Water
Have you had your eight glasses of cool, clean water today? Everyone, young or old, around the world, drinks water, needs water, is refreshed from a cool glass of water, whether from a brass jug in India or from a mountain stream.
The water shortages in China have been highlighted because of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. To accommodate the athletes, thousands of reporters and dignitaries from around the world and other visitors, China has had to tap many water resources to provide drinking water for everyone. Not only water for drinking but for all of the other water-related amenities to which people have grown accustomed. Rerouting water sources to meet the Olympic needs has created a hardship for many rice farmers and other workers who need water to make a living.
Accolades go to the state of Wisconsin for passing the Great Lakes Compact; the monitoring is the important test of the compact agreement. The best feature in the compact is the banning of long-distance diversions and ensuring sustainable water use in the basin. Many other states and countries have given us ample stories about the unpleasant consequences of long-term drought conditions to make us more vigilant about water conservation. The Great Lakes Compact has provided the need to act; now is the time to write and implement local water management ordinances. Watershed Watchers is very interested in protecting the watershed water sources that fill our wells with an abundance of cool uncontaminated water. Help is needed to protect the greatest clean water source, wetlands.
A healthy wetland ecosystem, one of the community's vital resources, provides healthy water for municipal and private wells in Washington County. A shared responsibility is essential to preserve and protect this valuable property. In addition to providing quality water to citizens in the area, wetlands also provide excellent wildlife habitat, absorb water to control flooding downstream through a slow release of water, and provide a favorable environment for aquatic and plant life.
Watershed Watchers advocates protection of the remaining area's wetlands, which should not be destroyed for any reason, and we advocate wetland protection throughout the state. This is a Watershed Watchers View. As watchdogs, we are advocates for the upper reaches of the Milwaukee River watershed. We encourage everyone to become an environmental watchdog, to stop destruction before it happens. Destroying natural resources can happen in a hurry if someone isn't watching.
Click here for information on the mean well depths in the Town of Trenton
Click here for information on new/replacement wells in Washington County
Groundwater Recharge/Discharge
The vast majority of the private wells and nine of the ten wells in the West Bend municipal well field pump solely from the sand and gravel, known as shallow aquifers.
Relatively few wells pump from the uppermost bedrock unit, the Silurian dolomite. The shallow aquifers yield high quality water that is not subject to the radium found in parts of southeast Wisconsin.
The shallow aquifer is recharged locally and any construction that results in an impermeable surface (roofs, roads, parking lots, airport runways) will result in an immediate loss of recharge to the aquifer. Impermeable surfaces divert rainfall (that would normally recharge the groundwater) to surface water bodies, lakes and streams, where it is transported out of the local watershed. With shallow aquifers, the rainfall needs to stay in the area. Build rain gardens and design parking lots with green space and limit building any more impervious surfaces. Watershed Watchers congratulates the new Cabela's for having green strips in the parking lot to catch the runoff from rainfalls, which will ultimately recharge the groundwater.
According to Dr. Grundl, Geochemical and Hydrogeological Consultant and Professor of Geosciences at UWM, "By far the largest stress on the shallow aquifer is the West Bend municipal well field which is capable of pumping 5.9 million gallons of water per day on average."
This information is from an hydrology survey of the Town of Trenton wetlands proposed to be destroyed for airport expansion. The study was completed by a geochemical and hydrogeological consultant and chair of the UWM Geosciences Department, Dr. Tim Grundl. Watershed Watchers received a grant from the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network & Fund in 2004, which allowed us to understand more about our water supply. Some questions from this study: (1) Is the aquifer being drained - or is it at a steady state of flow? (2) Do people have to drill deeper now than before to get sufficient water? (3) What are the consequences of destroying our natural water supply? (4) Are our elected officials following Wisconsin Statute 60.10(2)(i), under watershed protection and soil and water conservation? "Authorize the town board to engage in watershed protection, soil conservation or water conservation activities beneficial to the town."
Watershed Watchers' View is that a careful review of all ordinances and development of ordinances, where there are non, is essential to ensure a strong healthy water supply for generations. This will require astute plans for development beginning today.