Agenda - Council - 07/28/2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Glossary Abandoned Well Any well (drinking water, oil and gas, etc.) which is not used for a long period of time, is not maintained properly, and/or is not properly sealed when its useful life is over. Acre-foot Enough water to cover an acre of land one -foot deep (i.e., 325,851 gallons, or 43,560 cubic feet). Adaptive Management A process for continually improving management policies and practices by learning from the outcomes of management actions. Agricultural Area Communities that encompass areas with prime agricultural soils that are planned and zoned for long-term agriculture. Maximum allowable density is 4 units/40 acres. Approach The high-level category of water supply projects that could be applied at the subregional level to improve the sustainability of the Twin Cities metropolitan area water supply. For example, water conservation is an approach. (NEEDS WORK!!) Appropriation Use of water permitted by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resource. Except for some exempted purposes, a water use (appropriation) permit from DNR is required for all users withdrawing more than 10,000 gallons a day or 1 million gallons per year. Aquifer Rock or sediment that is saturated and able to transmit economic quantities of water to wells and surface waters. Minnesota Administrative Rules 6115.0630 defines aquifer as any water -bearing bed or stratum of earth or rock capable of yielding groundwater in sufficient quantities that can be extracted. Aquitard A water -saturated sediment or rock whose permeability is so low it cannot transmit any useful amount of water. Artesian Aquifer See confined aquifer. An aquifer with a confining layer at the top, causing the groundwater to be under pressure. Minnesota Administrative Rules 6115.0630 defines artesian aquifer or a confined aquifer as a water body or aquifer overlain by a layer of material of less permeability than the aquifer. The water is under sufficient pressure so that when it is penetrated by a well, the water will rise above the top of the aquifer. A flowing artesian condition exists when the water flow is at or above the land surface. Artesian Well A well drilled in a confined aquifer where the elevation of the well water (i. e., potentiometric surface) is above the top of confined aquifer. If this well flows at the land surface without mechanical pumping, it is a flowing artesian well. Available Head An informal term to specify the amount of decline in water level that can occur in a confined aquifer before artesian conditions change to water table conditions. For the purposes of the Master Water Supply Plan, "available head" is defined as the difference in elevation between an aquifer's long-term average water level, as predicted by the Metropolitan Council's groundwater flow model, and ten feet above the top of the upper bedrock surface of that aquifer. COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS WATER SUPPLY MASTER PLAN- Draft June 2015