Reports
Water resources of the Salisbury area, Maryland
1968, Boggess, D.H. and Heidel, S.G.
Report of Investigations 3
Abstract
Large quantities of good-quality water are available for development in the Salisbury area. The Salisbury Formation of Hansen (1966) of Pleistocene age is the principal aquifer, presently supplying most of the 8 mgd (million gallons of water per day) used in the area. This formation will support additional large-scale development to an estimated 45 mgd. Conjunctive development of both surface- and ground-water sources may eventually achieve a water-production rate of about a million gallons per day per square mile, or about 90 mgd from the area.
Large untapped reserves of ground water are available from the channel-fill deposits in the Naylor Mill paleochannel where the Salisbury Formation attains a maximum thickness of about 230 feet. Individual well yields of 3,000-4,000 gpm (gallons per minute) may be obtained from properly constructed and developed wells in the thicker parts of this formation.
In addition smaller quantities of ground water are available from artesian aquifers underlying the Salisbury area. The Manokin and Nanticoke aquifers of Miocene age are the major alternate water-supply sources. These aquifers are presently used only in areas where the overlying Pleistocene sediments are thin or contain water of undesirable quality. However, in most places, water from these deeper sediments is of poorer chemical quality than that generally obtained from the overlying sediments.
