The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Park Service, and South Florida Water Management District are using this information to develop restoration plans for the Everglades. New water supplies increasingly rely on conjunctive use of surface water and ground water. The dependence of sensitive ecosystems on ground water creates additional competition for scarce water resources. To address these concerns, the USGS is conducting the second year of a 5-year study of the interaction of ground water and surface water in the alluvial basins of the Southwest. Development of ground-water resources along the Atlantic coast has caused saltwater to intrude many highly productive aquifers.
Development can also affect the discharge of ground water to coastal ecosystems.
A project to review what is known about these freshwater-saltwater issues along the Atlantic coast is nearing completion. A USGS Circular on saltwater intrusion and related coastal zone issues is being written. Features such as aquifer extent, water-level maps, aquifer thickness, hydraulic properties, and major geochemical characteristics would be available as digital files over the Internet. Preliminary planning is underway for the database. The USGS has completed an atlas of the Nation s major aquifers.