OSSPEEC Surface Water
Quality / Quantity Projects
Charles Jason Tinant
OSSPEEC Project Director – OLC
PhD Candidate Earth Science
MS Water Resources Engineering
BS Geological Engineering
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Community-Defined Needs in
Surface Water Quality & Quantity
S Many community concerns on the
Pine Ridge Reservation are
centered around water –
Questions of Sustainability
S Drinking Water Quality
S Is the water safe to drink?
S Stream Health
S How is the environment around
me changing?
S Long-term Availability
S Mni Wiconi / Treaty Rights
regarding the Missouri River
Compact
White River near Badlands Visitor Center –
zero flow condition on July 23, 2012
OSSPEEC Partnerships with
Community Agencies around Water
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OST Environmental Protection Program
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Natural Resources Regulatory Agency
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Well-drilling (Schwalm – OLC)
Hydrogeology (Sawyer - SDSMT, Sanovia - OLC)
Water budget development (Tinant)
OST Rural Water
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Non-point Source Monitoring / Analysis (Tinant,
Benning – SDSMT, Kenner – SDSMT)
Existing relationship with SDSU in water
distribution research (Beck – SDSU Civil
Engineering)
Thunder Valley Development Agency
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Floodplain modeling (Tinant)
Design of net-zero water / wastewater treatment
(Berdanier, Fick, Pyatt – UC Boulder)
Dr. Schwalm (OLC), Calvin Cutschall,
and James Means drilling core at an
abandoned mine in Harding County, SD
Pine Ridge Aquatic Ecology
Project (PREP)
S Engineering Need: Watershed health defined
by analysis of chemical, biological, and
physical parameters;
S Concrete Experience: Guided WQ and biotic
sampling, laboratory analysis;
S Observation / Reflection: Analysis of
Jake Fergusson water quality
sampling
macroinvertebrate data, field data, laboratory
data, discussion on the bigger social picture;
S Abstract Thinking (cross-disciplinary learning):
biogeochemical cycling, anthropogenic
perturbation, stability;
S Testing Abstract Concepts: Best
Management Practice (BMP) design using a
systems approach;
Delaine Peterson and Jake
Fergusson sampling
macroinvertebrates
Streamflow Event Sampling
S Engineering Need: Fecal coliform
and sediment identified as
impairments in Pine Ridge
Reservation streams
S Concrete Experience: Storm-water
sampling, stream flow measurement,
S Observation / Reflection: Capacity
building with OST Environmental
Protection Program, K-12 Outreach
S Vertical integration: Collaborative
project with an MS candidate,
SDSMT Senior, and OLC freshman
S Abstract Concepts: Best Management
Shane Herrod and Nick Marnach teaching
OLC Freshman Engineering and high school
students how to measure stream flow.
Practical Irrigable Land Estimation
for Pine Ridge Reservation
• Engineering Need: OST should quantify future agricultural water
needs as part of treaty negotiations with Federal government;
• Concrete Experience: Joni Tobacco was formerly Water Director for
OST Natural Resources Regulatory Agency;
• Abstract Thinking: Modeled PIA from effective rainfall in ArcGIS