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http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/AmericanFlag.jpg “Sometimes it smells like a barn coming out of the faucet,” (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/us/18dairy.html?_r=1&ref=energy-environment)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/20070528_cow.jpgCharles Duhigg - NYTIMES (http://www.nytimes.com) - Sept 17, 2009

Saturation point --Ed.

Morrison, Wis. — All it took was an early thaw for the drinking water here to become unsafe.

There are 41,000 dairy cows in Brown County, which includes Morrison, and they produce more than 260 million gallons of manure each year, much of which is spread on nearby grain fields. Other farmers receive fees to cover their land with slaughterhouse waste and treated sewage.

In measured amounts, that waste acts as fertilizer. But if the amounts are excessive, bacteria and chemicals can flow into the ground and contaminate residents’ tap water.... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/us/18dairy.html?_r=1&ref=energy-environment

Well contamination is a real problem, but the article's author missed (or ignored) one of the key issues. If winter thaw runoff is contaminating people's wells, people are in essence drinking untreated surface water. This means that probably at least one of two following things is true: 1. They have a substandard well installation where the annular seal near the surface has failed or 2. There is an abandoned well nearby that was never properly plugged that is allowing the direct intrusion of surface water into the aquifer they are drawing from.

I would guess that the people are drinking from shallow wells which often produce tasty water, but tend to be vulnerable.

In any case the people probably should be advised to install a new well or a treatment system so that they aren't drinking untreated surface water.

Hi Rich:

___How are the major deeper aquifers doing in terms of runoff contamination? Is there any?

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Hi Rich:

___How are the major deeper aquifers doing in terms of runoff contamination? Is there any?

___Good Luck

___Wayne

My short answer is as far as I know that isn't a major problem in most areas.

My long digressive answer follows.

I can only talk a little about the area where I work (NW IL, eastern IA.) Around here surface runoff rarely makes it into deep wells that are appropriately built. There is enough "overburden" of soil to filter the water pretty well. An area where fractured bedrock is exposed at the surface could be more vulnerable. Bottom line, around here contamination of "deep" drinking water wells/aquifers is uncommon. The only instances I personally know of are either the result of underground coal mines interacting with poorly constructed wells (e.g. a neighbor's well) or disposal practices where hazardous waste has been disposed in a former well of some sort (e.g. Rockford IL superfund site (http://www.epa.state.il.us/community-relations/fact-sheets/southeast-rockford/index.html).) Shallow wells/aquifers are somewhat commonly contaminated by leaking underground storage tanks(my bread and butter) and septic tanks as well as by surface water through improperly abandoned surface wells. Unless unusual chemicals like MTBE are involved (such as at the Coralville Iowa pipeline terminal (https://programs.iowadnr.gov/contaminatedsites/pages/processManagement.aspx?siteID=137&subSiteID=104)) the contamination is usually highly localized.

Other sources of contamination are more mundane. The shared deep well I'm on became bacteria contaminated when they replaced the pump about two years ago. It used to be delicious water, but now it's chlorine treated :(.


In many areas of the country there are major deep aquifers that are impacted by the disposal of toxic waste (e.g. oil and gas well waste) in injection wells. In theory this waste is injected away from anybody's drinking water aquifer, but recent news stories appear to indicate that in some areas practice does not match theory.