New Jersey Geological Survey DGS96-3 Ambient Ground Water Quality in the Newark Basin, New Jersey METADATA 1. IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION 1.1. CITATION Ambient Ground Water Quality in the Newark Basin, New Jersey By M.S. Serfes Digital compilation by G.C. Herman and M.S. Serfes N.J. Geological Survey Digital Geodata Series DGS96-3 1.2. DESCRIPTION 1.2.1 ABSTRACT Ambient Ground Water Quality in the Newark Basin, New Jersey summarize natural groundwater quality in sedimentary bedrock formations of the Newark basin part of the Piedmont physiographic province of New Jersey. This information will provide all interested parties with natural water chemistry and ranges of many water-quality parameters. Uses for these data include: 1)Establishment of baselines for assessing potential ground-water pollution; and 2)Assisting local governments, water companies, drillers and private well owners in recognizing the potential for natural water-quality problems. The data consist of one ARC/INFO Geographic Information Systems (GIS) coverage showing well locations and well ids, and a set of dBase III relational database files containing chemical parameters, values, and well attributes. The sample analyses and associated well information presented here are from the 1987-88 N.J. Geological Survey and U.S. Geological Survey cooperative Ambient Ground Water Quality Network and the 1985-87 U.S. Geological Survey and Department of Environmental Protection study of radionuclides in ground water. 1.2.2. LIST OF DIRECTORIES AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION wells - ARC/INFO point coverages of monitoring well locations info - ARC/INFO INFO directory 1.2.3. LIST OF FILES AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION wells.e00 (27KB) - ARC/INFO (v. 7.0.4) uncompressed export file (ASCII text) of the wells point coverage chemattr.dbf (71KB) - relational database file (dBase III) of chemical attributes wellattr.dbf (26KB) - relational database file (dBase III) of well attributes 1.2.4. LIST OF KEYWORDS AND PHRASES ambient, ground-water quality, radionuclides, drinking water standards 1.3. GEOGRAPHIC EXTENT The Newark Basin spans the north-central part of New Jersey and comprises most of the Piedmont physiographic province. 1.4. CONTACTS INFORMATION Michael Serfes and Gregory Herman N.J. Dept. Environmental Protection Division of Science & Research N.J. Geological Survey PO Box 427 Trenton, NJ 08625 phone: (609) 984-6587, email: mike.serfes@dep.state.nj.us ********************************************************* 2. DATA QUALITY INFORMATION 2.1. NAMES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF THE TYPES OF DATA wells - ARC/INFO (v.7.0) GIS points coverages with attributes wellattr.dbf and chemattr.dbf - dBASE III database files with integer and character fields. 2.1.2 DATA SOURCE The sample analyses and associated well information stem from the 1987-88 N.J. Geological Survey and U.S. Geological Survey cooperative Ambient Ground Water Quality Network and the 1985-87 Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. Geological Survey study of radionuclides in ground water (see published references). The Ambient Ground-Water Quality Network was established to monitor the ambient quality of ground water in the State. It's present focus is to determine natural groundwater quality throughout the state and examine how geology influences water quality. Each year 22 to 26 wells are selected and sampled. Two years are being spent sampling in each of the state's four physiographic provinces. Wells are sampled for major ions, nutrients, trace constituents, gross alpha and volatile organic compounds. Chemical analyses from 150 wells completed in sedimentary bedrock of the Newark basin in New Jersey are summarized by Serfes (1994). In the NJDEP-USGS study of radionuclides, the U.S. Geological Survey determined the occurrence and distribution of naturally occurring radionuclides in the Newark basin in New Jersey (Zapecza, O.S., and Szabo, Zoltan, 1987, and Szabo, Zoltan, and Zapecza 1987). During 1985 and 1986, water samples were collected from 260 ground-water sites aerially distributed throughout the basin. One hundred and twenty-five samples were analyzed for major ions, trace metals, radioactive constituents and field parameters such as pH, specific conductance and dissolved oxygen. These analyses are used in this data file. Wells near known pollution sites were avoided for both the ambient network and the study of radionuclides. Also, all wells found to contain volatile organic compounds were eliminated from the ambient monitoring network. Sample collection followed standard U.S. Geological Survey protocol which are outlined in a 1990 quality assurance project plan written for the Ambient Ground Water Quality Network. All analyses were done at U.S. Geological Survey National Laboratories using standard methods presented in Fishman and Friedman (1985). 2.1.3. DATA ORGANIZERS All of the data are from a report by Serfes, 1994. Data were organized into the digital format by G.C. Herman and M.S. Serfes. 2.1.4. DATE OF COMPLETION November 5, 1995 2.1.5. DATA AUTOMATION AND ACCURACY Field technicians from the U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Division and the Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Monitoring Management manually located monitoring wells in the field and marked their geographic positions on U.S. Geological Survey 7.5 minute quadrangles to the nearest second. The set of well coordinates were projected from UTM coordinates of degree-minute-seconds into NAD83 state plane. The well coordinates were then organized into a ASCII file with a file structure used for generating an ARC/INFO point coverage. After generating and building the point coverage, the wellnum item was added for use in linking and joining the wells coverage with the related fields in the wellsattr.dbf and chemattr.dbf database files. Wellnum values are sequential integers ranging from 1 to 150. Well locations are considered to be accurate within +- .1 inch (200 ft.) at the 1:24,000 scale. Accuracy of the chemical data conform with standards reported from Fishman and Friedman (1985)for the U.S. Geological Survey National Laboratory. ********************************************************* 3. SPATIAL DATA ORGANIZATION INFORMATION 3.1. NAME OF DATA wells 3.1.1. DATA STRUCTURE Point data with node topology. Spatial objects labels and tics with x,y coordinates. 3.1.2. NUMBER OF SPATIAL OBJECTS Wells contains 150 points and labels, and 4 tics -------------------------------------------------------- 3.2. NAMES OF DATA wellattr.dbf and chemattr.dbf 3.2.1 DATA STRUCTURE Relational database file containing integer and character fields, and sequential database records. 3.2.2. NUMBER OF FIELDS AND RECORDS Wellattr.dbf contains 14 fields (11 integer and 3 character) and 150 data records. Chemattr.dbf contains 44 fields (1 integer and 43 characters) and 179 data records (9 records containing header information and 170 data records). ********************************************************* 4. SPATIAL REFERENCE INFORMATION 4.1 DATA PARAMETERS Scale = 1:24,000 Datum = NAD83 Coordinate System = NJ State Plane Units = feet Projection = Polyconic Zone = 4701 4.2. MAPEXTENT xmin = 310310.022 ymin = 506780.983 xmax = 663929.291 ymax = 831056.548 ********************************************************* 5. ENTITY AND ATTRIBUTE INFORMATION 5.1. NAME OF DIGITAL DATA: wells 5.1.1 ITEMS AND ATTRIBUTES (points and tics) 5.1.1.1 POINTS (WELLS.PAT) COLUMN ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE N.DEC 1 AREA 4 12 F 3 5 PERIMETER 4 12 F 3 9 WELLS# 4 5 B - 13 WELLS-ID 4 5 B - 17 WELLNUM 9 9 I - note: AREA, PERIMETER, WELLS#, and WELLS-ID are default system variables. WELLNUM is a user-specified variable denoting the well number and is used for relating the GIS file with the dBASE files. WELLNUM variables are sequenced from 1 to 150. 5.1.1.2 TICS (wells.tic) COLUMN ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE N.DEC 1 IDTIC 4 5 B - 5 XTIC 4 12 F 3 9 YTIC 4 12 F 3 note: all items are system default variables --------------------------------------------------------- 5.2. NAMES OF DIGITAL DATA wellattr.dbf and chemattr.dbf 5.3.1 ITEMS AND ATTRIBUTES Wellattr.dbf contains 11 integer fields and 3 character fields. The integer fields include Wellnum, Usgsid, Fips, Longitude, Latitude, Elevation, Depth, Openupper, Openlower, Njpermit, and Geonum. The character fields include Township, County, and Welluse Parameters for wellattr.dbf stem from the N.J. Geological Survey database, a set of personal-computer relational databases using Paradox software. A set of attributes and values are available within reference tables and field dictionaries. Chemattr.dbf contains 1 integer field and 43 character fields. The integer field is wellnum. The character fields include date, temperature, specific conductance, solids (residue and dissolved), oxygen, pH, alkalinity, hardness, nitrogen (ammonia, nitrite, ammonia+, NO2+NO3), phosphorus, phosphorous ortho, calcium, magnesium,sodium, potassium, chloride, sulfate, fluoride, silica, aluminum, arsenic, barium, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, lithium, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, strontium, vanadium, zinc, uranium, carbon organic, and phenols. 5.4 LIST OF RELATED TEXT FILES AND LOOK-UP TABLES Geonum is a integer variable that stems from a reference file maintained by the N.J. Geological Survey as /geodata/utility/geolabels.txt. All other field variables for wellattr.dbf stem from data within the N.J. Geological Survey database. Field definitions, sizes, and attribute values are documented within look-up tables and field dictionaries within the set of Paradox programs that compose the database. For more information concerning this database contact: Michael Serfes or Gregory Herman New Jersey Geological Survey PO Box 427 Trenton, NJ 08625 tele: (609) 984-6587 email: mike.serfes@dep.state.nj.us ********************************************************* 6. DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION Data are available in a number of different formats and media upon request. ********************************************************* 7. METADATA REFERENCE INFORMATION 7.1 PUBLICATION DATE December 12, 1995 7.2 AUTHORS Gregory Herman and Michael Serfes, N. J. Geological Survey ********************************************************* 8. PUBLISHED REFERENCES Fishman, M.J., and Friedman, L.G., 1985, Methods for determination of inorganic substances in water and fluvial sediments: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 85-495, 709 p. Serfes M.S., 1990, Quality assurance project plan for the Ambient Ground Water Quality Network: A copy is included with this data file. Serfes M.S., 1994, Natural ground water quality in bedrock of the Newark Basin, New Jersey: New Jersey Geological Survey Geological Survey Report GSR 35 Zapecza, O.S., and Szabo, Zoltan, 1987, Source and distribution of natural radioactivity in ground water in the Newark Basin, New Jersey, in Radon, Radium and other Radioactivity in Ground Water, Anne Arbor, Michigan, Lewis Publishers p. 47-68. Szabo, Zoltan and Zapecza, O.S., 1987, Relation between natural radionuclide activities and chemical constituents in ground water in the Newark Basin, New Jersey, in Graves, Barbaro, ed., Radon, Radium and other Radioactivity in Ground Water, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Lewis Publishers Inc., p. 283-308. ********************************************************* 9. AUTHORS NOTES In summary, the chemical analyses of 168 water samples collected from 150 wells completed in sedimentary bedrock of the Newark basin part of the Piedmont physiographic province in New Jersey, indicate that natural quality of ground water is generally good. However the water may locally require treatment for undesirable characteristics and constituents. The most common problems are with the state-recommended secondary drinking water standards. The standards exceeded are: manganese (27% of samples exceeded the standard), maximum hardness (20.8%), corrosivity (31.2%), total dissolved solids (13.6%), iron (14.5%), sodium (8.2%), and sulfate (8.2%). It is important to note that the concentrations of constituents reported in the data files are dissolved concentrations (passed through a .45 micron filter) not total concentrations.