On Feb 14th, we collected another round of monthly depth to water measurements. One thing I noticed this month was that the depth to water measurement was a larger number compared to January. This means that the groundwater level has dropped. Typically, the groundwater doesn't drop continuously until April when the plants begin to grow and less water is available for recharge. However, we are still above the typical groundwater level for this time of year.
If you check NOAA's precipation site for Adams County, you will notice that we are 1.4 inches of precipation behind normal for the past 30 days. We also have been behind normal for the past 90 days.
Deviation from normal rain fall for Adams County can be found at www.erh.noaa.gov/marfc/Maps/barcharts/Adams.PA.html
This is because groundwater movement and storage within different rock environments very with climate.
ReplyDeleteSurface Water Monitoring
Linda, Thanks for your interest in this blog and your comment following Adam's Feb 14th posting. As you know, in a fractured bedrock aquifer as we have in Adams County the water table is a direct result of local precipitation and reflects the recent weather conditions. At the time of Adam posting we were experiencing a reduction in precipitation. Since then there has been a slight increase in rianfall followed this past summer a significant decrease in precipitation and as a consequence another decrease in the water levels in our monitoring well network. The complete record of water level measurements in our wells can be found at the USGS website: http://groundwaterwatch.usgs.gov/countymaps/PA_001.html.
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