GEOLOGY AND HOUSING DENSITY IN DUTCHESS COUNTY, NY

Dutchess County is growing rapidly putting tremendous development pressure on local communities. One of the most significant limiting factors in land development is protecting the quality and quantity of water supplies. For the foreseeable future, 50% of the county's population, living on about 75% of the land, will rely on groundwater aquifers for their domestic water and waste water treatment needs, so it is in everyone's interest to understand the important physical characteristics of the county's geological materials because they place important limits on development densities. We have developed a Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based planning tool, and an accompanying brochure, which make the Dutchess County Planning Department's water resources study by Gerber (1982) easier to understand and apply for municipalities determining appropriate zoning densities, and for engineers planning land development based on domestic wells and septic systems.