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An analysis of private potable water well data was conducted for seven single family residential developments in southern Chester County, Pennsylvania. Background data were available for 165 wells within the communities when the wells were first drilled in the 1980s and early 1990s. Sampling of 75 wells within these same communities was performed in 2006 to determine whether conversion of the land to residential housing along with the use of conventional on-lot septic systems had resulted in elevated concentration of nitrate-nitrogen in the drinking water aquifer. The data indicate that prior land use influenced the occurrence of nitrate-nitrogen in the drinking water aquifer. The median nitrate-nitrogen concentration for the 165 wells in the background dataset was 2.9 mg/L. One hundred-seven of those wells were drilled on land previously used for active agricultural purposes. The median nitrate concentration in these wells was 3.8 mg/L. Of 48 wells drilled on forested land, the median nitrate concentration was 1.1 mg/L, approximately 3.5 times lower than those drilled on active agricultural land. The median nitrate concentration in the 2006 sampling dataset was 3.6 mg/L, an increase of 0.7 mg/L. The data indicate that conversion of the land has not resulted in contamination of the drinking water aquifer with respect to nitrate-nitrogen. Likewise, the data suggest that the conversion has not resulted in significant improvements to overall water quality.

Summary: At the request of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, two wilderness study areas in southern Utah (fig. 1) were studied in order to appraise their identified mineral resources and assess their potential mineral resources. The areas studied are the Cockscomb (UT-040-275) Wilderness Study Area, 5,100 acres (8 square miles), and the Wahweap (UT-040-248) Wilderness Study Area, 70,380 acres (110 square miles), both in Kane County, Utah. In this report the areas studied are called "wilderness study areas," simply "study areas," or "Cockscomb area" or "Wahweap area," as appropriate. The Cockscomb area (fig. 1) lies along the steeply east-dipping East Kaibab monocline, and the Wahweap area, farther to the east, consists of flat-lying but gently folded rocks. These areas adjoin the Paria-Hackberry Wilderness Study Area (UT-040-247) to the west.

From abstract: This report concerns the resource extraction potential of the Raymond Mountain Wilderness Study Area, which has no identified (known) mineral or energy resources.