Managing Groundwater Resources at Camp Shelby Training Site, MS (USA)

A descriptive groundwater model was constructed for Camp Shelby and its environs to understand the relationships between surface hydrology, military training, water supply aquifers, and civilian encroachment around the site. The model was based upon data from over 1200 permitted water wells. Main results were that: (i) most of the site is underlain by a clay-rich buffer having low hydraulic conductivity that would prevent significant aquifer contamination by surface activities; (ii) wetland water tables are controlled by this buffer and are not interconnected with water supply aquifers; (iii) most water wells are screened in confined aquifers at depths of 100-750 ft below ground surface; (iv) these laterally discontinuous aquifers are separated by clayey units and are not interconnected; and (v) the water pressures in the deep aquifer under the eastern part of the site, determined from potentiometric surface difference maps, declined as much as 150 ft over the last 40 years.