WSA Yorkton 99-01
The City of Yorkton is the largest community in Saskatchewan relying on groundwater and utilizes several well fields and aquifers for its municipal water supply. In order to better understand the aquifers providing the City’s groundwater supply the Yorkton Aquifer Management Plan was initiated in the 1990’s. As part this work a number of observation wells were installed and nine of these were incorporated into the network. Four of these, WSA Yorkton 99-01, 99-02 99-03 and 99-04 were all completed in the Leech Lake aquifer in the area of Yorkton’s south well field. The hydrographs for all four of these wells show very similar patterns, although there is some variation in water chemistry.
Observation well WSA Yorkton 99-01 was constructed in 1999 to a depth of 42.2 metres in Empress Group gravel resting directly on the bedrock surface. The well hydrograph shows major water level fluctuations with the greatest change occurring from the spring of 2010 until the spring of 2011 when water levels went from 507.8 metres to just over 512 metres. This peak water level along with a similar peak in 2012 were record high levels for the well. The lowest water levels occurred in 2003 and 2004 when levels dropped to 507 metres.
Water from WSA Yorkton 99-01 is of the sodium-sulphate/chloride type with a sum of ions of about 1723 mg/L.