Simulation of ground-water flow and infiltration from the Susquehanna River to a shallow aquifer at Kirkwood and Conklin, Broome County, New York

Water-Resources Investigations Report 86-4123
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Abstract

A four-layer finite difference model was developed to simulate groundwater flow and induced infiltration to an aquifer underlying the Susquehanna River in the Towns of Kirkwood and Conklin in Broome County, NY. The aquifer consists of sand and gravel deposited in an ancestral river valley during the recession of glacial ice and is in hydraulic connection with the Susquehanna River. In 1984, he aquifer supplied 1.2 million gal/day to well fields in Kirkwood and Conklin. Horizontal hydraulic conductivity of the sand and gravel in the calibrated model ranges from 50 to 10,000 ft/day. Vertical hydraulic conductivity ranges from 1.0 to 80 ft/day. The riverbed thickness was estimated from results of piezometer tests to be 2 ft; the hydraulic conductivity of the riverbed was estimated to be 0.2 ft/day. Root-mean-square differences between computed drawdowns and drawdowns measured in observation wells and piezometers during aquifer tests at the Kirkwood well field ranged from 17% to 24%. The sizes of the well field catchment areas were estimated from a model generated flow net showing the direction and rate of groundwater flow. The Kirkwood catchment area was estimated to be 250 acres, and the Conklin catchment area was 51 acres. Groundwater budgets computed by steady-state simulations showed that 58% of the groundwater withdrawn by the Kirkwood well field is derived from the Susquehanna River during the periods of low river stage and low recharge. The factor to which induced-infiltration rate and size of well field catchment areas are most sensitive, is riverbed hydraulic conductivity.

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Simulation of ground-water flow and infiltration from the Susquehanna River to a shallow aquifer at Kirkwood and Conklin, Broome County, New York
Series title Water-Resources Investigations Report
Series number 86-4123
DOI 10.3133/wri864123
Year Published 1986
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Description Report: viii, 70 p.; 2 Plates: 16.11 × 24.32 inches and 15.75 × 24.29 inches
Country United States
State New York
County Broome County
City Conklin, Kirkwood
Other Geospatial Susquehanna River
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