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Impacts of a Recently Created Wetland on Shallow Aquifer, Forest Lake, MNGruenewald, Spangenberg, and Squires-Sperling

Impacts of a Recently Created Wetland on Shallow Aquifer, Forest Lake, MN

Miller Gruenewald, Emma Squires-Sperling, Claire Spangenberg


Importance Shoreline Stabilization

Flood Protection

Water Purification

Groundwater Recharge:

● Allow enough time for infiltration to aquifer

○ Groundwater uses:

■ Drinking water

■ Irrigation

■ Preservation of lake and reservoir levels

■ Maintenance of streamflow (Woodward 2001)(Washington State Department of Ecology)


Bixby Park Water Quality Improvement Project Site

Water from Bixby Park site flows toward Sunrise River and Comfort Lake


CLFLWD-Bixby Park

Goal of Bixby Park Water Quality Improvement Project“The project will increase the interaction between the natural floodplain and the wetland, increase storage capacity, and improve habitats by restoring disturbed wetland areas with native vegetation.”


(CLFLWD 2016)


Main Questions

1. How effective was the excavation at Bixby Park at re-routing flow from the drainage ditches into the wetland complex?

2. How is water in the wetland interacting with the groundwater below?

3. How does water table react to precipitation events?


Predictions ● Improved infiltration rates since the excavation

● Wetland in the field site will sit above the water table and hence be a groundwater recharge area

● Creation of pervious surfaces on the site will allow for increased infiltration into the groundwater, rather than surface water run-off that would occur if the site was covered by impervious materials like concrete


Piezometers ● Materials:

○ 10ft by 2inch diameter PVC pipes

○ Drill press

○ PVC cement and primer ○ 5 PVC caps○ 10 stainless steel hose

clamps○ Fine screen mesh


Piezometer Locations on Site


Well logs compiled for each of the 5 piezometers



Dataloggers


Aqueous Pressure Sensor

Barometric Pressure Sensor

MayFly Data Logger


The Parts


Results (so far)


Future Projects Monday May 15, 2017:● Updated piezometer security with locks

Summer 2017/Fall 2017: ● Renew elevation measurements of

current piezometers● Waterproof and install current

datalogger in well 2● Install dataloggers in all piezometers

○ Dr. Lisa Lamb and Miller Gruenewald

Future UST Courses: ➔ Continue monitoring water levels at site➔ Build and install rain gauges at locations of

wells➔ Build and install surface water level gauges

in ponds and ditches ◆ Differences in elevation between

surface water and groundwater

➔ Compare historic groundwater elevation data to groundwater elevations after project was completed

◆ Similar climate data/time of year➔ Install piezometer nests to determine

magnitude and direction of vertical groundwater flow



2016


2016 +4yr


Expected ResultsWait a few years for wetland to adjust to new engineering controls

Less water runs through ditch system and creates a larger saturated area ● Area of wetland vegetation will widen

○ Vegetation and soil will develop after a few years in newly hydric areas

● Shallower groundwater levels around perimeter/upland of wetland over time○ Shows wetland basin is expanding


Thank You


Questions?


Works Cited Acharya, G., 2000, Approaches to valuing the hidden hydrological services of wetland ecosystems, Ecological Economics, 35(1), 63-74. Ameren Services, 2012, Report on piezometer installation, water level monitoring, and

groundwater sampling Labadie, Missouri, Appendix C MDNR well registration forms and receipt confirmation, Golder Associates, pg. 30. Boyer, T., & Polasky, S., 2002, Valuing urban wetlands. Boyer, T., & Polasky, S., 2004, Valuing urban wetlands: A review of non-market valuation studies, Wetlands, 24(4), 744-755. Carter, V., 1996, Wetland hydrology, water quality, and associated functions. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015, Overview of Water-related Diseases and Contaminants in Private Wells,

URL: https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/private/wells/diseases.html, Accessed 3/2/17. Comfort Lake Forest Lake Watershed District, 2016,Bixby Park Water Quality Improvement Project, pages 16 and 30, URL:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kjps9mmp6vz2765/AAANqbzf31L9Wg3TxZsBpnK1a?dl=0&preview=Bixby_Park_Project_Summary_Presentation.pdf, Accessed 5/8/17

Kulabako, N. R., Nalubega, M., & Thunvik, R., 2007, Study of the impact of land use and hydrogeological settings on the shallow groundwater quality in a peri-urban area of kampala, uganda, Science of the Total Environment, 381(1), 180-199.

Winter, T. C., 1999, Relation of streams, lakes, and wetlands to groundwater flow systems, Hydrogeology Journal, 7(1), 28-45. Woodward, R. T., & Wui, Y., 2001, The economic value of wetland services: A meta-analysis, Ecological Economics, 37(2), 257-270. Comfort Lake Forest Lake Watershed District, 2016,Bixby Park Water Quality Improvement Project, pages 16 and 30, URL:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kjps9mmp6vz2765/AAANqbzf31L9Wg3TxZsBpnK1a?dl=0&preview=Bixby_Park_Project_Summary_Presentation.pdf, Accessed 5/8/17

Washington State Department of Ecology, Functions and Values of Wetlands, URL: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/wetlands/functions.html, Accessed 5/8/17.

https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/private/wells/diseases.html

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kjps9mmp6vz2765/AAANqbzf31L9Wg3TxZsBpnK1a?dl=0&preview=Bixby_Park_Project_Summary_Presentation.pdf


http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/wetlands/functions.html

Impacts of a Recently Created Wetland on Shallow Aquifer,

Forest Lake, MN

Environmental Science Senior Research Seminar Project, Spring 2017

Miller Gruenewald, Emma Squires-Sperling, Claire

Spangenberg

Abstract

With the ever increasing human development of modern infrastructures, such as highways and buildings, often comes negative side effects to local ecosystems. Over the past several years, communities have been working to understand, reverse and or prevent the effects of pollution to our water systems. Specifically, the Comfort Lake- Forest Lake Watershed District (CLFLWD) has partnered with the University of St. Thomas (UST) in hopes to better understand the degree to which surface water and groundwater interact at a newly excavated wetland in Bixby Park. We hypothesize that the infiltration rates on the site have improved since the excavation. The construction and installation of 5 piezometers were spread out throughout the site, but near previously installed weirs and wells for comparison to historical data, to measure changes in the water table. Due to time restraints, construction of a Mayfly datalogger was completed within the given time frame of this project but has yet to be installed in any piezometers for barometric and water pressure measurements. However, future research on this study site may utilize the procedures provided within this paper and data currently being collected with the installed piezometers, for reference.

2 Gruenewald, Squires-Sperling, Spangenberg

Contents

Abstract 2

Introduction 4

Methods 6

Future Recommendations 8

Sources 10

Appendix and Figures 11


Introduction

In most landscapes, surface waters from streams, lakes, and wetlands are connected to underlying groundwater. Interchange between surface water and groundwater affects the water quality and flow through these systems (Carter, 1996). Wetlands provide many ecosystems services that are valuable to humans. Wetland plants and soils purify water sources by removing and transforming nutrients and pollutants; improving water quality for human-usage, such as for drinking water and irrigation. They provide habitat for aquatic, avian, and terrestrial species, which contributes to human recreation and harvesting of fish and aquatic plants (Woodward, 2000). Additionally, wetlands provide sources of groundwater discharge and recharge depending on their elevation relative to the water table. If the water table lies above the surface of the wetland, then the wetland is a source of groundwater discharge. This is most often the case with wetlands. However if the water table is below the surface of water in the wetland, then the wetland is a source of groundwater recharge since water will seep through the unsaturated zone until it reaches the saturated zone (Carter, 1996).

One of the main goals of the CLFLWD is to prevent and solve problems related to water resources within the watershed. In the past year, the Comfort Lake- Forest Lake Watershed District (CLFLWD) finished a restoration project on a historic wetland to be used as a surface water and infiltration site known as Bixby Park (Figure 1). Bixby Park is located within the Comfort Lake sub-watershed. The project site lies downstream from Forest Lake and upstream from Comfort Lake (Figure 1). Prior to the wetland restoration project, a series of man-made ditches directed surface water straight through the site, not allowing it to infiltrate or filter through the wetland (Figure 2). Through this project the watershed district has excavated a large volume of land (Figure 3) with the goal of widening the man-made ditches allowing for increased infiltration and a more meandering water flow. In addition, they’ve also installed two weirs to help with water flow and a lightweight aggregate filter berm to allow more surface water to interact with the wetland complex thus allowing for some treatment to stormwater runoff (CLFLWD 2016). As a result of widening the ditches, installation of two weirs and a lightweight aggregate filter berm (Figure 2), the watershed district hopes that this wetland will provide ecosystem services, such as uptake of runoff phosphorus, preventing large amounts of this nutrient from entering Comfort Lake, where it would contribute to eutrophication. The watershed district has estimated that 206 pounds of phosphorus will be prevented from entering the lake as a result of this restoration project. The watershed district has a good understanding of the water quality on the site, but not of the degree to which surface water and groundwater interact at the site. It is within this area that they’ve requested our assistance to investigate the groundwater levels and behavior.

In this project, we will provide baseline conditions, utilizing piezometers and dataloggers, and procedures to investigate how the expansion of this wetland is related to groundwater flow, by


addressing the following questions: How effective was the excavation in Bixby Park at re-routeing flow from the drainage ditches into the wetland complex? How is water in the wetland interacting with the groundwater below? How does the water table react to precipitation events?

Because this site is a restored wetland we predict that the infiltration rates on the site have improved since the excavation. Creation of pervious surfaces on the site will allow for increased infiltration into the groundwater, rather than surface water run-off that would occur if the site was covered by impervious materials like concrete. The site's proximity to this infiltration basin suggests to us that the wetland in the field site will sit above the water table and hence be a groundwater recharge area. Field measurements and interviews with our client will allow us to determine if our predictions about the site are correct.

Site Description

The Bixby Park site is located west of Forest Lake. Interstate highway 35 runs parallel to the site just to the west and county highway 8 borders the top of the wetland site (Figure 4). Adjacent to

the south-eastern corner of the site is the 8th Street Filtration/Infiltration Basin. The north-western corner of the site is bordered by empty plots of land while the south-eastern corner is in close proximity to residential areas. The site falls specifically in the drainage basin of Comfort Lake where groundwater from this site flows into Comfort Lake. The soil of the site is predominantly seelyville muck, a saturated and organic soil found in shallow marsh wetlands (St. Louis County Planning 2006). A portion of the site is composed of Rifle Muck, made up of deep and poorly drained soils with relatively fast permeability, and formed in organic deposits (USDA 1998). The site sits on fine, soft soils. The field site was classified as a drained wetland until the excavation project in the last two years (Figure 5) (Chisago Soil & Water Conservation District, 2014). As a part of the construction project, 40,000 cubic yards of material were excavated from the site to expand the size of the wetland and allow it refill with water and provide valuable ecosystem services to the watershed district (Figures 3 and 6). Invasive plants, including reed canary grass, were also disturbed during construction and measures have been taken to encourage the reestablishment of native plants.


Methods

Piezometers

Materials used for building the piezometers are based off the procedure from the technical report Installing Monitoring Wells/Piezometers in Wetlands by Steven Spretcher. Materials include: four 10ft by 2 inch diameter PVC pipes, PVC cement and primer, 5 PVC caps, 10 stainless steel hose clamps to hold the screen to the pipes, and fine screen mesh. After purchasing the material to construct the piezometers, we began the building process. The piezometers were built on campus. Using a drill press located in the University of St. Thomas woodshop, we drilled multiple holes into one end of the PVC pipes. We began drilling holes roughly one foot from the end of the pipe and stopped drilling roughly 3 inches from the very end of the pipe. A number 43 drill bit (.089 inches) was used. We then rolled 3 layers of a mesh screen around the drilled/hole section with steel hose clamps at either end of drill section to prevent the screen from slipping/coming off while in the aquifer. The screen will further prevent any sediment from getting into the piezometer that could fit through the 0.089 inch holes that were drilled. The caps were secured to the end of pipes using PVC adhesive. Illustrated below (Figure 7) is a diagram of our piezometers and how we installed them. For better security, a pipe cutter was used to cut the piezometers to reasonable heights above the surface following installation in order for the security caps to fit better. Five wells were installed based off Figure 8. Soil bucket augers were used to drill wells for access to the groundwater and well logs were recorded for each well; well logs can be seen in Figures 9-13.

By having different leveled piezometers we can better understand the recharge rate. Since our research questions are not concerned with the direction of groundwater flow as much as they are with the relationship between surface water levels and groundwater levels, we did not need to install a wide array of piezometers that would be necessary to accurately track movement of groundwater. Rather, three of the five piezometers were installed near previously established wells, created by the EOR Inc. engineering firm during the excavation of the wetland, in order to compare historical data and are allowing us to solve more accurately some components of the groundwater flow through the wetland; wells 3, 4 and 5 (Figure 8). Exact elevations of piezometers were surveyed using a total station and, using the two weirs near wells 1 and 2, as elevation benchmarks (Figure 14).

Dataloggers

The datalogger was planned to be deployed in the piezometer at wells 4 where most of the excavation took place, in order to collect consistent and frequent water level data throughout the site. However, due to time restraints and equipment accessibility, the datalogger was not deployed within the planned time frame. The datalogger was assembled on campus. Due to the recent development of the Adafruit Feather MO circuit board, not many codes and libraries were


available or created for our specific parts (i.e. the SparkFun Pressure Sensor Breakout) and thus we switched boards to the Stroud EnviroDIY Mayfly circuit board. Attached to the Stroud EnviroDIY Mayfly circuit board is the Adafruit MPL115A-12C Barometric and temperature pressure sensor, Sparkfun MS5803-14BA Breakout aqueous pressure sensor, and built-in Sodaq DS3231 real time clock. The Mayfly was programmed with sketches and libraries compiled from the code sharing sites Github and Adafruit. A full list of parts and links to sketches are described below in Table 1. Datalogger setup is illustrated in Figure 15 and future datalogger installation is illustrated in Figure 7.


Future Recommendations

During the summer of 2017 one of our colleagues will be continuing research and building off of this project with the assistance of University St. Thomas professors Dr. Lisa Lamb and Dr. Tom Hickson. He may be able to accomplish some of the future tasks and recommendations listed below. We recommend that during the summer of 2017, the piezometers should be updated with better security systems by installing lock mechanisms to help prevent any vandalism. Furthermore, elevation measurements of current piezometers should also be renewed incase of any unexpected heaving. Also, because we were unable to install the Mayfly datalogger within our project’s given time frame, we suggest that the datalogger with the pressure transducers for both the barometric and water pressure be waterproofed with a couple of epoxy coats and installed in well 2 in order to better measure and calculate the water table elevations.

In addition to the construction and installation of more dataloggers, rain gauges, and depth sensors should also be installed in order to better track the depths of the pools of water on the surface; perhaps during the summer of 2017 as well, if there is time, otherwise during the fall of 2017 is also suggested. By linking groundwater data, precipitation data, and surface water data, the CLFLWD will be able to gain a clearer picture of the interactions between the three. To assess the success of the excavation project at the site there are results that can be expected to see. Around the perimeter of the wetland (where wells 2, 3, and 4 are located) there should be a drop in groundwater elevation through time as the wetland basin expands as the result of increasing the interaction between water in the ditches and the wetland complex.

Future University of St. Thomas courses could also utilize this research and continue to conduct it and or build off of it by: continuing to monitor water levels at the site; build and install the suggested rain gauges at all the well locations; build and install surface water level gauges in ponds and ditches in order to compare the differences in elevation between surface water and groundwater; compare historic groundwater elevation data to groundwater elevations and see if there is similar climate/time of year data after the completion of this project; and lastly to install piezometer nests to determine magnitude and direction of vertical groundwater flow. Future UST course that could conduct this type of work include, future environmental science research seminars (ESCI 430), hydrogeology (GEOL 410), environmental problem solving (ESCI 310), and introduction to field research (BIO 211).

Another way to assess the success of the Bixby Park project is to conduct “desktop delineations” of the site. In order to do this, all that is needed to be done is to use up-to-date Google Earth images of the site and delineate the extent of the wetland based on vegetation. This would be done most accurately if the images being used are from roughly the same time of year. Examples of these delineations are found in Figure 16. This can also be done for historical photos of the site to look at how the wetland has evolved over time as the area was developed. Overtime, as


the wetland adjusts to its new engineering controls, the wetland can be expected to expand. In aerial photos, the wetland can be delineated by looking for the tall reed grasses that appear darker in color than the other vegetation at the site. Creating meanders along the ditch system should create a larger saturated area and create a larger area. After a few years, new vegetation and soils will develop in these newly hyric areas around the excavated sites.


References

Acharya, G., 2000, Approaches to valuing the hidden hydrological services of wetland

ecosystems, Ecological Economics, 35(1), 63-74. Ameren Services, 2012, Report on piezometer installation, water level monitoring, and

groundwater sampling Labadie, Missouri, Appendix C MDNR well registration forms and receipt confirmation, Golder Associates, pg. 30.

Boyer, T., & Polasky, S., 2002, Valuing urban wetlands. Boyer, T., & Polasky, S., 2004, Valuing urban wetlands: A review of non-market valuation

studies, Wetlands, 24(4), 744-755. Carter, V., 1996, Wetland hydrology, water quality, and associated functions. Comfort Lake Forest Lake Watershed District (CLFLWD), 2016, Bixby Park Water Quality

Improvement Project, pages 16 and 30, URL: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kjps9mmp6vz2765/AAANqbzf31L9Wg3TxZsBpnK1a?dl=0&preview=Bixby_Park_Project_Summary_Presentation.pdf, Accessed 5/8/17

Kulabako, N. R., Nalubega, M., & Thunvik, R., 2007, Study of the impact of land use and

hydrogeological settings on the shallow groundwater quality in a peri-urban area of kampala, uganda, Science of the Total Environment, 381(1), 180-199.

St. Louis County Planning, 2006, Wetland Information Guide, URL:

http://www.d.umn.edu/~cmhale/EnEd3341-FieldInterpI/Bogs-Wetlands/WetlandQuickGuide.pdf, Accessed 5/18/17.

USDA, 1998, Rifle Series, National Cooperative Soil Survey, U.S.A., URL:

https://soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/R/RIFLE.html, Accessed 5/18/17. Winter, T. C., 1999, Relation of streams, lakes, and wetlands to groundwater flow systems,

Hydrogeology Journal, 7(1), 28-45. Woodward, R. T., & Wui, Y., 2001, The economic value of wetland services: A meta-analysis,

Ecological Economics, 37(2), 257-270.


http://www.d.umn.edu/~cmhale/EnEd3341-FieldInterpI/Bogs-Wetlands/WetlandQuickGuide.pdf


http://www.d.umn.edu/~cmhale/EnEd3341-FieldInterpI/Bogs-Wetlands/WetlandQuickGuide.pdf

https://soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/R/RIFLE.html


Tables Table 1. Lays out all the parts, their uses, prices and where they were purchased and associated links used to code and construct the datalogger setup for collecting barometric and aqueous pressures. Part Use Price Helpful Links Stroud EnviroDIY Mayfly Data Logger

development board/data-logger

$60.00 Amazon

Arduino IDE Setup: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-feather-m0-adalogger/setup

SparkFun Pressure Sensor Breakout- MS5803-14BA

underwater pressure transducer (water depth sensor)

$59.95 SparkFun

Arduino Library for MS5803: https://github.com/sparkfun/SparkFun_MS5803-14BA_Breakout_Arduino_Library /tree/V_1.1.0

Adafruit Waterproof DS18B20 Digital Temperature Sensor

water temperature sensor

$9.95 Adafruit Configure and Test: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruits-raspberry-pi-lesson-11-ds18b20-temperature-sensing/configure-and-test

Adafruit MPL115A2 I2C Barometric Pressure/Temp Sensor

barometric pressure $7.95 Adafruit Arduino Library for MPL115A2: https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_MPL115A2

Adafruit Medium 6V 2W Solar Panel

power supply to datalogger and lithium ion battery

$29.00 Adafruit

N/A

Adafruit 3.5/1.3mm or 3.8/1.1mm to 5.5/2.1 DC Jack Adapter Cable

connect solar panel to solar charger

$0.95 Adafruit N/A

SparkFun Sunny Buddy—MPPT Solar Charger

charge lithium ion battery to supply power to datalogger

$24.95 SparkFun

N/A

Lithium Ion Polymer Battery—3.7V 1200mAh

Store power for datalogger

$9.95 Adafruit N/A

Total cost of electronic components*:

$202.70 *additional costs incurred—desiccant, storage, wires, batteries, SD memory chips, waterproofer, etc.—for the construction of dataloggers


Figures

Figure 1. CLFL watershed divided into sub-watersheds. Bixby Park wetland is located within the purple Comfort Lake watershed with a zoom up of our site’s precise location. Surface water flows through excavated wetland toward Comfort Lake and Sunrise River.


Figure 2. Illustrates a map of the wetland, showing the man-made ditches prior to excavation and the plan to widen the ditches to allow for a more meandering flow post-excavation as show in the CLFLWD 2016 report.

Figure 3. Illustrates pre-excavation of Bixby Park wetland site on the left, and the imagery on the right shows the post-excavation of the wetland as taken from the CLFLWD 2016 report.


Figure 4. Imagery of field site. Field site is outlined in red, located between the city of Forest Lake and the intersection of Interstate 35 and Highway 8

Figure 5. Drained wetlands in the CLFL Watershed District. Field site is highlighted in green.


Figure 6. Shows the construction of the ditch meandering excavation (CLFLWD 2016).


Figure 7. Diagram of piezometer installation and datalogger setup


Figure 8. Illustrates piezometer placements within Bixby Park project site. Bottom left star illustrates estimated inflow location and top right start in northeast direction shows estimated outflow site.


Figure 9. Illustrates the soil characteristics of well 1.










Figure 14. Illustrates the elevations of the five piezometers within the excavation site based off our potentiometric survey.


Figure 15. Illustrates the datalogger set up with all parts, except the battery, connected; barometric and water pressure sensors, solar panel, and SD card.


Figure 16. Illustrates the current and potential future “desktop delineation” of the excavated wetland in Bixby Park.


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