Database Maintenance and Drilling New Monitoring Wells for the NGWMN: Final Technical Report

The Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) continued its maintenance of database and web services to the current sites in the National Ground Water Monitoring Network (NGWMN) registry. The ISWS performed routine maintenance to fix bugs, updated security protocols and connections to the NGWMN portal, and administered basic tasks of maintaining backups, performance and data storage. These activities were in congruence with Objective 2 of the FY2019 request for proposals. In collaboration with the ISWS, the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) also installed 5 groundwater monitoring wells into the Principal Aquifer in east-central Illinois. These wells were installed to fill in spatial data gaps within existing NGWMN subnetworks that are managed by the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS). In collaboration with the ISWS, the ISGS focused the study in east-central Illinois within the glacial sand and gravel Principal Aquifer. More specifically, the project was aimed at expanding the well subnetwork through the area of DeWitt County, Illinois within the Mahomet Aquifer. In this area, the Mahomet Aquifer is the primary source of drinking water and irrigation supplies, which collectively totals approximately 200 million gallons per day. Prior to FY2019, no NGWMN wells existed within the Principal Aquifer in DeWitt County. The new NGWMN wells will contribute to a more robust monitoring coverage of the Principal Aquifer and a better understanding of regional groundwater flow and local pumping effects within the aquifer. These activities were in congruence with Objective 5 of the FY2019 request for proposals.