Springs

Springs

The Lake Mendota Drive area has a number of natural springs that flow from the shallow aquifer that runs below the ground in a rock formation called the Tunnel City. See picture on right. This rock formation is what supplies local springs.

The springs can go dry as a result of high Well 14 pumping rates, drought and  too much rainwater channeled directly to Lake Mendota thereby bypassing the natural process of ground absorption that replenishes the aquifer. When the springs run dry, dirty stormwater backwashes through Tunnel City back into the Well 14. 

All of these water sources are connected and need to be managed as an ecosystem.