Geospatial Dataset of Wells and Attributes in the New England Groundwater Level Network, 2017 (ver. 1.1, December 2019)

A dataset of well information and geospatial data was developed for 426 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) observation wells in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. An extensive list of attributes is included about each well, its location, and water-level history to provide the public and water-resources community with comprehensive information on the USGS well network in New England and data available from these sites. These data may be useful for evaluating groundwater conditions and variability across the region.
The well list and site attributes, which were extracted from USGS National Water Information System (NWIS), represent all of the active wells in the New England network up to the end of 2017, and an additional 45 wells that were inactive (discontinued or replaced by a nearby well) at that time. Inactive wells were included in the database because they (1) contain periods of water-level record that may be useful for groundwater assessments, (2) may become active again at some point, or (3) are being monitored by another agency (most discontinued New Hampshire wells are still being monitored and the data are available in the National Groundwater Monitoring Network (https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/index.jsp). The wells in this database have been sites of water-level data collection (periodic levels and/or continuous levels) for an average of 31 years. Water-level records go back to 1913. The groundwater-level statistics included in the dataset represent hydrologic conditions for the period of record for inactive wells, or through the end of water year 2017 (September 30, 2017) for active wells.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data layers were compiled from various sources and dates ranging from 2003 to 2018. These GIS data were used to calculate attributes related to topographic setting, climate, land cover, soil, and geology giving hydrologic and environmental context to each well. In total, the data include 90 attributes for each well. In addition to site number and station name, attributes were developed for site information (15 attributes); groundwater-level statistics through water year 2017 (16 attributes); well-construction information (9 attributes); topographic setting (11 attributes); climate (2 attributes); land use and cover (17 attributes); soils (4 attributes); and geology (14 attributes). Basic well and site information includes well location, period of record, well-construction details, continuous versus intermittent data collection, and ground altitudes. Attributes that may influence groundwater levels include: well depth, location of open or screened interval, aquifer type, surficial and bedrock geology, topographic position, flow distance to surface water, land use and cover near the well, soil texture and drainage, precipitation, and air temperature.

Tags: aquifer, connecticut, groundwater, maine, massachusetts, new-england, new-hampshire, rhode-island, topographic-setting, usgs-5c9bd20ae4b0b8a7f62c3231, vermont, water-levels, well-network
Organization: Department of the Interior