Most of our research and studies of the area's ecology have been concentrated above ground, of the hilly surface conditions that exist around Spring Pond: woodlands, habitats, topography, wetlands and watersheds (Water Surface Protection Zones, Streams, Vernal Pools, flooding and drainage).
When concerned with major projects (like the proposed Lowe's and expanding-Walmart) near important waterways around Spring Pond, The City of Peabody's water supply, the water cycle should be the front environmental concern. Water is vital to life in many ways, and we need to work harder in protecting Spring Pond and the waterways around it.
One may say there is no water table below the rocky hills around Spring Pond, but there are ways to gather facts from boring logs. In future posts, we will study the boring logs and site conditions from the proposed project (where a core sample of the earth has been taken x-ft below the ground surface). The logs will tell us where the water table is, and if the results were taken in a dry or wet season. The log results will define the physical characteristics of the soil conditions. But before studying the underground conditions of the site, it is essential to understand the meaning of 'watershed', 'water table', 'aquifer', and 'ground water'.... and how close threatening projects are to these waterways.
Beginning with understanding ground water, there is a hundred times more water beneath the earth's surface than there is in all the lakes and streams above the surface in the world. Even fractured bedrock may contain and carry water as an aquifer through the voids of fractured bedrock. Read more here from the USGS: http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthgw.html
An example of under ground water through an aquifer, and surfacing in a valley as a stream or river.
You're a wonderful teacher--do the developers (and some of the less erudite politicians) want to learn what you're teaching?
ReplyDeleteAlso, much of the area is a Pine Barrens--an important, fragile and threatened habitat according to Comm. of Mass-Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program (www.mass.gov/
ReplyDeletedfwele/dfw/nhesp/natural_communities/pdf/pitch
_pine_scrub_oak_commun ).
They say that the the soils are classified as having “excessive drainage,” a term denoting difficulty in raising agricultural crops, although the native species manage quite well.) Many scrub oak/pitch pine communities occur on large aquifers, and development may threaten the quality of the water.
There it is in black and white as said by the Commonwealth: development may threaten the quality of the water.
Spring Pond...drinking water.
Please preserve this area. A Lowe's and Super Walmart are NOT worth the loss and threats to water quality.