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Content
World
Touring
Museum
Exhibit
Features
Ground
Water
Thanks to
NGWREF
Grant
Franklin
Electric
Continues
McEllhiney
Support
Australian
Named 2009
Darcy
Lecturer in
Ground
Water
Science
Auction
Major
Source of
Scholarship
Funds
Ora Lyons,
Robert
Farvolden
Memorial
Scholarships
Your
Contribution
Makes a
Difference
E-mail
Changes?
Fall 2007
World Touring Museum Exhibit Features Ground Water Thanks to NGWREF Grant
Wells and ground water, thanks to a grant from the National Ground Water Research and
Educational Foundation, will be an integral part of a traveling exhibit on water that will tour the
world's leading science museums. The Foundation is a charitable entity affiliated with the National
Ground Water Association.
The 7,000 square-foot exhibit, Water: H2O=Life, opens November 3 at its first stop, the American
Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City. After New York, the exhibit travels to the
San Diego Natural History Museum, the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM), Chicago's Field
Museum, the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, and the Royal Ontario Museum in
Toronto. Destinations outside of North America include the Singapore Science Center; Instituto
Sangari of São Paulo, Brazil; and the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. The organizers of
the exhibit, AMNH and SMM, expect more than three million people to see the exhibit during its
several-year run. Additional stops are still being explored by the exhibit's organizers, as well.
The exhibit, which focuses on all sources of water, features live animals, hands-on exhibits, and
immersive dioramas.
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"We expect the exhibit to invite people of all ages to discover the beauty and wonder of water and
explore the challenges to protecting Earth's most precious life-giving resource," says Patrick
Hamilton, SMM's director for this project.
The ground water portion of the exhibit features "Porous Stones," an exhibit component intended
to help dispel the common misperception that ground water occurs largely as underground lakes,
rivers, and "veins" of water. Visitors are encouraged to trickle water onto various rock samples to
observe that some have sufficient porosity and permeability to permit water to enter and flow
through them.
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Also featured is a component that shows what may happen when two wells access the same
aquifer. When water is pumped from one of the wells (by turning a hand crank), the pressure in the
aquifer drops as a cone of depression spreads out until it reaches the recharge area of the aquifer,
the discharge area, or both.
A third ground water component is featured in the three-dimensional GeoWall animation. It shows
how ground water underneath Tucson, Arizona, has fluctuated during the past several decades in
response to ground water pumping and recharge.
"It is important for the ground water story to be told as often and as widely as possible," says
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Foundation director Mark Husnik. "We're delighted to be able to be a part of this comprehensive
exhibit."
NGWREF Director Jack Henrich, MGWC (left) joins NGWREF Director Mark Husnik, GWSSS (right) in
presenting NGWREF's contribution to Science Museum of Minnesota Project Manager Pat Hamilton.
"Efforts that contribute to greater public understanding of the drinking water resource of half of the
nation's population will contribute to better stewardship of the resource," adds Jack Henrich,
MGWC, also a Foundation director.
"At less than two cents per visitor, we can't find a more cost-effective means of reaching the
general public with these important messages," Kevin McCray, NGWREF executive director,
explains.
Major support for the exhibit was provided by the National Science Foundation, with leadership
support from the Freshwater Society and the Tamarind Foundation in association with the Johns
Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.
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Franklin Electric Continues McEllhiney Support
Franklin Electric, a global leader in water well pumping systems and fuel pumping systems, and a
technical leader in electric motors, pumps, drives and controls, continues its support in 2008 of the
William A. McEllhiney Distinguished Lecture Series in Water Well Technology. To learn more
about Franklin Electric Company, go to http://www.franklin-electric.com.
The lecture series was established in 2000 by NGWREF. The purpose of the series is to foster
professional excellence in water well technology.
Franklin Electric's Chairman and CEO R. Scott Trumbull says
underwriting the McEllhiney Lecture Series is one way the
company can support those on the front lines of the well
drilling industry - the water well contractor.
The 2008 McEllhiney Distinguished Lecturer is F. Michael
Krautkramer, LHG, RG. He will examine methods for
answering critical well design questions.
Krautkramer is a vice president and principal hydrogeologist at Robinson, Noble & Saltbush Inc. in
Federal Way, Washington. Krautkramer's 90-minute presentation, "How Much is Enough? Making
Decisions in the Water Well Industry," will explore processes for making decisions including:
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How deep to target a well
How large a borehole diameter should be
How to test the well
What the production rate and pump setting should be
Other decisions that determine project success and customer satisfaction.
This lecture will further examine rational methods by which to address questions such as: How
deep is deep enough for a given customer? How sophisticated should the completion of a given
well be? How much development is warranted? What testing method should be used, at what rate,
and for how long? How much water should you tell the customer he/she can reliably expect from a
well?
There also will be discussion of how to make these decisions in a way that can be explained to the
well owner and defended should anyone try to second guess the decisions at a later date.
Entities qualified to apply for a McEllhiney Lecture include organized groups of contractors and
other interested parties. Meetings and conventions of state and regional associations are eligible.
Foreign associations of ground water contractors, academic institutions teaching water well
technology, gatherings of water well regulators, and other bodies with a direct and identifiable
interest in water well design and construction are eligible, as well.
The lecture series honors William A. McEllhiney -- founding president of the National Ground
Water Association in 1948 and a ground water contractor and civil engineer.
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Australian Named 2009 Darcy Lecturer in Ground Water Science
Peter Cook, Ph.D., senior principal research scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and
Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Land and Water in Adelaide, Australia has been
named the 2009 Darcy Lecturer in Ground Water Science by the NGWREF Board of Directors. He
is the first non-North American to be named a Darcy Lecturer since the program's inception in
1987.
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Cook's research has focused on the use of isotopes for water resources management. Initially, his
work involved the use of 3H and 36Cl as tracers of soil water movement leading to ground water
research. Subsequently, he studied use of isotopes (14C, 2H, 18O, 3H/3He) for ground water
dating and as tracers of ground water processes. Over the past five years, Cook has been actively
developing the use of radon as a tracer of ground water/surface water interaction. He has
published 43 papers in international journals in the last 18 years.
During post-doctoral study in Canada and the United Sates between 1992 and1994, Cook was
instrumental in the development of chlorofluorocarbon methods for ground water dating. In 1996,
he set up the first instrumentation for measuring CFCs in water samples in the Southern
Hemisphere. In 2003, he was one of three international scientists commissioned by the
International Atomic Energy Agency to develop a guidebook for the use of chlorofluorocarbons in
hydrology.
In 2000, Cook was the lead editor of the textbook Environmental Tracers in Subsurface Hydrology,
now considered to be the preeminent reference work in this field, and has been translated into
Chinese. Cook also co-authored the textbook Ecohydrology, published in 2006.
Cook has been a member of the Australian National Groundwater Committee since 2002. He has
been the only ground water scientist on the Victorian Government's Technical Audit Panel from its
inception in 2002 and served through 2005. He has reviewed numerous funding proposals for the
United States National Science Foundation, as well as proposals for the South African Water
Research Commission. He was commissioned by the United States National Research Council to
review the deliberations of their Committee on Hydrologic Sciences on the interaction between
ground water and surface water resources. In 2003, he was commissioned by the New Zealand
Department of Health to review their criteria for assessing the susceptibility of ground water
supplies to contamination.
Dr Peter Cook is a Senior Principal Research Scientist with CSIRO Land and Water. He received a
BA in geography from Australian National University in 1986 and a PhD in earth sciences from
Flinders University of South Australia in 1992. Between 1992 and 1994 he carried out Postdoctoral
research at the United States Department of Energy and University of Waterloo, Canada, before
returning to Australia. Dr Cook's research interests span the fields of groundwater hydrology,
ecohydrology, isotope hydrology and unsaturated zone flow, but have mostly focused on the use
of environmental tracers, and on the integration of tracer and hydraulic methods. Specific research
projects have involved estimation of aquifer recharge, quantification of groundwater discharge to
streams and wetlands, prediction of stream and groundwater salinisation rates, and assessment of
groundwater dependent ecosystems. He has co-written books on environmental tracers and
ecohydrology.
ENVIRONMENTAL TRACERS IN MODERN HYDROGEOLOGY:
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Reducing Uncertainty in Groundwater Flow Estimation
Quantitative hydrogeology is often traced back to Henri Darcy in the mid 19th Century, who
observed a linear relationship between flow rate and hydraulic gradient, the proportionality
constant later becoming known as hydraulic conductivity. Even today, groundwater flow rates are
most frequently determined as the product of measured hydraulic gradients and hydraulic
conductivities, the latter determined using pumping tests. Although the last 150 years has seen
considerable improvement in interpretation of pumping tests, and understanding of isotropy and
heterogeneity, estimation of aquifer hydraulic conductivity values at appropriate scales remains a
significant source of uncertainty. Within the past few decades, however, environmental tracer
methods have developed which can provide independent estimates of groundwater flow rates and
overcome some of the problems associated with hydraulic approaches, particularly in
heterogeneous systems. However, despite the ability of environmental tracers to constrain
conceptual models of groundwater systems and significantly reduce uncertainties in prediction, the
methods are under-represented in hydrogeological textbooks, and are still not widely used for
hydrogeological assessment.
There are a large number of environmental tracers, all with different properties and hence different
potential uses. While environmental tracers that readily undergo chemical reactions can
sometimes be used to determine reaction pathways, tracers that behave more conservatively may
yield information on transport processes. Calculation of groundwater residence times is one of the
more common applications. Tracers which can be used for this purpose include radioactive
isotopes, which decay at a known rate (e.g., 14C, 3H); tracers that are produced, and accumulate
in the subsurface (e.g., He); and tracers that are neither produced nor consumed in the
subsurface, but have a variable and well-known input history (e.g., CFCs, SF6). Groundwater
residence times in unconfined aquifers can be used to infer aquifer recharge rates, whereas in
confined aquifers they allow quantification of horizontal flow velocities. Tracers which are present
in much higher concentrations in groundwater than in surface water have great potential for
quantifying groundwater discharge to surface water. In particular, dissolved gas tracers such as
radon and helium will rapidly volatilise from surface water, and so provide important tracers of
recent groundwater inflow. Radon (with a half-life of 3.8 days), in particular, can be used to
quantifying rates of groundwater discharge to streams, wetlands and to the ocean, and also to
determine the rate of water exchange between a river and its underlying hyporheic zone.
Environmental tracers can reduce uncertainty of hydrogeological predictions in all environments,
but are particularly valuable in highly heterogeneous systems, where spatial variations in aquifer
hydraulic conductivity may range over several orders of magnitude, and so hydraulic approaches
are inherently uncertain. However, despite the rapid growth of these methods over the past few
decades and their adoption by the research community, environmental tracers are not widely used
in routine hydrogeological assessments. This lecture will illustrate the potential of environmental
tracers through illustration using field sites in North America and Australia, and discuss methods
for bridging the gap between research and practice.
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Auction Major Source of Scholarship Funds
For the sixth consecutive year, the Foundation will be holding a fundraising auction for the Len Assante
Scholarship Fund in conjunction with the President's Dinner during the 2007 NGWA Ground Water Expo.
Letters inviting industry manufacturers to contribute items or cash to the effort were mailed the first week of
June. All other industry organizations are also invited to participate.
The charitable support of each donor earns mentions during the auction, as well as listings in printed
promotional materials (Expo program, auction bidder's book), and on special Web pages devoted to the
auction.
A contributed item (or items) may be claimed as a charitable contribution to the Foundation, up to the item's
fair market value. The most successful fundraising contributions have proven to be items that folks will enjoy
outside of their businesses, such as recreational equipment, trips, food and beverage items, or unique
experiences such as tickets to a sporting event.
Of course, cash contributions are equally important. Checks should be made payable to the National Ground
Water Research and Educational Foundation Scholarship Fund.
It's simple to help the industry's kids. Determine the item or items you are prepared to provide for this
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scholarship fund auction, as well as the value you determine. Of course, we also need to know your name
and where we can contact you to follow up on securing the item you generously offer to the auction. Then,
simply send a letter, fax, or e-mail to me. I can be reached by fax at 614 898.7786, or e-mail to
kmccray@ngwa.org, or by mail to: NGWREF Auction, 601 Dempsey Rd., Westerville, OH 43081.
The 2006 NGWREF Scholarship Fund fundraising auction raised $41,280. Since the inception of the auction
in 2002, the foundation has raised $194,873.
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2002: $48,248
2003: $38,518
2004: $33,945
2005: $32,882
2006: $41,280
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Ora Lyons, Robert Farvolden Memorial Scholarships
For several years, the NGWREF Board of Directors has awarded scholarships in the name of Ora
Lyons, the late spouse of NGWA Past President Glenn Lyons, as well as Robert Farvolden, Ph.D.,
a well-respected ground water scientist, educator, and former NGWA director of science and
technology.
To allow donations to be made specifically in honor of these distinguished individuals, the Board of
Directors voted to create restricted subfunds within the Len Assante Scholarship Fund. Donors, if
they wish, may now earmark contributions to be directed to either the Robert Farvolden
Scholarship or the Ora Lyons Scholarship.
Farvolden served on the faculty at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, and as a senior science
counsel to the National Ground Water Association. He died in 1995.
The Robert Farvolden International Scholarship of the National Ground Water Research and
Educational Foundation does not have any restrictions as to eligibility or financial reward. The first
scholarship was awarded in 2004.
Farvolden, a hydrogeologist and native of Forestburg, Alberta, Canada, is said to have begun the
modern era of hydrogeology in Canada after establishing the Groundwater Division of the Alberta
Research Council in 1960. He completed his Ph.D. in ground water geology in 1963 at the
University of Illinois. Projects at the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada, and teaching at
Illinois followed. He then returned to Canada and the University of Western Ontario as Canada's
first professor of hydrogeology. Farvolden came to the University of Waterloo in 1970 and later
served as chair of the Earth Sciences Department and then, from 1977 to 1982, as dean. He
helped to develop the department into one of the university's most prominent, and was a central
figure in the founding and growth of the Waterloo Centre for Groundwater Research.
Farvolden had a particular interest in the study of ground water in Mexico and Central America.
Among his last research projects was one aimed at a better understanding of the ground water
system of the Valley of Mexico, while developing an improved model of ground water flow and
quality for use in waste management. The idea for the University of Costa Rica's Masters Program
in Water Resource Management and Hydrogeology also came from Farvolden.
He received the Award for Distinguished Service in Hydrogeology - honoring Dr. George Burke
Maxey, an American hydrogeologist and Farvolden's mentor - from the Geological Society of
America in 1992. He joined the NGWA staff tion as senior science counsel from 1992 to 1995.
Glenn Lyons, served as NGWA president in 1995. Until her death, Ora annually attended the
Ground Water Expo and was active in the programs developed for spouses of the membership.
Their son, Larry, was NGWA president in 2005.
Any scholarship fund contribution not earmarked for either of these subfunds will go into the larger
Len Assante Scholarship Fund.
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Your Contribution Makes a Difference
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Your corporate or personal gift contribution helps the ground water professions in many ways, such as
providing necessary support to accomplish the programs described in this newsletter.
We invite your tax-deductible contribution. You may be able to increase the impact of your gift by stipulating a
"matching fund contribution" offered by many employers.
For your convenience, you may make your contribution through our Web site. Simply go to
http://www.ngwa.org/about/ngwref/contribute/index.aspx to learn more about how to contribute to NGWREF.
Please contact Executive Director Kevin McCray if you have any questions, want to discuss opportunities for
supporting a specific program, or wish to make a planned gift. He can be reached at 800.551.7379, or by email to kmccray@ngwa.org.
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E-mail Changes?
If you wish to be removed from NGWREF's mailing list please call our customer service
department at 800 551.7379 or send an e-mail to ngwref@ngwa.org requesting to be removed.
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CONTACT INFORMATION
National Ground Water Research and Educational Foundation
601 Dempsey Road
Westerville, OH 43081
Phone: 800 551.7379
Fax: 614 898.7786
Email: NGWREF@ngwa.org
URL: http://www.ngwa.org
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