Hydrogeologic Characterization of Aquifers and Injection Capacity Estimation
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Hydrogeologic characterization of aquifers and injection capacity estimation Main authors: Peter K. Kang (UMN ESCI), Anthony Runkel (MGS), Seonkyoo Yoon (UMN ESCI), Raghwendra N. Shandilya (KIST), Etienne Bresciani (KIST), and Seunghak Lee (KIST) Contents Introduction 2 Overview of four ASR study areas 4 Buffalo aquifer, Clay County 4 Jordan aquifer, City of Woodbury 6 Jordan aquifer, Olmsted County 10 Straight River Groundwater Management Area: Pineland Sands Aquifer 12 Methodology for InJection Capacity Estimation 19 Methodology Overview 19 Parameters estimation 21 Transmissivity 22 Allowable head change 23 Injection duration 25 Storativity 25 Well radius 25 Data sources 25 Application to aquifers in Minnesota 26 Transmissivity characterization 26 Buffalo aquifer, Clay County 26 Transmissivity of Jordan aquifer, Woodbury, Washington County 28 1 Transmissivity of the Jordan aquifer, Olmsted County 31 Allowable head change estimation 33 Buffalo aquifer, Clay County 34 Jordan aquifer, Woodbury, Washington County 37 Jordan aquifer, Olmsted County 40 Injection Duration, Storativity and Well Radius 44 Injection capacity 45 Buffalo aquifer, Clay County 45 Jordan aquifer, Woodbury, Washington County 48 Jordan aquifer, Olmsted County 50 Comparison of InJection Capacity 52 Identified Data Gaps 53 Groundwater Level Data 53 Aquifer Pumping Test Data 54 Future Directions 54 Incorporate Leakage factor in the Injection Capacity Estimation Framework 54 Recovery Efficiency of InJected Water 54 Conclusions 54 References 62 2 1 Introduction About 99% of global unfrozen freshwater is stored in groundwater systems, and groundwater is an essential freshwater resource both in the United States and across the globe. The availability of groundwater is particularly important where surface water options are scarce or inaccessible. In the United States, groundwater is the source of drinking water for about half the total population and nearly all of the rural population. However, due to the significant increase in water demand and climate change, many areas of the United States, including parts of Minnesota, are experiencing groundwater depletion or unsustainable extraction. Increasing groundwater storage through aquifer storage and recovery (ASR), a water resources management technique that injects water underground using wells for future recovery, may be a promising option that can alleviate problems associated with declining groundwater levels. There is currently only one reported ASR site from the state of Minnesota (See Section 7; Case studies) but its success shows ASR could be an attractive solution in Minnesota to meet the increased water demand. To consider ASR, it is important to quantify the injection capacity (how much water can be safely injected with a well) of target aquifers. In this study, we derived an analytical solution for estimating injection capacity and developed a new GIS-based mapping tool that produces injection capacity maps (maps showing how much water can be injected with a well). Combining the GIS- based mapping tool with Minnesota's extensive hydrogeologic databases, we have successfully produced injection capacity maps for three aquifers in Minnesota: the Buffalo aquifer in Clay County, the Jordan aquifer in the city of Woodbury (southern Washington County), and the Jordan aquifer in Olmsted County. These aquifers are expected to be under stress in the coming years due to a projected increase in withdrawals. The Buffalo aquifer is the most heavily utilized aquifer in Clay County. In addition to rural domestic withdrawals, it is extensively used by the largest city, Moorhead, for municipal water supply. It has historically also provided significant groundwater for irrigation purposes. This has raised concerns over the long-term sustainability of the aquifer. In Woodbury, the Jordan aquifer is the principal source of the municipal water supply. The city projects a significant increase in population and water demands over the next 20 years, which will require greatly increased withdrawals of groundwater. In addition to potential water quantity issues, the Jordan and other aquifers in southern Washington County are contaminated by PFAS compounds, and ASR could be a solution for mitigating the contamination (by extracting contaminated groundwater and injecting purified water). In Olmsted County, all of the water supply is from groundwater, with the Jordan aquifer as the major source. Olmsted County, especially the Rochester area, projects significant population growth and water consumption increase in the years ahead. This makes it important to ensure the sustainability of the Jordan aquifer for long term use. This section of the report focuses on the hydrogeological characterization of the Buffalo aquifer in Clay County and Jordan aquifer in Washington and Olmsted counties and investigates the injection capacity of ASR at these sites. We collect necessary data from publications and unpublished government and consulting reports and databases and use this information to evaluate the injection capacity of these heavily utilized aquifers. For each of the three study sites, we present: (1) the long-term, average groundwater level and depth-to-groundwater; (2) aquifer 3 characteristics data obtained from aquifer tests and specific capacity tests; (3) available headspace in the aquifer where water can be safely injected for storage, and (4) injection capacity of the aquifers. We show that the three studied aquifers have sufficient capacity for safe water storage. We also describe the hydrogeologic characteristics of a fourth site, a surficial aquifer in Benton County that spans the Straight River watershed and is part of the Straight River Groundwater Management area . This site was not evaluated for injection capacity due to the unavailability of sufficient water volume for injection. 2 Overview of four ASR study areas In this section of the report, we describe the physical setting and the hydrogeologic properties of the target aquifers. The physical setting includes characteristics such as aquifer extent, material properties such as composition and grain size, recharge and discharge areas, conditions of confinement, and hydraulic conductivity. 2.1 Buffalo aquifer, Moorhead area, Clay County Clay County, in northwestern Minnesota, is largely an agriculture-dominated area with small towns. The City of Moorhead, located along the western border of Clay County, has the largest area of developed land and is the principal consumer of water in the County (Berg, 2018). The County lies within the watersheds of the Red River, Wild Rice River, Buffalo River, and Otter Tail River. The topographic elevation of the County decreases from east to west. The Buffalo aquifer is an elongate, narrow, north-south trending aquifer that extends along much of the western part of Clay County, and south into neighboring Wilkin County. Our study focused on the aquifer within Clay County between the Red River to the west and a branch of the Buffalo River to the east. The total area of the aquifer in Clay County is nearly 100 km2 (Figure 1). It ranges in thickness from a few meters at the outer edges to about 60 meters locally along the north- south centerline. We used the maps and related GIS coverages in Bauer (2014) to provide the geologic context of the Buffalo aquifer necessary for our injection capacity estimate. The Buffalo aquifer was formed mostly by deposition of sand and gravel in water confined in a subglacial tunnel at the base of retreating ice (Harris et al., 1998; Hobbs and Gowan, 2014). As the ice retreated, the tunnel valley deposits were overlain by finer-grained glacial Lake Agassiz sediments that confine the aquifer across most of its extent. The aquifer is unconfined locally where those overlying lake sediments are absent (Figure 2). Most of the aquifer is underlain by till confining units, with the exception of relatively small, older sand and gravel bodies that locally may be in contact with the base of the Buffalo aquifer. At depths of about 60-75 meters, the Quaternary tills and associated sand and gravel bodies are underlain by Precambrian crystalline bedrock (Reppe, 2005; Schoenberg, 1998; Wolf, 1981). Overall, the aquifer is a heterogeneous mixture of material ranging in size from clay to gravel (Wolf, 1981; Schoenberg, 1998). In the northern portion, the aquifer contains three distinct vertical horizons from top to bottom. The uppermost horizon consists of interlayered deposits of fine- grained silt to coarse-grained sand (Schoenberg, 1998). The middle horizon, wherever present, 4 consists of sand with clay (Schoenberg, 1998). In the lower horizon, coarser particles ranging in size from cobbly gravel to medium-grained sand are present (Schoenberg, 1998). Figure 1. Areal extent of the confined and unconfined portion of Buffalo aquifer and Moorhead in Clay County. 5 Figure 2. Three-dimensional view of the Buffalo aquifer (yellow portion in eastern part) in Clay County. The aquifer has variable thickness and spatial extent (Minnesota DNR, 2013). Standard aquifer pumping tests from four wells screened in the Buffalo aquifer in Clay County yielded horizontal hydraulic conductivity values that ranged from about 15 to 97 meters per day (m/d) (Schoenberg, 1998; Wolf, 1981). The results are based on aquifer tests conducted by a number of agencies at various times and employ a number of test procedures and methods of analysis. Although based on small sample size, it appears that lower hydraulic conductivity values correspond to