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Water Quality

Water quality can vary spatially within a single aquifer, and can also differ greatly among aquifers encountered at different depths at the same site. The chemical composition of groundwater can impose limitations on specific water uses in particular areas; therefore, knowledge of the occurrence and distribution of water-quality constituents throughout Maryland’s Coastal Plain aquifers is a critical component of prudent groundwater management. Assessment of Coastal Plain groundwater quality will provide water users, managers, and other stakeholders with the information necessary to help guide water-use decisions.

Progress: The groundwater quality component of the Comprehensive Assessment of the Atlantic Coastal Plain Aquifer System includes the development of a pilot constituent to evaluate methods to store and display data in the Maryland Coastal Plain Aquifer Information System. Arsenic was chosen as the pilot groundwater-quality constituent because it was recently studied by MGS (Drummond, D.D., and Bolton, D.W., 2010, Arsenic in ground water in the Coastal Plain aquifers of Maryland: Maryland Geological Survey Report of Investigations No. 78, 71 p.). [Download Report--27 Mb]

The interactive map below provides information on the occurrence of arsenic in the Aquia aquifer. The red shaded area is where arsenic exceeds the drinking water standard.

*PLEASE BE PATIENT WHILE MAPS LOAD*


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The interactive map below provides information on the occurrence of arsenic in the Piney Point aquifer. The red shaded area is where arsenic exceeds the drinking water standard.


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