On the Progress of an Inventory of Leading to The

Interim report on the progress of an inventory of artesian wells in Florida: leading to the enforcement of sections 370.051 - 370.54, Florida statues Item Type monograph Authors Hendry, Charles W.; Lavender, James A. Publisher Florida Geological Survey Download date 05/10/2021 06:06:55 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/1834/19397 STATE OF FLORIDA STATE BOARD OF CONSERVATION Ernest Mitts, Director FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Herman Gunter, Director INFORMATION CIRCULAR NO. 10 INTERIM REPORT ON THE PROGRESS OF AN INVENTORY OF ARTESIAN WELLS IN FLORIDA LEADING TO THE ENFORCEMENT OF SECTIONS 370.051 - 370.054, FLORIDA STATUTES By CHARLES W. HENDRY, JR., AND JAMES A. LAVENDER Tallahassee, Florida 1957 i LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY April 1, 1957 Mr. Ernest Mitts, Director Florida State Board of Conservation Tallahassee, Florida Dear Mr. Mitts: I respecttully transmit a report on the progress of an inventory leading to the enforcement of Sections 370. 051/. 054, Florida Statutes, prepared by Charles W. Hendry, Jr. and James A. Lavender of the Water Investigations, Florida Geo- logical Survey. This report contains detailed information on 967 wildly flowing wells that were inventoried as part of this project during the biennium. The basic data presented herein is necessary for the intelligent enforcement of the above men- tioned State Statutes, and it will be published as Florida Geological Survey Information Circular No. 10. Respectfully submitted, Herman Gunter, Director Ill TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Introduction. .. .. 1 Subsurface water. .. 2 Classification . 2 Occurrence . .. 4 Floridan aquifer . .. 4 Functions of the Floridan aquifer . 6 Piezometric surface . 6 Recharge and discharge . .. ... 8 Water supply problems. ........... ..... 9 Existing water conservation laws . 12 Current program . 16 Procedure ..... ..... 17 Status of well inventory ............... 18 Summary and recommendations . ... 21 Appendix . .. ...... 22 Selected glossary .................. 22 Chapter 28253, 1953 laws of Florida . 24 Well schedule form . .. 27 Selected bibliography ................ 28 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Ground water classification. 3 2. Approximate extent of Floridan aquifer . 5 3. Map ofpiezometric surface. 7 4. Approximate area of artesian flow . 8 5. That part of Floridan aquifer that yields water from moderate depths with a chloride content in excess of 1000 ppm. ................ 11 County maps showing chloride content and location of each wildly flowing well, figures 6-27, follow page 178. 6. Brevard County . ..... 7. Charlotte County ....... ......... V Figure Page 8. Clay County . 9. Duval County. ....... .. 10. Flagler County. ... 11. Glades County . ...... 12. Hendry County. .......... .... 13. Highlands County . .... 14. Indian River County . 15. Lake County . ..... .. 16. Lee County. .. 17. Marion County. 18. Martin County . 19. Okeechobee County . .... 20. Orange County . ...... 21. Osceola County . .. .. ....... 22. Polk County . 23. Putnam County. .. 24. St. Johns County. 25. St. Lu cie County. 26. Seminole County . ..... 27. Volusia County. TABLES Table Page 1. Number of wells, total yield and chloride content categories . 19 2. Record of wells inventoried..... 29 3. Use of wells . .... ...... 178 vl INFORMATION CIRCULAR NO. 10 1 INTRODUCTION Ground water is the most important natural resource in Florida for industrial, municipal, agricultural, and domestic uses. The growth in population and industry in the State has caused an ever-increasing consumption of water, approxi- mately eight-tenths being derived from subsurface sources. Sufficient quantities of potable ground water have been obtain- able over most of the State, although problems of supplyhave arisen in certain areas. Natural resources as readily and economically accessible as ground water, unfortunately, are wastefully exploited. Water conservationists have long sought legislative measures and controls with which to conserve the water resources of the State. The lack of public interest in supporting adequate legislation curtailing a free and uncontrolled use of this resource has greatly hindered an effective conservation program. The existing problems of ground-water supply and the probability of those that may occur through our increasing population and industrial trends have stimulated more com- prehensive efforts by leading conservationists for controls over the use of our water resources. One of the causes of lower artesian pressure, water waste and aquifer contamination is the misuse and insufficient care of artesian wells. In 1953, Senate Bill No. 57, entitled "An Act to Protect and Control the Artesian Waters of the State" (see Appendix) became a law. This law was passed through the efforts exerted by leading members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, who understood the need for a wise and controlled expenditure of our most valuable natural resource. The State Geologist and his authorized representatives were designated by this law to enforce this conservation measure; however, no financial provision was included for the 1953-55 biennium. The proposed program of the Florida Geological Survey for this biennium did not include the funds nor provide any full-time personnel for the enforcement of this statute. As a result, little actual work was accomplished 2 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY during these two years, although much time was given to planning and discussion of the problem. Realizing that this program could provide additional basic data needed in the analysis of the water-supply problem, the State Geologist sought and was granted by the 1955 Legislature adequate funds with which to activate the first phase of the enforcement of Florida Statute No. 370. 051/. 054. SUBSURFACE WATER An understanding of the classification and occurrence of subsurface water is important to those who have the respon- sibility of evaluating our water-resource investigations and of providing legislation with which to regulate the appropria- tion of our subsurface supplies, if all the needs are to be satisfied. Classification Water occurs underground in two zones: the zone of aeration and the zone of saturation. These two zones are separated by the water table which maybe defined as a plane above which the voids in the rock contain both water and air (zone of aeration) and below which all the voids are fully filled with water (zone of saturation) (see fig. 1). The water table conforms rather generally with the configuration of the land surface, normally intersecting the surface of ponds, lakes and streams. Subsurface water is derived from rainfall, but not all of the water that falls on the earth as precipitationbecomes subsurface water. Some of it remains as surface water or is returned to the atmosphere as evaporation. That which seeps into the subsurface is partiallyutilized bythe roots of shrubs and trees, and the remainder percolates downward to the zone of saturation. Only the subsurface water that reaches this zone of saturation is available to supply wells and springs. All the water below the ground surface is called subsurface water, but only that which is in the zone of saturation is INFORMATION CIRCULAR NO. 10 3 I - ,, VLOI.IACIOLOCICAL 3UVgI GROUND WATER CLASSIFICATION. Figure 1 referred to as ground water. A bed of sediment that is per- meable enough to allow movement of this ground water to supply wells and springs is called an aquifer. Ground water may occur as nonartesian (water table) water or as artesian water. Where water in an aquifer freely rises and falls, responding to rainfall, evaporation, transpi- ration, and withdrawal by supply wells, it is said to be under water-table conditions. Water that has moved into a perme- able bed that lies beneath a relatively impervious bed, called a.n aquiclude, is confined and its surface is not free to rise and fall. Water thus confined is under artesian conditions. 4 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Occurrence Ground water in Florida occurs under both water-table and artesian conditions. The largest portion of that known as the artesian water occurs in an extensive limestone system, called the Floridan aquifer. Where the Floridan aquifer is absent (Santa Rosa and Escambia counties) or where this aquifer yields water that is too highly mineralized for most uses (along the east coast and the peninsula below Lake Okeechobee), there are several shallow formations of relatively small areal extent that provide ground water for our use under water-table or localized artesian conditions. Floridan Aquifer The Floridan aquifer serves as our principal source of ground water and it underlies the southern parts of South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia, and all of Florida except for the westernmost part of the Panhandle (see fig. 2). The limestone strata that comprise this aquifer underlie these states to depths of several thousand feet. At some places, the top of this aquifer is exposed but generally it is covered by several hundred feet of an impervious cover composed of sands, sandstones, dense limestones and clays which confine the artesian water. This aquifer serves as the source of most of the springs in Florida, such as Silver Springs, Rainbow Springs, and Weekiwachee Spring. Also, the Floridan aquifer is the source of supply to many thousands of wells in the State. Records on part of these wells are filed with the Florida Geological Survey in Tallahassee, or the Ground Water Branch, U. S. Geological Survey in Tallahassee and Miami. Current ground- water investigations are increasing

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