It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {World Water Monitoring Day}

 

Frannie will be back in two weeks with the last installment of the TAPS activities, but she didn't want to miss sharing World Water Monitoring Day with you!

World Water Monitoring Day is celebrated on September 18th and is different that World Water Day (which we celebrate on March 22). The first World Water Monitoring Day was in 2003 when America's Clean Water Foundation created a challenge to empower individuals to monitor their local water bodies. In 2015, the challenge was taken on by EarthEcho International. 

Now, with a simple test kit and an account on the EarthEcho Water Challenge app, you and your friends can join over 1.6 million people in 146 counties world wide in learning about and protecting our water sources.

Joining online or via the mobile app is easy and you can create an account with Google or Facebook. Once you have an account, you can start monitoring your local creeks, rivers, ponds, lakes, and more! The database allows you to add important water quality information, pictures of the site, and information about the citizen scientists (that's you!) who collected the data.

 

You can collect data all year long, as long as you can access the liquid water in your area. Just remember to follow the water safety rules, which you can find on The Groundwater Foundation's website.

Be safe and Happy World Water Monitoring Day!

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {TAPS Manual Part 5: Improperly Operated Landfills}

Frannie's friends at the Groundwater Foundation recently published the second edition of the Training About Protecting the Source (TAPS) Manual. The manual guides users through hands-on activities that explore potential threats to groundwater and challenges them to think about what can be done to protect this key drinking water source.

This manual can be used inside the classroom and is aligned to the national Next Generation Science Standards, but Frannie loves just learning about groundwater, no matter where she is. For the next few weeks, you can join her as she works through the different activities. 

Frannie will be using the Groundwater Foundation's Awesome Aquifer Kit, but if you don't have one, you can follow along with materials that might be found around your home. This is the second part of Frannie's exploration of the TAPS Manual. You can follow the link to see what she learned about sinkholes, leaky underground storage tanks, improperly abandoned wells and the over-application of fertilizer.

Today's activity is....Improperly Operated Landfills.

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A municipal solid waste landfill (MSWLF) is an area of land that typically receives household waste and sometimes can receive other types of nonhazardous waste, such as commercial solid waste, nonhazardous sludge, and industrial nonhazardous solid waste. According to the EPA, there are approximately 2,000 MSWLFs in the U.S. that are managed by the states in which they are located. When rain, snow, or runoff water soaks into and through a landfill, it can dissolve some of the landfill’s contents and, in an improperly constructed or operated landfill, carry it on down to the groundwater. This mixture of recharge and particles from the landfill’s contents is called leachate. As the amount of waste increases, the potential for leachate to enter the groundwater increases.

For this activity, you will need:

• Awesome Aquifer Kit
• Plastic box
• Gravel
• Plastic tube
• Hand pump or syringe
• Nylon
• Rubber band
• 2 inch square piece of dyed paper towel (prepped in advance)
• Dip a paper towel in/or spray with slightly diluted food coloring (2 drops of dye per ounce of water)
• Allow to dry completely.
• 16 oz cup of water

Activity Steps 

1. Read through all the instructions first before you begin to build the model. Make sure you have all the needed materials and supplies.

 

2. Fill the plastic box with gravel until it is about ¼ full.

 

3. Add water so that half of the rocks are covered. (This will represent an aquifer.)

 

4. Create a well by covering the end of the plastic tube with nylon, securing it with a rubber band.

 5. Insert the well, with the well screen on the bottom, near one corner of the plastic box. Push the well down so that it reaches the bottom of the model.

 

6. Take the colored piece of paper towel, scrunch it up, and bury it on the opposite side of the model from the well location and near the outside of the box. (This is your landfill.)  

 

7. Pour or spray water on the surface of the gravel to simulate rain. Observe what happens to the landfill and groundwater after the rain.

8.  Pump the well by inserting the tip of the syringe into the well (plastic tube) or attaching and pumping the hand pump.

Once it got wet, the stained paper towel began to leach some red into the surrounding groundwater. Frannie also noticed that the water she pumped out of the other end of the model was colored a light pink. Leachate from improperly managed landfills can flow in underground plumes, eventually contaminating nearby wells, but this can be prevented. Landfills that are properly operated have safety measures in place to mitigate the chances that dangerous chemicals will enter into the ground. Proper recycling of hazardous waste, such as pharmaceuticals, paint, oil, cleaners, electronics, batteries, and more can keep contaminants from getting into the system in the first place.

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {TAPS Manual Part 4: Sinkholes}

Frannie's friends at the Groundwater Foundation recently published the second edition of the Training About Protecting the Source (TAPS) Manual. The manual guides users through hands-on activities that explore potential threats to groundwater and challenges them to think about what can be done to protect this key drinking water source.

This manual can be used inside the classroom and is aligned to the national Next Generation Science Standards, but Frannie loves just learning about groundwater, no matter where she is. For the next few weeks, you can join her as she works through the different activities. 

Frannie will be using the Groundwater Foundation's Awesome Aquifer Kit, but if you don't have one, you can follow along with materials that might be found around your home. This is the second part of Frannie's exploration of the TAPS Manual. You can follow the link to see what she learned about leaky underground storage tanks, improperly abandoned wells and the over-application of fertilizer.

Today's activity is....Sinkholes.

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A sinkhole is a depression that is formed as underlying limestone or a similarly soft rock is dissolved by groundwater. Typically, sinkholes form slowly so that the top layer of land stays intact for a while after the rock below dissolves. Sinkholes vary greatly in area and depth and can be small and shallow or they may be very large. Sinkholes form a direct path to groundwater through which contaminants can easily enter.

For this activity, you will need:

• Awesome Aquifer Kit, OR
• Plastic box
• Gravel
• Sugar cubes (at least 12 cubes)
  
• 16 oz cup of water slightly above room temperature
• Small plastic toy or house (optional)

Activity Steps

1. Read through all the instructions first before you begin to build the model. Make sure you have all the needed materials and supplies.

 

2. Fill the plastic box with gravel until it is about ¼ full.

 

3. Add water so that half of the rocks are covered. (This will represent an aquifer.)

 

4. Place sugar cubes on the gravel, next to one side of the plastic box. The sugar cubes should be at least three cubes across, two cubes wide, and two layers deep. The sugar cubes simulate layers of limestone.

 5. Add more gravel on top to cover the sugar cubes completely. You can either create a hill over the sugar cubes or continue to add gravel so that surface of the model is level.

 

6. If you have a small plastic toy animal or house, place it on top of the gravel directly above the sugar cubes.

  

7. Pour or spray water (preferably warm water) over the buried sugar cubes to simulate rain. Watch and wait.

Frannie noticed that the warm water slowly dissolved the sugar cubes beneath the gravel. The surface of the gravel remained level for a little bit, but eventually it collapsed into the vacuum that was left by the sugar. Like sugar cubes, soluble geologic materials can dissolve over time due to natural causes or human impacts such as over-pumping and over development. Once a sinkhole appears, it can become a direct line for contaminants to enter the water below.

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {TAPS Manual Part 3: Leaky Underground Storage Tanks}

Frannie's friends at the Groundwater Foundation recently published the second edition of the Training About Protecting the Source (TAPS) Manual. The manual guides users through hands-on activities that explore potential threats to groundwater and challenges them to think about what can be done to protect this key drinking water source.

This manual can be used inside the classroom and is aligned to the national Next Generation Science Standards, but Frannie loves just learning about groundwater, no matter where she is. For the next few weeks, you can join her as she works through the different activities. 

Frannie will be using the Groundwater Foundation's Awesome Aquifer Kit, but if you don't have one, you can follow along with materials that might be found around your home. This is the second part of Frannie's exploration of the TAPS Manual. You can follow the link to see what she learned about improperly abandoned wells and the over-application of fertilizer.

Today's activity is....Leaky Underground Storage Tanks.

---

An underground storage tank system (UST) is a tank and any underground piping connected to the tank that has at least 10 percent of its combined volume underground. Underground storage tanks can contain fuels, chemicals, and wastes. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency there are over 550,000 underground storage tanks that store fuels or other hazardous substances. These tanks may leak and when they do, they can contaminate surrounding soil, groundwater, surface waters, and even affect indoor air quality.

For this activity, you will need:

• Awesome Aquifer Kit, OR
• Plastic box
• Gravel
• Plastic tube
• Hand pump or Syringe
• Nylon
• Rubber band
• Food dye
• Small plastic container with lid (ex. a film cannister, sprinkles or spice container, etc.)
• 16 oz cup of water

Activity Steps

1. Read through all the instructions first before you begin to build the model. Make sure you have all the needed materials and supplies.

 

2. Fill the plastic box with gravel until it is about ¼ full.

 

3. Add water so that half of the rocks are covered. (This will represent an aquifer.)

 

4. Create a well by covering the end of the plastic tube with nylon, securing it with a rubber band.

 

5. Insert the well, with the well screen on the bottom, near one corner of the plastic box. Push the well down so that it reaches the bottom of the model.

 

6. Add more gravel until the box is about ½-¾ full. The surface of the gravel should be fairly level across the box.

 

7. Dye about 1.5 oz of water with three or four drops of food coloring and use it to fill the plastic container. Seal the container when full.

   

8.Using a tack, carefully poke holes in one end of the film canister or container.

 

9. Dig a small hole in the gravel on the opposite side of the model from the well. Place the canister/container inside the hole. The end of the container with the holes poked in it should be facing down. Cover the container, either partially or entirely, as long as at least 10% of it is underground.

 

10. Pour water on the surface of the gravel to simulate rain. Observe what happens to the colored water inside the storage tank after it rained. 

 

11. Pump the well by inserting the tip of the syringe into the well (plastic tube) or attaching and pumping the hand pump.

Frannie observed that once the water "rained" over her aquifer, the red water, which was contained in the storage unit, leaked out into the aquifer below. As it rained more and more, even more leachate entered the aquifer. Very quickly, the whole aquifer becomes contaminated  and when Frannie tried to pump water up from the aquifer, it was pink from the contaminant. 

Storage tanks are a common and useful way of storing and disposing of toxic waste, but they must be monitored carefully to prevent contamination of our drinking water sources, crops, and livestock.

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Hydro Van Gogh}

Express your artistic side and follow a water drop's journey through the ground in a fun activity called Hydro Van Gogh! An aquifer is an underground geological formation of sand, soil, gravel, and rock able to store and yield water. The water from an aquifer is called groundwater and it is the water we drink and the water that grows our food. Find out more!

Here's what you need:

• Aquifer map and/or an aquifer model
• Canvas panels (recommended 5" x 7") or large sheets of paper
• Oil pastels or acrylic paint 
• Paint brushes
  
  
  

Here's what you do:
1. Identify the different parts of an aquifer using the graphic below:

2. Set out the canvas panel or a large sheet of paper, paint, and paintbrushes.

3. Now, pretend like you are a water drop that lands on the ground and seeps into an aquifer. Paint what you see as the water drop. Get as creative as you like!

Optional extra: continue to paint your journey through the water cycle.
What would you see?
How many different pathways through the water cycle will you take?
What kinds of materials will you interact with?

Be sure to share your masterpiece at home with your family. Share what you know about groundwater and how to protect it!

Send pictures of your paintings to info@groundwater.org.   

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {The Water Cycle: Part 2 - Groundwater}

Welcome to the first stop on Frannie’s deep dive into the water cycle! Today’s topic, and the first bead on the water cycle bracelet, is groundwater!

Groundwater is the water beneath the surface of the ground that fills the spaces in the soil and gravel.  An aquifer is a collection of groundwater that’s held within a permeable layer of rock, sand, or gravel.  Aquifers can lie a few feet below the ground and be recharged with rain and floodwaters (Frannie learned that these are called unconfined aquifers) or be hundreds or thousands of feet inside the earth, trapped for hundreds of years beneath an impermeable layer like shale (confined aquifers).

Aquifer storage capacity is the amount of water that an aquifer’s material can hold when it’s totally full. When an area experiences a lot of long, severe droughts and the sands, soils, and gravel settle, an aquifer can lose its ability to hold as much water as it once could.  Reread the “Seeing an Aquifer from Space” blog Frannie wrote a few weeks ago for a quick refresher on storage capacity and storage capacity loss.

Perhaps one of the coolest things about aquifers and the groundwater in them is the flow! Groundwater certainly moves down through the ground from the surface, but did you know it also flows horizontally? Like a river, groundwater will flow “downhill” or down the slope of layers that make up the aquifer. Unlike a river, groundwater takes much longer to travel. A drop of water in a river might be able to travel up to 7 feet in one second, but a drop traveling through the ground might take a couple of days to travel the same distance.

These time of travel calculations are very useful to hydrogeologists when they need to predict how quickly groundwater will move and where it’s going.  Flow direction and time of travel can be affected by many things, including different points of discharge, which just happens to be the next bead on the bracelet!

Next time, Frannie will talk about different kinds of discharge and share the really cool connection between groundwater and volcanoes. See you then!

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Seeing an Aquifer from Space}

A few weeks ago, Frannie was excited to share with you the discovery of a groundwater system on Mars. But she wondered, what would we see if we turned the telescopes around and looked at groundwater here on Earth?

A team of scientists from the Arizona State University asked themselves the same question. Using cutting edge space technology like NASA satellites and the Global Navigation Satellite System, in combination with ground measurements, they took a look at the Central Valley Aquifer System located in central California.

The most recent drought in the San Joaquin Valley area lasted from 2012 to 2015 and made national headlines with its land subsidence, abandonment of crop-land, and receding lakes.  The scientists from ASU measured groundwater loss as well as aquifer storage loss during the drought period in order to learn about what it takes to keep an aquifer healthy.

Their findings revealed a shocking loss of groundwater each year of the drought and, even more disturbing, a permanent loss of storage capacity in the San Joaquin Valley Aquifer.

Frannie already knew why groundwater loss was important and, after a bit of research, she learned more about the importance of storage capacity and why scientists are so worried about its loss.

Image courtesy of Arizona
Department of Water Resources

Storage capacity refers to the total amount of water that an aquifer could ever possibly hold in its permeable materials, like sand or gravel. When groundwater is depleted and not recharged, the weight of the soil causes it to compress and settle into itself until it fills all of the spaces where the water used to be. When there is no more empty space for the water to fill, the compacted soil, which is now impermeable, becomes the new aquifer boundary. The aquifer, once able to hold so much water, eventually loses its ability to store the same amount of water as before.

Aquifer storage capacity loss can happen slowly and not seem like a big deal over just one or two drought periods. The real danger is when aquifer loss happens over and over again during multiple drought periods. And storage loss is not just limited to the aquifers in California.

The research team has plans to continue to study the health of aquifers in the southwest United States. They want to be able to provide water managers all over the world with the scientific knowledge they’ll need to make difficult water use decisions and ensure that clean groundwater is available to us for years to come.

BLOG: Showing, Not Telling

by Michelle Dry, Education and Outreach Director for the Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering Research (CAESER) at the University of Memphis

For those of us who are out in the trenches educating our communities about the sources of their drinking water when it is groundwater, the question “Where does your water come from?” is often met with puzzled looks, especially from some of the youngest members of our communities – school-aged children. They may reply the faucet or the sky, but when pressed to guess, they often reply with some creative responses, such as the ocean, despite an ocean being hundreds of miles away. In the past year or so, another response has been, “the sewer,” which is mostly likely the result of the 2014 movie, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” Sometimes the guess given is a body of water people are familiar with, such as a nearby lake or a river.

In the city where I work, Memphis, Tennessee, another response I sometimes hear is the Mississippi River. Because Memphis is one of the largest cities in the U.S. that solely uses groundwater for its tap water, it is crucial that its residents know and understand the source of their tap water so that it can be managed sustainably.

Part of my job is to educate the public about the source of its drinking water as well as why it is important to preserve and protect it. Memphis drinking water is highly praised by locals and visitors. Because it is abundant and of high quality, it is inexpensive, compared to areas where it may be scarcer and of lower quality. For many, it is easy to take Memphis water for granted. However, the biggest cheerleaders for Memphis groundwater are typically those who have lived elsewhere and those who have traveled widely. The cheerleaders know just how lucky Memphis is to have what is known as the Memphis Sand aquifer.

Although I work with engineers and geologists in my role at CAESER, I am not one. It is my job to translate their research efforts and results into meaningful information for the Memphis area community.

Because groundwater is not visible on the surface of the Earth, the way a river or lake is, even people who know water cycle concepts may not always know that the source of drinking water for our area is water from an aquifer. For those who do know that it comes from an aquifer, they may not know what an aquifer is, and they imagine it as an underground cave or lake.

When it comes to educating people about groundwater, whether they are adults or children, there are challenges to overcome because groundwater is a something people cannot see. We may be able to explain the concept in a way that some people can understand. However, if we can show that same concept by using visuals, it is more likely to be understood and remembered.

An ideal time to educate students about local water sources is when they are introduced to the water cycle. In Tennessee, state science standards require that the hydrologic cycle to be taught in the 5th grade.

As a former classroom teacher, I know that the teaching profession is demanding and busy. Teachers often have limited resources. Since leaving the classroom, I have continued to work with teachers through outreach positions. When I reach out to teachers, my philosophy is that if I can make their job easier, I am more likely to have success in reaching their students. I build on what teachers are required to teach and try to supplement their efforts while extending student learning. They want their students to understand the hydrologic cycle and do well on state standardized tests. My goals are that students learn about their water resources and become good stewards of water, and that they understand how water connects to our daily lives.

In trying to reach a maximum number of students, the idea of a traveling museum on wheels, or a mobile learning lab, seemed to be an efficient way connect with students from all over the city and to nearby areas, since they all use the same aquifer system. I wanted this museum on wheels to have the fun and excitement of a field trip, without the issues that sometimes accompany field trips, such as lost learning time, liability, cost, finding chaperones, and arranging for transportation. This mobile museum would be a fun experience as well as an educational one.

Fortunately, the International Paper Foundation helped to make this dream a reality. In addition to the $60K grant from the IP Foundation, my university based research center was able to utilize other campus resources to create the Water on Wheels (WOW) mobile. The WOW mobile now exists as a 24’ trailer housing interactive and colorful exhibits that educate visitors about the Memphis aquifer and other water related topics. In creating the exhibits, I wanted visitors to have a comprehensive experience so that they could understand different aspects of water, yet understand that these aspects are connected. Visitors would be able to enter the trailer from either of the two doors and go to any exhibit as part of a self-guided learning experience prompted by their own curiosity and interests. The final product accomplishes this.

However, in a school setting, we typically start with a bit more structure. Once in the trailer, a WOW educator will typically focus a group’s attention on one display and move to another display, guided by a group’s questions and interests. Some teachers prefer a more structured learning experience and the students will have a sheet of questions that encourage them to read the exhibits’ text panels in order to find the answers. Free time is a part of the learning experience, too.

Free online lesson plans that complement the WOW exhibits are available, and some teachers will use these with their students prior to the WOW arriving at their school. A select group of teachers created these lesson plans, incorporating Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards into them. Since most students are introduced to the hydrologic cycle in the 5th grade, the lessons are designed for students in grades 4th through 6th.

Although the WOW was designed primarily for students in 4th-6th grades, it is also appealing to adults. Text for the exhibits was crafted in a way that it would be appropriate for students in upper elementary grades, but adults will find the information informative, too. Both the interior and the exterior are bright, colorful and inviting, which was intentional.

Since its debut in the fall of 2014, the WOW has been a tremendous success. Approximately 5,000 people a year experience the WOW, and if funding and staffing were available, it would reach even more people of all ages.

When visitors experience the WOW, one might hear, “Oh, wow!” because it is colorful and engaging. When former WOW visitors makes a repeat visit, they often share what they remembered and learned, especially if they are a schoolage visitor.

Follow-up evaluations done with teachers after a school visit are universally positive. “In 4th grade, the students are expected to recognize the components of the water cycle and describe their important to life on Earth,” said Logan Caldwell, a former teacher at Campus School, who now works at the University of Memphis. “The Water on Wheels experience seamlessly fit into our unit of study. My students were able to learn so much in such a short amount of time because of the hands on experience and the incredible visuals that the WOW possesses.”

The WOW is the most popular education and outreach program for the Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering Research (CAESER) at the University of Memphis. Although CAESER offers traditional classroom talks, career day visits, and hands-on activities such as building an aquifer in a cup, the uniqueness of the WOW makes it a sought after learning component for classroom teachers in Memphis and nearby areas, as well as a festival attraction. The WOW makes it easier for people of all ages to understand where their water comes from, where it is stored, and where it goes.

As we continue to expand and develop our water education and outreach activities, we are looking at how to expand the WOW experience so that it continues to provide useful information to teachers and students in the K-12 community as well as the community at large. We know the WOW gives us access to our diverse city and community and we want to make it more accessible. We want everyone in our area to know where their water comes from and why it is so special. The WOW allows us to do that.

For more information about the WOW, go to memphis.edu/wateronwheels or contact Michelle Dry directly at mdry@memphis.edu. For more information about CAESER, go to strengthencommunities.com.

BLOG: Proactive Source Water Management for a Unique Water System

by Jonathan Mohr, JEO Consulting Group, Inc. and David Hunter, Auburn Board of Public Works

The City of Auburn, population 3,000, is located in southeast Nebraska, near the Little Nemaha River, approximately seven miles upstream of its confluence with the Missouri River. The City receives its drinking water from a wellfield located east of the community within an alluvial aquifer along the Little Nemaha River. The wellfield consists of 11 vertical wells averaging 45 to 50 feet below the ground's surface, pumping up to 150 million gallons per year. The source water area also includes multiple small perennial tributaries, which provide recharge to the aquifer, and are therefore hydrologically connected to the alluvial aquifer.

This connection has resulted in several unique water management challenges for the Auburn Board of Public Works (BPW), which is responsible for managing the community’s water system. This hydrologic connection resulted in a 2008 determination by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services that the water system is a “groundwater system under the influence of surface water.” Only 12 water systems in Nebraska (out of 602) carry this designation, which requires a higher level of water treatment. As a result, the BPW started construction of a new water treatment plan in 2009 which went online in 2011.

In order to better manage this unique resource, the BPW developed the Auburn Drinking Water Protection Management Plan (DWPMP) to guide decision-makers towards their goal of providing a long-term, safe, and reliable source of drinking water. The plan was approved by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region VII in July 2018, making Auburn the first municipality in the United States with an approved DWPMP.

The idea behind the DWPMP began in 2014 by the NDEQ Source Water Protection Program. NDEQ staff worked with U.S. EPA Region VII to recognize the hydrologic connection between surface water and groundwater. Historically, EPA has only focused funds towards protecting surface water quality; however, by recognizing this hydrologic connection and the risks to groundwater from nonpoint source pollution, NDEQ has opened the door to funding additional opportunities. NDEQ can now allow communities with an approved DWPMP to use funding from the Nonpoint Source Management Program 319 Funds to implement projects and programs to safeguard a groundwater-based drinking water source. Auburn’s DWPMP focuses on improving the water quality within the perennial streams that recharge the alluvial aquifer where Auburn’s wells are located.

A hydrologically connected aquifer requires a unique methodology to identify and delineate the wellhead protection area (WHPA). The former WHPA was updated to include a "conjunctive delineation" which identifies an area from which surface water may contribute to the groundwater reaching a well. Auburn’s conjunctive WHPA now includes the watersheds of the locally contributing tributaries, and a small portion of the Little Nemaha River watershed upgradient of the wellfield. This allows for holistic management and protection of both surface and groundwater resources. The new WHPA is 51,400 acres, one of the largest in Nebraska, and the first to be officially designated a conjunctive delineation by NDEQ.

Working with stakeholders and the public was critical to developing the DWPMP.  These included the Nemaha Natural Resources District (NRD), NDEQ, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and private property owners. Stakeholders, including agricultural producers, provided input on preferred best management practices (BMPs), including cover crops, grassed waterways, no-till farming, soil sampling, and use of bioswales and constructed wetlands within urban areas.

Another key plan recommendation, currently under design by JEO Consulting Group, Inc., is exploring the use of artificial groundwater recharge (AGR) to increase the storage capacity of the aquifer. This could increase the quantity of water available to Auburn’s wells, build resistance to drought, and create a more sustainable and resilient water system. Structures used to achieve AGR will also improve streambank stabilization, improve water quality, and improve aquatic habitat. AGR structures include in-stream grade control, low-head weirs, or similar structures which raise the surface level of the tributaries, thereby increasing storage in the aquifer. An existing 19-acre borrow pit immediately north Auburn is another target for AGR, by pumping water from a local tributary into the pit and allowing it to seep into the aquifer.

The DWPMP is a shining example of collaboration between Auburn BPW, Nemaha NRD, NDEQ, agricultural producers, and citizens. The Auburn community and agricultural producers will benefit from the plan and its future actions with safe drinking water, improved soil health, reduced erosion, and improved water quality for years to come.
__________

Jonathan Mohr is a Senior Environmental Planner at JEO Consulting Group, Inc. in Lincoln, Nebraska. Reach him at jmohr@jeo.com. David Hunter is the General Manager for the Auburn, Nebraska Board of Public Works. Reach him at dhunter@auburnbpw.com.

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Groundwater Restoration}

If an aquifer becomes contaminated or overdrawn, then the people, animals, and plants living on top of it are in serious trouble.  We know that it is important for groundwater to be recharged through natural means like rain and snow, but is it possible for humans to help put the aquifer back in its original condition?

It is! We do this through a process called Aquifer Restoration. This process is done usually by the utilities department of cities and towns or by Natural Resources Districts.  Many people including engineers, data analysts, well drillers, and geologists have to work together to make the groundwater safe again.

Nitrate Concentration Map
for Hastings, NE 2015
Credit: Hastings Utilities

Let’s take a look at Hastings, Nebraska which is just finishing up Phase 1 of their Aquifer Storage and Restoration Project.

Hastings’ water system gets most of their water from the Ogallala and High Plains Aquifer and they do not currently treat, chlorinate, or store their water but they have started to experience problems with nitrates, volatile organic compounds, and uranium. 

In order to continue to provide usable water, Hastings’ Utilities team initiated the Aquifer Storage and Restoration (ASR) project in 2016.  They built dual pumping wells which help clean up nitrates and uranium floating that the top of the aquifer, a reservoir for managing irrigation, and are just beginning to construct reverse osmosis treatment centers to help consolidate and remove pollutants.

The reservoir holds enough water
 to fill 66 Olympic pools.
Credit: Hastings Utilities

Over the next few years, they plan to study recharge in the area and investigate why groundwater recharges faster in some parts of the city than in others.  They are combining research with restoration to make sure that their city has clean water and residents understand the need for and purpose of the ASR project.  To learn more, check out Hastings Utilities website.

To learn more about groundwater and try your own aquifer restoration activity, visit The Groundwater Foundation’s Groundwater Restoration website.

BLOG: 7 Fun Ways to Teach Your Kids About Groundwater This Summer

by Jennifer Wemhoff, The Groundwater Foundation

Summer is a time for fun and adventure. Combine those with some hands-on learning about groundwater and you've got a win-win summer activity! 

Mini-terrarium

1. Build a mini-terrarium with a clear plastic cup, gravel, potting soil, a few seeds, plastic wrap, and a rubber band (get full instructions here). Learn about groundwater's role in the water cycle and in helping plants grow. It also gives kids a plant to nurture over the summer.

2. Dig a hole. Kids love dirt. Ask them to explore the hole. Is the soil warm or cool? Is it damp or dry? How does the soil change the deeper you dig? Pour a bucket of water in the hole - where did it go? It became groundwater, filling the cracks and crevices beneath the earth's surface.

Betty Crocker website

3. Make a contamination cake. Start by baking a white cake, then turn it into a poke cake (here's a recipe for a strawberry poke cake, but you can use any flavor gelatin you want). Cut a piece of cake, and talk about how the gelatin is like contaminants in groundwater, seeping into the ground (or cake). What happened to the gelatin when it was poured onto the cake? How is this like a contaminant being poured on the ground? Talk about these things while digging into a yummy piece of cake.

Edible Aquifers

4. Another yummy - but educational - dessert activity! Make an edible aquifer. Build a simple aquifer out of ice chips, cereal, ice cream, sprinkles, clear soda, and a straw. Find the complete instructions here. Have fun and be creative! Of course, the final step is to eat your aquifer creation.

5. Build an aquifer in a cup (get full instructions here). All it takes is a clear plastic cup, rock/gravel, and water. For more fun, add a clean soap or lotion pump to simulate a well and pump the groundwater out of the model aquifer.

Visit a water body

6. Visit a local lake, river, or stream. Talk about the connections between groundwater and surface water. Groundwater contributes to stream flow, and stream flow recharges groundwater. Add a community service project to your visit and clean up litter around the water body.

7. Find a cool spot in nature. What can you discover by simply looking around and listening to the surroundings? Imagine the path taken by a drop of rain from the time it hits the ground to when it reaches a river, groundwater, or the ocean. Draw a picture and/or talk about the paths it might take.

Keep the fun and learning going this summer! For more fun educational ideas, visit www.groundwater.org/kids.