese
Phone: 305-717-5821
FAX: 305-717-5821
Task Status (proposed or active): Active
Task priority: High
Time Frame for Task 2:
Task Personnel: Reese (USGS), Emily Richardson (SFWMD), Mike Deacon, Rhonda Howard, Kim Swidarsky

Task Summary and Objectives: Prepare and publish a USGS Scientific Investigations Report

Work to be undertaken during the proposal year and a description of the methods and procedures:

Write topical and annotated outlines and rough draft of report. Prepare and draft illustrations using mapping and graphics software. Have report reviewed and revise. Obtain report approval, publish and distribute. This report will include maps and cross sections on a CD in the back of the report and appendixes giving aquifer and stratigraphic tops.

Specific Task Product(s):

A USGS Scientific Investigations Report by the end of FY05