Ground Water in the Norwalk, Suffield, and Glastonbury Areas, Connecticut

The study of the water resources of Connecticut was begun by Herbert E. Gregory in 1903 for the United States Geological Sur- yej. A preliminary report was issued in 1904.^ A discussion of the fundamental problems relating to the State as a whole, pub- lished five years later,- meets in a broad -wnj the requirements of the scientist and engineer, but it is not designed to furnish data for use in a quantitative study of ultimate supply and utilization. It was recognized that conditions in the State are so varied that in order to obtain data of direct practical value the conditions in each toAvn and so far as feasible around each farm and each village should be investigated. ' Gregory, H. E., [Notes on the wells, springs, and general water resources of] Con- necticut: U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 102, pp. 127^168, 1904. 2 Gregory, H. E., and Ellis, E. E., Underground M-ater resources of Connecticut: U. S. Geol. SuiTey Water-Supply Paper 232, 1909. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SI WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 470 PLATE [ r THE PRESENT U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 470 PLATE I o M / COLEBROOM 'NORI^OLK / O A s S A C H t -f ----- ■ ^ "•flOSRIN L I /T C// H F/ I^ O^ E L J) >r M ORRIS ;p.P 411^1 twiLDD iBETHLEHEMr t^— r^ \M 1\l for D'j_ff__ [-'- 'A \% SOUTH BU R-r vBRCTOKFIELD'M \ ^ TORTLAND) AEASTH SMPToiTv CJ^CHESTER s^ I ^. x n e w\t own |Jsbethel\CO Ijj, ,^'MOrN ROE /' EDO INS \ I \ 'HUNTINGTON, ^V/tLTbw' VA—' 0 \BRIDfi IJ 7 !lNG5<mD I'OUR^M ;^ H A 0 0 A El I NORTH ' 1 V/ ^' /guilfordX. ^ (' * ' b/anford '> ; U^x / V 80IRAH / ,'\.. 1'--" ! ( V^ PRE] lA M ULIN&LY op JCftNTERbuRy) n o \ STONINGTON t/ iV^ p STONm&TON "fif^^- S L AND EXPLANATION M Area co\/ered by Areas covered by othe present report water-supply papers MAP OF CONNECTICUT SHOWINa MAIN PHYSIOGRAPHIC DIVISIONS AND AREAS TREATED IN THE PRESENT AND OTHER DETAILED WATER-SUPPLY PAPERS OF THE U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY man the pub] intei and to u by p qual the polh smal the ^ of m T( Stati in tl preh ans^ the , the i wate Wha strea the i To y distr clair Tl Herl the ; lishe the £ use i was orde town shou 1 Gr nectici 2Gr Geol. ; INTRODUCTION. 9 J\e;ilizin<r the inipDrtniiio dI" siuli stiulies to Connecticut, the State joined with the Federal Government in order to carry on this work. In 1{)11 a cooj)erative agreement was entered into by the United States CTleok)gical Survey and the Ccmnecticut (leolo^ical and Natural History Survey I'or the purpose of obtaining information concerning the quantity and qualit}^ of waters available for municijial and private uses. The investigation was placed in charge of Mr. (iregory and was to be conducted through a period of two years or more, the cost to be shared equally by the parties to the agreement. The work has consisted in gathering information concerning public water supplies; measuring the dug wells used in rural districts, and ob- taining other data in regard to them; obtaining data concerning drilled wells, driven wells, and springs; collecting and analyzing samples of water from wells, springs, and brooks; studying the character and relations of bedrock and surficial deposits with refer- ence to their influence upon the ground-Avater supply. A. J. Ellis spent the field seasons of 1911, 1912, and 1913 on this work under the cooperative agreement. One report^ has been pub- lished on 13 towns around Waterbury, and another- on ten towns around Hartford, four around Saybrook, three around Salisbury, and on Stamford, Greenwich. Windham, and Franklin. A third repoit, the field work for whicli was done by G. A. Waring in 1915, v^■ill cover six towns around Meriden and Middletown. A fourth report, the field work for which was done by H. S. Palmer in 1914 and 1915, will cover 18 towns between Southington and Granby. A fifth report on four towns in the Pomperaug Valley is in prepara- tion by A. J. Ellis. The accompanying index map (PI. I) shows the areas covered by the several reports. The present report covers three areas — the Nor- walk area, comprising the towns of Darien, New Canaan, Norwalk, Ridgefield, AVeston, Westport, and Wilton; the Suffield area, com- prising the toM^ns of East Granby, Enfield, Suffield, and Windsor Locks; and the Glastonbury area, comprising Glastonbury and Marl- boro. SOURCE AND CHARACTER OF DATA. The principal well data are given in tables appended to the descrip- tions of the several towns. The depths of the dug wells were measured with a tape. The information as to depth to rock in wells, consumption of water, and fluctuations and reliableness of supplies 1 Ellis, A. J., Ground water in the Waterbury area, Conn. : U. S. Geol. Survey Water- Supply Paper 397, 1916. ^Gregory, H. E., and Ellis, A. .!., Ground water in tlie Hartford, Stamford, Salisbury, Willimantic, and Saybrook areas, Conn. : D. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supplv Paper 374, 1916. 10 GROUISTD WATER II>T jSTOEWALK AKD OTHER AREAS, CONE". is in general based on statements by well owners. The elevations of Avells and springs were taken from the contour maps. The statements as to yield of drilled wells are based on tests made by the drillers when the wells were completed and reported by the owners. Informa- tion concerning the flow of a few springs was obtained by measure- ment of the overflow, the yield of others was computed from measure- ments of the velocity and cross section of the streams issuing from them, and the yield of still others was estimated by the ©wners. The kindness of well owners, superintendents of water works, and. others in supplying information has been great. The information thus obtained is acknowledged with thanks. Free use has been made of the technical literature dealing with water supplies, and credit is given for specific facts taken from such sources, but the report con- tains also material gathered from the reports of previous investiga- tions, some of which can not well be attributed to any one author, GEOGRAPHY. TOPOGRAPHY. Connecticut comprises three phj^siographic divisions, as shown in Plate I — an eastern highland, a western highland, underlain by resistant crystalline rocks, and an intervening central lowland, which is underlain by relatively soft sedimentary rocks. Nortooik area. — The Norwalk area is in the seaward portion of the western highland. It rises rather gradually northward from sea level at the south, and its highest point is Pine Mountain, in the northern part of Ridgefield, 1,060 feet above the sea. Except near the shore there is very little level ground, and the region comprises I'idges and valleys running north and south. The ridge crests ap- proximate in elevation a southward or southeastward sloping plane and mark an old plateau below which the streams have incised their vail.ej'^s. The general southerly trend of the streams is due to the southerly tilt of the surface. Eu-f^leld area. — The Suffield area is in the central lowland, adjoins Massachusetts, and is crossed by Connecticut Eiver. It is for the most part a nearly level plain, 120 to 280 feet above sea level, above which rise elevations of two types— (1) low, rounded hills with cores of sandstone and cappings of glacial till, and (2) high, long ridges due to the resistance to erosion of upturned sheets of trap rock. Gla^onhury a/rea.. — The Glastonbury area is in part in the central lowland and in part in the eastern highland. The lowland portion comprises the north v/est quarter of the town of Glastonbury and is a plain similar to the plain of the Suffield area. The highland portion comprises most of Glastonbury and all of Marlboro. It is in general ck()<;i;ai'm V. 11 .similaf to Ihc Norwalk area in ((>[)oiirai)liy, but the trend ol' the ri(.lj>vs and \ alleys is less imiforni. CLIMATE. Tlic ()iiLstandin<>' features ol" the climate ol" Connecticut are the hitili huini(hty. the usual iiiiifonnity of precipitation throuj>hout the year, and the rehitively great length of the Avinter.^ The winters hist five or six months, and sj)ring. summer, and autumn are crowded into the remainder of tlic year. Spring is l)rief, but summer is longer and well defined and with the excei)tion of short hot waves is \Qvy pleasant. The autumn is delightful, as it has many warm days with cool nights. The spring comes so quickly that the snow melts rapidly and sometimes makes strong freshets. The winds are prevailingly westerly, but in JNIay and June there is a good deal of east wind. The Weather Bureau maintains no stations within the areas here treated, but the data given for New Haven nearly represent the con- ditions in the Norwalk area, those for Hartford the conditions in the SufHeld area, and those for Middletown the conditions in the Glaston- bury area. It is probable, however, that in parts of the Norwalk and (Tlastonbury areas the climate may be a little colder and the rainfall slightly greater because of greater elevation. Some of the more im- portant data for the three stations mentioned are given in the follow- ing table : CUmat'w daid for Ncir Haven, Hartford, and Mkldlelmvn, Conn. [From U. S. Weather Biir. Bui!. W., section 105, 1912.] TcmperaturG(° F.'): Mean annual Maximiun Minimum Precipitation (incxies): Mean annual Mean annual snowfall Frosts: First killing (average date) Last killing (average date) , Earliest recorded Latest recorded New Haven. Uart- ford. 'i9. 5 101 -14 48.5 98 -20 45. 89 40.3 44.30 47.2 Oct. 17 Apr. 20 Sept. 28 May 17 Oct. 10 Apr. 28 Sept. 19 May 12 Middle- town. 48. 7 10.3 -15 49. 25 51.7 Oct. 2 Apr. 27 Sept. 19 May 12 The precipitation in Connecticut is in general abundant, though sometimes there occur more or less protracted summer droughts. The following tables are summaries of longer tables and show the average, maximum, and minimum monthly precipitation at various points in or near the areas under consideration. 1 Summaries of climatological data of the United States, hy sections : V. S. Dept. Agr. Weather Bureau Bull. W, section 105, 1012. 12 GEOUXD "WATER IN NOEWALK A'SB OTHER AREAS, CONN.