Description: The improper location, construction or sealing of a well or boring in an area of groundwater contamination may allow contaminants to spread to otherwise protected aquifers. The designation as a special well and boring construction area alerts the public, including property owners, drilling contractors, and local officials, to the occurrence of groundwater contamination, and the need to place special controls on the drilling of new wells and the modifications of existing wells. It provides information on the contamination source, contaminants encountered, aquifers affected, and necessary restrictions. It also allows affected parties, including local units of government, to be aware of and to respond to the contamination problem.The rules pertaining to the construction of wells and borings place minimum restrictions on the location, construction, repair, and sealing of wells and borings. Special construction requirements are authorized in rule and statute in areas of known or suspected contamination. In order to provide safe water it may be necessary to require the construction of deeper wells, employ special construction techniques, conduct specialized testing, or require special water treatment procedures. Contractors proposing to drill any well or boring in an advisory area must contact the Minnesota Department of Health, Well Management Section prior to construction. Contractors and property owners must submit a written request and well construction plan to the MDH and must receive written approval before construction, repair, or sealing of a well in the special well and boring construction area.For more detail seehttp://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/wells/swca/index.html
Description: The Well Management database was queried and data extracted on December 31, 2012. Data was processed from 10 tables and reconstructed to create a file geodatabase with only the actual well sealing records. Geocoding was accomplished in a phased approach. 1. Match to a County Well Index located well. 2. Match to an inventoried PCSI location 3. Match to a physical address with zipcode using a composite address locator. 4. Match to Public Land Survey System (PLSS) coordinates. Townhip, Range, Section and subsection. Finally a shapefile was generated for general distribution. About 2,000 records did not have any location information and are not included in the data distribution.