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April 3, 2017
What is the volume (in kegs) of groundwater is stored on earth?
Last week I gave a ‘blue drinks’ presentation for a networking evening for the Victoria chapter of the Canadian Water Resources Association entitled “How much groundwater is on earth?” based on our paper from Nature Geoscience last year. Since the night was hosted at Philips Brewery, an awesome local brewery (who makes Blue Buck, the perfect blue drink, and lots of other great beer), I decided to calculate how many …
March 30, 2017
Research mini-conference in fourth year groundwater class
Fourth year and graduate students led a fun mini-conference during class in Groundwater Hydrology (CIVE 445, Civil Engineering at University of Victoria) yesterday. Local consulting and government hydrogeologists joined, making the students both nervous and excited to be presenting to professionals with up to forty years of groundwater experience.
March 20, 2017
WTF of the WTF method
I recently wrote a term paper for one of my graduate classes on the limitations of the water table fluctuation (WTF) method, and I have to say, WTF!
March 16, 2017
Deep challenges: China’s ‘war on water pollution’ must tackle deep groundwater pollution pathways
As part of its recent ‘war on pollution’, the Chinese Central Government released a major policy on water pollution control and clean-up, called the ‘10-point water plan’ in 2015. The plan aims to deal once and for all with China’s chronic water quality problems.
March 9, 2017
What is a hydrogeologist?
Hydrogeologists are a diverse group, in part because we come to this discipline from so many different paths. We come from different academic programs in engineering, geological sciences and environmental sciences. These differences in backgrounds create a diversity of perspectives, which enriches hydrogeology and allows for dynamic collaborations. Engineers and geophysicists are known for bringing quantitative skills to hydrogeology, while geologists shine in problems involving stratigraphy, structural geology and embrace …
February 20, 2017
Groundwater and Agriculture: Tapping the Hidden Benefits
When people think of groundwater in agricultural landscapes, pumping and irrigation are usually the first thing that comes to mind. However, groundwater can have a more subtle but extremely important impact on crop production when we decide to leave it underground:
January 27, 2017
How did our planet get its water?
Post by WaterUnderground contributors Elco Luijendijk and Stefan Peters from the University of Göttingen, in Germany. After my first ever scientific presentation, someone in the audience asked a question that caught me off guard: “Where does the groundwater come from?”. “Ehm, from rainfall”, I answered. The answer seemed obvious at the time. However, we did not realize at the time that this is actually a profound question in hydrogeology, and …
January 9, 2017
Crop kites
Post by WaterUnderground contributor Mikhail Smilovic. Mikhail is a PhD candidate in the Department of Civil Engineering at McGill University, in Quebec. Crops use water for photosynthesis, absorbing nutrients, and transpiration, or the plant-equivalent of sweating. A crop may experience water-stress if the soil surrounding the roots is not adequately wet, and this stress will affect the crop differently depending on the crop’s stage of growth. Irrigation is the watering of …
December 20, 2016
Limits to global groundwater use
Post by WaterUnderground contributor Inge de Graaf. Inge is a postdoc fellow at Colorado School of Mines, in the USA. Groundwater is the world’s most important source of freshwater. It supplies 2 billion people with drinking water and is used for irrigation of the largest share of the world’s food supply. However, in many regions around the world, groundwater reserves are depleting as the resource is being pumped faster than it is …
