While water table levels in Prince Edward Island have declined over recent months, Minister of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Environment Chester Gillan said most areas are still within their historical ranges.
"Typically, this is the time of the year that water table elevations on the Island are at their lowest levels but that should soon change," the Minister said. "With cooler temperatures and increased fall rains, it is expected that the water table elevations will begin to recover over the coming weeks."
Minister Gillan said it is normal for water table elevations to decline over the summer months and early fall, because there is little or no recharge to groundwater.
"During these months, the amount of precipitation that falls is less than the amount that evaporates or is used by actively growing plants, so there is no excess water to filter down and recharge the water table," he explained.
The Department of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Environment maintains 12 observation wells across the province where groundwater table elevations are monitored on a continuous basis. In most locations, the groundwater table is within the range that has been observed over the years.
The deeper wells such as Summerside have been less affected by the dry weather conditions, while the more shallow wells such as Georgetown have seen more of an influence. Groundwater levels in Georgetown are at the lowest level recorded in the 10 years data has been collected, but only by 27 centimetres.
Minister Gillan said his department has received a few calls from people experiencing problems with their wells. In most cases, he noted, the problem was not a lack of groundwater, but rather that the well was too shallow or the pump intake was set too high.
Minister Gillan added the water table continues to benefit from the unusual weather conditions of last winter. The heavy snow melt, combined with little frost in the ground, drove the water table to record high levels last spring and kept it at record levels until late summer in some locations.
Graphs showing water table elevations at the 12 provincial monitoring sites can be found on the web site at: http://www.gov.pe.ca/infopei/onelisting.php3?number=51930#georgetown