Geologist and researchers at the University of Cincinnati are celebrating completion of a new groundwater observatory station. The station will allow scientists to study interactions between the Great Miami River and the Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer.Professor David Nash points out there are a handful of current and former EPA Superfund sites like Fernald and Mound near the river and aquifer, along with farm run-off.
"Particularly during floods like the one we had a couple of weeks ago, that floodwater containing things that aren't particularly good gets pushed into the aquifer. This facility is designed specifically to monitor that interaction."
More than two million people get their drinking water from the aquifer.*
The University of Dayton has a similar monitoring program with wells throughout the Miami Valley.
* Previous estimates put the number of people who get their drinking water from the aquifer at 1.6 million. That has since been revised upward to 2.3 million, and could be even higher.
