Abstract

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District, City of Houston, Fort Bend Subsidence District, Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District, and Brazoria County Groundwater Conservation District has produced a series of annual reports depicting groundwater-level altitudes in the Chicot, Evangeline, and Jasper aquifers of the Gulf Coast aquifer system in the Houston-Galveston region, Texas. To produce these annual reports, contours of equal water-level altitudes are created from water levels measured between December and March of each year from groundwater wells screened completely within one of these three aquifers. Information obtained from maps published in the annual series of USGS reports and geospatial datasets of water-level altitude contours used to create the annual series of USGS reports were compiled into a comprehensive geodatabase. The geospatial compilation contains 88 datasets from previously published contour maps showing water-level altitudes for each primary aquifer of the Gulf Coast aquifer system, 37 for the Chicot (1977–2013), 37 for the Evangeline aquifer (1977–2013), and 14 for the Jasper aquifer (2000–13).

Maps were georeferenced and digitized where existing geographic information system (GIS) data were unavailable (1977–89, 1991, 1995–99). Existing GIS data available for 1990, 1992–94, and 2000–13 were included in the geodatabase. The feature classes were organized into three feature datasets by principal aquifer: Chicot, Evangeline, and Jasper aquifers.

 

Conversion Factors
Inch/Pound to SI
	Multiply	By	To obtain
		Length
foot (ft)		0.3048	meter (m)
mile (mi)		1.609	kilometer (km)
Vertical coordinate information is referenced, “National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29).” Horizontal coordinate information is referenced to the, “North American Datum of 1927 (NAD 27).” Altitude, as used in this report, refers to distance above the vertical datum.

Introduction

Contours of water-level altitude were produced each year from 1977 to 2013 in the Houston-Galveston region—an area consisting of Harris, Galveston, Fort Bend, Waller, and Montgomery Counties and adjacent parts of Brazoria, Grimes, Walker, San Jacinto, Liberty, and Chambers Counties (fig. 1). For this report, information obtained from maps published in the annual series of USGS reports and geospatial datasets of water-level altitude contours used to create the annual series of USGS reports were compiled into a comprehensive geodatabase. The geospatial compilation contains 88 datasets from previously published contour maps showing water-level altitudes for each primary aquifer of the Gulf Coast aquifer system—the Chicot, Evangeline, and Jasper aquifers.

Purpose and Scope

This report documents geospatial water-level altitude data in a geodatabase for the Chicot, Evangeline, and Jasper aquifers of the Gulf Coast aquifer system in the Houston-Galveston region, Texas. The water-level altitude data documented in this report were previously used to make annual reports depicting groundwater-level altitudes in the Chicot (1977–2013), Evangeline (1977–2013), and Jasper (2000–13) aquifers. The geospatial information in the geodatabase pertains to groundwater-level changes and groundwater altitudes in Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery Counties, Texas from 1977 to 2013.

Methods

Water-level data were obtained by calibrated steel tape, air line, or electric water-level tape or from reported data by company well operators. The water-level altitudes used to construct the maps showing water-level altitude for the Chicot, Evangeline, and Jasper aquifers were calculated by subtracting the water-level measurement from the value of land-surface altitude for each well (point). These data were then imported into a geographic information system (GIS) by using approved and standard procedures to create contours of equal water-level altitude with intervals that vary from 25, 50, or 100 feet.

Datasets and their corresponding publication are listed in table 1. Scanned images of the maps were obtained for each year of data with no existing GIS data (1977–89, 1991, 1995–99). These scanned images were then georeferenced to latitude and longitude tick marks and vector data of roads and political boundaries in the projection of Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) Zone 15, units meters, North American Datum of 1927 (NAD27). The contours were digitized, and attribute values were added for the altitude of each contour. The completed datasets of contours were entered into the geodatabase, creating a comprehensive dataset. Existing GIS data for 1990, 1992–94, and 2000–13 were assembled and loaded into the geodatabase. The feature classes were organized into three feature datasets by principal aquifer: Chicot, Evangeline, and Jasper aquifers. To facilitate compatibility with different software platforms, all of the data compiled for the geodatabase are also provided in Environmental Systems Research Institute shapefile format.

 

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First posted September 24, 2013