BEYOND THE DESIGNATED MONITOR WELL: HOW MONITORING WATER LEVELS IN DOMESTIC WELLS AND SHARING RESULTS WITH OWNERS IMPROVES UNDERSTANDING AND ENCOURAGES COOPERATION

Many homeowners who depend on domestic water wells for water supply have some understanding of an aquifer. However, they seldom comprehend the effects of numerous wells using a shared resource. A recently observed development trend in many exurban areas involves hundreds of large houses with large yards supplied with individual water wells. Educating the public regarding the cumulative impact of well density and the variability of aquifer properties is challenging. Often, homeowners are not convinced of the need for water conservation strategies and may be unwilling to cooperate with groundwater management policies even during drought conditions. Groundwater managers addressing these problems usually employ a designated monitor well to track water level changes and inform homeowners of declining aquifer water levels. In some cases, the monitor wells have a pressure transducer data logger to collect frequent and current data, but in many cases the monitor wells are measured periodically; measurements can be as seldom as annually. To many homeowners, the information from designated monitor wells does not appear relevant to their water supply well. To overcome the apparent skepticism or disconnection regarding designated monitor-wells, this study employed monitoring devices directly on a group of household wells in a groundwater dependent community sharing the same aquifer. The data collected from participant wells were shared with the larger community along with explanations of the patterns discovered. The data retrieved from monitoring multiple domestic supply wells in a community sharing the same aquifer provided new insights to both homeowners and groundwater managers. Surveys distributed before and after the process were used to measure impacts and educational success which may lead to better management policies and better cooperation.