This story begins in a field used for raising cows in Christiansburg in the New River Valley. In one corner of the property, surrounded by knee-high grass and plenty of… deposits from the residents here, sits a tiny shelter with a green door…
“So, this is kind of the innards of state observation well 019. This is the well casing – steel casing, I think it’s 11 inches in diameter,” Joel Maynard tells me as he leads me into the small structure. He’s a hydrogeologist with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s Groundwater Characterization and Monitoring Program.
“Over on top of it is a shaft encoder that’s connected to a weighted float. So, this is an older style of measuring the water level because this one’s pretty shallow water – it’s usually within six feet of the surface.”…