Baltimore County "Ground Water Resource Evaluations"

Jennifer Zeigenfuse, Renee Simeon, Alozie Nwoko, Amanda Bayliss, Adam Durana, Kristin Siefarth, and Michael Stephen

Department of Mathematics

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Andrew Engel

(2004)

Can the existing trend of development of development continue in rural Baltimore County without depleting the long-term water supply used by wells? The Department of Environmental Protection and Resource Management (DEPRM) is concerned that continuing trends in development might be affecting the water table which in turn could have long-term negative effects on the environment and existing residences. The Applied Mathematics Laboratory (AML) was asked by the DEPRM to evaluate existing and failed wells in Baltimore County. Our goal is to analyze the data the county has provided to find patterns of well failure. We are approaching the task using several different methods. First, we are classifying all wells into four categories: original working wells, failed wells, replacement wells, and non-existent wells. Then we are going to run several statistical analyses on each category. We are also using a Geographical Information Systems (GIS), which allows us to use the geographical and geological information about well placement. We are also working on a statistical analysis of rainfall compared to the number of replacement wells within a given time period. We are taking into account the location of each well and the underlying geology and are doing a geo-statistical analysis of the wells, which looks at dependence of variable within a certain radius of a given point. The last approach we are using is a type of data mining called neural networking. It is our goal that these methods will determine whether or not patterns exist in well failure. If there are ways to predict well failure, then legislation in development might be changed. If no patterns of well failure are found, then there is no evidence to suggest a change in Baltimore County development regulations.

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Updated July 15, 2004