Assessment of ground-water contamination in the alluvial aquifer near West Point, Kentucky

Abstract

Well inventories, water-level measurements, ground water quality analyses, surface geophysical techniques (specifically, electromagnetic techniques), and test drilling were used to investigate the extent and sources of groundwater contamination in the alluvial aquifer near West Point, Kentucky. This aquifer serves as the principal source of drinking water for over 50,000 people. Ground water in the alluvial aquifer is generally unconfined and flows in a northerly direction toward the Ohio River. Two large public supply well fields and numerous domestic wells are located in this natural flow path.

Commingled Fluids in Abandoned Boreholes: Proximity Analysis of a Hidden Liability

“…Upward leakage of deep fluids through wellbores can result in the contamination of aquifers (Lyverse and Unthank 1988;Jacobs 2009), the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere (Kang et al 2014), and in some cases an explosive hazard for overlying structures (Chilingar and Endres 2005). The possibility of upward leakage is pervasive in many of the globe's older oil and gas producing regions (Davies et al 2014), with millions of oil and gas wells having been drilled within North America alone .…”