Age of Ground Water at City of Lincoln's Municipal Well Field near Ashland, Nebraska

Authors

Gregory V. Steele, Nebraska Water Science Center

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2002

Citation

United States Geological Survey

Comments

United States government work

Abstract

The Platte River alluvial aquifer, which underlies the Plaue River Valley, is an important source of water for public supply in central and eastern Nebraska. Knowing the age of ground water can help scientists and water managers better understand the dynamics of the groundwater system. In turn, this knowledge will help in calibrating groundwater-flow models and aid in developing a conceptual understanding of how long it takes for recharge water to reach certain areas of the aquifer. Although previous studies (Davis, 1992; Steele and Verstraeten, 1999; Verstraeten et al., 1999) reported the interaction of surface water and ground water at the municipal well field near Ashland for the city of Lincoln, Nebraska (figure 1), and quantified, to some degree, the interaction of the Platte River with the underlying alluvial aquifer, no significant amount of work had been done to quantify the age of the groundwater at this well field. Therefore, in 2001 the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the city of Lincoln engaged in a cooperative study to determine the area and vertical age distribution of the water at selected monitoring-well sites in the well field at Ashland. This fact sheet summarizes the results of that study.