Groundwater Quality Assessment Report, April 27, 2015 Hydrofocus, Inc
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San Joaquin County and Delta Water Quality Coalition Groundwater Quality Assessment Report, April 27, 2015 HydroFocus, Inc. Davis, Ca 95618 Steven Deverel Principal Hydrologist Professional Geologist 8690 Expiration date March 2016 1 Contents Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 7 Key Findings .............................................................................................................................................. 8 Non-Delta Area ..................................................................................................................................... 8 Delta Area ........................................................................................................................................... 10 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 11 Groundwater Quality Assessment Report .............................................................................................. 11 Phasing of the Groundwater Quality Assessment Report .................................................................. 13 Report overview .................................................................................................................................. 13 Hydrologic context .................................................................................................................................. 13 Non-Delta Area ................................................................................................................................... 13 Delta Area ........................................................................................................................................... 17 Groundwater Vulnerability Areas and Monitoring ................................................................................. 25 Vulnerability ........................................................................................................................................ 25 Monitoring .......................................................................................................................................... 26 Methods and Data Sources ......................................................................................................................... 27 Non-Delta Area ....................................................................................................................................... 27 Database and Geographic Information System .................................................................................. 27 Water Quality Data ............................................................................................................................. 28 Water-Level Data ................................................................................................................................ 29 Land Use, Soils, Subsurface Lithology Well Information..................................................................... 29 Groundwater Recharge ....................................................................................................................... 34 Mapping and Vulnerability Assessment Methods .............................................................................. 35 Statistical Analysis ............................................................................................................................... 37 Table 5. Assigned Weights for standard and pesticide DRASTIC features ......................................... 39 Topography ............................................................................................................................................. 41 Delta Areas .............................................................................................................................................. 43 Land Surface Elevation ........................................................................................................................ 43 Lithology .............................................................................................................................................. 43 Groundwater and Surface Water Levels ............................................................................................. 45 Water Isotope Data ............................................................................................................................. 46 2 Groundwater Quality Data .................................................................................................................. 47 Results ......................................................................................................................................................... 47 Non-Delta area ........................................................................................................................................ 47 Distribution and Temporal Variability of Groundwater Nitrate Concentrations ................................ 47 Particle Tracking .................................................................................................................................. 78 Regression and Covariance Analysis ................................................................................................... 80 Use of Indicator Kriging to Preliminarily Delineate Vulnerability Areas ................................................. 82 DRASTIC Results ...................................................................................................................................... 83 Proximity to CV-SALTS Basins.............................................................................................................. 98 Prioritization within the High Vulnerability Area ................................................................................ 98 Sacramento- San Joaquin Delta ............................................................................................................ 103 Land-Surface Elevations .................................................................................................................... 103 Groundwater Levels and Artesian Areas .......................................................................................... 103 Water Isotopes and Groundwater-Surface Water Interactions ....................................................... 108 Discussion.................................................................................................................................................. 110 Non-Delta .............................................................................................................................................. 110 Groundwater Nitrate Concentrations in Non-Delta Areas ............................................................. 110 Groundwater Monitoring .................................................................................................................. 112 Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ............................................................................................................. 112 Subsurface lithology, groundwater levels, artesian areas and flow to drainage ditches ................. 112 Water Isotopes Data and Surface-Groundwater Interactions .......................................................... 113 Summary and Conclusions ........................................................................................................................ 117 Non-Delta .............................................................................................................................................. 117 Delta ...................................................................................................................................................... 118 3 Figures Figure 1. Location of San Joaquin County Delta Water Quality Coalition Service Area. ............................ 12 Figure 2. The legal Delta within the Coalition Service Area. ....................................................................... 19 Figure 3. Conceptual model for groundwater-surface water interactions ................................................. 21 Figure 4. Distribution of Department of Pesticide Regulation Groundwater Protection Areas and Hydrogeologic Vulnerability Areas defined by the State Water Resources Control Board. ....................... 26 Figure 5. Soil textural triangle. ................................................................................................................... 33 Figure 6. Distribution of average nitrate concentrations, 1969 to 1973. .................................................. 48 Figure 7. Distribution of average nitrate concentrations, 1974 to 1978. .................................................. 49 Figure 8. Distribution of average nitrate concentrations, 1979 to 1983. ................................................... 50 Figure 9. Distribution of average nitrate concentrations, 1984 to 1988. .................................................. 51 Figure 10. Distribution of average nitrate concentrations, 1989 to 1993. ................................................ 52 Figure 11. Distribution of average nitrate concentrations, 1994 to 1998. ................................................ 53 Figure 12. Distribution of average nitrate concentrations, 1999 to 2003. ...............................................