Hydrogeology & Hydrology Program
Queen Anne's and Talbot Counties	contact: David Drummond (drummond@mgs.md.gov)

Recommendations for Future Study:

Water-levels in the Aquia aquifer were measured in numerous privately-owned wells during this study to document the potentiometric surface in 1997. Tracking water-level declines in the future, as pumpage increases, will be of critical importance to the sound management of ground-water resources in Queen Anne's and Talbot Counties. Although there are observation wells in the northern and western part of Queen Anne's County, there are none in the eastern part of the county where future increases in irrigation pumpage would produce the greatest declines in water levels. Likewise, there are no observation wells screened in the Aquia aquifer at all in Talbot County. It is therefore recommended that four observation wells should be drilled, two in each county, and the water levels in those wells measured on a monthly basis.

Water from the Piney Point aquifer and the upper part of the Aquia aquifer was sampled in Talbot County for chloride concentrations to determine if brackish water has intruded the aquifers in that area. It was not determined, however, if brackish water is present in the lower part of the Aquia aquifer in western Talbot County, as it is on Kent Island, because no existing wells are screened in the lower section of the aquifer. It is recommended that at least two wells be drilled near the Chesapeake Bay shore between Claiborne and Tilghman, and water samples collected and analysed for chloride and other major ions. Electrical resistance logs should be run on the uncased boreholes to provide salinity information for the entire section. These wells should be sampled periodically (similar to the monitoring network on Kent Island) to determine trends in chloride concentrations.

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updated 3/3/05