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John J. Hickey

Publications and source records attributed to John J. Hickey.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2010

Circular convection during subsurface injection of liquid waste, St. Petersburg, Florida

I njection of liquid waste into a highly transmissive, saltwater-bearing, fractured dolomite underlying the city of St. Petersburg, Florida, provided an opportunity to study density-dependent flow associated with two miscible and density-different liquids. The injection zone was 98 m thick with a radial hydraulic conductivity of 762 m/d and a vertical hydraulic conductivity of 152 m/d. Mean chloride concentrations of the injectant during two tests of 91 and 366 days duration were 180 and 170 mg/L, respectively, whereas chloride concentration of native salt water ranged from 19,000 to 20,000 mg/L. During the 366-day test, chloride concentration in water from a well open to the upper part of the injection zone 223 m from the injection well approximately stabilized at about 4000 mg/L. Relatively constant chloride concentrations in water from this observation well at a level significantly greater than the injectant concentration suggested the hypothesis that circular convection with saltwater flow added chloride ions to the injection zone flow sampled at the observation well. In order to assess the acceptability of the circular convection hypothesis, information was required about the velocity field during injection. Mass transport model simulations were used to provide this information, after determining that the fractured injection zone could be treated as an equivalent porous medium with a single porosity. The mass transport model was calibrated using the 91-day test data from two observation wells 223 m from the injection well. The model was then run without parameter changes to simulate the 366-day test. Mass fractions of injectant computed for four observation wells during the 366-day test compared favorably with observed mass fractions. Observed mass fractions were calculated as a function of chloride concentration and density. Comparisons between model-computed mass fraction and velocity fields in a radial section showed circular convection, with salt water flowing toward the injection well in the lower part of the injection zone. The salt water then mixed with the injectant, and the mixture flowed away from the injection well in the upper part of the injection zone. On the basis of the model results and the assumed reasonableness of treating the injection zone as an equivalent porous medium with a single porosity, the hypothesis of circular convection with saltwater flow during subsurface injection of liquid waste into a highly transmissive saltwater-bearing fractured dolomite was judged acceptable.

Florida↗
USGS1986

Subsurface injection of liquid waste with emphasis on injection practices in Florida

Subsurface injection of liquid waste is used as a disposal method in many parts of the country. It is used particularly when other methods for managing liquid waste are either not possible or too costly. Interest in subsurface injection as a waste-disposal method stems partly from recognition that surface disposal of liquid waste may establish a potential for degrading freshwater resources. Where hydrogeologic conditions are suitable and where surface disposal may cause contamination, subsurface injection is considered an attractive alternative for waste disposal. Decisions to use subsurface injection need to be made with care because, where hydrogeologic conditions are not suitable for injection, the risk to water resources, particularly ground water, could be great. Selection of subsurface injection as a waste-disposal method requires thoughtful deliberation and, in some instances, extensive data collection and analyses. Subsurface injection is a geological method of waste disposal. Therefore, many State and local governmental officials and environmentally concerned citizens who make decisions about waste-disposal alternatives may know little about it. This report serves as an elemental/guide to subsurface injection and presents subsurface injection practices in Florida as an example of how one State is managing injection.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1982

Results of deep-well injection testing at Mulberry, Florida

At the Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation plant, Mulberry, Fla., high-chloride, acidic liquid wastes are injected into a dolomite section at depths below about 4,000 feet below land surface. In 1975, a satellite monitor well was drilled 2,291 feet from the injection well and a series of three injection tests were performed. Duration of the tests ranged from 240 to 10,020 minutes and injection rates ranged from 110 to 230 gallons per minute. Based on an evaluation of factors that affect hydraulic response, water-level data suitable for interpretation of hydraulic characteristics of the injection zone were identified to occur from 200 to 1,000 minutes during the 10,020-minute test. Transmissivity of the injection zone was computed to be within the range from 700 to 1,000 feet squared per day and storage coefficient of the injection zone was computed to be within the range from .00001 to .00005. The confining bed accepting most of the leakage appears to be the underlying bed. Also, it appears that the overlying beds are probably relatively impermeable and significantly retard the vertical movement of neutralized waste effluent. (USGS)

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS1982

Hydrogeology and results of injection tests at waste-injection test sites in Pinellas County, Florida

Potential benefits or hazards to freshwater resources could result from subsurface injection of treated wastewater. Recognizing this, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Pinellas County and the city of St. Petersburg, undertook an evaluation of the hydrogeology and injection of wastewater at proposed test sites on the Pinellas peninsula. The injection sites are underlain by sedimentary rocks ranging in age from Cretaceous to Pleistocene. Lower Eocene carbonate rocks were penetrated to a maximum depth of 3,504 feet and were found to have relatively low water yields. The most permeable part of the investigated section was in rocks of middle Eocene age within the Floridan aquifer. At the injection sites, the Floridan aquifer was subdivided into four permeable zones and three semiconfining beds. The test injection zone is within the Avon Park Limestone, the most productive of the identified permeable zones, with a transmissivity of about 1,000,000 feet squared per day. Two semiconfining beds are above the injection zone in the Suwannee Limestone and Ocala Limestone and have vertical hydraulic conductivities estimated to range from about 0.1 to 1 foot per day where these beds do not contain clay. Limited fresh ground-water supplies exist in the Floridan aquifer within the Pinellas peninsula. At all test sites, chloride concentration in the injection zone ranged from 19,000 to 20,000 milligrams per liter. Injection tests ranging in duration from 3 to 91.1 days were run at three different sites. Pressure buildup occurred in permeable zones above and below the injection zone during these tests. Calculated pressure buildup in observation wells close to and at some distance from the test wells was typically less than 1 pound per square inch. Injection and formation water will probably move slowly through the semiconfining bed overlying the injection zone, and long-term injection tests will be needed to determine the effectiveness of these beds to retard flow. The injected water was well mixed with the native formation water, which, in part, is a direct consequence of the fractures in the injection zone.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1981

Hydrogeology, estimated impact, and regional well monitoring of effects of subsurface wastewater injection, Tampa Bay area, Florida

Six proposed injection sites are located in Pinellas County, Fla., and the city of St. Petersburg. Projected maximum injection rate, if all sites become operational, will be about 40 million gallons per day. The injection zone at the proposed sites is in a consistently dolomitized section of the Avon Park Limestone in the lower part of the Floridan aquifer. The injection zone contains saline ground water that has a chloride concentration of 19,000 to 20,000 milligrams per liter. Pressure and velocity changes were computed at selected regional locations in the upper and lower parts of the Floridan aquifer. Results of the model computations suggest that the regional impact after 20 years of injection will be small. Three locations are proposed for regional monitoring of subsurface injection. They are in the vicinity of the intersection of highways U.S. 19 and U.S. 60 in Pinellas County, Sun City in Hillsborough County, and the intersection of Sheldon Road and Gunn Highway in Hillsborough County. (USGS)

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS1981

Borehole data-collection methods applicable for the regional observation and monitor well program, Southwest Florida Water Management District

Management of ground-water resources within the Southwest Florida Water Management District requires that hydrogeologic characteristics of water-bearing rocks and quality characteristics of water be described. Wells for the District 's Regional Observation and Monitor Well Program are drilled specifically to collect data to describe the ground-water resource. Suggested borehole data-collection methods for these wells include drilling in stages; running geophysical logs at the completion of each stage; collection of water-level and specific-conductance data before, during, and after a day 's drilling; specific-capacity determinations after a day 's drilling; and placing a packer in the gypsiferous and anhydritic limestone and dolomite for water-level and water-quality data. (USGS)

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS1979

Hydrologic data for the southwest subsurface-injection test site, St. Petersburg, Florida

Three injection wells, A1, A2, and A3, and nine observation wells, B1 through B9, were constructed at the Southwest St. Petersburg site to determine the feasibility of injecting wastewater treatment plant effluent into permeable zones containing saline water. Two withdrawal tests and one injection test were performed. Both withdrawal tests ran for about 3 days, one discharging 650 gallons per minute from well B8; the other discharging 6,490 gallons per minute from test well A3. The injection test was run in A3 for 91.1 days at an average rate of 2,830 gallons per minute. Injection well pressure reached a maximum of 48.1 pounds per square inch near the end of the test. Rhodamine WT was used as a tracer during the injection test and was identified in wells B3, B6, and B7. Before the injection test, chloride concentration in well B6, 35 feet distant from the injection well, and in well B3, 733 feet distant, ranged from 19,000 to 21,000 milligrams per liter. At the end of the test, chloride concentration in B6 was 1,800 milligrams per liter and in B3 was 5,400 milligrams per liter. Eleven wells near the site were sampled before the test for water-quality analyses and chlorides ranged from 18 to 1,400 milligrams per liter.

Florida↗
USGS1978

Hydrogeologic data for the South Cross Bayou test injection site, Pinellas County, Florida

One exploratory hole, a test injection well, and nine monitor wells were constructed at the South Cross Bayou test-injection site between January 1973 and October 1975. At the test site, the first 125 feet below land surface is predominantly limestone and clay; from 125 to 3,280 feet it is mostly limestone and dolomite. Gypsum is also present below 1,260 feet. Wells within about a 1-mi radius of the test injection site were sampled and analyzed to provide water-quality background data prior to anticipated long-term injection at the test site. Locations of the wells sampled are shown, reported construction data are given, and the chemical analyses of water from these wells are tabulated. Chloride concentration of water from the wells near the test site ranged between 9.8 to 290 mg/L. Reported depth of these wells ranged from 25 to 302 ft. (Woodard-USGS)

Open-File Report↗
USGS1978

Hydrogeologic data for the Bear Creek subsurface-injection test site, St. Petersburg, Florida

Lithologic, hydraulic, geophysical, and water-quality data were collected at the Bear Creek subsurface-injection test site at St. Petersburg, FL. The data were collected to determine the feasibility of subsurface injection of storm runoff. An exploratory hole and five observation wells were constructed between October 1974 and April 1976. The lithology of the upper 185 feet at the test site is predominantly sand and marl. From 185 feet to 3,504 feet, limestone and dolomite predominate. Also , gypsum is present below 1.290 feet. Vertical intrinsic permeability, porosity, and compressibility of cores are reported. A 73-hour withdrawal test discharging 3,450 gallons per minute was run in the test injection well. At the site, chloride concentration in water from 192 to 340 feet, ranged from 150 to 680 milligrams per liter, and from 500 to 1,267 feet ranged from 16,000 to 20,000 milligrams per liter. Eleven additional wells near the test site were sampled for water quality. (Woodard-USGS)

Open-File Report↗
USGS1969

Variations in low-water streambed elevations at selected stream-gaging stations in northwestern California

Graphs and a table are presented showing the variations in streambed elevations that have occurred over the years in the low-water channels at selected gaging stations in northwestern California. The streambed elevations are calculated from data obtained during discharge measurements. The greatest elevation changes that were recorded occurred between the 1964 and 1965 low-water periods. Those streambed changes are related to the flood of December 1964 and probably reflect large quantities of .sediment placed in the streams from bank erosion and landslides. At 25 of 51 stations with data for that period, elevation changes exceeded 1 foot, and at 42 stations the changes represented fill, rather than scour.

California↗