Availability of fresh ground water, Montauk Point area, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York

Ground water is the only source of supply at the Montauk Air Force Station n eastern Suffolk County. The water is contained in the upper 200 feet of deposits of late Pleistocene age, which are broadly divided into an upper unit of undifferentiated till and stratified drift and a lower unit of stratified drift. Fresh water in the principal aquifer, which is in the lower unit, is a lens-shaped body, which lies above salty water containing as much as 11,300 ppm of chloride. The fresh water is under artesian pressure and has a head ranging from about sea level to 3.5 feet above sea level. Pumping rates of 50 to 100 gpm cause salty water to move toward the. supply wells from below. The optimum pumping rate of most wells is about 30 gpm. New wells should be drilled as remote as possible from existing wells, and the well screens should be set as high above the zone of diffusion as the deposits permit.