WATER RESOURCES


                          OF THE
           ECONFINA CREEK BASIN AREA IN
              NORTHWESTERN FLORIDA

                              By
             R. H. Musgrove, J. B. Foster, and L. G. Toler

                         ABSTRACT
   The Econfina Creek basin area of about 1,000 square miles is located in northwestern Florida. Water use in the basin in 1963 averaged about 25.2 mgd (million gallons per day). The major uses of water were for the manufacture of paper products, public and domestic supplies, and recreation. Of the 25.2 mgd, 22.7 were pumped from the artesian Floridan aquifer, mostly in the Panama City area. In February 1964 use of lake water was started at the rate of about 30 mgd and ground-water withdrawal was reduced to about 11 mgd. Since February 1964 the total use of water in the area has been about 41 mgd.
   The basin receives most of its water from rainfall which averages 58.0 inches per year. Highly porous, unconsolidated sands form the water-table aquifer and absorb much of the rainfall. Seepage from this aquifer is to the streams an  d to the underlying artesian aquifers. The productive artesian Floridan aquifer underlies the entire basin and is the aquifer from which the most water is pumped. A secondary artesian aquifer is present in the southern part of the basin and is intermediate in depth to the water-table and Floridan aquifers. Movement of water through these aquifers is generally southwestward.
   By 1963, water levels in the Floridan aquifer near Panama City had been lowered 200 feet by pumping since the first deep wen was drilled in 1908. The large drawdowns resulted from heavy pumping of closely spaced wells in this aquifer which has a low transmissibility (1,300 to 31,000 gallons per day per foot) - In January 1964, pumpage from a field of 21 wells was stopped and water levels in this field recovered 163 feet within 51 days.
   Water from the water-table aquifer generally had a mineral conItent from 10 to 50 ppm. (parts per million) and that from the sec-