US EPA

1371589 

Technical Report 

Water Quality in the Blaine Aquifer of Texas 

Hopkins, J; Muller, C 

2011 

NTIS/13370158 

GRA and I 

GRA and I 

The Blaine Aquifer, one of the 21 minor aquifers recognized in Texas, lies predominantly in a 20- to 35-mile-wide swath in the eastern portion of the Texas Panhandle. The aquifer extends from Wheeler County in the north to Nolan County in the south. Groundwater from the aquifer is almost exclusively used for irrigation of salt-tolerant crops. The sediments that formed the aquifer were deposited mainly in near-shore marine environments during the Permian Period and contain evaporitic minerals such as gypsum and halite. These minerals have influenced the water chemistry of the aquifer today. Groundwater in the Blaine Aquifer contains high levels of sulfate and chloride from the dissolution of gypsum and halite, respectively. Groundwater occurs in dissolution channels within the aquifer formation. Because of the irregular distribution of these channels, groundwater production from wells completed within the Blaine Aquifer varies greatly. The Texas Water Development Boards (TWDB) groundwater database (February, 2009) contains water quality information on 555 samples from wells in the Blaine Aquifer collected from 1938 through 2006. This report summarizes information from 73 analyzed water samples collected at 55 wells since 1988. Four chemical constituents with primary drinking water standards, or maximum contaminant levels, have concentrations in excess of their respective standards: arsenic, gross alpha (radionuclide particles), nitrate, and selenium. Arsenic occurs in excess of its maximum contaminant level in 5 percent of the analyses (two samples), gross alpha in 10 percent (two samples), nitrate in 15 percent (10 of 59 samples), and selenium in 17 percent (11 of 73 samples). 

Water quality; *Aquifers; *Texas; Arsenic; Channels (Waterways); Chloride; Contaminants; Dissolution; Ground water; Irrigation; Marine environment; Minerals; Nitrates; Production; Sediments; Selenium; Sulfates; Water chemistry; Water pollution control; Water wells