The US Geological Survey (USGS) resumed their data collection activities in Nassau County in the spring of 2016. Their funding was continued until October 2018 by Nassau County. It is not clear how much longer Nassau County alone will be able to continue to support the essential work of the USGS. It is time for the State of New York to contribute to this critical work that annually monitors recharge rates, water table levels, stream flow and other
data benchmarks. Without the maintenance of long-term data collection, important efforts like modeling aquifer responses to drought, summer water demand, or unusual weather events will be harmed.
This year, the drought watch ended and Long Island is receiving above average precipitation. As of the middle of November, rainfall was nearly 10 inches above normal. Data collection helps us to understand how the aquifers respond to such changes. In early 2018, USGS data showed that the aquifer system had not recovered from the previous 3 years of below average rainfall and recharge.
(Source: waterforlongisland.org)
