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earth-water
Concepts inc.
PO Box 51015
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada B3M 4R8
info
(at)
waterwatch.com
(spam avoidance
- to email,
replace (at) with the @ symbol)
(902) 457-7010 phone
(902) 457-3934 fax
All
contents
© 2011
earth-water Concepts inc. All rights reserved.
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Pictou Landing water supply
Pictou Landing is a Mi'kmaq First Nation Community of
approximately 400 located adjacent to the Boat
Harbour tidal estuary on the north shore of Nova Scotia.
Several years ago, a dam was built across
the outlet of the estuary to create an
impoundment and stabilization lagoon for effluent from a
nearby bleached kraft pulp mill. This created a
significant number of environmental issues and concerns both on the
land
and with the well water supply at Pictou Landing.
When
the decision was made to decommission the lagoon, as part of
the planning and community compensation process, the
Federal Department of Indian Affairs hired earth-water Concepts inc.
staff to assess the level of impact the
lagoon may have placed on the land and well water supply at Pictou
Landing, and the effects that returning salt water to the Boat Harbour
estuary might have on the community well water supply. A comprehensive
investigation was carried out that included:
- a soil geochemical survey of the entire community
and to the north shore of the lagoon,
- water quality testing of the well water supply over
an extended period of time,
- laboratory testing of soil and water samples
for numerous inorganic and organic parameters with analysis to the part
per
quadrillion level of detail,
- pumping tests of the water supply wells to characterize the
hydrology of the aquifer,
- determination of solute migration times though the aquifer
both from the lagoon to the south, and from the ocean to the north,
- design of a nested groundwater monitoring well
system to further characterize the local physical and chemical
hydrogeology,
- design of an expanded water supply
system to reduce
point drawdown stresses from existing wells and to serve as
backup in case of lagoon water or sea water
breakthrough.
Debert Industrial Park
The
Debert Air Industrial Park is located on the former lands of Canadian
Forces Station
Camp Debert in central Nova Scotia. The industrial park obtains its
water from a number of wells drilled into the unconfined Triassic age
Wolfville Formation. Individual wells at the park have long-term yields
that range from 100 to 1,000 US gpm.
While twinning the section of the Trans-Canada
highway
that passes just south of the industrial
park, a large
volume of grubbing debris was buried,
causing a drop in
subsurface redox conditions and seriously impacting
water quality
at one of
the major production wells. The Nova Scotia Department of Public Works
hired earth-water Concepts inc. staff
to investigate the cause and nature of the water quality decline, to
assess whether other wells in the industrial park might also become
affected,
and to recommend best locations for replacement water
supply.
The investigation included hydrogeologic mapping to identify
possible
locations for new supply; groundwater modelling; and
delineation
of solute flow paths and 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 6 and 10 year
time-of-travel capture zones -- for the affected well to confirm the
cause of the problem, for all other
existing wells, and for several hypothetical replacement
well locations as a means of defining the best locations to
drill for replacement supply.
Canadian Springs water bottlers
The Sparkling Spring Water Ltd. bottling company, now operating under the name Canadian Springs
Water, hired earth-water Concepts inc. to upgrade their well water
supply. Their Atlantic Canadian bottling plant is located at
Valley, in central Nova Scotia. Water production at the plant site is
from the Triassic
age Wolfville Formation sandstone, where deeper commercial
wells are capable of yields between 50 and
200 igpm. Sparkling Spring Water was growing and needed to
increase both the
amount of supply for the plant, and the level of supply
protection.
earth-water Concepts inc. performed a comprehensive
groundwater investigation that included:
- hydrogeologic mapping to select best locations on client lands for additional supply,
- field surveys to inventory possible contamination sources within likely zones of influence,
- aquifer vulnerability determinations using DRASTIC,
- preliminary groundwater modelling to determine solute migration
paths and times of travel as a means of assessing the viability of
protecting the proposed new supply locations,
- drilling for new supply, pumping tests, hydrogeological analysis, groundwater modelling,
- delineating solute migration paths and 1, 2, 5 and 10 year time-of-travel capture zones for the new water supply wells,
- defining best management practices for the new sources and for surrounding land use.
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