COMPILING GEOLOGIC DATA IN GIS TO IMPROVE STAKEHOLDER EXPERIENCE

Much of Missouri is heavily dependent on groundwater with thousands of wells supplying water to residences and industries. Approximately 3,500 domestic water wells are drilled each year. There are a variety of areas that, due to their geologic setting or land use, require special consideration regarding water well design and construction.

To better serve the drilling industry and other stakeholders, the Missouri Geological Survey uses GIS to compile and analyze geologic data to make drilling information available to the public through the Well Installation Section Drilling Information Map (WISDIM), an interactive map that outlines domestic bedrock well construction requirements and well information throughout Missouri. The most recent enhancement of WISDIM is the addition of a raster file that represents the special drilling area surrounding Missouri’s major lakes. It was developed to provide location specific well casing depth requirements at a three-meter resolution.

Essential domestic well drilling guidelines are now available in one convenient location. Having information readily available in this format streamlines the planning process by reducing staff response time from days to minutes while also eliminating the risk of erroneous manual calculations. With the development of WISDIM, better quality data is made available on demand.