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1: <br />median pH level for County ground water was 6.93, very close to neutral. There <br />was a wide range of values, with a high of $.3 at a well northeast of <br />Hillsborough, and a low of 4.72 in Bingham Township. <br />Conductance measures the ability of water to conduct electricity, which is of <br />significance because ionized particles in ground water may be indicative of total <br />dissolved solids in the .water. The median value in the County is 180 <br />microsiemens per centimeter. A considerable range of conductance exists in the <br />County, with values ranging from a high of523 and a low of 26. Although the <br />range is broad ,mast values were typical for ground water in the Piedmont. <br />Dissolved oxygen is a product of precipitation and ground water recharge. <br />Increased dissolved oxygen can indicate loss of precipitates, while low levels of <br />dissolved oxygen are associated with high levels of iron, manganese, sulfate and <br />dissolved organic matter. The median value for County ground water was 2.5 <br />milligrams per liter (mg/L), with highest variance again found in felsic <br />metavolcanic rocks. The range of Endings for dissolved oxygen runs from 9.4 <br />mg/L to 0.03 mg/L. Again, these measurements are within the expected range of <br />ground water quality for the Piedmont. <br />Alkalinity measures the capacity to neutralize acid in the water, usually produced <br />by carbon dioxide and bicarbonate, The median alkalinity found in Orange is 103 <br />mg/L of calcium carbonate, with a high of 194 and a low of 24. <br />B. Major Ions <br />Major ions dissolved from soil and bedrock into ground water also help describe <br />the chemical makeup of the water -whether cations (ions with a positive <br />electrical charge) or anions (negative electrical charge). Common cations are <br />calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium. Common anions include <br />bicarbonate, sulfate, chloride, fluoride and nitrate. <br />Calcium and magnesium, as previously noted, are among the chemicals that, <br />cause many problems in ground water, including hardness of water -which can <br />potentially cause scale in pipes and precipitates in hot water heaters. In certain <br />areas of the .County, high levels of these chemicals pose nuisance problems for <br />many citizens. Generally-speaking, however, the incidence of these ions in the <br />County's ground water is not out of line with expected levels in the Piedmont <br />region. The median concentration of calcium in samples was 23 mg/L, and the <br />median for magnesium was 4.4 mg/L. Other ions analyzed include sodium, <br />potassium, bicarbonate, sulfate chloride and flouride. No unusual levels of these <br />compounds were found in the sample. <br />G <br />