thumbnail

Groundwater-Level Contour Map of Fauquier County, Virginia, October–November 2018

Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5014
Prepared in cooperation with the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
By:  and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20225014

Links

Abstract

Groundwater withdrawals provide most public-water supplies and all private-domestic users in Fauquier County, Virginia, a fast-growing rural area southwest of Washington, D.C. Groundwater levels were measured in 129 wells during a county-wide synoptic survey from October 29 through November 2, 2018. Field measurements, combined with datapoints from the National Hydrography Dataset, were used to develop a county-wide groundwater-level contour map. Groundwater levels and withdrawals during the synoptic survey were near or slightly above long-term medians. Error analysis indicated that the estimated groundwater-level contours generally were lower than observed measurements, with a root-mean-squared error of 33.52 feet. Groundwater levels in Fauquier County are controlled largely by topography: low levels in the crystalline Blue Ridge aquifers in the northwestern part of the county contrast markedly with higher levels in the sedimentary Mesozoic Basin aquifers in the southeast. At current levels of groundwater withdrawal, and at the scale and scope of the synoptic survey, no cones of depression in the groundwater surface were detected. The Fauquier County groundwater-level contour map is available as a U.S. Geological Survey data release.

Suggested Citation

Kearns, M.R., and McCoy, K.J., 2022, Groundwater-level contour map of Fauquier County, Virginia, October–November 2018: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2022–5014, 17 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20225014.

ISSN: 2328-0328 (online)

ISSN: 2328-031X (print)

Study Area

Table of Contents

  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Study Methods
  • Factors Affecting Groundwater Levels
  • Discussion of the Groundwater-Level Map
  • Summary
  • References Cited
  • Appendix 1. Site information for wells included in the groundwater-level survey of Fauquier County, Virginia, October–November 2018
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Groundwater-level contour map of Fauquier County, Virginia, October-November 2018
Series title Scientific Investigations Report
Series number 2022-5014
DOI 10.3133/sir20225014
Year Published 2022
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center
Description Report: vi, 17 p.; Data release
Country United States
State Virginia
County Fauquier County
Online Only (Y/N) N
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details