A Sole Source Aquifer (SSA) is an aquifer that has been designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the sole or principal source of drinking water for an area.[1] By definition, SSA is an aquifer that supplies at least 50% of the drinking water consumed in the area overlying the aquifer. There may be other factors to designate SSA.[2] For example, in New York City, Kings and Queens Counties are designated as SSA not because the aquifer of these areas are the sole or principal sources of drinking water for these counties; they are designated as SSA because the geographic boundaries of Kings and Queens Counties are within the recharge zone for the aquifers underlying the southeastern
portion of Queens County.[3] Groundwater beneath Manhattan and the Bronx is not used for drinking or non-potable purposes.
These areas may have no alternative drinking water source(s) that could physically, legally and economically supply all those who depend on the aquifer for drinking water and therefore, if contamination occurs, using an alternative source would be extremely expensive. SSA designation works as a tool to protect drinking water supplies in these areas.[4]
^"Sole Source Aquifer Protection Program". epa.gov. 29 May 2015.
^"Water - Region 2 - US EPA". epa.gov. 29 January 2013.
A SoleSourceAquifer (SSA) is an aquifer that has been designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the sole or principal...
sand, or silt). Aquifers vary greatly in their characteristics. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology...
The Ogallala Aquifer (oh-gə-LAH-lə) is a shallow water table aquifer surrounded by sand, silt, clay, and gravel located beneath the Great Plains in the...
it is the source of drinking water for two million people, and is the primary water supply for agriculture and industry in the aquifer's region. Additionally...
The Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System (NSAS) is the world's largest known fossil water aquifer system. It is located underground in the Eastern end of the...
water in the aquifer comes from irrigation recharge. Measuring about 400 miles (640 km) from east to west, it is an important water source for agricultural...
The Guarani Aquifer, located beneath the surface of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, is the second largest known aquifer system in the world...
productive aquifers. Edwards Aquifer in Texas is important as a water supply aquifer and the source of major springs. This carbonate aquifer has historically...
The Biscayne Aquifer, named after Biscayne Bay, is a surficial aquifer. It is a shallow layer of highly permeable limestone under a portion of South Florida...
(Public Law 93-523, 42 U.S.C. 300 et. seq), an aquifer can be designated as a SoleSourceAquifer if the aquifer supplies at least 50% of a community's drinking...
The Mahomet Aquifer is the most important aquifer in east-central Illinois. Composed of sand and gravel, it is part of the buried Mahomet Bedrock Valley...
rock, which formed a confining layer that trapped water in the sandstone aquifer. The eastern edge of the basin was uplifted when the Great Dividing Range...
Zumpango, Chalco, and Xochimilco). Much of the lake was fed from groundwater aquifers; fresh water poured in from Lake Chalco and Xochimilco's freshwater springs...
The Arabian Aquifer System is primarily located in Saudi Arabia but also in Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and...
The Leederville Aquifer is a significant freshwater aquifer located in the south west of Western Australia and predominantly beneath the Swan Coastal...
The Yarragadee Aquifer is a significant freshwater aquifer located in the south west of Western Australia and predominantly beneath the Swan Coastal Plain...
The Sankoty aquifer is an aquifer in the U.S. state of Illinois that provides groundwater to a number of communities in northwestern and central Illinois...
The Bas Saharan Basin (Arabic: حوض الصحراء) is an artesian aquifer system which covers most of the Algerian and Tunisian Sahara and extends to Libya,...
Rio Hamza) is an unofficial name for what seems to be a slowly flowing aquifer in Brazil and Peru, approximately 6,000 kilometres (3,700 mi) long at a...
Rhine Plain close to the faults. Located below the plain, the Upper Rhine aquifer – one of the largest in Europe – holds an estimated 45,000 km3 (11,000 cu mi)...
filter and protect several sole-sourceaquifers including the Plymouth/Carver SoleSourceAquifer, the largest drinking water aquifer in Massachusetts. The...
Clara valley aquifer is a groundwater aquifer located in the southern San Francisco Bay Area. The geology of the Santa Clara valley aquifer consists of...
The Waiwhetu artesian aquifer, sometimes referred to as the Hutt aquifer, is a pressurized zone of water-retaining sand, gravel and boulders beneath the...
quality protection, and supporting efforts to protect the county's solesourceaquifer. Conservative donor and former US Ambassador to Austria Ronald Lauder...
debris. Water still flows down this old valley—underground. The source of the aquifer is the Georgian Bay, approximately 200 kilometres (120 mi) away...