Alternative Text Description for Sole Source Aquifers

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MAP OVERVIEW

This map displays the boundaries of designated Sole Source Aquifers across the Florida peninsula. Sole Source Aquifers are critical underground water resources that serve as the principal drinking water supply for their service areas. The map illustrates the extensive geographic coverage of these protected aquifer systems, showing where these essential groundwater resources exist beneath the land surface. This visualization helps identify areas where groundwater protection is particularly important due to the sole source designation.

GEOGRAPHIC CONTEXT

The map covers the entire Florida peninsula from the northern border near cities such as Daytona Beach and Ocala in the north to Miami and the Florida Keys in the south. Major cities visible on the map include Orlando in central Florida, Tampa and St. Petersburg on the west coast, Sarasota further south on the west coast, Fort Myers in southwest Florida, West Palm Beach and Palm Beach on the east coast, and Miami in the southeast. The map extends west to show Cape Coral, Naples, and Immokalee in southwest Florida, and includes Port St. Lucie and Melbourne on the east coast. The Gulf of America is visible along the western coastline, while the Atlantic Ocean borders the eastern shore. The map also shows portions of neighboring areas including Homosassa Springs in the west and Titusville on the east coast.

KEY INSIGHTS

The Sole Source Aquifers form a nearly continuous coverage along the central and eastern portions of the Florida peninsula, creating a north-south corridor that extends from the northern interior through the Orlando region and continues southward through the interior and eastern coastal areas to Miami. The aquifer coverage is most extensive in the interior and east-central portions of the state, with notable concentrations in the regions surrounding and south of Orlando. The western coastal areas, including the Tampa Bay region and much of the southwest coast around Sarasota, Cape Coral, and Naples, show minimal or no sole source aquifer coverage. There is also a distinct separate aquifer area in the northern portion of the state. The distribution pattern suggests that the central and eastern interior regions of Florida depend heavily on these protected groundwater resources as their primary drinking water supply.

VISUAL ELEMENTS

Sole Source Aquifers

This layer represents federally designated underground water resources that serve as the principal source of drinking water for specific geographic areas.

Sole Source Aquifer Boundaries (cyan grid pattern)

Appearance:

The aquifer boundaries are depicted with a cyan (light blue-green) fine grid or crosshatch pattern overlaid on the base map.

Distribution:

The aquifer coverage appears primarily in the interior and eastern portions of Florida, forming an extensive interconnected system. Coverage extends from the northern interior near Daytona Beach southward through the Orlando metropolitan area and continues through the central and southeastern portions of the peninsula to Miami and beyond.

Notable locations:

Major concentrations occur in the northern interior region, throughout the greater Orlando area and extending north to Daytona Beach, in the continuous corridor south of Orlando through the interior Lake region, in the areas surrounding and including West Palm Beach and Palm Beach on the east coast, and throughout the Miami metropolitan area extending to the southern tip of the peninsula.

Spatial patterns:

The aquifer system displays a generally north-south linear orientation following the interior and eastern portions of the peninsula. There are clear gaps along the western coastal areas including the Tampa Bay metropolitan region, the Sarasota area, and the southwest coast near Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Naples. The aquifer coverage shows irregular but generally continuous boundaries, suggesting the natural geological extent of the underground water-bearing formations. A separate smaller aquifer area exists in the far northern portion of the mapped area.

Overlapping Patterns

The Sole Source Aquifer boundaries do not show overlapping patterns with other thematic features, as this is a single-layer thematic map focused exclusively on aquifer extent.

SYMBOL GUIDE

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

This map represents a single thematic layer extracted from a larger dataset showing federally designated Sole Source Aquifers across multiple EPA regions. The focus is on Florida's aquifer systems and their spatial extent at the land surface. The designation of Sole Source Aquifers indicates that these groundwater resources are the principal source of drinking water for their service areas and if contaminated would create a significant public health hazard. Base map features such as city names and coastal boundaries are shown for geographic reference but are not the primary thematic content. The grid pattern represents the geographic boundaries of the aquifer systems as they relate to the surface, though the actual aquifer formations exist underground.

DATA CONTEXT

Data Source:

The data originates from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and contains boundaries of designated Sole Source Aquifers obtained from EPA Regions 1 through 10 as of September 2009. The boundaries were checked against Federal Register determinations and compiled into a national seamless coverage. The polygons represent available materials showing extents at the land surface related to 78 designated Sole Source Aquifers based on Federal Register announcements. Data source layer name: EPASSA_MAR11.

Definition Query:

No definition query or filter criteria was provided for this view.

Scale Information:

The map displays a regional scale appropriate for viewing the entire Florida peninsula and the full extent of sole source aquifer coverage across the state. The level of detail is suitable for understanding broad geographic patterns and the overall distribution of protected aquifer systems.

Coordinate System:

NAD_1983_HARN_Florida_GDL_Albers (WKID 3087)

Time Period of Content:

The baseline dataset reflects Sole Source Aquifer designations as of September 2009, compiled from EPA regional offices. The designations themselves are based on Federal Register announcements made at various dates.

Limitations:

The dataset includes 89 GIS polygons representing various features at the land surface important for Sole Source Aquifer designations, including designated area polygons, streamflow zones, aquifer recharge areas, and other related features. GIS materials are not available for the St. Joseph SSA in Indiana as noted in the Federal Register [53 FR 23682 (1988)]. The mapped boundaries represent the surface extent of aquifer-related features and do not depict the three-dimensional subsurface characteristics of the aquifer formations.

Map Coverage:

The map extent covers the entire Florida peninsula from the northern border to the Florida Keys in the south, spanning from the Gulf of America coast in the west to the Atlantic Ocean coast in the east. Portions of the panhandle and adjacent coastal waters are visible for geographic context.

The alternative text description of this map was AI-generated and may contain inaccuracies.