Project Overview

Full Title
ALBE NAWQA

Location
 Roanoke, Chowan, Albemarle, Tar-Pamlico, Neuse, Cape Fear, and White Oak River Basins

Project Chief
Douglas Harned

Period of Project
2001-2010

Team Members
Melinda Chapman
Michelle Moorman
Thomas Cuffney
Ana María García
Gerard McMahon
Eric Staub
Silvia Terziotti

Science Topic:
Increased Population and Water Resources
Groundwater resources
Agriculture and Water Quality
Estuarine and Coastal Processes
Support of Federal and State Programs

USGS IN YOUR STATE

USGS Water Science Centers are located in each state.

Albemarle-Pamlico NAWQA

4 - Ground-water sampling

NAWQA Coastal Plain ground-water sampling networks.

Groundwater is sampled in ALBE to assess long-term water-quality trends and for aquifer resource assessment in a national framework.

Land use study (albelusag1)

Corn /soybean cropped agricultural areas of the Coastal Plain shallow aquifer system in North Carolina have been sampled since 1992 to initially assess the status of water-quality in a national framework, and subsequently to track long-term change in water quality over time.

Groundwater from as subset of five out of 27 wells in North Atlantic Coastal Plain (NACP) row-crop agricultural fields were sampled quarterly in 2005 for major ions, nutrients, pesticides, and trace elements. Continuous water level measurements were made in the five trend and two reference wells using pressure transducers in 2006.

Groundwater from a subset of five of the 27 land use wells are sampled for nutrients, pesticides, trace elements, and volatile organic compounds every other year staring from 2007. The water from these well was age dated in 2007.

Major Aquifer Study –CastleHayne Aquifer (albesus7)

The Castle Hayne aquifer is a productive, predominately limestone and sand aquifer widely used in southeastern North Carolina. The aquifer provides public water supplies for the cities of New Bern, Jacksonville, and Wilmington. A Major Aquifer System Study (MAS) for the Castle Hayne was initiated in 2002.

Groundwater from a subset of five of the thirty wells in the Castle Hayne aquifer MAS was sampled for nutrients, pesticides, trace elements, and volatile organic compounds in 2009. The water from these wells were age dated in 2007.

Major Aquifer Study—Piedmont Aquifer system (albesus8)

Piedmont Major Aquifer System (albesus8) study wells.

Sampling of 45 bedrock wells distributed throughout the Central Piedmont of North Carolina and Virginia, selected according to a stratified random design, begin in 2007 and was completed in 2008. Samples were distributed (stratified) within the major geologic belts of the study area to allow a comparison of differences in water-quality among the belts. The new well data combined with the SANT and PODL MAS data to enables comparison of water quality of the Inner Piedmont Belt, the Charlotte Belt, the Milton-Chopwamsic, and the Carolina Slate Belt.

The Piedmont sampling was designed to incorporate Piedmont groundwater-quality research in NC. The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Division of Water Quality (DWQ) and the USGS North Carolina Office conducted a cooperative study of Piedmont groundwater quality using a research station flow-path design. Five Research Stations were established in the NC Piedmont, each in representative hydrogeologic settings. Each station consisted of a series of well clusters located along a transect following a flow path from recharge to discharge area. The well clusters were designed to monitor separate zones in the groundwater system, including the shallow regolith, transition zone, and deep bedrock. Flow-path research stations were located in the Inner Piedmont Belt, Charlotte Belt, Milton-Chopwamsic Belt, and the Raleigh Belt. MAS sampling included selected wells at the research stations. Inclusion of Research Station wells in the MAS enhanced the regional generalization of the research-station results. A report summmarizing results of the NC Piedmont Study and the ALBE study was published in 2009 (Harden and others,2009).

Constituents sampled included, field measures, major inorganics, nutrients, organic carbon, trace elements, radon, pesticides, VOCs, and bacteria. Age dating was be done at selected wells.

A report relating water quality to regional Geologic Belts is planned.