The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will collect water samples from about 180 wells in St. Louis County for use in developing a Groundwater Atlas of St. Louis County.
Selected well owners will be contacted by mail or phone to request permission to sample their wells. The process involves collecting a water sample from an outside spigot or hydrant for laboratory analysis. Dozens of different water components are analyzed to determine the natural chemistry of aquifers. Participation is voluntary, and owners will receive a report of the laboratory results. Sample well locations are shown on the maps produced for the atlas, but no contact or ownership information is included in the data. There is no cost to well owners.
Wells are selected based on geology, location, depth, and construction. Participation will help hydrologists create county maps and descriptions of groundwater distribution, movement, conditions, and the pollution sensitivity of aquifers. The final atlas products will be available as printed maps, reports, and geographic information system files on the web.
The groundwater atlases are used to identify viable drinking water sources, manage sustainability, guide well and septic system construction decisions, inform well-head protection efforts for public water supply, understand regional recharge and groundwater movement, and assess pollution sensitivity and possible contaminant migration. Neither healthy sampling nor the atlases are used to regulate individual well owners.
The Groundwater Atlas of St. Louis County is expected to be completed in 2025. This groundwater portion is Part B of a two-part series. Part A, the geology of St. Louis County, was conducted by the Minnesota Geological Survey in 2022.
The County Atlas Program is partly funded by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources.
A full description of this Minnesota DNR program and completed atlas products are available on the Minnesota DNR website (//mndnr.gov/groundwatermapping).
For more information, contact Emma Young (emma.young@state.mn.us), DNR hydrogeologist, 651-259-5680 or Paul Putzier (paul.putzier@state.mn.us), DNR County Groundwater Atlas Program supervisor, 651-259-5692.
