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Section 3 <br />Strategies for Groundwater <br />3.4 Groundwater <br />Groundwater is the source of drinking water for the majority of watershed residents. Groundwater <br />is also the main source of the baseflow in Valley Creek. The quality and quantity of groundwater is <br />critical for the health of the residents and the stream and its inhabitants. <br />Goals: ® Prevent groundwater contamination. <br />® Prevent aquifer depletion. <br />® Protect groundwater recharge areas. <br />Current The south branch of Valley Creek is fed almost exclusively by groundwater <br />Conditions: from the Jordan Sandstone and Prairie Du Chien bedrock layers. These two <br />layers provide a continuous flow of cold, clean water, which makes the <br />stream inhabitable by trout. The St. Croix Watershed Research Station is <br />monitoring stream flow which gives some information about groundwater <br />quality. Research indicates that the ground-watershed may occupy a much <br />different (and larger) geographic area than the surface watershed. <br />See DP's map -susceptibility to contamination? <br />Data from Washington County indicates that excessive levels of nitrates <br />maybe present in some groundwater soures. (Needs to be verified.) <br />Threats and 1) Many areas in the watershed indicated susceptibility to groundwater <br />Opportunities: contamination. (Threat) <br />2) Some areas are more sensitive to changes in land use/cover than <br />others -these areas can be sinks for discharge of contaminants into <br />groundwater. (Threat) <br />3) This contamination can be prevented. (Opportunity) <br />General Strategy: Ensure that recharge areas do not receive contaminated water, and <br />ensure that groundwater appropriations do not deplete stream flow. Ensure <br />that additions of imperviousness in the watershed do not cover critical <br />- -- groundwater recharge-areas. <br />3-14 <br />