DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR JOHN BARTON PAYNE, Secretary UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY GEORGE OTIS SMITH, Director WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 449 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA CONNECTICUT BY GERALD A. WARING Prepared in cooperation with the CONNECTICUT STATE GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY Herbert E. Gregory, Superintendent WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1920 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR JOHN BARTON PAYNE, Secretary UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY GEORGE OTIS SMITH, Director Water-Supply Paper 449 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN CONNECTICUT BY GERALD A. WARING Prepared in cooperation with the CONNECTICUT STATE GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY Herbert E. Gregory, Superintendent WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1920 CONTENTS. Page. Introduction_________!_______________ ____ 5 Geography _ - 7 Geology ______________________________________ 10 Ground-water supplies- ______ ___ ___ ____ _ 13 Water in stratified drift___________________________ 13 Water in till____1_______________________________ 13 Water in Triassic rocks ___________________________ 14 Water in trap rock_____________________________ 14 Water in ancient crystalline rocks______________________ 14 Availability of ground-water supplies________________ 14 Well construction____________________________________ 17 Quality of ground water___________________________:___ Id Descriptions of towns_______________________________ 21 Berlin_________j___________.f__________________ 21 Cromwell______________________________________ 32 Meriden _________'_______________________________ 40 Middlefield-____________________________________ 52 Middletown_____________________________________ 59 Rocky Hill-______________________________________ 72 Index _________________________________________ 81 3 ILLUSTRATIONS. Page. PLATE I. Map of Connecticut, showing physiographic divisions and areas covered by water-supply papers of the United States Geo­ logical Survey___________ ____ ____________ 6 II. Map of the Meriden area, Conn., showing glacial deposits, rock outcrops, and the locations of typical wells and springs _________________________ _In pocket. III. Map of the Meriden area, Conn., showing bedrock geology and structure sections _______________________In pocket. IV. Map of the Meriden area, Conn., showing woodlands____In pocket. V. A, Hanging Hills, Meriden, Conn., from Buckwheat Hill; B, Black Pond, Meriden, Conn., from the north__________ 8 VI. A, Esker near Baileyville, Berlin, Conn.; B, Stratified drift near Harbor Brook, Meriden, Conn________________ 12 VII. A, Cliff of trap in Cathole Gorge, Meriden, Conn.; B, Boulder- strewn field near Harbor Brook, Meriden, Conn________ 42 FIGTJKE 1. Diagram showing annual precipitation at Middletown, Conn., 1859-1913, inclusive__________________________ 9 2. Diagram showing average monthly precipitation at Middle- town, Conn., 1859-1913, inclusive__________________ 9 3. Diagram showing depths to water in dug wells in the Meriden area, Conn., in May, 1915________.1_____________ 16 4. Curve showing population of the town of Berlin, Conn_____ 22 5. Curve showing population of the town of Cromwell, Conn___ 34 6. Curves showing population of the town and city of Meriden, Conn____________________________________ 42 7. Diagram showing monthly discharge of Quinnipiac River at outlet of Hanover Pond, Meriden, Conn_____________ 45 8. Curve of population of the town of Middlefield, Conn_____ 53 9. Curves of population of the town and city of Middletown, Conn____________________________________ 61 10. Curve of population of the town of Rocky Hill, Conn ____ 74 4 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONNECTICUT. By GERALD A. WARING. INTRODUCTION. In a water-supply paper issued by the United States Geological Survey in 1904 1 a list of more than 500 wells and springs in Connecti­ cut was published, together with a brief paragraph on the water-bear­ ing rocks and several analyses of water from wells and springs. A similar report, issued in 1905, contains an article on drilled wells in the Triassic area of the Connecticut Valley 2 and specifically describes about 160 wells in the area. The same publication also contains an article on the Triassic rocks as a source of water 3 and a list of 16 analyses of well and spring waters. In the same year a summary of the conditions affecting the occurrence of ground water through­ out the State was published.4 A report issued in 1903 5 discusses the different kinds of rocks in the State and their water-bearing capacity and gives tabulated data for about 800 wells. These earlier reports treated of the State as a whole, or of large parts of it, and were necessarily general in character. The increas­ ing need for potable water for municipal and farm use made it ad­ visable to undertake a more detailed study of the State, and this study was undertaken by the United States Geological Survey under cooperative agreement with the Connecticut State Geological and Natural History Survey. As a result eight reports (including the present paper) have been issued or are in preparation covering the areas indicated on Plate I. The field examination on which this report is based was done under the direction of Prof. H. E. Gregory during six weeks in 1 Gregory, H. E., Notes on the wells, springs, and general water resources of certain eastern and central States; Connecticut: U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 102, pp. 127-168, 1904. 2 Pynchon, W. H. C., Drilled wells of the Triassic area of the Connecticut Valley : U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 110, pp. 65-94, 1905. 3 Fuller, M. L>., Triassic rocks of the Connecticut Valley as a source of water supply; U. S.. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 110, pp. 95-112, 1905. 4 Gregory, H. E., Underground waters of eastern United States; Connecticut; U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 114, pp. 76-81, 1905. 5 Gregory, H. E., and Ellis, E. E., Underground water resources 'of Connecticut, with a study of the occurrence of water in crystalline rocks: U, S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 232, 1909. 6 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. April and May, 1915. The area covered comprises about 137 square miles and includes the towns of Berlin, Cromwell, Meriden, Middle- field, Middletown, and Kocky Hill. The work consisted chiefly in collecting records of a sufficient number of wells in each town to furnish adequate data concerning the ground water. In connection with this study, the Pleistocene glacial deposits till and stratified drift which cover nearly all the surface, were carefully observed, and as they differ considerably in their water-bearing capacity, they were separately mapped (see PL II, in pocket) as well as could be done in the time available for the work. The till consists of un­ assorted gravel, sand, and clay, deposited by the glacial ice sheet as it melted, and in general is not a good water bearer, because its heterogeneous material is unfavorable to the easy circulation of ground water. The stratified drift consists of bedded deposits of glacial materials which were to some extent assorted and redeposited by streams that were formed largely by the melting ice, and because the materials are thus assorted the circulation of ground water is generally freer in these deposits than in the unassorted deposits of till. The map (PL II) shows the areas covered by stratified drift as .determined with special reference to water-bearing capacity. Detailed study of the glacial geology of the region based on the origin and source of the material would probably result in consider­ able changes in the geologic boundaries, especially in places where the transition from stratified drift to till is obscure. Exposures of the bedrock underlying the glacial material were also noted (see.PL II, in pocket), bint the map of bedrock geology and its structure (PL III, in pocket) is copied with only slight changes from geologic maps of the region prepared by Davis 1 and by Gregory and Robinson.2 This map of the bedrock structure is reproduced with the present report because it is believed that it will be of assistance to property owners and to drillers in forecasting the kind of material that will be encountered in drilling wells. Throughout the area the successive rock formations are present in the order in which they are shown in the legend of Plate III. The first rock encountered at any place in the area will be that indicated by the color at that point on the map, and this rock is in most places successively underlain by the other formations in the order indicated in the legend. For example, in sinking wells in the city of Meriden the first rock reached is the lower sandstone, and this material continues for many hundred feet down to the ancient crystalline rocks, except, possibly, where it may be interrupted by dike rocks. 1 Davls, W. TM., The Triasslc formation of Connecticut: TT. S. Geol. Survey Eighteenth Ann. Kept., pt. 2, pis. 19 and 20, 1898. 2 Gregory, EL B., and EoMnson, H. H., Preliminary geological map of Connecticut: Connecticut Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey Bull. 7, U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 449 PLATE 1 -T+ ,--__._, i rr TV/ L > t STONINGTON J , D A N BUXY j \ N E V\\T OWN * \WESTO-A Area covered by Areas covered by other present report water-supply papers MAP OT CONNECTICUT SHOWING MAIN PHYSIOGRAPHIC DIVISIONS AND AREAS TREATED IN THE PRESENT AND OTHER DETAILED WATER-SUPPLY PAPERS OF THE U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY At Middletown, however, the first rock encountered is the upper sandstone, and this rock is believed to be successively underlain by trap sheets and by other sandstones that extend for several thousand feet down to the crystalline rocks. A few exceptions to the regular succession of the beds may be found in localities close to the fault zones, where blocks -of the different rocks have been broken off and shifted from their normal positions. Such displacement and crush­ ing may explain the presence of trap rock in the Worthington School wellj at Berlin village (Berlin well 46, p. 31), though the geologic structure at this place (section C-D, PI. Ill) indicates that the trap is several hundred feet below the surface. It is probable also that there are minor faults whose presence has not been detected.