Groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin

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Groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin The Commission’s Investigations The year 2007 marked the 20th anniversary of the incorporation of Annex 16 – Pollution from Contaminated Groundwater – into the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA). Annex 16 focuses on the coordination of “existing programs to control contaminated groundwater affecting the boundary waters of the Great Lakes System.” The Commission adopted groundwater as a priority for its 1991‐1993 biennial cycle. The resulting report, Groundwater Contamination in the Great Lakes Basin, published in 1993, focused heavily on the sources and extent of groundwater contamination in the basin and how such contamination might enter the Great Lakes. For its 2005‐2007 biennial cycle, the Commission again adopted groundwater as a priority, which has culminated in this stand‐alone Commission report, Groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin, that contains findings and recommendations from the current effort. This report expands and updates the Commission’s 1993 report as well as the Commission’s 2000 report, Protection of the Waters of the Great Lakes. It also provides information about emerging groundwater issues and concerns, linkages with other Commission priorities (e.g., urbanization and pathogens) and implications regarding water quantity issues contained in the Great Lakes Charter Annex 2001. The 2005‐2007 groundwater priority, under the leadership of the Science Advisory Board (SAB), was a collaborative effort with the Council of Great Lakes Research Managers. As work plans were developed, it became clear that human health expertise also would be valuable. Therefore, the Health Professionals Task Force joined the collaboration. The Council and the Task Force respectively identified contractors to prepare scholarly reports on groundwater research needs and human health implications of groundwater‐borne pathogens and contaminants. Their insight and the advice provided was considered and incorporated into this report. The SAB, with advice and assistance from the Council and the Task Force, organized four expert consultations around the basin to learn about local and regional groundwater issues, policies, monitoring and innovative research. The consultations were held in Lansing, Michigan (March 2006), Syracuse, New York (June 2006), Milwaukee, Wisconsin (November 2006), and Chicago, Illinois (June 2007). A compact disk containing the presentations and the rapporteurs’ notes was produced for each consultation and shared with participants and collaborators. After the first consultation, it became clear that issues and concerns about groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin go far beyond the focus of Annex 16, that is, groundwater as a source of contaminants to the lakes. After the second consultation, the Commissioners specifically asked the collaborators for input, based on deliberations to that point, to assist in preparing Commission advice to the Parties regarding review of the Agreement. The co‐chairs of the SAB subsequently sent a letter to the Commissioners (transmittal letter at the end of this section). Study Findings 1. The Importance of Groundwater Groundwater is important to both the quality and quantity of water in the Great Lakes. “The Great Lakes cannot be protected without protecting the groundwater resources in the Basin.” Groundwater is a significant source of water to the Great Lakes. It is estimated that there is as much groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin as there is surface water in Lake Michigan. The groundwater contribution to the Great Lakes tributaries ranges from 48% in the Lake Erie basin to 79% in the Lake Michigan basin. Groundwater maintains stream flows and wetlands during dry periods, supporting significant ecosystem functions. Groundwater is an important source of drinking water in the Great Lakes Basin. 8.2 million people, 82% of the rural population, rely on groundwater for their drinking water. Groundwater also provides 43% of agricultural water and 14% (and increasing) of industrial water in the basin. 2. Data Quality and Availability Despite the development of new scientific tools, the funding, instrumentation and analytical capacity 1
2 required to monitor basin groundwater quality and quantity has declined substantially in the last twenty years. Although modeling has improved and now offers impressive capability to inform decision makers about groundwater quality and quantity, the erosion in the collection of baseline hydrogeological data precludes meaningful model calibration or application in many parts of the basin. The most pressing scientific issues are: • Better characterization of subsurface conditions, especially the hydraulic conductivity of geologic materials. • Identification of aquifer boundaries. • Estimation of recharge rates. • The linking of data and models collected at different spatial scales. • Ensuring uniformity of data records across jurisdictions, for example, through the adoption of uniform well-logging procedures and implementation of quality control protocols. • Focused attention on areas of greatest hydrogeological uncertainty. The following are some of the research, data collection and mapping programs being undertaken in basin jurisdictions: • In 2000, Ontario restarted a province-wide 450-well monitoring program with costs shared between the provincial government and conservation authorities. With funding from a new carbon tax, Quebec in 2008 re-established its groundwater monitoring network. • Michigan is now digitizing approximately 400,000 well logs. When completed, the data will greatly improve capacity to delineate aquifers and model groundwater processes. However, quality assurance and quality control issues persist. • The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has embarked on a pilot study of water availability in the U.S. portion of the Great Lakes Basin (USGS, 2008). The study focuses on understanding the dynamics of water quantity in the basin, including flows and yields of both ground and surface water. • The Geological Survey of Canada has developed an interactive Web-based geologic mapping tool that can be used for extensive characterization on a site-by-site basis. The tool also helps communicate findings to the public, by allowing a user to “see” aquifer prospects at specific sites. It has only been used on a limited basis. For the Oak Ridges Moraine area near Toronto (10,000 km2), geological content was collected over 10 years at a cost of $1 million per year. • The USGS undertook detailed modeling of the groundwater system in southeastern Wisconsin, adjacent to Lake Michigan. Results established the major features of the groundwater system in the region and quantified the impact of municipal pumping from the complex system of aquifers in the area. Municipal pumping in this region of Wisconsin and Illinois has created a “world-class drawdown cone” in the sandstone aquifer, with water level declines of more than 250 m. Pumping has shifted the divide in the aquifer to the west, farther away from Lake Michigan, and also has caused some deterioration in water quality, particularly with respect to radium and radon concentrations. The USGS modeling will be used to help resolve water management issues there. 3. Groundwater Quality Groundwater quality is generally very good but is threatened in many locations in the Great Lakes Basin. Groundwater contamination is a threat to the health of residents in the basin via their drinking water. Contaminated groundwater is also a source of surface water contamination. Threats to groundwater quality come from point sources and non-point sources. These sources are generally localized but occur in all jurisdictions and affect the basin’s water resources at a regional scale. These sources include: failing septic systems, leaking underground storage tanks, landfills, hazardous waste sites, abandoned wells, leaking sanitary sewers, confined animal feeding operations, land application of septage and manure, agricultural practices, spills, urbanization (atmospheric deposition, infiltration of vehicle fluids, de-icing practices), cemeteries, petroleum refineries and injection wells. Specific threats to groundwater in the basin include: pathogens, nutrients, toxic chemicals (including chlorinated solvents, petroleum-based products, pesticides, metals, radionuclides), household products, hormones, antibiotics, pharmaceuticals and road salt. Due to the vast number of sources and threats, it was necessary to limit the focus of our study. The issues in Appendices B through K were selected due to their pressing and substantial nature. The most significant ones are highlighted below, with the full reports in the appendices. Other activities affecting groundwater, including landfills, cemeteries and road kill carcass burial, airborne deposition, pit and quarry operations, water bottling operations and ethanol production should not be forgotten, and as more data are gathered could be the subject of future reports.
Page 1 and 2: AReportoftheGreatLakesScienceAdviso
Page 3 and 4: Citation: Great Lakes Science Advis
Page 6: Commissioners’ Preface The Great
Page 11 and 12: 4 Systems have a 30-year lifespan d
Page 13 and 14: 6 Groundwater quality is routinely
Page 15 and 16: 8 Transmittal Letter Groundwater/An
Page 17 and 18: 10 Acknowledgements, Activities and
Page 19 and 20: APPENDICES Appendices A through L p
Page 21 and 22: INTRODUCTION Groundwater, a major n
Page 23 and 24: 16 DESCRIPTION OF NATURAL SYSTEMS M
Page 25 and 26: that are not substantially affected
Page 27 and 28: Estimates of the Level and Extent o
Page 29 and 30: APPENDIX B Threats to Groundwater Q
Page 31 and 32: 24 PATHOGENS Bacteria, viruses and
Page 33 and 34: Viruses Viral pathogens continue to
Page 35 and 36: SPECIFIC EPISODES Walkerton In 2000
Page 37 and 38: 30 season. The sampling sites inclu
Page 39 and 40: 32 Curriero, F.C., Patz, J.A., Rose
Page 41 and 42: Infection of a suitable host specie
Page 44 and 45: APPENDIX C Threats to Groundwater Q
Page 46 and 47: Road salt has significant toxic eff
Page 48 and 49: converted to nitrite in the human s
Page 50 and 51: Atrazine Atrazine is an extensively
Page 52 and 53: Wisconsin DNR keeps track of about
Page 54 and 55: Table 1. Chemical Contaminants in G
Page 56 and 57: isks for 23 diseases in six contigu
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Figure 1. Number* of waterborne-dis
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Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Wa
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APPENDIX D Threats to Groundwater Q
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Figure 1. Source: General Descripti
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(Gorman and Halvorsen, 2006). Any s
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Table 3. Washtenaw County, Michigan
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that the OWTS would last until it w
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REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY Aglie,
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Septic Tanks - Septic Tank Articles
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INTRODUCTION Leaking underground st
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sites that were previously closed,
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Table 1. USTs in Great Lakes States
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Estimation of Costs for Remediation
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Table 6. Operational Compliance of
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80 Indiana Government. (2007, Febru
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82 GLOSSARY AST - above ground stor
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INTRODUCTION 84 Hazardous wastes ar
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The town of Kincardine, Ontario, ha
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88 • The monitoring and surveilla
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However, the U.S. EPA has been relu
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92 Johnson, B.L. & DeRosa, C.T. (19
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PAHs - Polycyclic aromatic hydrocar
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INTRODUCTION An abandoned well is d
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Figure 6: Leaking oil well Source:
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CONTAMINANT SOURCES 100 During any
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Nearly 16 million operational water
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• Development of a targeted progr
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106 Michigan Department of Environm
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APPENDIX H Threats to Groundwater Q
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far reaching. Road salt can inhibit
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112 Desalinization Potential water
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Gray, J. (2004, January). Brine Spr
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INTRODUCTION 116 In 2003 there were
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118 feed has increased to upwards o
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References and Bibliography 120 Arn
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APPENDIX J Threats to Groundwater Q
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for recreational purposes and destr
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126 errors (human or mechanical), p
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Apparent Losses Old meters are like
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Figure 6. Examples of Windsor, Onta
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REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 132 Ada
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134 Levy, S. (2004, November 16). T
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APPENDIX K The Châteauguay Transbo
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138 the clay sediments of the St. L
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REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY Bureau
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INTRODUCTION 142 Groundwater law ac
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144 • Water withdrawn be returned
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146 found to be failing. Now, with
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Part 373: Third Stage Treatment Lag
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150 Chapter 1501:15 Soil and Water
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152 Title 29 - Water Resources Mana
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APPENDIX M List of Acronyms ADHD -
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Groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin

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