By Deb Kroon
Review Staff Writer
On Wednesday, August 22, a Reading bus containing a group of people who had spent the day touring water treatment sites and well heads in the Adrian, Luverne and Worthington areas stopped at the Adrian well head located to the north of Dollar General. These people were the “who’s who” of water personnel in the state of Minnesota. This tour of brief stops and tours of the areas facilities, was sponsored by the MN Board of Water and Soil Resources.
High nitrogen levels in the groundwater is a problem in Southwest Minnesota, but the problem is extensive in the city of Adrian. While most of the area relies on rural water systems to supplement their drinking water, Adrian’s current source water needs to be treated to strip away excess nitrogen to make it safe for consumption. Adrian is one of the few cities in the state relying on special equipment to treat water with excessive nitrate levels in its municipal wells (taken from the summary put together for the tour by BWSR).
I talked with Adam Henning, Adrian’s Utilities and Public Works Superintendent, to get some background information before the group arrived. He explained about the wells Adrian uses for water and where they are located. “Wells 5, 6 and 7 are located to the North and East of Dollar General. Well #7 is our best well,” Adam said. “There is lots of water in the wells, but the wells are shallow. Well #5 is 37 feet deep, # 6 is 47 feet deep, and #7 is 51 feet deep. This is shallow for a well, and because they are shallow, we have no problems with excess minerals like iron, but there is not enough room to filter out the nitrates naturally.”
Bruce Heitkamp, City Administrator, was on hand for this meeting as well. He added that the city budget for water in 2018 is $215,000 and that about 20% of the budget is for water treatment. “This is to both take out nitrates and add fluoride and additives needed to make the water better for residential consumption,” explained Adam.
Approximately 35 people got off the bus. Along with the BWSR board, there were representatives from the MN Department of Health, MN Rural Water Association and the Kanaranzi/Little Rock Water Shed District. Aaron Meyer who is a groundwater specialist for the MN Rural Water Assc. did a lot of the talking. He explained that the water set up in Adrian is typical across the state, there is farmland adjacent to the protective areas of the wells. In Adrian, the highly vulnerable protective area is about 36 acres of grassland that is to the south of the wells. Aaron, Adam and Bruce all talked about how the grassland filters out the nitrates that are collected by the Kanaranzi before it reaches the wells, and how the treatment system that Adrian has acts like a water softener, filtering out the nitrates before using a salt water brine to recharge the system. Cover crops were discussed and Adrian has received a grant to implement the use of cover crops in the fall of 2018. Implementing a program such as this would buy a little time, but was not the answer long term. Other options were discussed.
In closing the visit, an emphasis was put on the importance of keeping Adrian’s buffer in grass and continuing to work together as agencies with the landowners and farmers to control what is leeching into the water systems all around the state. It will be an ongoing endeavor for all of the agencies represented to deal with the water management. This trip gave them a chance to see first hand how the programs are working and listen to what is needed to be done in the future.
