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.

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.

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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