MONROE - A countywide water study revealed the array of locations less and more likely susceptible to contamination Tuesday during a presentation by experts at the Green County Justice Center nearly two years after it was approved by county supervisors.
Roughly 80 people filled the chairs set up in three connecting multipurpose rooms of the lower level, including Green County Board members and candidates, state Sen. Janis Ringhand, 45th Assembly Rep. Mark Spreitzer, members of the study committee and Green County staff, as well as public individuals interested in the results of the study approved by supervisors in February 2016.
Green County Board President Art Carter said he was optimistic the study could be accessed in the future.
"There's no way we have the ability of enacting any ordinances from this," Carter said. "Hopefully there will be guidelines, people will take note of it and utilize it. We're a long ways from understanding it all. Hopefully over time people interested and various committees involved with it will be much more able to interpret what's there."
The hydrogeological study was presented by TRC Environmental Corporation of Madison. It included maps of the water table and recharge, or precipitation which replaces groundwater, and modeling of which areas are least and most susceptible to contamination. Similar studies have been done in other counties throughout the state, said Jesse Papez, geographic information system analyst at TRC Environmental.
Each of the three presenters, including TRC Hydrogeologist James Wedekind and Lead Hydrologist John Rice, noted that the study will be best used as a tool for more site-specific investigations. For instance, Rice said, the mapping of susceptibility can be used as a planning tool to review potential groundwater contamination from the surface.
"The best way to prevent a geological hazard is to avoid it," Wedekind said in response to public questions about possible groundwater contamination.
Rice said the study does not predict where contamination could be, replace site-specific studies nor will it predict any areas to be safe from contamination.
"There's a risk and benefit analysis the county has to make and this is a tool the county can use in making decisions," Rice said.
He said roughly 36 inches of precipitation falls in Green County each year, and that areas with higher recharge rates bring more contaminants to groundwater. Recharge rates can vary from less than four inches to more than 12 inches every year, Rice added.
Wedekind outlined the rock types found throughout Green County, from the top Sinnipee group consisting largely of dolomite, to the second level Ancell group, primarily made up of sandstone. Wedekind said the limestone on top would be the most susceptible level. The dolomite largely resembles gravel if found in fields, he said, because it has been "preferentially weathered," displaying a repeated pattern of vertical fractures and thin soil cover when found in layers of bedrock.
"That tells you that any fluid on this has a conduit to any lower levels," he said, noting it would only be roughly 100 feet deep.
The Ancell group contributes more resistance to surface contamination. Sandstone, found in hills in some valleys, was found to exhibit some fractures, but fewer cracks could be identified as they studied deeper aspects of formations.
When asked by Kriss Marion, an organic farmer near Blanchardville who has expressed concerns over groundwater contamination throughout the county, how similar the dolomite present in Green County is to Silurian dolomite, Wedekind said "dolomite is essentially dolomite" and scientific consensus dictates if any area is comprised of soluble rock, it is a karst, or eroded, area. The Silurian dolomite aquifer is present in Kewaunee County, where 16 CAFOs contributed to the contamination of residents' drinking water.
Green County Conservationist Todd Jenson asked TRC to evaluate three different county locations. One southeast of Blanchardville was found to have a majority of bedrock less than 10 feet below the surface. Another, just south of Browntown was similar.
On the western side of the county, Jenson asked for an evaluation of an area northwest of Brodhead. The area includes the 127 acres of farmland leased by Pinnacle Dairy along County FF and Decatur-Sylvester Road in Sylvester Township. Currently under construction, the project has been criticized by local residents for its size and what they see as a likelihood for groundwater contamination.
Officials with the state Natural Resource Conservation Service and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection alerted Green County's Land and Conservation Department to concerns over whether the project could meet guidelines outlined by NRCS and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Pinnacle was granted a conditional permit by Green County on April 6. The conditions were put in place to address issues brought to light during the application process.
The area spanning north from County SS was referred to by Papez as "sort of a bedrock valley" roughly 50 feet deep. He noted the water table in the area had a fairly uniform flow from the west to the east and said soil types and recharge had notable variability.
Study group member Bethany Storm said she was glad to see more science applied to Green County which helps representatives make more informed decisions. If a proposed concentrated animal feeding operation were to apply for permission to build, like Pinnacle Dairy LLC did in August 2015, the county and the corporation could look to the study to find the best location to avoid compromising groundwater. Carter said though the study did not reveal anything new to him, he knew the general public had been hoping to learn more about conditions throughout the county.
Roughly 80 people filled the chairs set up in three connecting multipurpose rooms of the lower level, including Green County Board members and candidates, state Sen. Janis Ringhand, 45th Assembly Rep. Mark Spreitzer, members of the study committee and Green County staff, as well as public individuals interested in the results of the study approved by supervisors in February 2016.
Green County Board President Art Carter said he was optimistic the study could be accessed in the future.
"There's no way we have the ability of enacting any ordinances from this," Carter said. "Hopefully there will be guidelines, people will take note of it and utilize it. We're a long ways from understanding it all. Hopefully over time people interested and various committees involved with it will be much more able to interpret what's there."
The hydrogeological study was presented by TRC Environmental Corporation of Madison. It included maps of the water table and recharge, or precipitation which replaces groundwater, and modeling of which areas are least and most susceptible to contamination. Similar studies have been done in other counties throughout the state, said Jesse Papez, geographic information system analyst at TRC Environmental.
Each of the three presenters, including TRC Hydrogeologist James Wedekind and Lead Hydrologist John Rice, noted that the study will be best used as a tool for more site-specific investigations. For instance, Rice said, the mapping of susceptibility can be used as a planning tool to review potential groundwater contamination from the surface.
"The best way to prevent a geological hazard is to avoid it," Wedekind said in response to public questions about possible groundwater contamination.
Rice said the study does not predict where contamination could be, replace site-specific studies nor will it predict any areas to be safe from contamination.
"There's a risk and benefit analysis the county has to make and this is a tool the county can use in making decisions," Rice said.
He said roughly 36 inches of precipitation falls in Green County each year, and that areas with higher recharge rates bring more contaminants to groundwater. Recharge rates can vary from less than four inches to more than 12 inches every year, Rice added.
Wedekind outlined the rock types found throughout Green County, from the top Sinnipee group consisting largely of dolomite, to the second level Ancell group, primarily made up of sandstone. Wedekind said the limestone on top would be the most susceptible level. The dolomite largely resembles gravel if found in fields, he said, because it has been "preferentially weathered," displaying a repeated pattern of vertical fractures and thin soil cover when found in layers of bedrock.
"That tells you that any fluid on this has a conduit to any lower levels," he said, noting it would only be roughly 100 feet deep.
The Ancell group contributes more resistance to surface contamination. Sandstone, found in hills in some valleys, was found to exhibit some fractures, but fewer cracks could be identified as they studied deeper aspects of formations.
When asked by Kriss Marion, an organic farmer near Blanchardville who has expressed concerns over groundwater contamination throughout the county, how similar the dolomite present in Green County is to Silurian dolomite, Wedekind said "dolomite is essentially dolomite" and scientific consensus dictates if any area is comprised of soluble rock, it is a karst, or eroded, area. The Silurian dolomite aquifer is present in Kewaunee County, where 16 CAFOs contributed to the contamination of residents' drinking water.
Green County Conservationist Todd Jenson asked TRC to evaluate three different county locations. One southeast of Blanchardville was found to have a majority of bedrock less than 10 feet below the surface. Another, just south of Browntown was similar.
On the western side of the county, Jenson asked for an evaluation of an area northwest of Brodhead. The area includes the 127 acres of farmland leased by Pinnacle Dairy along County FF and Decatur-Sylvester Road in Sylvester Township. Currently under construction, the project has been criticized by local residents for its size and what they see as a likelihood for groundwater contamination.
Officials with the state Natural Resource Conservation Service and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection alerted Green County's Land and Conservation Department to concerns over whether the project could meet guidelines outlined by NRCS and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Pinnacle was granted a conditional permit by Green County on April 6. The conditions were put in place to address issues brought to light during the application process.
The area spanning north from County SS was referred to by Papez as "sort of a bedrock valley" roughly 50 feet deep. He noted the water table in the area had a fairly uniform flow from the west to the east and said soil types and recharge had notable variability.
Study group member Bethany Storm said she was glad to see more science applied to Green County which helps representatives make more informed decisions. If a proposed concentrated animal feeding operation were to apply for permission to build, like Pinnacle Dairy LLC did in August 2015, the county and the corporation could look to the study to find the best location to avoid compromising groundwater. Carter said though the study did not reveal anything new to him, he knew the general public had been hoping to learn more about conditions throughout the county.