This Hydrologic Atlas is one of a series describing the 39 watersheds in Minnesota. The Root River watershed includes Houston, Winona, and parts of the surrounding counties. The 2 ,570 square miles in the watershed varies from gently rolling prairie in the west to an area of plateaus separated by valleys deeply incised into bedrock in the north and east. The average annual water budget for 30 years shows 29.5 inches of precipitation, 7.2 inches of surface runoff, and 22.3 inches of evapotranspiration. Water use in millions of gallons for 1970 was established at 7,310 of ground water and 6,700 of surface water. Domestic supplies accounted for less than one fourth and thermoelectric power for about one half of the total use. All 33 municipalities use ground water from bedrock aquifers, and 21 of those obtain at least part of their supply from the Prairie du Chien-Jordan aquifer. Many private domestic wells are completed in a shallow limestone aquifer. The ground-water system is recharged primarily by infiltrating precipitation in upland areas Ground-water movement is indicated by water-table and potentiometric maps and section diagrams. Water from bedrock and glacial aquifers generally is of acceptable quality for domestic use, dissolved solids generally less than 400 mg/liter very hard , and locally high iron content. The Mount Simon-Red clastics aquifer is locally saline. Runoff is greatest during the spring when snowmelt occurs and the soils are generally saturated.
