As reported to me yesterday, the Elm Spring (Meramec State Park,
Sullivan, Mo.) situation has reached the stage where our initial alarm should give way to
monitoring.
Brian Wilcox, park naturalist, said yesterday that the results of the dye traces indicate
that the recharge for area for Elm Spring does indeed include two sinkholes adjacent to
Well No. 10. The culprit seems to be the cone of depression surrounding the well as a
result of drawdown. The well itself, drawing on a much deeper acquifer, showed no direct
trace, but this did not seem to be a surprise to the hydrologist, who had postulated a
much shallower source for the recharge of Elm Spring. Continued monitoring and
communication between the park and city officials are in the works, in anticipation of the
heavy summer water demand, and in light of accelerated progress on Well No. 11. Our
goal appears to have been achieved--that of getting some cooperative effort going between
all the parties involved, finding out just where the recharge for Elm Spring is, and
giving some hope for the continued existence of the spring.
I suggest that this be posted, and links to The Elm Spring website be removed at this time.
Submitted by Jo Schaper, 5/19/98
Webmaster's Note: I opted to retain the pages for awhile, and to add this note. If there are no further updates and the situtation remains satisfactory by the end of 1998, these pages will be removed.