County surface- and groundwater program standardizes data; board approves split sampling and PFAS tests at Vanko 1 landfill
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Summary
Sherburne County staff described a new groundwater-data format created from decades of monitoring records and the board approved split sampling at the Vanko 1 closed landfill — including PFAS analysis — at a cost not to exceed $11,200 paid from solid-waste surcharge funds.
Sherburne County environmental staff described progress on a groundwater data project that converts decades of scattered landfill-monitoring records into a standardized, queryable format and approved split sampling of monitoring wells at the Vanko 1 closed landfill, with PFAS testing added to this round.
June Volkers, the county’s hydrogeologist, said seasonal employee Hannah Figura spent the summer extracting and reformatting monitoring data that previously lived in multiple PDFs and paper maps. Figura told the board she reorganized the tables into a structured Excel format compatible with analysis tools such as GWSDAT and RStudio, which will make trend analysis faster and more reliable. “The new format is also designed to be compatible with other data analysis software, making it easy to update and maintain over time,” Figura said.
Volkers and staff said the work is intended to help the department move from collecting data to actively analyzing trends and to make the county’s datasets more compatible with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s systems.
After the briefing, the board considered a staff request to approve split sampling at Vanko 1 for the fall monitoring event. County staff said the split sampling will pair samples taken by the landfill’s contracted sampler with samples taken by county-hired consultants from the same wells, using the same pump, to verify laboratory results. The county will also add the standard PFAS suite to the testing for this round. Staff estimated the split-sampling event will not exceed $11,200 and said the cost will be paid from the county’s solid-waste surcharge funds.
The board approved the split-sampling request; staff noted the practice helps verify lab results and provides data ahead of anticipated regulation or guidance on landfill-related PFAS. County staff said results will be incorporated into annual reporting and will inform any follow-up work.