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Research about Palm Beach County, Florida

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Palm Beach County, Florida.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
USGS1977

Ground-water resources of the Riviera Beach area, Palm Beach County, Florida

The principal source of freshwater that has been developed in the Riviera Beach area is the so-called shallow aquifer, which is composed of sand, shells, sandstone, limestone, marl, and occasionally clay strata. Often a stratum contains mixtures of two or more of these materials and occasionally they are cemented. The aquifer ranges in thickness from approximately 300 feet at Lake Worth to less than 175 feet in the interior. The major water-bearing zone usually consists of cemented layers of sand and shells, about 100 feet thick, in the lower part of the aquifer. The quality of water in the shallow aquifer is generally suitable for municipal use except for an area along C-17 Canal where the dissolved solids concentration exceeds 500 milligrams per liter. The primary source of recharge to the shallow aquifer is rainfall. Discharge is mainly by evapotranspiration. Other discharges include seepage into drainage canals and Lake Worth, and pumpage. The configuration of the water table is greatly influenced by Lake Worth, C-17 Canal, West Palm Beach water catchment area, rainfall, and municipal pumpage. The major threat to development of water supplies, and possibly to the continuation of a current withdrawal rate of over 5 million gallons per day, is seawater intrusion. The municipal supply wells are almost 1 mile inland from the source of the seawater (Lake Worth), but the combined effects of increased pumpage, reduced recharge resulting from increased land development, and below normal rainfall, have caused seawater to advance inland in the aquifer. Additional supplies could be developed to the west, away from the threat of seawater intrusion.

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USGS1976

Geologic data from test drilling in Palm Beach County, Florida since 1970

Test hole data, in Palm Beach County, Florida, include lithologic logs from 66 test wells and geophysical logs from 54 test wells. The purpose of the study is to provide the geohydrologic information needed for water management and land use decisions, with emphasis on the urbanized eastern part of the county and the readily developable area in the central part. (Woodard-USGS)

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USGS1976

The shallow aquifer : a prime freshwater resource in eastern Palm Beach County, Florida

The shallow aquifer underlies all of Palm Beach County and is the source of almost all fresh-water supplies in the eastern part of the county. It consists of mixtures of sand, shell sandstone, and limestone. In this area the concentration of dissolved solids in the ground water usually does not exceed 500 milligrams per litre. A section of cavity-riddled limestone and other permeable rocks is located several miles inland and extends north to south almost the entire length of the county. This section yields up to 2,000 gallons per minute (130 litres per second) of water to large wells and offers an excellent potential for the development of future ground-water supplies. Sea-water intrusion into the shallow aquifer is a potential threat to several coastal well fields. The wells nearest the coast are most vulnerable.

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USGS1975

Effects of lowering interior canal stages on salt-water intrusion into the shallow aquifer in southeast Palm Beach County, Florida

Land in southeast Palm Beach County is undergoing a large-scale change in use, from agricultural to residential. To accommodate residential use, a proposal has been made by developers to the Board of the Lake Worth Drainage District to lower the canal stages in the interior part of the area undergoing change. This report documents one of the possible effects of such lowering. Of particular interest to the Board was whether the lower canal stages would cause an increase in salt-water intrusion into the shallow aquifer along the coast. The two main tools used in the investigation were a digital model for aquifer evaluation and an analytical technique for predicting the movement of the salt-water front in response to a change of ground-water flow into the ocean. The method of investigation consisted of developing a digital ground-water flow model for three east-west test strips. They pass through the northern half of municipal well fields in Lake Worth, Delray Beach, and Boca Raton. The strips were first modeled with no change in interior canal stages. Then they were modeled with a change in canal stages of 2 to 4 feet (0.6 to 1.6 metres). Also, two land development schemes were tested. One was for a continuation of the present level of land development, simulated by continuing the present pumpage rates. The second scheme was for land development to continue until the maximum allowable densities were reached, simulated by increasing the pumping rates. The results of the test runs for an east-west strip through Lake Worth show that lowering part of the interior canal water levels 3 feet (1.0 metre), as done in 1961, does not affect the aquifer head or salt-water intrusion along the coastal area of Lake Worth. As a result, no effect in the coastal area would be expected as a result of canal stage lowering in other, interior parts of the study area. Results from the other test runs show that lowering interior canal water levels by as much as 4 feet (1.2 metres) would result in some salt-water intrusion for either land development scheme. Salt-water intrusion is dependent on the location, and amount of water withdrawn, from well fields.

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