The Sunflower Project: Sustainability Across the Curriculum
Application: Building A Permeameter to Measure Hydraulic Conductivity Before and
After Hydraulic Fracturing
Name: Lynne Beatty
Email: lbeatty@jccc.edu
Phone number: 913-469-8500, ext. 3785
Department: Science
Level of grant* being applied for: $500
Scope of Work:
Submit a proposal of your course revision/creation that includes a scope of work and
rationale. Detail and length of proposals should reflect the amount of funding being
applied for.
I propose to build a permeameter to measure the hydraulic conductivity of geologic
materials for use in geology and physical geography lab exercises on groundwater and
energy resources. The permeameter will be constructed of readily available materials
from a hardware store. Initial construction would take place in the summer and fall of
2012 and the equipment would be used in lab exercises beginning in the Fall Semester
of 2012. Hydraulic conductivity is a measure of how well connected the pore spaces
are (volume of the voids) to allow the transmission of fluids. This is important in
determining groundwater flow within an aquifer and also the flow of chemical
components that could be potential pollutants. After conducting an initial hydraulic
conductivity test on a geologic material, that material would be exposed to hydraulic
fracturing through the injection of pressurized air and water. Hydraulic conductivity
would be re-measured. This would allow students to determine how hydraulic
fracturing affects permeability and where the ingredients would go. This relates to
both quantity of water in an aquifer and the quality of water in an aquifer situated
above a hydraulically fractured energy reservoir.
Submit your answers to the following:
Explain why you would like to take part in this grant program:
This project and the grant program are of interest to me because I want to increase the
doing or practicing of science using originally collected data for analysis of how the
natural environment changes from one geological material to the next; and how it is
changed by human actions such as groundwater mining and hydraulic fracturing. The
funds will enable me to build some unique lab equipment so that students can
conduct open-ended, inquiry-based experiments.
Explain how your students will benefit from the course revision / creation:
The addition of permeameter lab exercises to GEOS 130 Geology and GEOS 141
Physical Geography will increase understanding of the sustainable use of water
resources as related to the concepts of porosity, permeability, hydraulic conductivity,
and Darcy’s Law, as well as provide an introduction to issues of groundwater
contamination surrounding the use of hydraulic fracturing for increased yield of
energy resources.
Explain how your course revision/creation will uniquely contribute to JCCC’s mission
to teach sustainability across the curriculum:
This revision addresses several aspects of sustainability. Our use of water resources
continues to dramatically increase as population grows and affluence levels rise. With
drawdown of the water table, such as in the High Plains Aquifer, the sediments and
rocks begin to compress, reducing porosity and permeability, which in turn reduce
hydraulic conductivity. This makes it more difficult to get water out of the aquifer.
Even if the water table were to partially recover due to increased precipitation or
conservation measures, the aquifer’s saturated thickness would not completely
rebound. The hydraulic conductivity, the ability for groundwater to move from one
place to another, would not recover to its original value. The second aspect related to
JCCC’s initiative to incorporate sustainability concepts in the classroom is hydraulic
fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing to increase recovery of energy sources such as gas
breaks up the rock reservoir containing the gas, increasing its hydraulic conductivity
so that more gas is recovered. The ingredients, in addition to pressurized water and
sand, used in hydraulic fracturing are weakly regulated depending upon the state.
Only Wyoming, Arkansas, and Oklahoma (as of July 1, 2012) require the listing of the
chemicals used in “fracking” a well. The proprietary ingredients vary with the rock
reservoir (such as shale or sandstone) and the energy resource being tapped (such as
coal bed methane or enhanced oil recovery). For example, hydrochloric acid is used to
dissolve minerals and open cracks while potassium chloride is used to form a brine
solution to aid in transmitting the gas from the reservoir into the well. These
materials could then enter an aquifer resulting in a water quality concern. In addition
to these concerns, hydraulic fracturing of a well requires a tremendous quantity of
water, as much as 2,700,000 gallons.
Return completed applications to: Student Sustainability Affairs Coordinator, Kim
Criner in CC305K.
*Grants will be awarded at the following levels:
Level 1: $500 for the revision of an existing course to incorporate sustainability concepts.
Level 2: $1500 for the creation of a new course teaching sustainability applications within a
given field or discipline