The National Ground Water Association unveiled an observation well installed at its headquarters site in Westerville, Ohio, on October 18, 2005. The unveiling coincided with World Water Monitoring Day.
The well is equipped to provide real-time water level data on a year-round basis—underscoring NGWA's commitment to studying, learning, and sharing knowledge about ground water, upon which approximately 50 percent of the world's population is dependent for its drinking water supply.
The well was constructed in partnership with the USGS, EnviroCore Ltd., In-Situ Inc., and Geoprobe Systems®.
Geoprobe Systems provided its equipment and drilling expertise to install the observation well, which is located on the northwestern corner of the NGWA headquarters property at 601 Dempsey Road (top photo). The location for the well was chosen based upon the results of the core samples taken from ground surface to a depth of 28 feet by Columbus, Ohio-based EnviroCore in early September.
The well was installed in the shallow aquifer in late September (second photo at right). The screen interval is 21 to 26 feet below ground surface in a sandy zone bounded above and below by finer grain silts and clays.
In early October, the USGS installed a Level TrollTM 500 submersible pressure transducer donated by In-Situ, which measures water levels in the shallow aquifer every hour. Once an hour, the most recent measurement is uplinked via a Sutron® SatLink2TM datalogger and transmitter to a satellite that in turn sends the data to the USGS office in Columbus, Ohio (third photo). The data are decoded, checked, and stored in the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS) along with data from thousands of wells monitored by the USGS, more than 850 of which are available with real-time ground water level data.
NGWA headquarters (approximate location indicated by top left edge of the red star) is situated along Spring Run, a part of the Alum Creek Watershed (depicted in gold), which spans three counties in central Ohio. The NGWA well will provide important data about both ground water and the watershed. To view the water level in the NGWA well, click here.
World Water Monitoring Day, an annual event coordinated by America's Clean Water Foundation and the International Water Association, is an opportunity for citizens of the global community to actively participate in monitoring the health of water bodies worldwide. To find out more about this project, click here.
A part of NGWA's mission is to educate the public and government decision-makers about the importance of responsibly developing, managing, and protecting this vital natural resource.
Learn more about NGWA's many ongoing environmental initiatives dealing with ground water, including ground water sustainability as well as a call for more and better data to be developed regarding this natural resource, by visiting NGWA Government Affairs. Click here to learn about NGWA's award-winning journal, Ground Water Monitoring & Remediation®.