by Sherri Kroening, MGWA Newsletter Team
This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MGWA held its first ever virtual conference via Zoom! The theme of this year’s fall meeting was protecting and managing groundwater quality in urban environments. Julia Steenberg, Vanessa Baratta, Kate Pound, and the rest of the MGWA Board did a great job at quickly adapting our usual in-person fall meeting to this new virtual format, although they couldn’t bring us our afternoon ice cream treats! To keep any technical glitches at bay as well as any photobombing opportunities by young virtual learners, all of the presentations were prerecorded.
The first three presentations in the morning focused on the ambient groundwater quality underlying the state’s urban areas and the stormwater infiltration’s impact on chloride in the state’s groundwater. These presentations were given by three different MPCA researchers. Sharon Kroening opened the conference by describing the occurrence and distribution of a wide suite of contaminants that typically are found in the groundwater underlying the state’s urban areas, including chloride, volatile organic compounds, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. David Fairbairn followed with a detailed description of stormwater quality, pollutant transport, control measures, and potential impacts to groundwater. Mike Trojan then ended the first session of talks by giving the membership an overview of the newly published white paper on chloride contamination in the groundwater and stormwater infiltration.
The next set of presentations were given by Dr. Calvin Alexander from the University of Minnesota and scientists from Dakota County. Dr. Alexander gave a presentation on the trends in chloride and other contaminants in Coldwater Spring, which is located near the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Steve Scott, Vanessa Demuth, and Jill Trescott from Dakota County followed with a presentation on their newly-published groundwater quality report using the wealth of data they have collected over the years and the county’s work to update its groundwater plan.
Kelton Barr opened the afternoon session by discussing the potential hydrologic connections between bedrock aquifers and surface water in the Twin Cities metropolitan area (TCMA). Ken Bradbury from the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey followed with an interesting discussion on his agency’s work researching viruses in the state’s groundwater. After this, Liz Kaufenberg and Andri Dahlmeier from the MPCA presented the agency’s approach to providing safe drinking water to 14 communities affected by PFAS contamination in the eastern part of the TCMA.
The conference ended with two PFAS presentations. Rebecca Higgins from the MPCA and Al Gorski from the consulting firm AECOM discussed their work assessing PFAS in a flood-control project in the eastern TCMA called Project 1007. Paul Jackson from Pace Analytical Laboratories ended the conference with a presentation on how to work with laboratories to measure PFAS in groundwater samples. The videos of all presentations given at the conference can be found on the MGWA’s website by clicking this button.
MGWA is committed to developing a just, equitable, and inclusive groundwater community. Click on the button below to read MGWA’s full diversity statement.
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