Agricultural client, western Ohio – Diagnose poor performance in watering system

This egg-producing company has experienced problems with gas or “air” in low-pressure animal watering systems. Ground Water Science tested well and system water to diagnose the source and nature of the gas (carbon dioxide) and to assist in devising a solution.

University of Cincinnati Genome Research Institute, Cincinnati, OH - Biofouling testing and rehab

U.C. took over an existing animal study facility with piped water systems subject to biofouling. Engineering and testing contractors for facility restoration turned to Ground Water Science for planning and executing biofouling testing and recommendations for remediation and ongoing maintenance to assure quality water to experimental animals.

C.C.A. Limited, Carenage, Canouan, St. Vincent and the Grenadines - Analysis of biofouling & corrosion

Conduct analysis of biofouling, corrosion rates, potential causes and recommendations for resort sea water and ground water treatment plants and distribution systems.

Village of Danville, OH - Develop a new wellfield

Danville is in the process of developing a new wellfield and water treatment plant, being designed by Bird+Bull. Ground Water Science worked with the village to deal with existing well water quality problems, conduct exploration in the wellfield to find optimal well positions in the mixed sandstone-shale sequence; design, test and certify new wells; and bring them to production, most recently siting and testing a very high capacity rock well.

Village of New Washington, OH & McGhee Technical Water Services Inc. – Aquifer exploration

New Washington operates a marginal surface water supply. “Conventional wisdom” is that ground water is unavailable in municipal capacity in the area. Ground Water Science conducted preliminary exploration and is working with the village to test out viable aquifer targets for the village to explore.

Yale Law Practice and CRAEPI - Siting of a large dairy farm

Citizens for Responsible Agricultural Environmental Practices consists of agricultural producers opposed to the siting of a large dairy farm in Hardin County, Ohio, and Yale LP is their attorney. Ground Water Science investigated and testified on the hydrogeologic aspects of the proposed project for its client, the Village of McGuffey, and subsequently for CRAEPI in the appeal of the dairy’s operating permit.

Earth Tech (MA and NY offices), Hudson River Valley, NY - Review of clogging potentials and development of O&M plans and procedures for a new wellfield facility.

Earth Tech developed a new and innovative wellfield facility for the Town of Bethlehem, NY. The aquifer is shallow and wide, and the wellfield includes angled wells under the Hudson River. Water quality is highly prone to clogging. A detailed O&M plan was developed to aid in extending well life. Ground Water Science evaluated water quality and developed the well maintenance aspects of the plan.

National Ground Water Well Association, Westerville, OH - Wide range of projects

Ground Water Science and its predecessor have provided services on a wide range of projects since 1984. Recently, (1) NGWA selected Ground Water Science to conduct a FEMA-funded study of emergency well disinfection methods to refine response to large-scale flooding events such as hurricanes. The project involved literature reviews and testing disinfection methods on a variety of wells in coastal North Carolina affected by Hurricane Floyd in 1999, and involves a well inspection and treatment subcontractor (EGIS, P.A., Chapel Hill, NC) and peer review of results. (2) Ground Water Science was also selected to develop a training program for well inspectors for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

GEO Consultants LLC, environmental services contractor to major energy fuel facility, KY (as of now confidential) - Conduct analysis of biofouling & biocorrosion.

Conduct analysis to define biofouling and biocorrosion mechanisms involved in the rapid corrosion of multiple monitoring well casing, potentially compromising critical data on potential chemical and radiological contamination of ground water. Ground Water Science supplied project scope, an on-site laboratory capability (with no outside inputs or transport out) to analyze for microbial contributors to biocorrosion, documentation of evidence of biocorrosion from pulled well components, and definition of a method to measure corrosion potentials between inner and outer casings through grout. Project conducted on a very rapid time scale.

ARCC Inc., Daytona Beach, FL for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Develop technical publication on mitigation and maintenance methods.

Development of a detailed "engineering pamphlet" EP 1110-1-27 (technical publication) on mitigation and maintenance methods for pumping and reinjection wells on hazardous and radioactive waste sites.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Ecological Research and Investigations Group (some via URS Greiner/Woodward Clyde Federal Services), Denver, CO.

Review of well maintenance and performance problems, Closed Basin Project, Alamosa, CO, with review of rehabilitation plans, consultation on future maintenance activities, research on causes and development of a maintenance plan. Final report with comprehensive review of causes, hydrogeological aspects, effectiveness of past treatment, and detailed recommendations provided. (2) Services to BOR Dam Safety Division: Conduct a field evaluation of biofouling in an earthen dam drainage system and provide recommendations for rehabilitation and maintenance treatment as part of a multidisciplinary team. Treatments have to be designed to avoid negative impact on downstream ecological resources. Pilot studies and comprehensive system-wide planning of treatment for dams are in process, starting with analyses of clogging and corrosion potential.

Tate-Monroe Water Association, Bethel, Ohio - Wellfield biofouling

Since 1987, Ground Water Science and its predecessor have been assisting Tate-Monroe with wellfield biofouling, including biofouling testing and maintenance analysis with recommendations, rehabilitation protocol planning and well cleaning project evaluation.

City of Richmond, MI - Supervise and document attempted well rehabilitation and new construction.

Richmond has a series of deep gravel wells supplying more than 2 MGD, with ground water operations handled by an outside contractor. One well was brought on line years after construction and produced poor water quality. A rehabilitation was attempted, but proceeded with difficulty and well damage occurred. Ground Water Science was engaged to assist the city in its decision-making process and to supervise and document attempted well rehabilitation and new construction.

Mercer County Water and Sewer, Celina, OH - Aquifer testing to prove capacity and determine expansion strategy

Mercer County is a growing area of the state with increased water demands. However, the county’s major municipal supplier is faced with quantity limits and quality problems with its lake water source, even with sophisticated water treatment. Efforts to secure surface or ground water supplies are further hampered by the proximity of the Lake Erie-Gulf of Mexico watershed divide. The county is developing new ground water supplies for domestic and planned ethanol plant industrial water supply. Wells were inspected and aquifer testing conducted to prove capacity and to determine a strategy for expansion within constraints. Ground Water Science is working closely with engineers Fanning & Howey on wellfield planning and testing.

Metropolitan Domestic Water Improvement District, Tucson, AZ - Develop solutions to poor well performance

Metro Water is a customer-owned utility serving suburban Tucson, operating over 20 wells, many inherited from systems developed by private water companies. Many of these are older and due for replacement. To develop solutions to poor performance in two newly constructed wells, Ground Water Science conducted a review of the hydrogeology, well construction methods and design, and analyses of collected videos and samples in a forensic diagnosis of problems. Recommendations an plans future construction were provided.

City of Elkhart, IN - With Greeley-Hansen Engineers: Analysis of biofouling problems

With Greeley-Hansen Engineers: Analysis of biofouling problems, South Wellfield, with specifications for rehabilitation, rehabilitation supervision, and analyses with recommendations. (2) Field testing and evaluation of mechanisms affecting the performance of barrier well system, Northwest Wellfield, including modeling of barrier mound vicinity hydrogeology, testing of parameters that clog wells, and recommendations and projections of potential effects. Planning and supervising site work to make repairs to and rehabilitate critical barrier wells. This work included developing specifications for a rare and difficult in-place seal repair in a screened well, cleaning and conducting testing to define results.

Ohio Department of Transportation District 1 – Overcoming coliform positive problems

Roadside rest areas operated by District 1 were experiencing total coliform positive results in systems supplied by carbonate aquifer wells. Ground Water Science supervised drilling and well construction to remove the wells as a source of problems, and made recommendations to redesign the system to remove compromising components. These latter remain in place, as do the problems, but the wells are coliform-free.

Village of Carey, Ohio - Source water protection planning, wellfield resource optimization and nonpoint-source mitigation.

Carey has a wellfield developed in Silurian dolomite, but affected by nearby very large quarries and shallow upper Silurian to Devonian karstic “ridge” carbonates vulnerable to surface effects. Work included development of a wellhead protection area delineation based on collecting local geological and hydrologic information and hydrogeologic analysis, and an associated management plan rather than having the OEPA do it for “free”. Information was integrated with CAD and electronic topo maps from several sources in our GIS system with SURFER, and modeling conducted using a MODFLOW-MODPATH package integrated with ArcView and SURFER. Nonpoint-source mitigation planning is in progress.

Kalsec Inc., Kalamazoo, MI – Conducting test drilling to quantify aquifer capacity to supply water and to site a new well to replace well capacity lost to offsite VOC contamination, and establish a maintenance plan for the new well.

Ground Water Science provided complete supervision of a test drilling, aquifer yield analysis and well siting program in the deeper of two glacial outwash sand-and-gravel aquifer units. Capacity for 1000-gpm wells in the VOC-free zone was identified at two sites and the site geologic profile updated. A new 1000-gpm well has been constructed and tested, and placed in service. A maintenance plan to prevent loss of production due to iron biofouling was drafted for facility implementation. A changing well environment (going to an iron sulfide condition) tested the plan and resulted in the need for recommending changes in the cleaning program and equipment to meet the new conditions in cooperation with the well contractor.

Muscatine, Iowa, Power and Light – Conducting test drilling to confirm and characterize the nature of contamination from industrial spills, the effect on aquifer water quality, and plans for management of the problem.

Ground Water Science teamed with environmental remediation service provider Philip Services, Columbia, IL to perform these services, using Geoprobe to sample aquifer media, and a combination of physical-chemical and biological analyses to define the current conditions in the aquifer. Based on information gathered, an emphasis on improving and managing the performance of the wells, rather than a focus on ground water quality remediation, was recommended.

City of Hamilton, Ohio - Well and wellfield capacity testing and modeling support of an application for increased withdrawal and well construction supervision and testing.

Hamilton operates several very high-capacity well fields in the Miami River Valley aquifer for both potable and power plant cooling supply in a highly developed urban-suburban setting. Work includes characterizing wellfield performance, updating and correcting the existing regionally constructed MODFLOW model of the aquifer, and pioneering projecting output in GIS to provide detailed visual representation of impacts on known geographical locations, plus technical assistance in liaison with Ohio EPA and other regional entities. A virtual redoing of antiquated MODFLOW files and reporting was conducted in two months on schedule. New well specifications, construction supervision and testing on rapid timescales for power cooling has been completed. Planning included interaction with PRPs of a Superfund site, a test drilling program (including sonic methods in deep, coarse glacial material), design and installation of a monitoring array, and well design, construction supervision and testing.

Village of Willshire - New well siting (replacing quarry water source) and wellhead protection. WHPA endorsed. With Kohli & Kaliher Associates, Lima, Ohio and Floyd Browne Associates, Marion, Ohio, engineers.

Willshire has established a new ground-water supply system in western Van Wert County to replace an existing degraded and antiquated quarry supply and water plant. The new plant includes two wells feeding the first PWS iron filtration-nanofiltration treatment system in Ohio, brought online in November 1998. Wells were supervised and tested and the WHPA delineation was completed on a fast track and endorsed and a source water protection plan submitted.

City of Oxford - Detailed alluvial valley WHPA delineation and management planning. WHPA endorsed, new well site testing.

Oxford manages a 2-MGD water supply developed in two glacial-fluvial valleys in Butler County, Ohio. Ground Water Science performed the WHPA delineation (MODFLOW-MODPATH) for the eastern Seven-Mile wellfield, which is also a politically sensitive resource, in a complex two-layer aquifer irregularly confined with multiple clay lens units, using a combination of extensive background information (in some ways misinterpreted in past work) and extensive site work to determine aquifer-stream interactions. Notification of endorsement by the Southwest District Office occurred within two weeks of submittal. Testing at a potential new site proved the site to be economically nonviable.

Village of Coldwater - Detailed delineation & optimization of wellfield (as adjunct to maintenance)

Coldwater has a carbonate-aquifer wellfield with modest-capacity wells with a history of repeated and severe maintenance problems. Work completed: review of wellfield management, supervising and testing well rehabilitation work to improve performance, large and highly detailed MODFLOW-MODPATH model for wellfield use planning and WHPA delineation, was developed for the village, siting two wells to replace multiple older wells for new water treatment plant (with Fanning/Howey Associates).

Village of Convoy, Ohio – Capacity testing, WHPA endorsed, SWPP submitted

Convoy also has a carbonate-aquifer wellfield with a high-capacity potential in a technically sensitive aquifer setting. Capacity testing, wellfield expansion planning, WHPA delineation and source water protection plan completed.

Spencerville, Ohio – Source water delineation and testing and modeling for strategic water planning.

Spencerville has a high-capacity carbonate-aquifer wellfield in a politically and technically sensitive aquifer setting (a designated sole-source aquifer) in which both public water suppliers and private-well owners maintain marginal ground water supplies. Work included analysis of studies by other consultants in the area and technical liaison with the state and neighboring communities, WHPA delineation, well capacity testing and regional aquifer-scale testing to update the numerical model of the wellfield. Currently interacting with Ohio and federal EPA over discovered fuel oil plume in the WHPA.

Village of Ada - First fully endorsed wellhead protection plan in northwest Ohio and further implementation of the plan.

Pioneering source water protection planning – essentially defining how source water protection was to be done 1990-1998 in Northwest Ohio. Work included delineation conducted with MODFLOW-MODPATH, using onsite data (aquifer testing, fracture analysis), and planning protection practices. The delineation submitted was one of the first in northwestern Ohio and was a test-bed for acceptance of MODFLOW-MODPATH delineation in the carbonate aquifer (building on existing Ohio State University experience). The PPSI was relatively detailed due to the long industrial history and numerous glacial layer perforations in the vicinity of the wellfield. The MEP was the first endorsed in northwest Ohio, and was endorsed with little request for modification by the Ohio EPA.