NewsDrop-February-2024

A QUINTET NETWORK OF WELLS IS ONLINE AT THE EAA FIELD RESEARCH PARK

By: Brent Doty , P.G. Research Manager

Newly drilled monitoring well at the FRP.

FRP monitoring well network.

Close-up of the rock core section.

This is now the fifth well in the FRP monitoring net work, joining the two existing water wells on the FRP property, and two other wells supplied by neighboring partners. Special instruments are used to continuously monitor water levels, and water quality samples are col lected routinely in the FRP wells. The FRP monitoring well network offers a sophisticated glimpse into how the aquifer system behaves in a geologically complex environment and provides clues on how the aquifer sys tem may function across the entire region.

Installing a new monitoring well also provided EAA scientists with a unique opportunity to collect core samples during the well installation. Core sam pling is the collection of an intact cylindrical section of natural material during the drilling process. The water well drilling contractor assisted EAA researchers with the collection of more than 250-feet of rock core samples, extending from the Edwards Limestone at the surface down to the Upper Glen Rose Limestone, the unit associated with the Upper Trinity Aquifer.

The core samples provide one of the most complete sections of its kind in the region.

EAA scientists hope to use data from the well and the FRP monitoring network to further regional aquifer research and provide the best available science to decision makers.

MONITORING GROUNDWATER QUALITY AND QUANTITY HAS ALWAYS BEEN AN IMPORTANT ASPECT OF THE EDWARDS AQUIFER AUTHORITY’S MISSION AND A CORE VALUE OF SCIENCE-BASED POLICY.

The addition of the EAA’s Field Research Park property in 2019 provided a unique opportunity to closely study the behavior and characteristics of the aquifer system over the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone. In 2023, the EAA installed a new monitoring

well at the FRP, which provides additional insight into the interactions between the Edwards and Trinity Aquifers, the quality of water in the system, and the effects of drought on aquifer water levels.

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