The Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain (NACP) is an aquifer system comprised of ten regional aquifers that run along the east coast of the United States from Long Island, New York, to the northern half of North Carolina. (Trapp and Horn, 1997). The system’s extent west to east starts at the Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line and ends at the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. Aquifers within the NACP are composed of sedimentary deposits ranging in age from early Cretaceous to Holocene. The NACP is the main source of water to over 21 million residents in the region and is an important contributor of water for industrial and agricultural purposes (Charles, 2016). Water quality and water levels have been a concern at local and regional levels due to the ever-increasing need for water and climate change. Management of the aquifer’s resources for individual states have continued to become more difficult as hydrologic effects extend past state lines (Masterson, et al., 2011).

Throughout this evaluation, the entire North Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system will be explored, but some topics may focus on two regional aquifers, the surficial and Potomac, due to their importance in groundwater use and the availability of specific hydrogeologic parameters. The surficial aquifer is important because it provides water to a large number of people. The densely populated areas of Long Island, New York, and southern New Jersey rely on the surficial aquifer as a source of domestic and public water supply (Denver, et al., 2014). The Potomac aquifer is another aquifer within the system that is heavily relied on. It is the largest and most widespread aquifer, allowing each state to use it as a water resource (McFarland, 2013). Figure 1 displays the location of the surficial and Potomac aquifer in relation to the other regional aquifers within the system.