James Halgren and Dr. Wayne Downs, Civil and Environmental Engineering
The original intent of this project was to create a groundwater model of the Deseret Ranch in Deer Park, Florida, in order to predict the possible detrimental effects of a 3,000-acre landfill planned for the area. Shortly after the acceptance of the proposal, the landfill plans were cancelled and the project had to be reconsidered. Sufficient issues with ranch hydrogeology exist to justify eventual creation of a model, so I changed my focus to collection of the pertinent data to accurately formulate such a model.
The most prominent result of this project was intimate familiarization with the resources available for characterizing the groundwater situation on the Deseret Ranch. Data and materials collected came from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD), and the Deseret Ranch itself.
The USGS data consisted primarily of printed reports obtained from USGS information distribution center in Denver, CO. The recordings of three USGS potentiometers on or near the ranch are recorded in the water resources data for 1991—chosen because the ranch did a general survey of all wells during that time and the two sets of data can be compared for improved accuracy.
Two Water Resource Investigation Reports from the USGS provide a very detailed look at the groundwater and hydrogeology in the area of the ranch. A copy of each was ordered and included with the project data for future reference. The first report is entitled Hydrogeology of Osceola County, Florida by George R. Schiner. His purpose was to describe the hydrogeologic situation in Osceola County “so that planning, management, and development of ground-water resources may be facilitated.”
The second report is entitled Water-Supply Potential of the Floridan Aquifer in Osceola, Southern Orange, and Western Brevard Counties by Michael Planert and Walter P. Aucott. He reports on a groundwater model produced in 1984 to determine the best location to install new wells to be to supply the growing need for water in Brevard county. The model has some limitations, but the study is very useful for producing a new model if more modern means are used than those available in 1984.
The St. Johns River Water Management District is a special district formed to monitor the use of water resources in central and northeastern Florida. There are five such districts in Florida and they each function as de facto water police for cities and large water consumers in their areas. The ranch occupies a very large portion of the total land area of the SJRWMD so they have a fairly active relationship with ranch managers. SJRWMD supplied me with several of their own studies which were done for shell mining and road building borrow pit permit applications.
During a visit to the Deseret Ranch in December, James Payne, Property Manager for the ranch and I worked through the ranches’ own collection of well logs, maps, and other data. Several sets of valuable data regarding the position and status of several thousand wells on the ranch were saved onto a CD-R. This data will thus be available to future researchers. James Payne also provided me with a detailed set of electronic maps that outline the stream and canal networks on the ranch and the ranch’s boundaries. All of these can be inputted into a groundwater model.
In addition, Mr. Payne helped me determine other issues that could be examined with a modeling project. Some of these include: nearby city wells affecting reservoir levels, a new power plant needing a source for coolant water and a place to dispose of the spent turbine water, commercial shrimp ponds and waste from the cattle causing high levels of nutrients in surface waters, changing irrigation and de-watering techniques that affect aquifer water levels, and many more.
When I first chose this project, I did so against insightful counsel to not strike out alone. I was advised to seek involvement with a group already pursuing a research objective or a professor with a project already planned or underway—and then to find a part of that to make mine. Various concerned individuals supported me in my choice of research topic, but none of them were committed to assisting me on the project itself. I have discovered that there are significant challenges involved with striking out alone.
The Environmental Modeling Research Laboratory (EMRL) will be releasing Groundwater Modeling System (GMS) 4.0 within the second week of September 2002. I have discussed the advantages of GMS 4.0 over its predecessor GMS 3.1 with one of the EMRL directors. These advantages prompted me to delay creation of the actual model until the later release. I feel confident that the extra time spent on data collection will pay off when combined with the use of more modern software.