Hydric soils are formed under conditions of saturation and flooding during the growing season under extremely wet conditions, and they can support plant growth and regeneration. The soils have a high capacity for absorbing water and the ability to store organic carbon. Groundwater is the largest source of freshwater on Earth, making up 96.5% of it. Madison Borough has five wells (A-E) that provide drinking water and supplies the town with around 2.1 million gallons a day. Groundwater contamination is a great environmental concern. The New Jersey Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NJPDES) is tasked with setting limits on how much trash and where we can pollute, using watershed management methods.
Scientific monitoring of hydraulic soils contributes to our understanding of different soil type compositions and any polluted contents of the water. The National Cooperation of Soil Survey characterizes Madison’ soil into two different associations (distinctive patterns of soil): the Haledon-Urban land–Boonton (⅔ of Madison); and the Riverhead-Urban land-Pompton . The map displays all the hydraulic soils in Madison depicted in letter codes or numbers.
The township of Madison is 443 acres. Riverhead gravelly sandy loam (RKSB) is a soil formed in sand and gravel outwash derived from granite that contains small amounts of shale, sandstone, quartzite, and conglomerate. The soil has a dark gray/brown gravelly sandy loam surface layer. The topsoil underneath is a dark-brown, yellowish-brown, and a yellow to pale brown gravelly loamy sand. Pompton sandy loam (PohB) – This soil is formed in sand and gravel glacial outwash derived from red and brown shale and small amounts of other materials, like quartzite, sandstone, and conglomerate. This soil surface layer is a very dark grayish-brown sandy loam. The upper part of the subsoil is a yellowish-brown and below is a yellowish to light brown loose gravelly loamy sand.
Understanding the process of hydrology and groundwater recharge can help us to understand overall trends in water, if the water is clean and where we can find lakes and rivers.In regards to future work in restoration and conservation, the town of Madison will use stormwater management, for example, implementing green architecture with the intention of maintaining the hydrology to reduce stormwater runoff. Additionally, the Madison Water Department is now required to screen for contaminants and send residents a water quality report and assessment, including Susceptibility Ratings each year.
All data was obtained from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection: Division of Water Supply and Geoscience (Public Water Systems) (The Clean Water Book, NJDEP, Trenton, New Jersey). Madison Borough water can be purchased from Florham Park Water Department, Southeast Morris County MUSA, and NJ American Water Company. From the office of NJ State Climatologist, Soil Survey of Morris County, New Jersey (1976, revised 1999) USDA. 2021. Soil Horizons. (U.S.DA. soil scientist Seymour Goodman Water Quality Management). The most updated soil information available for Morris County at the time of the 2011 ERI Update was retrieved through the “Web Soil Survey (WSS)”, which is produced by the National Cooperative Soil Survey and operated by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). NJDEP no longer produces soil GIS data, but relies on the USDA’s resources. The online map can be found here.
