Elbert County staff outline plan to add 11 groundwater monitoring wells; no decisions taken

Elbert County staff presented a plan on April 22 to expand the county’s groundwater monitoring network by adding roughly 11 monitoring wells and recruiting volunteer private‑well owners, but the Board of County Commissioners took no votes or formal actions at the work session.

Aaron Walker, identified in the meeting as Elbert County’s water planner, told commissioners the monitoring network dates to a 2015 partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey and that well counts have shifted over time; staff plan to add 11 wells in 2026 to strengthen coverage across the Denver Basin aquifers and to capture baseline conditions in northeast and southeast portions of the county. Walker said maps in the presentation show existing monitoring sites color‑coded by aquifer, and he recommended placing new sites outside centralized water systems and in growth corridors to detect well‑to‑well interference and long‑term trends.

The presentation described aquifer representation in the county (Upper…