Great Smoky Mountains Groundwater Monitoring Wells with Quarterly Measurements

Proposed groundwater monitoring wells in Great Smoky Mountains National Park for inclusion in the North Carolina Statewide Monitoring Well Network. The North Carolina Division of Water Resources (NCDWR) plans quarterly manual depth-to-water measurements in February, May, August, and November, with potential monthly readings during droughts and hourly data from automatic loggers. Data, including 6:00 AM readings, hydrographs, well coordinates, and construction details, is uploaded to the NCDWR database (www.ncwater.org).

Use Cases

• Modeling seasonal groundwater fluctuations based on quarterly depth-to-water measurements.
• Assessing drought impacts on aquifers based on potential monthly manual measurements and indicator well data.
• Mapping well locations and construction details for hydrological studies based on surveyed GPS coordinates.
• Analyzing long-term aquifer health trends based on hydrographs and automatic logger data.

Strengths

• Data collection includes quarterly manual measurements and potential hourly automatic logger readings.
• Location data is determined using Survey Grade GPS technology for accurate horizontal and vertical positioning.
• Database includes multiple data types such as hydrographs, well construction information, and site maps.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

Department of the Interior

Collection Method

Field methods include video-logging, GPS surveying, and manual/automatic water level data collection.

Time Range

Quarterly measurements planned for February, May, August, and November each year.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 04 01:31:30.560052; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, within the Appalachian Highlands Network.