GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — Farmers in northwest Ottawa County are welcoming recent rainfall after dealing with dry conditions and a depleting aquifer, but county officials warn the rain is not helping homeowners on deep wells.
WATCH: Ottawa County farmers welcome spring rain as deep wells stay dry
While many are still drying off from rain and flooding a couple of weeks ago, the precipitation in mid-April came as a welcome sign to agricultural workers.
"It's definitely relief. We sleep a little better at night when… rains coming," Luke Reenders said.
Reenders is the fourth generation at Reenders Blueberry Farms. He said the cool and wet start to spring has been a welcomed sight to farms across the county.
"It definitely helps I mean, if you look at last year, the summertime it was, we're we're down quite a bit of water. The drainage around here, the ditches were all dry and stuff. So this spring rain has been really good," Reenders said.
However, Reenders said they still need the weather to cooperate for the rest of the summer.
"Yeah, we still need Mother Nature with us. We definitely, we like it, probably, an inch, you know, a week, a half inch in a week," Reenders said.
While the rain has been great for local farmers, Matthew Chappuies, the land use coordinator with Ottawa County, said it has not made an impact for homeowners who get their water from wells.
"A lot of the farmers are using large capacity wells that are situated in the shallow aquifer. A large number of the houses that we're seeing with groundwater decline, those are pulling from a deeper aquifer system, the Marshall aquifer," Matthew Chappuies said.
Chappuies said the rainfall does not make it all the way down to that deep aquifer to help it recharge. Instead, he explained that the only real way to help the county’s groundwater system is by putting new development on municipal water instead of wells and reminding neighbors to be mindful of their water use.
"If we all use less, especially on our lawns, and that's important to remember for the upcoming summer season, we can make a significant dent in, in what's happening with the aquifer," Chappuies said.
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