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, :, " I of EIS River Seals WeM r. ,,,,,.. ,..,, „: 4 s''' r � E Robyn Hoerr, MRWA Groundwater Specialist limo City of Elk River Goes With the Flow and Seals a Flowing Artesian Well 0 { {3 0 i j t e4 1-- 11 kY 4. ` ,—` a Lgit w• yr r , T f �''� r' if44 E _. �� .T:. Photo above:Eric Volk, Elk River Municipal Utilities Supervisor(on right) with E.H. Renner& Sons staff. Elk River Municipal Utilities(ERMU)recently made their drinking water supply less likely to become contaminated by seal- ing an old well.Not just any type of well—a flowing artesian well! The older six-inch well was located in the city of Elk River downtown area behind what was once used as the cinema build- ing. In the distant past the well served to pump water that was circulated for building air conditioning. The well records on hand indicated that the well was drilled in 1921 to the depth of "Not just any type of well - 210 feet. The well was cased to 105 feet, and the submersible pump was located approximately 20 feet deep in the casing. a flowing artesian well!" The well was located within municipal well emergency response zone. Wells that are unused and unsealed that are not properly maintained can serve as a direct conduit for contaminants to reach deeper aquifers used for drinking water.When asked why he invested time and effort to • - seal this well, Eric Volk, ERMU Water Superintendent, indicated, "I felt it was impor- tant to seal the old cinema well because it was an unused flowing well located within 41.1#_ t� the Emergency Response Zone(ERA),or 1 year time of travel,for Primary Well#2 and .k. proposed a contamination risk to the public water supply. "This was not just a mundane - well sealing operation,however,since the process of sealing a flowing artesian well can • .-. " be extremely tricky. V' - `a. In the case of flowing artesian wells, downward pressure on the aquifer from geologic ',•," + f/// confininglayers forces the water in the casingto levels that are aboveground and con- a' " +"., Y %*V A . tinue to flow. If the sealing is not done properly and the flow of water gets out of con- '' "' ' ,'`, , trol, it can be very difficult to regain the upper hand from Mother Nature. Information - . posted on the Minnesota Department of Health(MDH)website provides a helpful visu- Photo above:Flowing artesian well. 24 MRWA TODAY • Fall 2016 116