Regional groundwater flow model construction and wellfield site selection in a karst area, Lake City, Florida

The city of Lake City is in the process of expanding their water supply facilities by 45 420 m3 day−1 (12 MGD) to meet future demands. One portion of wellfield site selection addressed here includes analysis of ambient groundwater quality and its potential for contamination. This study also addresses the potential impacts of groundwater withdrawals to existing legal users, wetlands, surface waters and spring flows. A regional groundwater flow model (MODFLOW) was constructed using existing hydrogeologic data from state and federal agencies in order to simulate the existing hydrologic conditions of this karst area and to predict withdrawal impacts. The model was calibrated by matching potentiometric surface maps and spring flows to within reasonable ranges. Drawdowns in the Floridan and surficial aquifers predicted by the model show minimal impacts to existing legal users and only a 5% reduction in the flow at Ichetucknee Springs ca 21 km (13 miles) away. Due to the karstic nature of the Floridan aquifer here, the equivalent-porous-medium flow model constructed would not be appropriate for contaminant transport modeling. The groundwater flow model is, however, appropriate to represent hydraulic heads and recharge/discharge relationships on a regional scale.