In 2015, staff of the Water Supply Section of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) informed the DGS of their concerns about overpumping of the unconfined Columbia aquifer in an area east of Dover (Figure 1). In this area, the City of Dover’s Long Point Road Wellfield (LPRW) and numerous irrigation systems pump water from the shallow Columbia aquifer.
The DGS has been a data provider for the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network (NGWMN) since 2016. NGWMN is a consortium of state and local agencies and the U.S.
In 2015, DGS became aware of a situation east of Dover where there is potential for overpumping of the Columbia aquifer by the City of Dover’s Long Point Road wellfield (LPRW) and numerous large-capacity irrigation wells in the surrounding area (Figure 1).
Saturday, Sept. 24th, 2016
Geological Society of America (GSA) Annual Meeting – Denver, CO
David Wunsch participated in a short course co-sponsored by GSA and the American Geosciences Institute titled: “Preparing for a Career in the Geosciences”.
Wunsch made a presentation regarding careers in hydrogeology, with emphasis in landing careers in government, along with personal and professional career insights, special skills needed, and the outlook for future employment. Wunsch then served on a panel with other presenters and answered questions from student and faculty in attendance.
During an extreme rainfall event that occurred September 29-30, 2016, more than 12 inches in one day, caused the water table to rise over 5 feet near Harbeson, Delaware. A subsequent 3.6 inch storm on October 8 - 9 caused the water table to rise above land surface and flood the area for nearly 8 hours.
DGS staff member A. Scott Andres made a presentation “Results of selected UD nutrient monitoring projects in the Nanticoke River watershed” at the inter-agency meeting Chesapeake basin water quality data, trends, and interpretations held August 11, 2016 at the Delaware Department of Agriculture in Dover.
A recently released article “Hydrogeologic controls on groundwater discharge and nitrogen loads in a coastal watershed” by the Journal of Hydrology details the results of a joint groundwater simulation and water quality sampling study that focused on submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) to Indian River and Rehoboth Bays, part of Delaware Inland Bays.
The Delaware Geological Survey released a new technical report entitled “Groundwater Quality and Monitoring of Rapid Infiltration Basin Systems, Theory and Field Experiments at Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware” which was prepared by A. Scott Andres and Changming He of the Delaware Geological Survey, Edward Walther of the South Water Management District, Florida, Müserref Türkmen of the Izmir Water and Sewerage Administration, Turkey, and Anastasia Chirnside and William Ritter of the University of Delaware. DGS Bulletin 21C documents the results of a detailed study of groundwater quality at a rapid infiltration basin system.