by MGWA Newsletter Team
The MGWA spring conference was again held virtually on April 28th via Zoom due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic. The conference theme was “A Groundwater Tour of Minnesota”. This meeting highlighted groundwater projects and research from all of Minnesota’s groundwater provinces and even some just outside of the state!
Morning Session
The first session of the conference gave the participants an overview of Minnesota’s hydrogeology and aquifer storage of recovery (ASR) and managed aquifer recovery (MAR). The speakers were John Seaberg from the DNR and Josh Kirk from Barr Engineering.
John opened the conference by giving an overview of the Minnesota’s groundwater resources. The topics in his presentation included the state’s geologic setting, hydrology, groundwater provinces, major aquifers, groundwater availability, and surface water/groundwater interactions.
Josh gave an excellent overview of ASR and MAR. His presentation included case studies on ASR and MAR projects at various sites in the U.S. along with the potential benefits of using ASR and MAR in Minnesota. He concluded the presentation with an evaluation of potential ASR and MAR sites in Minnesota.
Click on the button below to view these talks:
Mid-Morning Session
The mid-morning session included two technical presentations which focused on water-quality concerns in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area (TCMA) and sinkhole mapping in northeastern Iowa. Dave Scheer, a hydrogeologist with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, presented on the chlorinated ethene sources and transport in a fractured rock aquifer that impacted the water supply in the TCMA. Topics in Dave’s talk included the distribution of chlorinated ethenes in both the shallow and deep groundwater, chemical transport pathways, and vapor intrusion. Stephanie Tassier-Surine, a geologist with the Iowa Geological Survey, discussed sinkhole mapping in Iowa. She presented on their efforts to create karst susceptibility maps and field investigations using electrical resistivity of mapped sinkholes to evaluate subsurface characteristics.
Click on the button below to view these talks:
Afternoon Session
The afternoon technical session included four presentations on drinking water protection in Southwestern Minnesota and Northwestern Minnesota’s buried aquifers, well interference issues, and Bemidji crude oil spill site research. Aaron Meyer, a source water protection specialist with the Minnesota Rural Water Assocation, opened the session with a presentation on drinking water protection in Rock County. His talk included the County’s approach to address high nitrate concentrations in the groundwater and lessons learned from working with agencies and producers. Jennifer Rose from the DNR then gave a presentation on the agency’s work to better characterize the aquifers in this part of the state. The DNR’s research showed that the surficial and buried aquifers are connected in this part of the state, and some of the buried aquifers can take months to recover after high-capacity pumping. Ellen Considine presented on climate change and well interference issues in this part of the state. Dr. Barbara Bekins, a research hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, concluded this session with an overview of the work being done at the Bemidji oil spill research site. Her talk included an introduction to the research site; the crude oil source zone at this site, including changes in the oil chemistry; the groundwater contaminant plume, including partial metabolites of the crude oil compounds and arsenic mobilization; and other ongoing research.
Click on the button below to view these talks:
Late Afternoon Session
The late afternoon session included two presentations on groundwater work occurring in Northeastern Minnesota. Dr. John Swenson from the University of Minnesota Duluth spoke about the salinity in the shallow groundwater in Northeastern Minnesota. His work suggested that this is caused by a saline anomaly that has been dissipating via back flushing, aided by smaller-scale flow systems, fed by meteoric recharge in the Lake Superior Highlands. Megan Haserodt and Tim Cowdery, both hydrologists from the U.S. Geological Survey, closed the conference by presenting their work on modeling in the Lake Superior Basin. Megan spoke on her recently-published analytic element model, and Tim discussed his three-dimensional finite difference model of the groundwater underlying the Iron Range.
Click on the button below to view these talks:
MGWA is committed to developing a just, equitable, and inclusive groundwater community. Click on the button below to read MGWA’s full diversity statement.
RSS - Posts