Evaluation of the Federal-State Cooperative observation well network in upstate New York, 1995-97

The U.S. Geological Survey?s Federal-State cooperative observation well network in upstate New York was evaluated in terms of areal coverage, objectives, and short- and long-term expansion plans. This report presents a history of the observation well network in upstate New York and depicts, on maps, the distribution of observation wells with respect to climatic regions, physiographic regions, and aquifer type (bedrock, till, and stratified drift) within New York State. It also describes siting criteria for observation wells, outlines the objectives of three types of observation well subnetworks, and offers suggestions for short- and long-term improvements of the current network. Two appendixes contain (1) a table of selected well data, and (2) hydrographs and boxplots that show median monthly water levels and monthly percentile statistics for water levels in the 46 observation wells.