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Simulated Water-Table and Pond-Level Responses to Proposed Public Water-Supply Withdrawals in the Hyannis Ponds Wildlife Management Area, Barnstable, Massachusetts

Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5121
Prepared in cooperation with the Town of Barnstable
By: , , and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20195121

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Abstract

The glacial kettle ponds in the Hyannis Ponds Wildlife Management Area in Barnstable, Massachusetts, support a community of rare and endangered plants. The ponds are hydraulically connected to the unconfined aquifer that underlies Cape Cod. The plants are adapted to the rise and fall of water levels in the ponds as the water table fluctuates in response to seasonal and year-to-year natural changes in recharge. Pumping from wells for public water supply and recharge of wastewater at water pollution control facilities and septic systems also affect groundwater levels. The Hyannis Water System has proposed to install two additional wells in the Hyannis Ponds Wildlife Management Area and adjust rates of withdrawals and recharge of wastewater return flows for the municipal system that serves the village of Hyannis in the town of Barnstable. The proposal has raised concerns that pumping from the proposed wells could cause long-term average changes in pond levels that could adversely affect the critical pond-shore plant habitat.

An available three-dimensional steady-state groundwater-flow model was used to simulate the hydrologic effects of nine pumping and wastewater return-flow scenarios prepared by the Hyannis Water System. These effects were quantified by comparison of water levels simulated for the scenarios to water levels simulated for a reference condition based on 2015 withdrawal and wastewater return-flow rates. Maps of water-level responses were prepared to show the effects of pumping from a single well at different locations in the Hyannis Ponds Wildlife Management Area on the water levels of six ponds. Steady-state simulations of the nine scenarios indicated that the shapes of the simulated water-table contours near the wildlife management area changed only slightly at the regional scale, with the largest shifts near the wildlife management area and the Barnstable Water Pollution Control Facility. The simulated changes in pond levels at 10 ponds of interest for the nine scenarios relative to the simulated pond levels for the 2015 reference condition ranged from small increases (less than 0.1 foot) in one pond each in two scenarios to declines (drawdowns) of 1.03–1.11 feet at three ponds in one scenario. Water levels at the Barnstable Water Pollution Control Facility increased because part of the increase in total withdrawals from the Hyannis Water System wells was recharged as wastewater at the water pollution control facility.

Suggested Citation

LeBlanc, D.R., McCobb, T.D., and Barbaro, J.R., 2019, Simulated water-table and pond-level responses to proposed public water-supply withdrawals in the Hyannis Ponds Wildlife Management Area, Barnstable, Massachusetts: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2019–5121, 32 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20195121.

ISSN: 2328-0328 (online)

Study Area

Table of Contents

  • Acknowledgments
  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Pumping and Wastewater Return-Flow Scenarios
  • Groundwater Model and Simulation Approach
  • Simulated Pond-Level and Water-Table Responses
  • Limitations of the Simulations
  • Summary and Conclusions
  • References Cited
  • Appendix 1. Modifications to the Groundwater-Flow Model and Results of the Model Recalibration
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Simulated water-table and pond-level responses to proposed public water-supply withdrawals in the Hyannis Ponds Wildlife Management Area, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Series title Scientific Investigations Report
Series number 2019-5121
DOI 10.3133/sir20195121
Year Published 2019
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) New England Water Science Center
Description Report: vii, 32 p.; Data Release
Country United States
State Massachusetts
City Barnstable
Other Geospatial Hyannis Ponds Wildlife Management Area
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Additional Online Files (Y/N) Y
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
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