Wellhead Protection Area Delineations For The Lewes-Rehoboth Beach Area, Delaware
Files
Date
2003
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Newark, DE: Delaware Geological Survey, University of Delaware
Abstract
Water supply in the rapidly developing Lewes and Rehoboth Beach areas of coastal Sussex County in Delaware is provided by more than 80 individual public water wells and hundreds of domestic wells. Significant concerns exist about the future viability of the ground-water resource in light of contamination threats and loss of recharge areas. As part of Delaware's Source Water and Assessment Protection Program, wellhead protection areas (WHPAs) were delineated for the 15 largest public supply wells operated by three public water systems.
The WHPAs are derived from analysis of results of dozens of steady-state ground-water flow simulations. The simulations were performed with a Visual MODFLOW-based 6-layer, 315,600-node model coupled with GIS-based data on land cover, ground-water recharge and resource potentials, and other base maps and aerial imagery. Because the model was operated under steady-state conditions, long-term average pumping rates were used in the model. The flow model includes four boundary types (constant head, constant flux, head-dependant flux, and no flow), with layers that represent the complex hydrogeologic conditions based on aquifer characterizations. The model is calibrated to within a 10% normalized root mean squared error of the observed water table.
Description
Keywords
Lewes and Rehoboth Beach areas of Delaware, coastal Sussex County in Delaware, contamination threats, loss of recharge areas, Delaware's Source Water and Assessment Protection Program, wellhead protection areas, WHPA