Reports
Impact of a public water-supply well on availability of ground water to neighboring domestic wells near Bel Air, Maryland
1999, Duigon, M.T. and Cooper, B.F.
Interim Report
Abstract
The possible impact of a public supply-well on the availability of ground water to neighboring domestic wells near Bel Air, Maryland, was investigated. The production well draws water from the unconfined, anisotropic, fractured metamorphic-rock aquifer and is located at the distal end of a ground-water flow regime. This flow system originates northeast of Bel Air Acres and flows approximately southwest, discharging mainly to Winters Run. During low-water conditions in August 1998, the production well was pumped at about 123 gallons per minute for five days. Water levels were monitored in six wells equipped with pressure transducers (two water company observation wells and four domestic wells) located from 261 to almost 1,500 feet from the production well. Water levels in two of the domestic wells showed no response; water level in one declined about 1 foot, and in another, by about 3 feet. A recharge boundary was reached after approximately 700 minutes of pumping. The distribution of drawdowns around the production well is elliptical, reflecting the non-uniform aquifer permeability, with greater drawdown (higher permeability) oriented approximately north-northeast.
Water-table drawdown due to prolonged pumping of the production well likely will not have a siginifcant impact on the availability of ground water to neighboring wells.
