Ground-Water Quality in the Chemung River Basin, New York, 2003
by Kari K. Hetcher-Aguila
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Open-File Report 2004-1329
ABSTRACT
Water samples were collected from 24 public-supply
wells and 13 private residential wells during the summer of
2003 and analyzed to describe the chemical quality of ground
water throughout the Chemung River basin, upgradient from
Waverly, N.Y, on the Pennsylvania border. Wells were selected
to represent areas of heaviest ground-water use and greatest
vulnerability to contamination, and to obtain a geographical
distribution across the 1,130 square-mile basin. Samples
were analyzed for physical properties, inorganic constituents,
nutrients, metals and radionuclides, pesticides, volatile organic
compounds, and bacteria.
The cations that were detected in the highest
concentrations were calcium and sodium; the anions that
were detected in the greatest concentrations were bicarbonate,
chloride, and sulfate. The predominant nutrient was nitrate.
Nitrate concentrations in samples from wells finished in sand
and gravel were greater than in those from wells finished in
bedrock, except for one bedrock well, which had the highest
nitrate concentration of any sample in this study. The most
commonly detected metals were aluminum, barium, iron,
manganese, and strontium. The range of tritium concentrations
(0.6 to 12.5 tritium units) indicates that the water ages ranged
from less than 10 years old to more than 50 years old. All
but one of the 15 pesticides detected were herbicides; those
detected most frequently were atrazine, deethylatrazine, and
two degradation products of metolachlor (metachlor ESA
and metachlor OA), which were the pesticides detected at
the highest concentrations. Not every sample collected was
analyzed for pesticides, and pesticides were detected only in
wells finished in sand and gravel. Volatile organic compounds
were detected in 15 samples, and the concentrations were at
or near the analytical detection limits. Total coliform were
detected in 12 samples; fecal coliform were detected in 7
samples; and Escherichia coli was detected in 6 samples.
These bacteria were detected in water from bedrock as well as
sand-and-gravel aquifers.
Federal and State water-quality standards were exceeded
in several samples. Two samples exceeded the chloride U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency Secondary Maximum
Contaminant Level of 250 milligrams per liter. The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency Drinking Water Advisory
for sodium (30 to 60 milligrams per liter) was exceeded in
11 samples. The upper limit of the Secondary Maximum
Contaminant Level range for aluminum (200 micrograms
per liter) was exceeded in one sample. The Maximum
Contaminant Level for barium (2,000 micrograms per liter)
was exceeded in one sample. The Secondary Maximum
Contaminant Level for iron (300 micrograms per liter)
was exceeded in 11 samples. The Secondary Maximum
Contaminant Level for manganese (50 micrograms per
liter) was exceeded in 20 samples. The proposed Maximum
Contaminant Level for radon (300 picocuries per liter) was
exceeded in 34 samples.
Citation: Hetcher-Aguila, K.K., 2005,
Ground-Water Quality in the Chemung River Basin, New York, 2003:
U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2004-1329, 19 p. (online only)
[Full Report, Acrobat PDF
(2.5M)]
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