MIKAPO – Developing Water Supply Security in a Changing Climate, Mikkeli’s Bedrock Groundwater Potential

Introduction

 

 

Water supply is an essential service for human well-being and societal functions, the availability and quality of which must be secured, and the changing climate must also be taken into account in water supply planning. Bedrock groundwater is often better protected from both activities that threaten groundwater and threats caused by a changing climate. In the Pursiala and Hanhikangas groundwater areas in Mikkeli, the surface water impact and thus the susceptibility to exceptionally heavy rainfall and prolonged droughts is high.

The MIKAPO project investigates whether the development of the water supply and its security of supply in central Mikkeli is possible based on the groundwater resources in the bedrock near the city center. The project utilizes and further develops the research concept of deep and bedrock groundwater. The project investigates the bedrock groundwater resources in the Mikkeli area, focusing on the southern and eastern areas of the city. Bedrock mapping of various scales have been carried out in Mikkeli, the results of which, together with background data, can be utilized in this work.

Locating a high-yielding bedrock well requires extensive geological, hydrogeological and geophysical surveys. The fracture zone of the bedrock and the well to be placed in it must be located with an accuracy of a few meters. The most important result to be achieved is to improve the water supply and security of supply in the inner city of Mikkeli by searching for and finding bedrock groundwater near the city center to be fed into the water supply network. At the same time, additional information will also be obtained from the areas being investigated for zoning and other land use planning.

The coordinator of the project: GTK

Funding authority: European Regional Development Funds (ERDF), GTK, City of Mikkeli and Mikkeli Waterworks

Contact person: Jari Hyvärinen

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