Saltwater Contamination in the Upper Floridan Aquifer at Brunswick, Georgia

A map and cross section showing the potentiometric surface of the Upper Floridan aquifer, the ground-water flow field, and a plume of saltwater underlying downtown Brunswick, Georgia, depict the ground-water flow system and indicate the response to pumpage for industrial and municipal water use. In 1997, pumpage from the Upper Floridan aquifer in Glynn County, Georgia, the primary source of water supply, was about 65 million gallons per day. In 1998, near centers of pumping in north Brunswick, ground- water levels in the aquifer had declined more than 60 feet from estimated levels prior to the onset of pumpage in the late 1800's, and a cone of depression in the potentiometric surface extended to the Atlantic coast, where ground-water flow had reversed from seaward to landward. Saltwater, which began entering the aquifer in the 1950's in south Brunswick and other locations— apparently from deeper, saline water-bearing zones—has migrated laterally over a 2.5-square-mile area toward the pumping centers. In 1998, the maximum chloride concentration in samples from the aquifer in the Brunswick area was 2,590 milligrams per liter.

Sponsor

Sponsored and Organized by: U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Natural Resources Conservation Service, The University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology

Date

2001-03

Resource Type

Text

Resource Subtype

Proceedings

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