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Characterization of general and singular features of major aquifer systems in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region

The hydrogeology of the municipalized territory (13,210 km2) of the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean (SLSJ) region has been studied as part of the groundwater knowledge acquisition program entitled Programme d’acquisition de connaissances sur les eaux souterraines (PACES) launched in 2008 by the Government of Quebec, Canada. This study involved the collaboration of numerous contributors (municipal policymakers, government agencies, watershed organizations and universities) to meet the program’s multiple and wide-ranging requirements. The key deliverables included a numerical geodatabase, 38 regional-scale maps and a scientific report, all elaborated after 4 years of data gathering and compilation, fieldwork and information synthesis. In addition, numerous collateral research projects were undertaken by undergraduate and graduate students. The results of the SLSJ-PACES project provided new insights into regional groundwater resources and led to a generalized conceptual model of regional hydrostratigraphic features and groundwater quality. This paper summarizes the particular aspects of the major aquifers in the SLSJ region as uncovered by PACES, and presents the emerging challenges for updating and improving the region’s hydrogeological knowledge and ensuring the sustainable management of regional groundwater resources.