RPU will help state officials monitor groundwater of four below-ground aquifers. 7:30 am, Apr. 23, 2021 ×
Actually, the capping is just the beginning of the project.
RPU is closing municipal water well 16, which was drilled in 1958. It extends about 1,000 feet below ground through four aquifers beneath Rochester. However, instead of capping the well, RPU is working with the DNR to place water-monitoring sensors in all four of the aquifers.
Water monitoring isn’t new to the DNR, but the state agency doesn’t have easy access to the underground aquifers let alone four of them.
Since the 1980s, new municipal wells have not been permitted to extend below the Jordan aquifer, which is the first and highest of those aquifers. (The Twin Cities draws a portion of their municipal water from the Jordan aquifer.)