Groundwater Prospects of the Andrew Area

The survey carried out in the summer of 1958 had as its specific objective to locate, or to determine the prospects of locating, a suitable and sufficient supply of groundwater for the village of Andrew. In its wider approach the work embraced a study of the groundwater resources of the area covering townships 55 to 57 and ranges 14 to 17, west of the 4th meridian. The area is included on the Edmonton topographic sheet (Canada Sheet 83 H, 1:250 000).

The Village of Andrew (Long. 112 degrees 15 minutes West, Lat. 53 degrees 45 minutes North; S.E. 1/4 Sec. 32, Tp. 56, R. 16, W. 4th Meridian), which has a population of about 650 persons, is situated one mile to the south of highway 45, and is approximately 70 miles northeast of the City of Edmonton.

The present source of water supply in the village comes from many shallow wells in the drift cover and the bedrock. There is no evidence that an assured municipal supply is available from the aquifers now in use, for wells in these aquifers seem only capable to supply domestic requirements.

With the installation of a sewerage system some private wells were found inadequate to meet the additional need for water and many residents could not make use of the system. The operation of the sewerage system thus became uneconomic and the installation of a water-supply system is desired not simply for its own advantages, but also to make the sewerage system self-supporting.

The aids used in looking into the groundwater prospects were aerial photographs, geologic reports, geologic maps, lithologic logs and information from test drilling programs of previous years. Geophysical prospecting consisting of seismic and resistivity surveys was used to gain information about the bedrock topography and the location of buried sand and gravel. A survey was made of many farm wells in the area to obtain data on the depths of water and the piezometric surface. On the basis of the information collected several test holes were drilled. Information on the chemical quality was obtained from the results of analyses by the Provincial Industry Laboratory.