Water resources of the unconfined aquifer system of the Great Egg Harbor River Basin, New Jersey, 1989-90

Assessing land‐use/water‐quality relationships across contrasting geologic areas in New Jersey

“…The significant relationship between land use and pH, SC and other water-quality variables in the Outer Coastal Plain has been well documented (Conway, 2007;Dow & Zampella, 2000;Zampella et al, 2007Zampella et al, , 2010. It is well documented that streams in relatively undisturbed watersheds in the Pinelands area of the Outer Coastal Plain are usually acidic and low in dissolved solids, including major ions and nutrients, whereas pH and dissolved solids are elevated in streams draining watersheds with agriculture and urban land (Dow & Zampella, 2000;Hunchak-Kariouk & Nicholson, 2001;Johnson & Watt, 1996;Watt & Johnson, 1992;Zampella, 1994;Zampella et al, 2007). Zampella et al (2007) found that median SC, pH, and calcium, magnesium, and chloride concentrations differed significantly between streams in Pinelands watersheds with less than 10% altered land and streams in more heavily altered watersheds.…”

“…Streams in more disturbed watersheds displayed higher concentrations of calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sulfate. Similarly, the dominant ions in surface waters in Pinelands watersheds have been identified as sodium, potassium, calcium, sulfate, and chloride in the Great Egg Harbor basin (Watt & Johnson, 1992) and the Toms River basin (Watt et al, 1994). Johnson and Watt (1996) identified sodium and chloride as the predominant cation and anion in surface waters of the Mullica River Basin.…”

“…While not found to differ between the regions, ammonia was significantly related to urban land and IS only in the northern watersheds and may be reflective of domestic wastewater discharges, which are more common in this part of the state. Non-point sources of nitrites and nitrates in Coastal Plain groundwater include fertilizers applied on agricultural lands (Stackelberg et al, 1997;Szabo et al, 1997;Watt & Johnson, 1992) and residential septic systems (Bunnell et al, 1999).…”

“…Liming associated with agricultural activities is one potential source of elevated calcium and magnesium levels found in Pinelands groundwater (Johnson & Watt, 1996;Watt & Johnson, 1992). Marine aerosols are a source of magnesium, chloride, and sulfate in Pinelands streams.…”

“…Although localized clays occur, the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer is generally considered a water-table aquifer with groundwater discharging to wetlands and surface waters (Walker et al, 2008(Walker et al, , 2011. Groundwater accounts for up to 94% of baseflow in Outer Coastal Plain streams (Johnson & Watt, 1996;Watt & Johnson, 1992;Watt et al, 1994) and up to 80% of baseflow in the Inner Coastal Plain (Johnson & Charles, 1997;Watt et al, 2002). Quantification of groundwater contributions to streamflow is more difficult north of the Fall Line due to the complex interconnections between shallow surficial aquifers and deeper fractured rock aquifers.…”