| Abstract: | The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Health, sampled water
from 171 wells and springs across the Commonwealth of Virginia between 1998 and 2000 as part of the
Virginia Aquifer Susceptibility study. Most of the sites sampled are public water supplies that are part of
the comprehensive Source Water Assessment Program for the Commonwealth. The fundamental premise of
the study was that the identification of young waters (less than 50 years) by multiple environmental
tracers could be used as a guide for classifying aquifers in terms of susceptibility to contamination from
near-surface sources. Environmental tracers, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6),
tritium (3H), and tritium/helium-3 (3H/3He), and carbon isotopes (14C and d13C) were used to determine the
age of water discharging from wells and springs. Concentrations of CFCs greater than 5 picograms per
kilogram and 3H concentrations greater than 0.6 tritium unit were used as thresholds to indicate that parts
of the aquifer sampled have a component of young water and are, therefore, susceptible to near-surface
contamination.
Concentrations of CFCs exceeded the susceptibility threshold in 22 percent of the wells and in one spring
sampled in the Coastal Plain regional aquifer systems. About 74 percent of the samples from wells with the
top of the first water zone less than 100 feet below land surface exceeded the threshold values, and water
supplies developed in the upper 100 feet of the Coastal Plain are considered to be susceptible to contamination
from near-surface sources. The maximum depth to the top of the screened interval for wells that contained
CFCs was less than 150 feet. Wells completed in the deep confined aquifers in the Coastal Plain generally
contain water older than 1,000 years, as indicated by carbon-14 dating, and are not considered to be
susceptible to contamination under natural conditions. All of the water samples from wells and springs in the
fractured-rock terrains (the Appalachian Plateaus, Valley and Ridge, Blue Ridge, and Piedmont regional aquifer
systems) contained concentrations of CFCs and 3H greater than one or both of the thresholds. Because all of
the water samples exceeded at least one of the threshold values, young water is present throughout most of
these regional aquifer systems; therefore, water supplies developed in these systems are susceptible to
contamination from near-surface sources. No relation between well depth and presence of CFCs is evident from
samples in the fractured-rock terrains.
More than 95 percent of the samples for which the dating methods were applicable contained waters with
apparent ages less than 35 years. About 5 percent of these samples, most of which were from the Blue Ridge
and Piedmont regional aquifer systems, contained young waters with apparent ages of less than 5 years. Most
of the samples from the Valley and Ridge Carbonate, Blue Ridge, and Piedmont regional aquifer systems had
young water fractions of more than 50 percent, whereas samples from the Coastal Plain Shallow and
Appalachian Plateaus regional aquifer systems contained less than 40 percent young waters.
Concentrations of CFCs in excess of air-water equilibrium, which can indicate that nonatmospheric sources
(such as sewage effluent) have introduced CFCs into the ground-water system, were measured in 6 and 48
percent of the water samples from the Coastal Plain and fractured-rock regional aquifer systems, respectively.
The nitrate (NO3) concentrations greater than the USGS detection level of 0.05 milligrams per liter generally
increase as the apparent age of the young water fraction decreases, with the highest NO3 concentrations for
samples in which one or more of the CFCs are above modern atmospheric mixing ratios (commonly referred to
as ‘contaminated‘ for ground-water dating purposes). Most of the samples in which NO3 was detected w |
| Genre: | USGS Numbered Series |
| ProdID: | 53048 |
| Citation Author: | Nelms, David L.; Harlow, George E., Jr.; Plummer, L. Niel; Busenberg, Eurybiades |
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| Citation Language: | ENGLISH |
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| Citation Phsyical Description: | 58 p. |
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| Citation Series: | Water-Resources Investigations Report |
| Citation Series Code: | WRI |
| Citation Series Number: | 2003-4278 |
| Citation Search Results Text: | Aquifer susceptibility in Virginia, 1998-2000; 2003; WRI; 2003-4278; Nelms, David L.; Harlow, George E., Jr.; Plummer, L. Niel; Busenberg, Eurybiades |
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| Citation Year: | 2003 |
| Type: | citation/reference |
| Text: | Aquifer susceptibility in Virginia, 1998-2000; 2003; WRI; 2003-4278; Nelms, David L.; Harlow, George E., Jr.; Plummer, L. Niel; Busenberg, Eurybiades |
| URL (THUMBNAIL): | http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/thumbnails/usgs_thumb.jpg |
| URL (INDEX PAGE): | http://pubs.water.usgs.gov/wri034278/ |
| Date Other: | Thu, 1 Jan 2004 00:00 -0600 |
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