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Summary of October 2008 Monthly Hydrologic Conditions

Compiled in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Provisional assessment of hydrologic conditions in New Jersey

October 2008

Precipitation was below normal at the Newark and Atlantic City index stations, and above normal at the Trenton index station. Newark reported 2.79 inches, which is 88.29 percent of normal.  Atlantic City reported 1.60 inches, which is 55.94 percent of normal.  Trenton reported 2.72 inches, which is 103.82 percent of normal. Total precipitation over the past 12 months was: 47.01 inches at Newark, which is 0.76 inches above normal; 42.00 inches at Atlantic City, which is 1.41 inches above normal; and 42.57 inches at Trenton, which is 1.18 inches above normal.

Combined storage in the thirteen major water supply reservoirs as of October 31 was 59.44 billion gallons (73.9 percent of capacity), which is more than the average October contents for the reference period 1961-1990.  The storage was -0.49 billion gallons less than one month ago and 10.57 billion gallons more than one year ago.  The thirteen major water supply reservoirs are as follows: Lake Tappan, Woodcliff Lake, Oradell Reservoir, DeForest Lake, Splitrock Reservoir, Boonton Reservoir, Canistear Reservoir, Oak Ridge Reservoir, Clinton Reservoir, Charlottesburg Reservoir, Echo Lake, Wanaque Reservoir and Spruce Run Reservoir.         

Streamflow was below normal at all three index stations. The monthly-mean discharge at South Branch Raritan River near High Bridge was 66.3 ft3/s, 74.2 percent of normal.  The monthly-mean discharge of the Great Egg Harbor River at Folsom was 36.2 ft3/s, 57.7 percent of normal.  The monthly mean discharge of the Delaware River at Trenton was 7071 ft3/s, 86.9 percent of normal. The observed daily mean discharge of the Delaware River at Trenton on October 31 was 19200 ft3/s.

Groundwater levels, as measured in water-table observation wells for the month of October, were above normal at the Morrell index well, and below normal at the Readington School and Vocational School index wells.  At the Readington School 11 well, levels remained below normal, and were lower than one year ago. At the Vocational School 2 well, levels decreased from last month, remained below normal, and were lower than one year ago. At the Morrell 1 well, levels increased from last month, were above normal, and were higher than one year ago.

Water quality parameters collected from the Delaware River at Trenton were within recorded historical monthly extremes. Water temperature ranged from 19.9 to 7.3 degrees Celsius. Dissolved oxygen ranged from 12.9 to 8.3 milligrams per liter. Specific conductance ranged from 259 to 128 microsiemens per centimeter at 25°C.

All of the files listed below are in Portable Document Format (PDF) which can be viewed/printed with the Adobe Acrobat® Reader, freely available for most computer platforms.

• Combined Storage in the 13 Major Water Supply Reservoirs
• Monthly precipitation at three selected sites
• Groundwater levels in selected Water-table observation wells
• Streamflow at selected sites
• Water quality for the Delaware River at Trenton