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The effects of groundwater pumping on surface-water features were evaluated by use of a numerical groundwater model developed for a complex glacial-sediment aquifer in northeastern Framingham, Massachusetts, and parts of surrounding towns. The aquifer is composed of sand, gravel, silt, and clay glacial-fill sediments up to 270 feet thick over an irregular fractured bedrock surface. Surface-water bodies, including Cochituate Brook, the Sudbury River, Lake Cochituate, Dudley Pond, and adjoining wetlands, are in hydraulic connection with the aquifer and can be affected by groundwater withdrawals. Groundwater and surface-water interaction was simulated with MODFLOW-NWT under current conditions and a variety of hypothetical pumping conditions. Simulations of hypothetical pumping at reactivated water supply wells indicate that captured groundwater would decrease baseflow to the Sudbury River and induce recharge from Lake Cochituate. Under constant (steady-state) pumping, induced groundwater recharge from Lake Cochituate was equal to about 32 percent of the simulated pumping rate, and flow downstream in the Sudbury River decreased at the same rate as pumping. However, surface water responded quickly to pumping stresses. When pumping was simulated for 1 month and then stopped, streamflow depletions decreased by about 80 percent within 2 months and by about 90 percent within about 4 months. The fast surface water response to groundwater pumping offers the potential to substantially reduce streamflow depletions during periods of low flow, which are of greatest concern to the ecological integrity of the river. Results indicate that streamflow depletion during September, typically the month of lowest flow, can be reduced by 29 percent by lowering the maximum pumping rates to near zero during September. Lowering pumping rates for 3 months (July through September) reduces streamflow depletion during September by 79 percent as compared to constant pumping. These results demonstrate that a seasonal or streamflow-based groundwater pumping schedule can reduce the effects of pumping during periods of low flow. Introduction Glacial-sediment aquifers are an important source of water to communities in the northeastern United States. However, groundwater withdrawals from these aquifers are of growing concern because of their potential effects on surface-water resources, particularly streamflows. In the past, groundwater withdrawal limits were based on aquifer tests that determined the potential yield from wells with little regard to the effects of pumping on surface waters in hydraulic connection to the aquifer. More recent approaches to determining acceptable groundwater withdrawal rates include evaluating the long-term consequences of pumping on surface water resources and related ecosystems (Gleeson and others, 2011). The potential effects of groundwater withdrawals on surfacewater features recently gained attention when the Town of Framingham (fig. 1) sought to reactivate production wells (the Birch Road wells) that previously provided a local water supply from 1939 until about 1979. The wells were discontinued because of high iron and manganese concentrations and the availability of an alternative regional water supply. In 2009, in accordance with the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), the Town of Framingham filed an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to reactivate the wells (SEA Consultants, Inc., 2009). Letters of concern over the well reactivation were submitted during the MEPA process by the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), and the Office of the Solicitor for the U.S. Department of the Interior that specifically addresses Federal interests in the Sudbury River and the downstream Concord River corridors. Federal agency concerns were raised because the Sudbury River, which is near the proposed pumping wells, is designated by Congress as “Wild and Scenic,” requiring special resource protection. In addition, the river corridor includes the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge and the Minute Man National Historical Park. Of these, the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is of particular concern because of its proximity to the Birch Road wells and its primary purpose to protect river and wetland habitats 2 Simulation of Groundwater and Surface-Water Interaction in a Glacial-Sediment Aquifer, Massachusetts Figure 1. Glacial-sediment aquifer study area in east central Massachusetts. 90 Su db ur y Ri ve r db ur y Ri ve r Su db ur y Ri ve r Cochi tuate Brook Dudley Pond Lake Cochituate Heard Pond Pod Meadow Pond Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge Bedrock island WAYLAND

Simulation of groundwater and surface-water interaction and effects of pumping in a complex glacial-sediment aquifer, east central Massachusetts