THE FEDERAL/STATE OBSERVATION-WELL NETWORK IN UPSTATE NEW YORK

Observation-well networks allow water mangers to monitor drought severity and rates of aquifer recovery during periods of recharge. Starting in 1938, the USGS has monitored a network of observation wells throughout upstate New York in cooperation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. From 1960 to 1995, the observation-well network consisted of about 50 wells completed in glacial-drift and bedrock aquifers in 23 of the 55 upstate counties. In 1995, due to budget constraints, the network was slashed to just 8 glacial-drift wells.

Droughts during the late 1990s resulted in funding becoming available to revitalize the observation-well network. As of 2005, the network consists of 70 wells, 48 in glacial drift and 22 in bedrock. The network was rebuilt through reactivation of previous network wells, addition of environmental-site monitoring wells and unused water wells, and installation of new wells. Every upstate county now has at least one observation well and 15 counties have both a glacial-drift well and a bedrock well. Telemetry is instrumented on 17 wells for real-time data acquisition. The ultimate goal is to secure a pair of glacial-drift and bedrock telemetered wells in every county.

The water-level data collected from the observation-well network is published in the USGS Annual Data Report and is available on the web at http://ny.usgs.gov. Data in tabular and graphical formats for user-specified periods, as well as frequency statistics for each well, can be viewed and downloaded.

Observation wells at schools and universities provide an opportunity for educational outreach. The drilling, logging, and instrumentation of the bedrock observation well installed on the State University at New Paltz campus will be described.