Hydrological Assessments & Monitoring

Regulatory agencies and all levels of government are especially concerned with the potential impacts of a spill or new development to groundwater resources. If any possibility of groundwater impacts are identified or could arise, regulators and/or government will recommend a hydrological assessment and hydrological monitoring to ensure contamination has not or does not occur.

Gen7 Hydrological assessments and monitoring services include:

  • Water Resources Management:
    • Desktop database review of nearby ground and surface water resources.
    • Ground and surface water supply evaluations.
    • Aquifer characterization through slug tests, step tests, pumping tests, recovery tests and infiltration tests followed by analytical modelling using solution algorithms which fit the characteristics of each aquifer.
    • Calculation of the twenty-year sustained yield (using the Farvolden and Modified Moell Methods).
  • Well Design and Construction Services:
    • Shallow well field design for groundwater environmental assessments and remediation including piezometers, monitoring wells, recovery wells, observation wells, culvert wells, slope stability inclinometers, shallow “small-bore” horizontal wells.
    • Well abandonments.
    • Well field calculations to determine the optimum number and spacing of wells to provide the desired long-term yield for a water supply system.
  • Baseline Monitoring for Coal Bed Methane Production and Hydraulic Fracturing associated with Petroleum Hydrocarbon Extraction:
    • Baseline monitoring prior to the initiation of a new coal-bed methane/natural gas (CBN) projects is well established in Alberta by the AER/AEP in directive 035 (subsurface integrity of petroleum/gas wells in Alberta is governed by the ERCB/AER Directive 083).
  • Environmental Water Investigations:
    • Surface and groundwater sampling for field and laboratory chemical analysis.
  • Chemical and Statistical Analysis of Groundwater Chemical Parameters Well field calculations to determine the optimum number and spacing of wells to provide the desired long-term yield for a water supply system.
  • Tier II Groundwater Guideline Modification,
  • Groundwater Remediation Techniques:
    • Generally, groundwater is treated with a pump and treat methodology; however, if the groundwater is shallow and the excavation can be left open (with engineering control for safety) the source area can be rapidly reduced if impacted by light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPLs) by using a combination of surface water treatment technologies.
  • Water Balance Modelling Studies.