Geohydrology and ground-water flow at Verona Well Field, Battle Creek, Michigan
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Abstract
The city of Battle Creek has 30 wells in the Verona well field capable of yielding 300 to 1,000 gallons per minute each. During summer, total withdrawals are as little as 6,000 gallons per minute. In early 1984, only 9 to 12 of the wells were being used; the remaining wells were contaminated by volatile hydrocarbons.
Ground water at and near Verona well field generally flows toward Battle Creek River except where directions are altered by pumping. During summer, especially during periods when withdrawals are as much as 12,000 gallons per minute, a large cone of depression develops and water is drawn to the well field from several thousand feet away. During winter, when withdrawals are as little as 6,000 gallons per minute, the cone is smaller.
Ground-water flow is in three aquifers--a sand and gravel aquifer in deposits of Pleistocene age that overlies upper and lower sandstone aquifers of the Marshall Formation of Mississippian age. Model-simulated data that best matched measured data indicate horizontal hydraulic conductivities ranging from 15 to 110 feet per day for the sand and gravel aquifer, 150 feet per day for the upper sandstone aquifer, and 550 feet per day for the lower sandstone aquifer. Recharge was simulated at rates ranging from 8 to 13 inches per year.
Model simulations to evaluate the feasibility of installing new supply wells immediately north of the present field indicate that pumping 3,750 gallons per minute from new wells at the site would produce about 7 feet of drawdown in the lower sandstone aquifer in the vicinity of the new wells. Because the new wells tap only the lower sandstone aquifer, the pumping would have little effect on the potentiometric surfaces for the two overlying aquifers.
Study Area
| Publication type | Report |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | USGS Numbered Series |
| Title | Geohydrology and ground-water flow at Verona Well Field, Battle Creek, Michigan |
| Series title | Water-Resources Investigations Report |
| Series number | 85-4056 |
| DOI | 10.3133/wri854056 |
| Year Published | 1985 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | U.S. Geological Survey |
| Publisher location | Lansing, MI |
| Contributing office(s) | Michigan Water Science Center |
| Description | vi, 54 p. |
| Country | United States |
| State | Michigan |
| City | Battle Creek |
| Other Geospatial | Verona Well Field |
| Online Only (Y/N) | N |
| Additional Online Files (Y/N) | N |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |