Enfield Aquifer Study

The Enfield Aquifer Study was a product of years of research and collaboration between the Town of Enfield, the Tompkins County Planning Department, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The goal of this research was to study the unconsolidated aquifer in Enfield Creek Valley and develop findings to aid the Town’s water resource management.

Below is a collection of discussions, documentation, and findings leading up to the 2019 final report, which is now available on the USGS website: Geohydrology and Water Quality of the Unconsolidated Aquifers in the Enfield Creek Valley (External Link). You can also directly view the PDF version.

Purposes and Causes

An Aquifer Study was a condition of Local Law 2012 #1: Moratorium on Gas Drilling (External Link), which was the precursor to Local Law 2013 #1: Ban on Gas Exploration, Storage, and Drilling Activities (External Link).

Initial discussions began during various Town Board meetings. In particular, the meeting minutes for August 8, 2012 (External Link) and September 12, 2012 (External Link) are available.

Initial Drilling Efforts Update

The drilling commenced on November 11, 2015. Ben Fisher and Bill Kappel completed six wells at 3 sites in the Enfield Creek valley on November 16, 2015. The crew drilled with Frey Drilling of Alden, NY through inclement weather. The drilling was contracted by the Town of Enfield as part of the Enfield Aquifer study (which at this point had been underway for 3 years) and funded separately by the County. Additional drilling may be done in the spring with the remainder of the drilling funds supplied to the Town by the County.

All depths to bedrock were greater than estimates from H/V seismic and from local DEC homeowners’ well logs. The depths ranged from over 140 feet in the southern, deepest part of the valley to about 60 feet in the northern, more shallow part. Two confined aquifers were found in the southernmost and central valley sites, and an unconfined and confined system in the northernmost site. Pressure transducers were placed in all wells to provide seasonal information for the aquifer system.

Water quality will be collected from all wells drilled either this fall or next spring to characterize the aquifers. Conductivity measurements indicated the southernmost lower aquifer is more saline than the central valley and northernmost systems, something we haven’t seen in most of the other aquifer studies.

Interim Findings by the USGS

At the March 9, 2016 Town Board meeting, Ed Buglioso and Bill Kapelle of the USGS presented on interim findings,

Buglioso described the approach they are using and explained the work that was completed in 2015. Six wells were drilled at three locations. Two wells were drilled on town land by the new highway facility. The first was a shallow well with good quality water. The second was deeper with poorer quality water. The town can decide what they want to do with those two wells once the study is completed. The proposed work for 2016 will include well drilling at one more site and continuing to collect well information from wells that are being drilled for new homes, along with collecting water quality samples. The field work should be completed in 2016 with the final report completed in 2017.

At the Town Board meeting on May 11, 2016, Supervisor Ann Rider reported that the last well was drilled and more information was collected for the study. The ongoing work of the Aquifer Study will provide detailed information to help the town in future planning and help protect the Town water supply from possible contamination. The study would not have been possible without the support of Enfield community members. The study information will be available for the public to read and utilize on the future.

Slide Presentations

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