Susceptibility of ground water to surface and shallow sources of contamination, Orange
County, North Carolina
Open-File Report 99-179
By Silvia Terziotti and J.L. Eimers
Oversized plate (PDF, 1 page, 40x28 inches, 6.7 Mb)
Abstract
In 1998, the relative susceptibility of ground water in Orange County, North Carolina,to contamination from surface
and shallow sources was evaluated. A geographic information system was used to build three county-wide layers--soil
permeability, land use/land cover, and land-surface slope. The harmonic mean permeability of soil layers was used to
estimate a location's capacity to transmit water through the soil.
Values for each of these three factors were categorized and ranked from 1 to 10 according to relative potential for
contamination. Each factor was weighted to reflect its relative potential contribution to ground-water contamination,
then the factors were combined to create a relative susceptibility index. The relative susceptibility index was
categorized to reflect lowest, low, moderate, high, and highest potential for ground-water contamination.
The relative susceptibility index for about 12 percent of the area in Orange County was categorized as high or highest.
The high and highest range areas have highly permeable soils, land cover or land-use activities that have a high
contamination potential, and low to moderate slopes. Most of the county is within the moderate category of relative
susceptibility to ground-water contamination. About 21 percent of the county is ranked as low or lowest relative
susceptibility to ground-water contamination.
Citation:
Terziotti, Silvia, and Eimers, J.L., 1999, Susceptibility of ground water to surface and shallow sources of contamination, Orange County, North Carolina: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 99-179, 1 sheet
For more information, contact |
North Carolina Water Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
3916 Sunset Ridge Road
Raleigh, North Carolina 27607
(919) 571-4000
E-mail
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