GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 373 WATER RESOURCES OF THE MOBILE AREA ALABAMA With a section on salinity of the Mobile River by the Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, Mobile District UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Douglas McKay, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Thomas B. Nolan, Director GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 373 WATER RESOURCES OF THE MOBILE AREA, ALABAMA By W. H. Robinson, W. J. Powell, and Eugene Brown With a section on salinity of the Mobile River by the Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, Mobile District Washington, D. C., 1956 Free on application to the Geological Survey, Washington 25, D. C. PREFACE This report is one of a series concerning the water Most of the data summarized in this report were resources and present water utilization of selected collected over a period of many years by the U. S. industrial areas of national importance. It has been Geological Survey in cooperation with the Geological prepared at the request of and in consultation with the Survey of Alabama and the Corps of Engineers, United Water and Sewerage Industry and Utilities Division of States Army. Data on the quality of water of the Mo­ the Business and Defense Services Administration of bile River near MountVernon were collected in coop­ the Department of Commerce. The series is designed eration with the State of Alabama Water Improvement to serve the dual purpose of providing basic informa­ Advisory Commission. tion for national defense and at the same time to ren­ der a valuable .service to business and industry in the The section on the salinity of the Mobile River was development of water resources for present and fu­ prepared by the Corp of Engineers, based on data col­ ture use. lected by that agency. These reports are prepared by the field offices of Among the many business and professipnal men in the Geological Survey. The part of this report which the area who have helped in this study are Morgan describes surface-water resources was prepared un­ Stickney, superintendent, Mobile Water Service Sys­ der the supervision of M. R. Williams, district engi­ tem; C. D. Lamon, manager, Prichard Water Works; neer, Surface Water Branch, and the part which de­ F. B. Smith, engineer, Hollingsworth and Whitney scribes ground-water resources was prepared under Paper Company; Harlan Shope, engineer. Southern the supervision of P. E. LaMoreaux, district geolo­ Kraft Corporation; R. W. Leins, engineer, Courtaulds; gist, Ground Water Branch. James H. Kearley as­ and the management personnel and employees of the sisted in the field study of the ground-water resources Mobile Sawmill Company, who were especially helpful. of the area, and John S. Stallings made most of the field study of the surface-water resources of the area. II CONTENTS Page Abstract.................................................... Ground water................................................ 25 Introduction....................................... ........ General principles...................................... 25 Description of area...................... ............ Occurrence and storage............................ 25 Location............................ ................. Movement.............................................. 28 Topography and geology.. ........... ...... ..... Recovery from wells and springs............... 28 Climate............................................... Water-bearing formations............................ 30 Mineral resources................ ................ Miocene deposits, undifferentiated............. 30 Development of the area and navigation.... .... Citronelle formation................................. 36 Occurrence of water.................................. Alluvium................................................ 36 Sources... ................................... ............ Water supply systems.................................... 38 Quality................................................... Mobile Water Service System........................ 38 Surface water. ........................................... Mobile Industrial Supply System.................... 39 Alabama-Tombigbee-Mobile Rivers system.. Prichard Water Works................................ 39 Discharge............................................ Other public supplies................ .................. 40 Floods.................................... ............ Present water use......................................... 40 Quality of water........................ ....... .... Private industrial supplies........................... 40 Salinity of Mobile River, by Corps of Paper industry........................................ 41 Engineers, Mobile District.. ................ Chemical industry..... .............................. 41 Escatawpa River........... ....... ... ............... Power generation.................................... 41 Chickasaw Creek. ........................ ............ Other industrial supplies....,...................... 41 Big Creek................................... ............ Irrigation.................................................. 42 Other streams in the area...... ................... Rural........................... .......................... 42 Bassett Creek.. .... ............................... Potential water supplies........................... ...... 42 Lewis Creek........................ ................ Public supplies.......................................... 42 Bilbo Creek.. ....................................... Surface water............*............................... 42 Bates Creek............................. ............ Mobile and Tombigbee Rivers............ ....... 42 Cedar Creek....................................... Escatawpa River...................................*.. 43 Bayou Sara... ......................... ............ Chickasaw Creek.................................... 43 Eightmile Creek... .................... ............ Other small streams................................ 43 Threemile Creek...................... ............ Quality.... .............................................. 44 Halls Mill Creek....................... ............ Ground water............. ................ ............... 44 Floods on tributary streams .......... ............ Quantity................................................. 44 Quality.................................... .............. 45 Selected bibliography.......................... ........... 45 ILLUSTRATIONS Page Plate 1. Map of Mobile area showing where water-resources data have been collected...................... In pocket 2. Map of city of Mobile and vicinity showing where ground-water data have been collected......... In pocket Figure 1. Geologic map of the Mobile area....................................................................................... 2 2. Temperature and precipitation at Mobile............................................................................... § 3. Mobile harbor.................................................................................................................. 6 4. Tonnage handled by the port of Mobile and Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway, 1943-53............. 6 5. Duration curve of daily flow,- Alabama-Tombigbee-Mobile River system..................................... 8 6. Discharge of the Mobile River near Mount Vernon during typical tidal cycles.. ............................ H 7. Monthly discharge, Mobile River near Mount Vernon............................................................... 12 8. Division of flow between Mobile and Tensaw Rivers............................................. .................... 13 9. Profile of April 1951 flood on Mobile River........................................................................... 14 10. Relation between streamflow and the chemical and physical character of the Mobile River water near Mount Vernon... ......................................................................................... .. ........ 15 11. Map of the Mobile River showing salinity sampling points................. .................. .................... 19 12\ Chloride concentration in Mobile River between miles 13.6 and 31, 1952, 1953, and 1954...^,....... 20 13. Relation between discharge and chloride concentration, lower Mobile River................ .............. 22 14. Relation between discharge and tide and the position of water having a chloride content of 50 parts per million........................................ ...... ............................... .................................... 23 15. Magnitude and frequency of floods on tributary streams in southwestern Alabama....... ............... 25 16. Chemical quality of selected surface waters.................... ......... .... ....... ............................. 26 III IV CONTENTS Page Figure 17. Generalized diagram showing artesian and water-table conditions in the Mobile area..................... 29 18. Chemical character of water from selected wells in the Miocene................................................ 31 19. Frequency distribution graphs of iron, hardness, and chloride in water from the Miocene sands and alluvium. M .................................................................................................................... 32 20. Profile of chloride concentration in ground water, Mobile to Mclntosh.......................................... 35 21. Chemical character of water from selected wells in the alluvium................................................ 37 22. Chloride content of shallow ground water in 4 wells west of the Mobile