Recovery of ground‐water supplies by pumping from watertable ponds

Abstract

This paper summarizes a study made to determine whether ground‐water storage in the glacial deposits in the vicinity of Fresh Pond, a water‐table pond used as part of the public supply of the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is available to augment the supply from surface‐water reservoirs. Test wells were drilled; water level, well and test boring, and quality of water data, and data on Inflow and outflow from Fresh Pond were collected, and seismic profiles were run, to determine whether the glacial deposits in the vicinity of the pond contribute appreciable quantities of water to the pond. The data show that water levels in certain wells fluctuate with the level of Fresh Pond and that certain other water levels do not, indicating ground‐water contributions to the pond when it is at low stages and increases in ground‐water storage when pond stages are high. The largest changes in ground‐water storage occur in the glacial deposits underlying the banks to the west and northwest of the pond. Mineral characteristics of the well and pond waters offer no evidence as to the direction of ground‐water flow.