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Open-File Report 2006–1161

Prepared in cooperation with New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

Ground-Water Quality in the Upper Susquehanna River Basin, New York, 2004–05

By Kari K. Hetcher-Aguila and David A.V. Eckhardt

U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2006–1161

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Abstract

Water samples were collected from 20 production wells and 13 private residential wells throughout the upper Susquehanna River Basin (upstream from the Pennsylvania border) during the fall of 2004 and the spring of 2005 and analyzed to describe the chemical quality of ground water in the upper basin. Wells were selected to represent areas of greatest ground-water use and highest vulnerability to contamination, and to provide a representative sampling from the entire (4,516 square-mile) upper basin. Samples were analyzed for physical properties, nutrients, inorganic constituents, metals, radionuclides, pesticides, volatile organic compounds, and bacteria.

The cations that were detected in the highest concentrations were calcium, magnesium, and sodium; the anions that were detected in the greatest concentrations were bicarbonate, chloride, and sulfate. The predominant nutrient was nitrate, the concentrations of which were greater in samples from sand and gravel aquifers than in samples from bedrock. The metals barium, boron, cobalt, copper, and nickel were detected in every sample; the metals with the highest concentrations were barium, boron, iron, manganese, strontium, and lithium. The pesticide compounds detected most frequently were atrazine, deethylatrazine, alachlor ESA, and two degradation products of metolachlor (metolachlor ESA and metolachlor OA); the compounds detected in highest concentration were metolachlor ESA and OA. Volatile organic compounds were detected in 11 samples, and concentrations of 3 of these compounds exceeded 1 microgram per liter (μg/L). Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), a gasollline additive, was not detected in any sample.

Several analytes were found in concentrations that exceeded Federal and New York State water-quality standards, which are typically identical. Chloride concentrations exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Secondary Maximum Contaminant Level (SMCL) of 250 milligrams per liter (mg/L) in two samples, and sulfate concentrations exceeded the SMCL of 250 mg/L in one sample. Sodium concentrations exceeded the USEPA Drinking Water Advisory of 60 mg/L in six samples. Nitrate concentrations exceeded the USEPA Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 10 mg/L in one sample and approached this limit (at 9.84 mg/L) in another sample. Barium concentrations exceeded the MCL of 2,000 μg/L in one sample. Iron concentrations exceeded the SMCL of 300 μg/L in five samples, and manganese concentrations exceeded the SMCL of 50 μg/L in 14 samples. Arsenic was detected in seven samples, and the MCL for arsenic (10 μg/L) was exceeded in two samples. Radon-222 exceeded the proposed MCL of 300 picocuries per liter in 24 samples. Any detection of total coliform or fecal coliform bacteria is considered a violation of New York State health regulations; in this study, total coliform was detected in six samples and fecal coliform was detected in one sample, but Escherichia coli (E. coli) was not detected in any sample.

Contents

Abstract

Introduction

Study Area

Purpose and Scope

Methods

Site Selection

Sampling and Analytical Methods

Ground-Water Quality

Physical Properties

Nutrients

Inorganic Ions

Metals and Radionuclides

Pesticides

Volatile Organic Compounds

Bacteria

Summary

References Cited

Figures

1–2. Maps showing—

  1. Location of upper Susquehanna River Basin in New York and of the 33 wells sampled in 2004–05.
  2. Surficial geology of the upper Susquehanna River Basin in New York and locations of the wells sampled in 2004–05.

Tables

  1. Well information and physical properties of ground-water samples from selected wells in the upper Susquehanna River Basin, New York, 2004–05
  2. Constituents for which ground-water samples from the upper Susquehanna River Basin, New York, were analyzed but not detected
  3. Concentrations of nutrients, total organic carbon, and total phenols in groundwater samples from upper Susquehanna River Basin, New York, 2004–05
  4. Concentrations of inorganic constituents in ground-water samples from the upper Susquehanna River Basin, New York, 2004–05
  5. Concentrations of metals and radionuclides in ground-water samples from the upper Susquehanna River Basin, New York, 2004–05
  6. Concentrations of pesticides detected in ground-water samples from the upper Susquehanna River Basin, New York, 2004–05
  7. Concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in ground-water samples from the upper Susquehanna River Basin, New York, 2004–05
  8. Concentrations of bacteria in unfiltered ground-water samples from the upper Susquehanna River Basin, New York, 2004–05

Suggested Citation

Hetcher-Aguila, K.K. and Eckhardt, D.A.V., 2006, Ground-water quality in the upper Susquehanna River Basin, New York, 2004–05: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2006–1161, 21 p., online only.

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For further information, contact:

Director
U.S. Geological Survey
New York Water Science Center
425 Jordan Road
Troy, NY 12180

dc_ny@usgs.gov

(518)285-5600

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