UPDATING GROUNDWATER PARAMETER MAPS IN EAU CLAIRE COUNTY

Groundwater demand in portions of western Wisconsin has grown substantially in the last few years due to the increase in sand mining and the number of high capacity wells used for irrigation. This increased demand requires a better understanding of available groundwater supplies and potential contamination sources. In Eau Claire County, the publically available information related to groundwater flow and susceptibility to contamination is somewhat limited. Existing maps were produced over 25 years ago and were compiled from generalized maps ranging from a scale of 1:250,000 to 1:500,000 (Markham, et al., 2008); these maps are available only as static documents. In this project, we seek to update and improve the publically available groundwater information in Eau Claire County using higher resolution data and updated methodologies. This first phase of this project was to create a digital groundwater elevation map based on approximately 3,000 monitoring well construction reports and LIDAR elevation data. The second phase was to produce an improved digital groundwater susceptibility map by evaluating factors such as depth to water, soil thickness, topography, and permeability of soil and bedrock. The maps generated from this project are interactive and will be available to municipal officials, homeowners, and other interested parties and can be used to guide public policy for protection of local groundwater resources.