PRIA Logo™
Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-73not60

§1962d–7 Delmarva Peninsula Hydrologic Study; Duties of Secretary of the Interior

Title 42 › Chapter 19B— WATER RESOURCES PLANNING › Subchapter IV— MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS › § 1962d–7

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior must do a full study of the Delmarva Peninsula’s water resources. The goal is to find out if there will be enough fresh water in the future and to identify the most practical, science-based ways to protect and develop those water supplies. The study must check how water is used and how much is available in streams and underground. It must measure major aquifers (depth, thickness, permeability, how much they yield, how they recharge, and water quality) and map important water-bearing layers. It must estimate stream flows with and without storage during droughts, floods, and normal times. It must check for seawater moving into coastal aquifers and look at conditions that could cause that. The Secretary must share useful results with state and local officials, work with state and local agencies and available data, and consider other related matters needed for the study.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §1962d–7

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Secretary of the Interior (hereinafter referred to as the “Secretary”) is authorized and directed to make a comprehensive study and investigation of the water resources of the Delmarva Peninsula with a view to determining the availability of fresh water supplies needed to meet the anticipated future water requirements of the Delmarva Peninsula area, and with a view to determining the most effective means from the standpoint of hydrologic feasibility of protecting and developing fresh water sources so as to insure, insofar as practicable, the availability of adequate water supplies in the future. In carrying out such study and investigation with respect to the Delmarva Peninsula, the Secretary shall—
(1)appraise the water use, requirements, and trends, and determine the availability of water in the streams and underground sources for the entire peninsula;
(2)determine the depths, thicknesses, and permeabilities, the perennial yield, and the recharge characteristics of major aquifers, and the quality characteristics to be expected from each such major aquifer;
(3)determine with respect to ground water resources the continuity and extent of important water-bearing formations;
(4)determine the yield from stream systems under natural flow conditions and under varying degrees of storage and the amounts and quality of waters available from such systems during drought, flood, and intermediate conditions;
(5)determine whether sea water has moved inland into heavily pumped coastal aquifers;
(6)give special consideration to conditions which may invite the invasion of sea water into fresh-water supplies;
(7)compile and make available to appropriate State and local officials any results of this study and investigation that would be appropriate for their use in long-range planning, development, and management of water supplies;
(8)cooperate with State and local agencies for the purpose of using any information and data available to carry out the purposes of this study; and
(9)consider such other matters as the Secretary may deem appropriate to the study and investigation herein authorized.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Section was not enacted as part of the Water Resources Planning Act which comprises this chapter.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Washington Metropolitan Area Water Needs and Estuarial Water Supplies; Studies Pub. L. 93–251, title I, § 85, Mar. 7, 1974, 88 Stat. 36, provided in part for a study of Washington Metropolitan Area Future Water Needs, coordinated with Northeastern United States Water Supply study, and for a study of Estuarial Water Supplies, including a Potomac Estuary Water Treatment Pilot Project, for review of scientific basis for study conclusions by National Academy of Sciences-National Academy of Engineering, and made further authorizations for Sixes Bridge Dam and Lake Project, Maryland dependent on such studies and review.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 1962d–7

Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60