Groundwater availability in the Atlantic Coastal Plain of North and South Carolina

Abstract

Bruce Campbell1, Matt Petkewich2, Alissa Coes3, and Jason Fine4 1 USGS Hydrologist, Columbia, SC; bcampbel@usgs.gov 2 USGS Hydrologist, Columbia, SC; mdpetkew@usgs.gov 3 USGS Hydrologist, Tucson, AZ; alcoes@usgs.gov 4 USGS Hydrologist, Raleigh, NC; jmfine@usgs.gov BACKGROUND Ground-water withdrawals from Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifers in North Carolina (NC) and South Carolina (SC) have increased over the past 15 years in response to demands for water for a rapidly growing population. The 2000 census report indicates that the combined populations of the NC and SC Coastal Plain counties totaled nearly 6 million people, representing about 40 percent of NC’s total population and about 63 percent of SC’s total population. The populations of Coastal Plain counties in both states is expected to increase between 13 and 14 percent by 2015. Concern about adequate ground-water supplies and declining ground-water levels in the Coastal Plain of the Carolinas dates back to the early part of the 20th century. As a result, Capacity Use Areas (CUA) have been established to regulate ground-water withdrawals. NUMERICAL MODEL CONSTRUCTION