The proposed ethanol plant is in Bridgewater Township (T111N, R20W), just south of the pushpin on this Google Earth map (thanks to Griff Wigley at Locally Grown Northfield for posting this map on December 28, 2006.
Streams: The Cannon River and three of its tributaries (Heath Creek, Spring Brook (Rice) Creek, and Wolf Creek, from north to south) cross Bridgewater Township.
Lakes and Wetlands: Bridgewater Township has numerous wetlands and a few small lakes, several of which are human-made (related to gravel extraction). Union Lake, Circle Lake and Fox Lake, in the upper parts of the Heath Creek and Wolf Creek watershed, are west of Bridgewater Township.
The map below shows some of the existing water wells in the area of Bridgewater Township west of the Cannon River. Most domestic wells tap the bedrock aquifers (St. Peter, Prairie du Chien, Jordan) though some draw water from glacial deposits.
Figure 1. Approximate proposed location of the ethanol plant and surrounding wells. Click here for the well logs for the 46 wells closest to the area.
(Map and well logs taken from the Minnesota Department of Health County Well Index website: )
The company that is proposing this plant is Advanced BioEnergy. Their website information on the proposed Northfield plant includes a press release but is otherwise cursory at best and doesn't include a map of the site. There are links from their site to a number of ethanol industry websites, few of which have anything to say about the use of water in production.