Targeted Well Sealing in Rice County

The goal of this project is to reduce the number of vulnerable unused wells located within sensitive areas and to prevent potential groundwater contamination. This project will provide cost-share well sealing funds to target sealing of unused wells located in highly vulnerable areas within both the City of Faribault, and the City of Northfield's Drinking Water Supply Management Areas (DWSMA), and other vulnerable areas of Rice County.
Rice County staff will implement a cost-share well sealing program to increase the number of wells sealed within the county. Staff will target unused wells currently deemed highly vulnerable within existing Wellhead Protection Implementation Plans and encourage those property owners to seal unused wells by providing cost-share funding for well sealing. An application screening process will include: wells within DWSMAs, wells in the same aquifer as one or more nearby public water supply wells, large diameter wells and multi-aquifer wells.