Simulation of a Valley-Fill Aquifer System to Delineate Flow Paths, Contributing Areas, and Traveltime to Wellfields in Southwestern Broome County, New York
by Stephen W. Wolcott and William F. Coon
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Water-Resources Investigations Report 01-4171
ABSTRACT
A valley-fill aquifer system that extends
along a 14-mile reach of the Susquehanna River
valley in southwestern Broome County, N.Y., is a
major source of water supply to local municipalities
and industries, but is highly susceptible to
contamination from human activities. Protection
of ground-water supplies requires accurate delineation
of the areas that are the sources of water
pumped by wells. A previously developed two-layer
steady-state ground-water flow model of the
aquifer system was upgraded with an improved
method of simulating stream-aquifer interactions,
then recalibrated and coupled to a particle-tracking
program. Three-dimensional, ground-water
flow modeling coupled with particle tracking is
the most reliable method of simulating groundwater
flow paths in multiaquifer systems such as
this; it also allows delineation of contributing
areas to well.elds. A primary advantage of three-dimensional
particle-tracking analysis is that it
shows the complexities of the flow paths in each
aquifer.
Model and particle tracking analyses indicate
that groundwater frequently follows convoluted
three-dimensional flow paths. The
contributing areas of individual supply wells in
this aquifer system each has a unique flow pattern
and shape. Results of the model simulation indicate
that recharge from precipitation, rivers, and
tributaries contribute 35 percent, 29 percent, and
25 percent, respectively to the aquifer system and
that pumpage from supply wells accounts for 67
percent of the discharge from the aquifer system.
Particle-tracking results indicate that the simulated
contributing areas to the 24 supply wells
includes most of the valley floor.
Citation: Wolcott, Stephen W., and Coon, William F., 2001, Simulation of a valley-fill aquifer system to delineate flow paths, contributing areas, and traveltime to wellfields in Southwestern Broome County, New York:
U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 01-4171, 25 p.
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