Is Columbia, South Carolina, in the Floridan Aquifer?

Doesn’t look like it. But thanks for the question.

Does the Floridan Aquifer include Columbia, SC? Apparently not. Nor the Tertiary sand aquifer.

A WWALS member shared a post from Congaree Riverkeeper, asking,

“the Floridan Aquifer source, or terminus? Anyway, in S.C….”

The Congaree Riverkeeper post said:

We got out and did river patrol on the Broad River the other day.

We were able to check on a few projects happening along the river, including the construction of the City of Columbia’s new drinking water intake….

The Broad River comes down south into Columbia, SC, where it joins the Congaree River. Lake Murray just to the west of Columbia is easy to recognize on many of the other maps below.

Map: Santee Fiver, 2007-02-28 –Karl Musser, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.

Here’s where Columbia, SC, is relative to the Suwannee River Basin. Notice it’s on a line from Macon through Augusta, which is the Fall Line, where Piedmont rivers fall off in rapids to the Coastal Plain.

Map: Suwannee River Basin to SC, 2025-12-23 –WWALS Landings in the Suwannee River Basin

This is a standard USGS map of the Floridan Aquifer. As far north as you’re likely to get water our of it is marked by the blue line labelled “Approximage updip limit of productive part of Upper Floridan aquifer.”

North of that is the brown line marking where maybe some water gets through the ground into the aquifer, labelled “Approximate updip limit of Floridan aquifer system. The south end of Richland County, containing Columbia, SC, is at the top of the map, north of the northmost extent of that updip line.

Estimated transmissivity of the Floridan Aquifer System, 2016-03-01 –Lester J. Williams and Eve L. Kuniansky, USGS, https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/pp1807.

She offered as evidence for her view that the Floridan Aquifer does extend to Columbia, this paper, Walter R. Aucott, USGS Professional Paper 1410-E, 1996, Hydrology of the southeastern Coastal Plain aquifer system in South Carolina and parts of Georgia and North Carolina, https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/pp1410E

HYDROLOGY OF THE SOUTHEASTERN COASTAL PLAIN AQUIFER SYSTEM IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND PARTS OF GEORGIA AND NORTH CAROLINA, 1996-01-01, –Walter R. Aucott, USGS PROFESSIONAL PAPER 1410-E
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This map from that paper shows the light blue line for the Floridan aquifer system’s most northern extent being below the Wateree River Confluence with Congaree Creek to form the Santee River.

The dark blue line for the Tertirary sand aquifer only goes about halfway up Congaree Creek, well below the Fall Line where Columbia is, east of Lake Murray.

Boundaries showing northern or western extent of Coastal Plain Aquifers, 1996-01-01, –Walter R. Aucott, USGS PROFESSIONAL PAPER 1410-E
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This map has the same lines for the Floridan aquifer system and the Tertiary sand aquifer.

Potentiometric Contours; Contour interval 50 feet, 1996-01-01, –Walter R. Aucott, USGS PROFESSIONAL PAPER 1410-E
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This map shows higher resolution contour lines for “altitude at which water would have stood in tightly cased wells.” The aquifer lines are the same as the previous two maps.

Potentiometric Contours; Contour interval 25 feet, 1996-01-01, –Walter R. Aucott, USGS PROFESSIONAL PAPER 1410-E
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Yet another view, with the same aquifer updip limit lines.

Line of equal potentiometric surface decline; Interval 25 feet, 1996-01-01, –Walter R. Aucott, USGS PROFESSIONAL PAPER 1410-E
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This map shows salt and Calcium bicarbonate constituents, with the same aquifer lines.

Figure 32. Dominant chemical constituents in water…, 1996-01-01, –Walter R. Aucott, USGS PROFESSIONAL PAPER 1410-E
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This map compares model boundaries for three different aquifer systems.

Figure 87. Model grid and specified boundary conditions for…, 1996-01-01, –Walter R. Aucott, USGS PROFESSIONAL PAPER 1410-E
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This map shows model results for transmissivity for the Floridan aquifer system. All well south of Columbia, SC.

Figure 45. Simulated and field values of transmissivity for the Florida aquifer system and the Tertiary sand aquifer., 1996-01-01, –Walter R. Aucott, USGS PROFESSIONAL PAPER 1410-E
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In the text of the paper, Columbia, SC, is only mentioned once outside the references, “The mean monthly temperatures at Columbia, S.C., range from 46°F to 81°F.”

So I see no evidence that the Broad River or Columbia, SC, are within the Floridan aquifer system.

Interesting question, though.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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