Southeast Minnesota Domestic Well Network 2016 Data Report

This report presents data and summarizes the latest activities involving ground water sampling and analysis from a subset of wells in the Southeast Minnesota Domestic Well Network (Figure 1). Activities accomplished during the reporting period (August 2013 through June 2015) include the analysis of major ions, trace metals, arsenic, gross alpha and tritium, compared to previous sampling rounds where only nitrate analyses were conducted. ▪ Preserve the domestic well network as "virtual infrastructure" for future groundwater sampling needs. Existing information valuable to this project has been collected from several sources. Tipping (1994) assessed ground water quality in domestic wells across southeastern Minnesota based on data collected in the 1990s as part of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Ground Water Monitoring and Assessment Program (GWMAP); https://www.pca.state.mn.us/water/groundwater-monitoring-and-assessment ). Steenberg, et al. (2013) and Runkel, et al. (2013) provide recent insight on factors controlling nitrate occurrence in southeastern Minnesota ground water. Two previous project reports also provided information: 1. MDH (2009) discussed contributions during the initial project phase comprising network assembly and the first four rounds of sample collection for nitrate analysis; and 2. MDH (2012a) described the methods used to evaluate well construction and geologic data to assess the hydrogeologic sensitivity for wells in the network with only minimal well construction or geologic information.