Description And Description Of The Byron Barrel And Drum Site

Each year, at least 7.8 trillion gallons of water are drawn up from the Ogalla Aquifer to irrigate the crops planted on the High Plains. These cros are the main food sourrce for our entire country. Tragically, irrigation is depleting the aquifer faster than it can replenish itself, and that is the problem. In fact, only the tiniest fraction of the water is ever replaced in the Ogallala Aquifer. If the water were ever fully depleted, the aquifer would need 6,000 years to refill naturally (Zwingle 83). The only way the Ogalla can be replenished is by water seeping down through the layers of soil until it reaches the aquifer. This water comes from the small amount of precipitation in the region, as well as from streams, reservoirs, canals, and irrigation (McGuire and Sharpe).

The Sinclair Refinery Site is a 100-acre refinery, adjacent to the west bank of the Genesee River, and about one-quarter mile south of downtown Wellsville, New York. The refinery was built in the late 1800 's and operated by the Wellsville Refining Company until 1919 when the Sinclair Refining Company (now the Atlantic Richfield Company, or ARCO) purchased the property and operated the refinery until a fire ended the operations in 1958. The refinery was finally closed in 1963. After the closure, a majority of the property was transferred to the Village of Wellsville, which subsequently conveyed land parcels to various entities. Now approximately 6,000 people live within a mile of the landfill; several businesses and the State University of New York at Alfred 's Wellsville Campus are located on the refinery portion of the Sinclair property; and approximately 500 people use the buildings located on this part of the site.

By the end of this report you should have a better perception on the geological landscape of Silver Creek Wetland Complex, and further in-depth knowledge on what stewardship responsibilities fall on you and your relationship with the land you use.

Groundwater is water that seeps through the ground and gets stored in aquifers. The supply of groundwater is always changing because it is constantly used and replenished. The groundwater supply replenishes and grows due to rain and snow melt and can decrease due to things like droughts and heavy usage. Depending on the type of surface of the ground as much as 20 percent of the rain and snow melt can seep into the ground or as little as 5 percent (Raymond, 1988). Areas where as much as

Water rights is a very interesting topic that may have no right answer, but Texas has tried to answer as many questions as possible about who owns what water. In the case of groundwater, Texas has historically given the right to pump the groundwater to the individual person that owns the land, however, this person does not own the groundwater. The landowner may pump as much water as they want even if it completely drains neighboring peoples water sources, the water can also be sold to other entities. All major surface water is claimed by the Texas government, with an exemption for domestic use and livestock. Ownership of water in rivers and streams are given to the landowner if the waterbed cannot be navigated,

“Drainage patterns, the hilliness of the ground, the range of soils, the nature of the bedrock,

As Texas continues to increase in urbanization, the amount of water needed for municipal and industrial uses will increase significantly. More than half the water in Texas comes from underground. Aquifers in some areas of the state are being consumed faster than they can be filled again. Having a sustainable and efficient groundwater management policy is important to ensure that the future water demands will be satisfied.

The Texas bottomland hardwood soil is highly fertile due to the nearby water resources. These wetlands are able to control the soil erosion in order to prevent flood damage and maintain water quality. The soil is often a deep brown or brownish-red color.

Now, what is an aquifer and what is it used for? Aquifers are an aquifer is a body of saturated rock through which water can easily move (isu.edu). In order for a well to be productive, it must be drilled into an aquifer (isu.edu). Rocks such as granite and schist are generally poor aquifers because they have a very low porosity (isu.edu). However, if these rocks are highly fractured, they make good aquifers (isu.edu). A well is a hole drilled into the ground to penetrate an aquifer (isu.edu). One aquifer, called the Ogallala aquifer, produces one-fifth of the nations freshwater to crops in the mid-west (washingtonpost.com). But there is a problem, it is starting to dry up (washingtonpost.com). As a result, the aquifer is slowly getting depleted, with the water table dropping by as much as two feet per year in some counties (washingtonpost.com). And once they drain, it could take hundreds or thousands of years for those ancient aquifers, which were first formed millions of years ago, to fully recharge with rainfall (washingtonpost.com). Researchers found that 30 percent of the Kansas portion of the Ogallala Aquifer has already been pumped out, and another 39 percent will get used up in the next half-century at existing rates (washingtonpost.com). Kansas, clearly, is on the fast track to depletion (washingtonpost.com). As a result, agricultural production is likely to

(Davies et al., 1992). The eastern arm which is the largest arm is fed by two (merrion and Stackpole) which drain the sandstone ridge, while the western, central arms and the central lake are fed predominantly by groundwater which flows from the limestone aquifer. And about two third of the catchments is use for gazing while the other is use for arable farming. (Holman and Vale., 2009). And the lakes can be level lowered through evapotranspiration and groundwater which discharge to the sea.

A former Creek

Then above the limestone, the deep buried sand and gravels are overlapped by the sandy gravel till. The upper layer is deposited silt, sand and gravel (Hilts & Mitchell, 2005). They were deposited in the Oak Ridges Moraine during the advance and retreat of the glaciers, and were eroded by the meltwater during these processes. Nowadays, the sand, silt and gravel sediments are covered by organic accumulations (Barnett et al., 1998). Because of the composition of the ORM, the rain water is able to go through the the permeable Newmarket Till to the underground water system (Dyke, 1999). 70%-80% water collected in Newmarket Till goes to the northern and southern river streams from this watershed (Gerber & Howard, 2002). Because the rivers and the lakes are all connected with the underground water system, the pH value of the soil in the ORM, the rivers and the pounds are close to each

The current water shortage has left many reservoirs depleted with water. Littlerock reservoir has had a decrease in its water level in the recent years. The loss in water has had a devastating toll on the agriculture

The voids are spaces between grains of sand, or cracks in dense rock. All water beneath the land surface occurs within such void space sand is referred to as underground or subsurface water. Subsurface water occurs in two different zones. One zone, located immediately beneath the land surface in most areas, contains both water and air in the voids. This zone is referred to as the unsaturated zone. Other names for the unsaturated zone are zone of aeration and vadose zone. The unsaturated zone is almost always underlain by a second zone in which all voids are full of water. This zone is defined as the saturated zone. Water in the saturated zone is referred to as ground water and is the only subsurface water available to supply wells and springs. Water table is often misused as a synonym for ground water. However, the water table is actually the boundary between the unsaturated and saturated zones. It represents the upper surface of the ground water. Technically speaking, it is the level at which the hydraulic pressure is equal to atmospheric pressure. The water level found in unused wells is often the same level as the water table. AQUIFERS An aquifer is a saturated geologic formation that will yield a usable quantity of water to a well or spring. Ground water occurs in aquifers under two conditions: confined and unconfined. A confined aquifer is overlain by a confining bed, such as an impermeable layer of clay

The unsaturated zones are soil and geologic materials located between the land surface and the saturated zone. The voids are filled with a combination of air and water. Water in this zone is often refereed to as soil moisture. Below the unsaturated zone is the water table. The water table is the level in the geologic formation below which all voids or cracks are saturated. The water table also can be thought of as the upper surface of the groundwater and top of the saturated zone for an unconfined aquifer. The entire region below the water table is called the saturated zone. In the saturated zones, all voids are filled with water and no air is present. The water in the saturated zone is call groundwater. The distance water has to travel to reach groundwater can range from a few feet to hundreds of feet. Water movement toward groundwater may take hours or years, depending on the depth to the aquifer and the characteristics of the unsaturated zone.