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USGS1984

Appearance and water quality of turbidity plumes produced by dredging in Tampa Bay, Florida

Turbidity plumes in Tampa Bay, Florida, produced during ship-channel dredging operations from February 1977 to August 1978, were monitored in order to document plume appearance and water quality, evaluate plume influence on the characteristics of Tampa Bay water, and provide a data base for comparison with other areas that have similar sediment, dredge, placement, containment, and tide conditions. The plumes investigated originated from the operation of one hopper dredge and three cutterhead-pipeline dredges. Composition of bottom sediment was found to vary from 85 percent sand and shell fragments to 60 percent silt and clay. Placement methods for dredged sediment included beach nourishment, stationary submerged discharge, oscillating surface discharge, and construction of emergent dikes. Tidal currents ranged from slack water to flow velocities of 0.60 meter per second. Plumes were monitored simultaneously by (1) oblique and vertical 35-millimeter aerial photography and (2) water-quality sampling to determine water clarity and concentrations of nutrients, metals, pesticides, and industrial compounds. Forty-nine photographs depict plumes ranging in length from a few tens of meters to several kilometers and ranging in turbidity level from <10 to 200,000 nephelometric turbidity units. The most visible turbidity plumes were produced by surface discharge of material with high sand content into unconfined placement areas during times of strong tidal currents. The least visible turbidity plumes were produced by discharge of material with high silt and clay content into areas enclosed by floating turbidity barriers during times of weak tidal currents. Beach nourishment from hopper-dredge unloading operations also produced plumes of low visibility. Primary turbidity plumes were produced directly by dredging and placement operations; secondary plumes were produced indirectly by resuspension of previously deposited material. Secondary plumes were formed both by erosion, in areas of high-velocity tidal currents, and by turbulence from vessels passing over fine material deposited in shallow areas. Where turbidity barriers were not used, turbidity plumes visible at the surface were good indicators of the location of turbid water at depth. Where turbidity barriers were used, turbid bottom water was found at locations having no visible surface plumes. A region of rapidly accelerating then decelerating flow near the mouth of Tampa Bay produced a two-part or separated plume. Flow acceleration contracted the width of the visible plume, and subsequent flow deceleration caused plume expansion. The two wide segments of the plume appeared to be separated from each other because of the intervening narrow part. Waters ambient to the plumes were tested for clarity in two sections of Tampa Bay. Ambient-water transparency in Tampa Bay was about three times greater near its mouth, in South Tampa Bay, than near its head, in Hillsborough Bay. Two other measures of water clarity, turbidity and suspended solids, showed no statistically significant difference between the two areas, however, indicating that transparency is a more sensitive measure of ambient water clarity than either turbidity or suspended solids. The nutrient and metal concentrations for samples of plume water and water ambient to the plumes in Tampa Bay were statistically equivalent, indicating no detectable changes due to dredging. The concentrations of dissolved copper, lead, mercury, and total mercury, however, were greater in plumes in Hillsborough Bay than in South Tampa Bay. In Hillsborough Bay, six occurrences of the herbicide 2,4-D at concentrations near the detection limit, 0.01 to 0.05 micrograms per liter, were unrelated to dredging activity. Data recorded for longer than the study period indicate that from 1976 through 1979 few average turbidity characteristics in South Tampa and Hillsborough Bays can be directly attributed to dredging operation

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1984

Wetland hydrology and tree distribution of the Apalachicola River flood plain, Florida

The Apalachicola River in northwest Florida is part of a three-State drainage basin encompassing 50,800 km 2 in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. The river is formed by the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers at Jim Woodruff Dam from which it flows 171 km to Apalachicola Bay in the Gulf of Mexico. Its average annual discharge at Chattahoochee, Fla., is 690 m3/s (1958-80) with annual high flows averaging nearly 3,000 m3/s. Its flood plain supports 450 km 2 of bottom-land hardwood and tupelo-cypress forests. The Apalachicola River Quality Assessment focuses on the hydrology and productivity of the flood-plain forest. The purpose of this part of the assessment is to address river and flood-plain hydrology, flood-plain tree species and forest types, and water and tree relations. Seasonal stage fluctuations in the upper river are three times greater than in the lower river. Analysis of long-term streamflow record revealed that 1958-79 average annual and monthly flows and flow durations were significantly greater than those of 1929-57, probably because of climatic changes. However, stage durations for the later period were equal to or less than those of the earlier period. Height of natural riverbank levees and the size and distribution of breaks in the levees have a major controlling effect on flood-plain hydrology. Thirty-two kilometers upstream of the bay, a flood-plain stream called the Brothers River was commonly under tidal influence during times of low flow in the 1980 water year. At the same distance upstream of the bay, the Apalachicola River was not under tidal influence during the 1980 water year. Of the 47 species of trees sampled, the five most common were wet-site species constituting 62 percent of the total basal area. In order of abundance, they were water tupelo, Ogeechee tupelo, baldcypress, Carolina ash, and swamp tupelo. Other common species were sweetgum, overcup oak, planertree, green ash, water hickory, sugarberry, and diamond-leaf oak. Five forest types were defined on the basis of species predominance by basal area. Biomass increased downstream and was greatest in forests growing on permanently saturated soils. Depth of water, duration of inundation and saturation, and water-level fluctuation, but not water velocity, were highly correlated with forest types. Most forest types dominated by tupelo and bald-cypress grew on permanently saturated soils that were inundated by flood waters 50 to 90 percent of the time, or an average of 75 to 225 consecutive days during the growing season from 1958 to 1980. Most forest types dominated by other species grew in areas that were saturated or inundated 5 to 25 percent of the time, or an average of 5 to 40 consecutive days during the growing season from 1958 to 1980. Water and tree relations varied with river location because range in water-level fluctuation and topographic relief in the flood plain diminished downstream.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1984

Nutrient and detritus transport in the Apalachicola River, Florida

The Apalachicola River in northwest Florida flows 172 kilometers southward from Jim Woodruff Dam near the Florida-Georgia border to Apalachicola Bay on the Gulf of Mexico. The basin is composed of two 3,100-squarekilometer subbasins, the Chipola and the Apalachicola. The Apalachicola subbasin includes a 454-square-kilometer bottom-land hardwood flood plain that is relatively undeveloped. The flood plain contains more than 1,500 trees per hectare that annually produce approximately 800 metric tons of litter fall per square kilometer. Spring floods of March and April 1980 carried 35,000 metric tons of particulate organic carbon derived from litter fall into Apalachicola Bay. The estuarine food web is predominantly detrital based and represents an important commercial source of oyster, shrimp, blue crab, and various species of fish. The water budget of the Apalachicola basin is heavily dominated by streamflow. For a 1-year period in 1979-80, 28.6 cubic kilometers of water flowed past the Sumatra gage on the lower river. Eighty percent of this volume flowed into the upper river near Chattahoochee, Fla., and 11 percent was contributed by its major tributary, the Chipola River. Contributions from ground water and overland runoff were less than 10 percent. Streamflow increases downstream were accompanied by equivalent increases in nitrogen and phosphorus transport. The nutrients were released to the river by the flood-plain vegetation, but also were subject to recycling. The increase in the amount of organic carbon transport downstream was greater than streamflow increases. The flood plain is an important source of organic carbon, especially in detrital form. Several methods for measurement of detritus in the river and flood plain were developed and tested. The detritus data from the flood plain added semiquantitative evidence for transport of detritus from the flood plain to the river flow, probably accounting for most of the coarse particulate organic material carried by the river. During the 1-year period of investigation, June 3, 1979, through June 2, 1980, 2.1 ? 10 5 metric tons of organic carbon were transported from the river basin to the bay. Nitrogen and phosphorus transport during the same period amounted to 2.2 ? 10 4 and 1.7 ? 10 3 metric tons, respectively. On an areal basis, it was calculated that the flood plain contributed 70 grams of organic carbon per square meter per year, 0.4 gram of nitrogen per square meter per year, and 0.5 gram of phosphorus per square meter per year. The flood plain acts as a source of detrital carbon, but for the solutes, nutrient release is approximately balanced by nutrient retention.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1984

Ground-water monitoring at Santa Barbara, California: Phase 2 — Effects of pumping on water levels and on water quality in the Santa Barbara ground-water basin

From July 1978 to January 1980, water levels in the southern part of the Santa Barbara ground-water basin declined more than 100 feet. These water-level declines resulted from increases in municipal pumping since July 1978. The increase in municipal pumping was part of a basin-testing program designed to determine the usable quantity of ground water in storage. The pumping, centered in the city less than 1 mile from the coast, has caused water-level declines to altitudes below sea level in the main water-bearing zones. As a result, the ground-water basin would be subject to saltwater intrusion if the study-period pumpage were maintained or increased. Data indicate that saltwater intrusion has degraded the quality of the water yielded from six coastal wells. During the study period, the six coastal wells all yielded water with chloride concentrations in excess of 250 milligrams per liter, and four of the wells yielded water with chloride concentrations in excess of 1,000 milligrams per liter. Previous investigators believed that saltwater intrusion was limited to the shallow part of the aquifer, directly adjacent to the coast. The possibility of saltwater intrusion into the deeper water-bearing deposits in the aquifer was thought to be remote because an offshore fault truncates these deeper deposits so that they lie against consolidated rocks on the seaward side of the fault. Results of this study indicate, however, that ocean water has intruded the deeper water-bearing deposits, and to a much greater extent than in the shallow part of the aquifer. Apparently the offshore fault is not an effective barrier to saltwater intrusion. No physical barriers are known to exist between the coast and the municipal well field. Therefore, if the pumping rate maintained during the basin-testing program were continued, the degraded water along the coast could move inland and contaminate the municipal supply wells. The time required for the degraded water to move from the coast to the nearest supply well is estimated, using Darcy's equation, to be about 20 years. Management alternatives for controlling saltwater intrusion in the Santa Barbara area include (1) decreasing municipal pumping, (2) increasing the quantity of water available for recharge by releasing surplus water from surface reservoirs to Mission Creek, (3) artificially recharging the basin using injection wells, and (4) locating municipal supply wells farther from the coast and spacing them farther apart in order to minimize drawdown. Continued monitoring of water levels and water quality would enable assessment of the effectiveness of the control measures employed.

California↗
USGS1984

A Galerkin finite-element flow model to predict the transient response of a radially symmetric aquifer

A computer program developed to evaluate radial flow of ground water, such as at a pumping well, recharge basin, or injection well, is capable of simulating anisotropic, inhomogenous, confined, or pseudo-unconfined (constant saturated thickness) conditions. Results compare well with those calculated from published analytical and model solutions. The program is based on the Galerkin finite-element technique. A sample model run is presented to illustrate the use of the program; supplementary material provides the program listing as well as a sample problem data set and output. From the text and other material presented, one can use the program to predict drawdowns from pumping and ground-water buildups from recharge in a radially symmetric ground-water system.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1983

Analysis and computer simulation of stream-aquifer hydrology, Arkansas River Valley, southwestern Kansas

A study was made, in cooperation with the Division of Water Resources, Kansas State Board of Agriculture, to determine geohydrologic conditions underlying nearly 110,000 acres of the Arkansas River Valley between the Colorado-Kansas State line and the Bear Creek Fault zone in southwestern Kansas. The Arkansas River meanders atop and interacts hydraulically with the area's unconfined sand and gravel aquifer. Owing to decreasing recharge and increasing discharge during the 1970's, water levels declined an average of 4 feet during 1970-79. Average annual streamflow at Syracuse, Kansas, also decreased from 232 cubic feet per second during 1951-69 to 85 cubic feet per second during 1970-79. A digital-computer model was calibrated to simulate the trends of historic water levels and streamflow during 1970-79. Simulated 1975-79 conditions depict an annual recharge to the aquifer of 15,000 acre-ft (acre-feet) from river leakage, 9,000 acre-ft from boundary inflow, and 50,000 acre-ft from deep percolation. Simulated annual discharge consists of 12,000 acre-ft to boundary outflow across the Bear Creek Fault zone, 1,000 acre-ft as leakage to the Arkansas River, 11,000 acre-ft to groundwater evaporation, and 57,000 acre-ft to pumpage. Simulated annual recharge was 7,000 acre-ft less than simulated annual discharge of 81,000 acre-ft. Simulation indicates that: (1) The long-term effects of less recharge from smaller than average amounts of annual precipitation during the 1970's were offset by more recharge during brief, timely periods of much greater than the mean monthly amounts of precipitation, and (2) the effects of the increased pumpage were partly offset by increased recharge resulting from increased irrigation. Model results indicate that the water-level decline and streamflow shortage during 1970-79 were affected more directly by departures from historic (1951-69) rates of incoming streamflow than by either the smaller than average amounts of precipitation or the increased pumpage during the 1970's. Results also indicate that waterlevel declines and streamflow reduction would stabilize or reverse during 1980-82 if one of the following conditions prevailed: (1) Monthly precipitation increased to 25 percent greater than the normal for 3 years. (2) pumpage decreased to 50 percent of the 1979 rate or, (3) incoming streamflow increased to the 1951-69 rate.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1983

Geohydrology and effects of water use in the Black Mesa area, Navajo and Hopi Indian Reservations, Arizona

The N aquifer is the main source of water in the 5,400-square-mile Black Mesa area in the Navajo and Hopi Indian Reservations in northeastern Arizona. The N aquifer consists of the Navajo Sandstone and parts of the underlying Kayenta Formation and Wingate Sandstone of Jurassic and Triassic age. Maximum saturated thickness of the aquifer is about 1,050 feet in the northwestern part of the area, and the aquifer thins to extinction to the southeast. Water is under confined conditions in the central 3,300 square miles of the area. To the east, north, and west of Black Mesa, the aquifer is exposed at the surface, and water is unconfined. The aquifer was in equilibrium before about 1965. Recharge of about 13,000 acre-feet per year was balanced primarily by discharge near Moenkopi Wash and Laguna Creek and by evapotranspiration. At least 180 million acre-feet of water was in storage. The estimated average hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer is 0.65 foot per day. The confined storage coefficient is estimated to be about 0.0004 where the aquifer is thickest, and the estimated unconfined storage coefficient ranges from 0.10 to 0.15. Ground-water withdrawals that averaged 5,300 acre-feet per year from 1976 to 1979 have caused water levels to decline in wells in the confined part of the aquifer. Withdrawals include an average of 3,700 acre-feet per year to supply a coal-slurry pipeline from a coal mine on Black Mesa. Six observation wells equipped with water-level recorders have been used to monitor aquifer response. The water level in one well 32 miles south of the mine declined 17 feet from 1972 through 1979 and 3.5 feet during 1979. A mathematical model of the N aquifer was developed and calibrated for equilibrium and nonequilibrium conditions. The model was used in part to improve estimates of aquifer characteristics and the water budget, and it successfully reproduced the observed response of the aquifer through 1979. The model results indicate that about 95 percent of the 44,000 acre-feet of water pumped from 1965 to 1979 was withdrawn from storage, but the reduction amounted to less than 0.03 percent of total storage. Water-level declines through 1979 were estimated to be more than 100 feet in an area of 200 square miles. Four projections of future water-level changes were made using the model. The most probable projection indicates that water-level declines would exceed 100 feet in an area of 440 square miles by 2001. Most of the decline would be recovered within a few years if withdrawals at the mine ceased. By 1990, however, municipal-supply pumpage is expected to exceed pumpage at the mine, and this pumpage would continue to have significant impacts on water levels in the Black Mesa area.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1985

Simulation of an aquifer test on the Tesuque Pueblo Grant, New Mexico

An aquifer test was designed and conducted in the anisotropic dipping beds of the Tesuque Formation on the Tesuque Pueblo Grant, New Mexico. The three-dimensional digital model used to analyze the test approximated the response to the test. The analysis of the geohydrology of the test site in combination with the model calibration has provided estimates of average aquifer characteristics for the group of beds penetrated at the test site; the hydraulic conductivity parallel to the beds is about 2 feet per day, the hydraulic conductivity normal to the beds is about 0.0001 foot per day or lower, the specific yield is about 0.15, and the specific storage is about 2 x 10 -6 per foot.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1984

Streamflow augmentation at Fosters Brook, Long Island, New York — A hydraulic feasibility study

A 27-day streamflow augmentation test was conducted in December 1979 at Fosters Brook, near the south shore of Long Island, to investigate the hydraulic feasibility of pumping ground water to supply flow to an ephemeral stream during dry periods. Measurements of soil moisture in the unsaturated zone beneath the streambed indicate that infiltration rate and soil-moisture content are interrelated. Initial infiltration was measured with a neutron logger; the wetting front traversed the unsaturated zone at an average of 11.2 inches per hour and reached the water table in 5.5 hours. Soil moisture in the unsaturated zone ranged from 20 percent at the start of the test to nearly 41 percent, nearly the saturation point, 20 days later. Stream discharge was measured at four sites along the stream channel, and the augmentation rate was monitored continuously at the starting point. Infiltration rates increased steadily in all reaches during the first 12 days of the test, but from the 12th to the 20th day, when discharge was increased by 50 percent, infiltration rates decreased along the two upstream reaches but continued to increase along the three downstream reaches. Infiltration rates remained constant from days 20 through 26. During the first 24 hours of the test, the stream reached a maximum length of 2,050 feet, but after 13 days, it had shortened to 1,300 feet as a result of seepage losses. The relationship between discharge and stream length was linear within the range of discharge investigated (0.54-1.63 cubic feet per second). Ground-water levels rose in response to flow augmentation and reached a maximum rise of about 6.5 feet in a well situated 14 feet from the center of the streambed and 225 feet downstream from the start of the flow. Measured water-level response was compared to levels predicted by a one-dimensional analytical model and a three-dimensional mathematical model; results indicate that ground-water response is determined principally by streambed characteristics and soil-moisture content in the unsaturated zone. Variations in water temperature and in streambed composition had significant effects upon infiltration rates. Changes in water temperature, amount of vegetation, soil-moisture content, and stream stage, combined with local variations in streambed permeability and aquifer conductivity, make accurate prediction of seepage rates virtually impossible at present. Data from this study suggest that site-specific investigations are necessary wherever streamflow augmentation is planned.

New York↗
USGS1985

Digital models of ground-water flow in the Cape Cod aquifer system, Massachusetts

The Cape Cod aquifer system was simulated with three-dimensional finite-difference ground-water-flow models. Five areas were modeled to provide tools that can be used to evaluate the hydrologic impacts of regional water development and waste disposal. The model boundaries were selected to represent the natural hydrologic boundaries of the aquifer. The boundary between fresh and saline ground water was treated as an interface along which there is no dispersion. The saline-water zone was treated as static (nonflowing). Comparisons of calculated and observed values of head, position of the boundary between fresh and saline water, and ground-water discharge (at locations where data were available) indicate that the simulated groundwater reservoirs generally agree with field conditions. Model analyses indicate that the total steady-state freshwater-flow rate through the five modeled areas is approximately 412 cubic feet per second.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1983

Connector well experiment to recharge the Floridan aquifer, east Orange County, Florida

An experimental connector well, screened in the shallow sand aquifer, finished with open hole in the Floridan aquifer and cased through the confining layer between the two aquifers, was drilled in east Orange County, Fla., to obtain information on the nature and function of the shallow aquifer as related to connector well operation. The potentiometric surface of the shallow aquifer is about 45 feet higher than the potentiomettic surface of the Floridan aquifer; hence water flows by gravity from the shallow aquifer to the Floridan aquifer through the well 'connecting' the two aquifers. Continuous flow measurement over 10 months shows the well discharge varies seasonally and averages slightly more than 50 gallons per minute. Observation wells show that, except for seasonal variation, water levels within the area of influence have reached steady state within measurable limits. Vertical anisotropy in the shallow aquifer is apparently caused by the shape and (or) arrangement of the sand grains that comprise the shallow aquifer, rather than because of distinct confining layers of different lithology. Transmissivity of the shallow aquifer at the site is about 600 square feet per clay. Extensive dewatering of wetlands in east Orange County by connector wells alone probably is not feasible. Nevertheless, large amounts of water could be channeled to the Floridan aquifer by connector wells. The results of the connector well experiment imply that water is being captured from evapotranspiration and interception of water that would have discharged to swamps in the vicinity of the connector well. However, the data available from this experiment do not permit a quantitative expression of the net gain in recharge to the Floridan aquifer resulting from operation of the connector well.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1984

Water quality in the New River from Calexico to the Salton Sea, Imperial County, California

The New River enters the United States at Calexico, Calif., after it crosses the international boundary. Water-quality data from routine collection indicated that the New River was degraded by high organic and bacterial content. Intensive sampling for chemical and physical constituents and properties of the river was done May 9-13, 1977, to quantify the chemical composition of the water and to identify water-quality problems. Concentrations of total organic carbon in the New River at Calexico ranged from 80 to 161 milligrams per liter and dissolved organic carbon ranged from 34 to 42 milligrams per liter; the maximum chemical oxygen demand was 510 milligrams per liter. Intensive sampling for chemical and biological characteristics was done in the New River from May 1977 to June 1978 to determine the occurrence of the organic material and its effects on downstream water quality. Dissolved-oxygen concentration was measured along longitudinal profiles of the river from Calexico to the Salton Sea. A dissolved-oxygen sag downstream from the Calexico gage varied seasonally. The sag extended farther downstream and had lower concentrations of dissolved oxygen during the summer months than during the winter months. The sag of zero dissolved-oxygen concentration extended 26 miles in July 1977. In December 1976, the sag extended 20 miles but the minimum dissolved-oxygen concentration was 2.5 milligrams per liter. The greatest diel (24-hour) variation in dissolved-oxygen concentration occurred in the reach from the Calexico gage to Lyons Crossing, 8.8 miles downstream. High concentrations of organic material were detected as far as Highway 80, 19.5 miles downstream from the international boundary. Biological samples analyzed for benthic invertebrates showed that water at the Calexico and Lyons Crossing sites, nearest the international boundary, was of such poor quality that very few bottom-dwelling organisms could survive. Although the water was of poor quality at Keystone Road, 36 miles downstream, it was able to support a benthic community. The April sample had more than 9,150 organisms on a multiplate sampler, 8,770 of which were of one species. Farther downstream at the Westmorland gage, the water quality, as indicated by the number and diversity of organisms, had improved over that at the Keystone site. The Alamo River at its outlet to the Salton Sea--the control site--had the greatest diversity of all the study sites. This diversity, when compared with the diversity at the Westmorland gage, indicated that the effects of the degraded water quality observed at the New River at Calexico are detected as far as 62 miles downstream. Standard bacteria indicator tests indicate that fecal contamination exists in the New River. Counts of fecal coliform bacteria ranged from 180,000 to 2,800,000 colonies per 100 milliliters for the 20-mile reach from Calexico to Highway 80, and fecal streptococcal bacteria ranged from 5,000 to 240,000 colonies per 100 milliliters.

California↗