Groundwater Engineering for Water Supplies - Principal Aquifers of the United States

Groundwater Engineering for Water Supplies - Principal Aquifers of the United States

Course Outline

The dominant application of groundwater engineering is the provision of water supplies for municipalities, agriculture, and industries. Sufficient groundwater supplies are essential for the health and economic well-being of the United States. With increasing demands for water from growing world populations, agriculture, and industry, as well as growing intermittent, if not long-term, shortages of surface water due to droughts, groundwater is becoming an even more important source of fresh water for society.

This 4-hour course will provide an overview of the principal water supply aquifers of the United States with emphasis on familiarization with the nine largest, contiguous, principal water supply aquifers, and a tenth “equivalent” aggregated principal aquifer. It will identify the location and extent of those aquifers, and discuss the different geologic settings in which those aquifers are located. The course will also illustrate the relative importance of groundwater contribution to municipal, agricultural, and industrial water supplies for each aquifer and the quantities of groundwater pumped for each usage.

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student would have achieved an understanding of the following:

The nine largest principal water contiguous aquifers in the United States;
The contribution of the tenth largest aggregated stream-valley aquifer(s);
Geologic settings for the major principal aquifers;
The different categories of groundwater use;
The relative water usage of the ten highest producing principal aquifers;
The relative water usage by major aquifer geologic setting; and
Understand what comprises the Water Resource Regions.

Intended Audience

This course is intended for civil-environmental engineers, geohydrologists, municipal planners, manufacturers and other professionals concerned with groundwater resources.

Benefit to Attendees

The subject matter of this course will be of benefit to professionals involved in water resource development and management including civil-environmental engineers, geohydrologists, municipal planners, manufacturers and others concerned with groundwater resources. It will also be of benefit to others concerned with protecting these valuable water resources. The course provides a broad understanding of the importance of groundwater resources to society.

Course Introduction

In this course you will learn about the principal aquifers in the United States with emphasis on the ten highest producing water supply aquifers. You will also learn about the geohydrologic settings of those aquifers and the relative uses for groundwater withdrawn from each of those aquifers.

Course Content

In this lesson, you are required to download and study the following documents: USGS Circular 1279, 2005: Estimated Withdrawals from Principal Aquifers in the United States, 2000; Molly A. Maupin and Nancy L. Barber;USGS Special Investigations Report 2008-5003, 2008: Estimated Withdrawals from Steam-Valley Aquifers and Refined Estimated Withdrawals from Selected Aquifers in the United States, 2000; B.P. Sargent, M.A. Maupin, and S.R. Hinkle; and the USGS Principal Aquifers Map.

http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/2005/1279/pdf/circ1279.pdf

http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2008/5003/pdf/sir2008-5003.pdf

http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/studies/praq/images/USAaquiferMAP11_17.pdf

Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you still experience any difficulty in downloading or opening this file, you may need to close some applications or reboot your computer to free up some memory.

Course Summary

The information contained in this course provides knowledge of the nine highest producing water supply aquifers in the United States, their importance to the nation’s water supplies, and the relative uses of water withdrawn from those aquifers.

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.