Location and population served by domestic wells in the conterminous U.S.: 1990

In this dataset we present two maps that estimate the location and population served by domestic wells in the contiguous United States. The first methodology, called the “Block Group Method” or BGM, builds upon the original block-group data from the 1990 census (the last time the U.S. Census queried the population regarding their source of water) by incorporating higher resolution census block data. The second methodology, called the “Road-Enhanced Method” or REM, refines the locations by using a buffer expansion and shrinkage technique along roadways to define areas where domestic wells exist. The fundamental assumption with this method is that houses (and therefore domestic wells) are located near a named road. The results are presented [...]