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Ground-Water Quality Investigation and Monitoring Program Design for the Lake Calumet Area of Southeast Chicago

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Ground-Water Quality Investigation and Monitoring Program Design for the Lake Calumet Area of Southeast Chicago ISWS CR 496 Loan c.1 Illinois State Water Survey Division HYDROLOGY DIVISION SWS Contract Report 496 GROUND-WATER QUALITY INVESTIGATION AND MONITORING PROGRAM DESIGN FOR THE LAKE CALUMET AREA OF SOUTHEAST CHICAGO by Stuart J. Cravens Office of Ground-Water Quality and Contamination and Anna L Zahn Office of Ground-Water Information Prepared for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Champaign, Illinois September 1990 GROUND-WATER QUALITY INVESTIGATION AND MONITORING PROGRAM DESIGN FOR THE LAKE CALUMET AREA OF SOUTHEAST CHICAGO by Stuart J. Cravens and Anna L. Zahn Prepared for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Illinois State Water Survey 2204 Griffith Drive Champaign, Illinois 61820-7495 September 1990 CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES iii LIST OF TABLES iv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 INTRODUCTION 4 Purpose of Study 4 Acknowledgments 5 BACKGROUND 7 Location and Geography of the Study Area 7 Visual Survey of the Study Area 7 Previous Regional Ground-Water Studies 11 GEOLOGY OF THE LAKE CALUMET REGION 13 General Setting and Procedures 13 Geologic Framework 13 Summary of Hydrogeologic Conditions 15 GROUND-WATER HYDROLOGY 21 Ground-Water Use 21 Ground-Water Movement 26 Unconsolidated Deposits 29 Silurian Dolomite 30 Previous Studies 30 Ground-Water Level Measurements 32 Aquifer Properties, Permeabilities, and Gradients 35 Unconsolidated Deposits 35 Shallow Sand Aquifer 35 Till 37 Silurian Dolomite 41 Previous Study Data 41 Current Study Data 42 EXISTING GROUND-WATER QUALITY INFORMATION 47 Potential Sources of Contamination 47 Availability of Information 47 Unconsolidated Deposits 50 Silurian Dolomite Aquifer 53 Facilities with Ground-Water Monitoring 57 i CONTENTS (concluded) Page NEW GROUND-WATER QUALITY INFORMATION 67 Well Selection and New Well Construction 67 Sampling and Analysis 68 Water Quality Results 69 Inorganics 69 Volatile Organic Compounds 72 DISCUSSION 73 Shallow Unconsolidated Deposits 73 Silurian Dolomite Aquifer 74 Potential for Ground-Water Contamination 74 Potential for Surface Water Contamination via Ground Water 75 STRATEGY FOR THE DESIGN OF A MONITORING WELL NETWORK IN THE SILURIAN DOLOMITE AQUIFER 76 REFERENCES 79 APPENDICES 87 Appendix A. Facilities with Ground-Water Monitoring 87 Appendix B. Ground-Water Sample Analyses for Inorganic Parameters 106 ii LIST OF FIGURES Page 1. Map of the study area, with the area of intensive study centered on Lake Calumet delineated 8 2. General land use within the Lake Calumet area 9 3. Urban land use within the Lake Calumet area 10 4. Lake Calumet area showing selected cultural features and lines of cross section .... 14 5. Cross sections of glacial deposits in the Lake Calumet area: A-B, C-D and E-F are west to east; G-H, I-J and K-L are north to south 17 6. Topography of the bedrock surface in the Illinois portion of the Lake Calumet Quadrangle 18 7. Glacial drift thickness in the Illinois portion of the Lake Calumet Quadrangle 19 8. Location and depth of water wells within the full study area 27 9. Location and type of water wells less than 600 feet in depth in the Lake Calumet area 28 10. Potentiometric surface map of the Silurian dolomite aquifer in January, 1975 (a) and location of measuring points (b) 31 11. Potentiometric surface map of the Silurian dolomite aquifer in December, 1989 (a) and location of measuring points, deep tunnel, and dropshafts (b) 33 12. Location of sites with ground-water monitoring, including previously monitored sites 36 13. Normal probability plots for specific capacity and transmissivity 43 14. Location of known potential sources of contamination in the Lake Calumet area ... 48 15. Location of September, 1983 IEPA drilling sites for shallow ground-water quality sampling 51 16. Location of Silurian dolomite wells sampled for ground-water quality 59 17. Locations of known monitoring wells within the unconsolidated deposits of the Lake Calumet area 61 18. Locations of known monitoring wells within the Silurian dolomite aquifer 62 iii LIST OF TABLES Page 1. Estimated ground-water use within the study area from 1980 through 1988 23 2. Number of wells in the major aquifer groupings according to source of the data .... 24 3. Number of wells in the major aquifer groupings according to well use 24 4. Number of wells in the full and intensive study areas according to date of installation 25 5. Summary of hydraulic conductivities derived from field permeability testing of monitoring wells in the till deposits 39 6. Summary of vertical hydraulic gradients between adjacent wells screened in the shallow unconsolidated deposits and the Silurian dolomite aquifer 40 7. Summary of hydraulic conductivities derived from field permeability testing of monitoring wells in the Silurian dolomite aquifer 45 8. Summary of IEPA analyses of shallow ground-water samples obtained in September, 1983 52 9. Statistical summary of the ground-water quality data for the Silurian dolomite aquifer in Cook County, Illinois, 1985-87 54 10. Statistical summary of the ground-water quality data from the ISWS water-quality database for the Silurian dolomite aquifer in both the full and intensive study areas, 1914 through 1982 56 11. Summary of information on sampled wells within the Silurian dolomite aquifer 58 12. Results of previous VOC analyses of samples from Silurian dolomite wells 60 13. Selected ground-water quality information from monitoring wells in the unconsolidated deposits at facilities within the Lake Calumet area 64 14. Selected ground-water quality information from monitoring wells in the Silurian dolomite aquifer at facilities within the Lake Calumet area 65 15. Statistical summay of inorganic ground-water quality data collected from 19 wells in the Silurian dolomite aquifer between December 6, 1989 and July 19, 1990 70 16. Volatile organic compounds analyzed in ground-water samples from the Silurian dolomite aquifer in 1990 72 17. Parameters to be sampled for contaminant detection monitoring 78 iv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Several previous studies, either directly or in some cases indirectly, have focused on ground• water quality in the Lake Calumet area of southeast Chicago. Each of these studies focused on specific aspects of the environmental concerns of the area. None of them provide an in-depth comprehensive evaluation of the ground-water quality. The purpose of this report is to present the results from a preliminary assessment of ground-water quality in the Lake Calumet area. In addition, a strategy for the design of a monitoring well network in the Silurian dolomite aquifer is presented. The geology of the Lake Calumet area is characterized by an average of about 75 feet of glacial drift, including surficial deposits of late glacial Lake Chicago, above the Silurian dolomite bedrock. However, the drift ranges from just a few feet thick about 2 1/2 miles north of Lake Calumet at Stony Island to as much as 115 feet thick just to the east of the lake. Local relief is generally on the order of 10 to 20 feet, although landfilling has raised the relief in some areas to over 100 feet Ground-water use within the 39 square mile area around Lake Calumet is sparse and continuing to decline. Almost all of the water use in the region is supplied by surface water from Lake Michigan. There are records of 80 wells which at one time used ground water from the Silurian dolomite aquifer. As of 1990, approximately 30 wells are known to be actively pumping water from the Silurian dolomite. Although not a prolific aquifer over much of the area, the Silurian dolomite has been a valuable water supply going back to the turn of the century. Conversely, only 2 wells were found which utilize the shallow unconsolidated deposits of the area. Ground-water flow within the unconsolidated deposits of the Lake Calumet area is intrinsically connected to the surface waters, streams, rivers, lakes, and wetlands. However, the shallow ground-water flow has been highly altered from its natural state because of the large amount of fill material of varying permeabilities deposited over most of the region. Currently there is insufficient information on the location, thickness, and hydraulic properties of surficial materials, principally the Dolton Sand and fill deposits, to determine specific ground-water flow directions and velocities. Factors which modify the natural ground-water flow regime include high elevation landfilling, channelization of rivers and their tributaries, filling in of surface-water features, sewer and ditch construction, and the presence of large impervious urban areas (Fitzpatrick and Bhowmik, 1990). Under natural conditions, ground-water flow within the Silurian dolomite aquifer underlying the region is towards the southeast, following the regional dip of the Silurian formations. Ground-water flow directions determined for the Silurian dolomite as part of the Tunnel and Reservoir Project (TARP) (Keifer and Associates, Inc., 1976) clearly show that in 1975 the regional movement of ground water was east and southeast toward Lake Michigan and northwestern Indiana. For comparison, water-levels were measured in 79 wells during December, 1989, and a potentiometric surface map created. Based on the 1989 ground-water levels, it can be concluded that ground-water movement in the dolomite aquifer is more complex than it was in 1975. Three principal areas of diversion appear to dominate ground-water flow within the 1 dolomite aquifer, decreasing the amount of ground water which flows toward, and eventually into, Lake Michigan. The three diversion areas are located on the east side of Lake Calumet, along the Calumet System tunnel, and along the Illinois-Indiana State line. Ground-water quality information for the shallow unconsolidated deposits is limited to a 1983 study by the IEPA (IEPA, 1986a) and data obtained from 17 regulated facilities. Seventeen ground-water samples analyzed by the IEPA in 1983 did not reveal widespread ground-water contamination by volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or toxic trace metals.
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