The natural,
continuous cycling of water between the oceans and the continents (hydrologic
cycle)includes temporary storage
of water in the subsurface of the continents as flowing ground water. Ground water is water under pressure
greater than atmospheric pressure and located in the saturated zone of the
subsurface. It constitutes about 99% of the world’s liquid fresh water and
is an important source of water withdrawn for household use, irrigation, and
industrial processing. In the
United States, approximately one
fourth of the water used comes from the ground water reservoir
(Solley and others,
1993). Ground
water is a major component of the natural hydrologic cycle in the
Tunkhannock Creek Watershed and an important water supply source. More
than a third of the precipitation that falls within the watershed flows
through the ground water system and thousands of households rely on ground
water supplies. Concern about the quantity and quality of ground water is
one of the major water-resource issues in our region.
This section of the
Tunkhannock Creek Watershed Atlas describes the geologic setting,
occurrence, movement, availability, and usage of ground water in the
Tunkhannock Creek watershed, Pennsylvania. We will examine the effects
of climate, topography, geology and the activities of humans on natural
ground water flow. The intent of this report is to help the reader
form a conceptual model of the ground water flow system in the Tunkhannock
Creek watershed and thereby facilitate informed management decisions.
Informed decision-making is critical as there is little doubt that we are
and will continue to impact the natural system. Human disturbances of
the ground water system can be grouped as either short-term and/or spatially
limited perturbations such as the pumping of wells and disposing of
wastewater or longer-term, spatially extensive perturbations such as climate
change due to global warming.
