Historically, rapidly expanding industry and population was almost entirely supplied with groundwater from the Gulf Coast aquifers. The over-reliance on groundwater for the booming population of the Greater Houston area caused the ground to sink, putting the area at even greater risk for flooding. Two subsidence districts have worked cooperatively to address over-pumpage of groundwater and have effectively stopped groundwater-related subsidence in most coastal areas and are now focusing efforts on the more inland areas of Greater Houston, where groundwater continues to be pumped and subsidence continues to occur. There have been many challenges since the creation of the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District and the Fort Bend Subsidence District. The continued success of groundwater regulation are important for the Greater Houston area to continue as a thriving metropolitan area and industrial hub.

Innovative Ion Exchange for Multi-Contaminant Treatment and Regeneration
Treavor H. Boyer, Ph.D.

The Capital Area Groundwater Conservation District and Board of Commission was established in 1974 by the Louisiana Legislature. The District is composed of five parishes in the Greater Baton Rouge area: East and West Baton Rouge, East and West Feliciana, and Pointe Coupee. The Commission’s functions are to promote the orderly development of the groundwater resources in the Capital Area District and to protect the quality of these resources. Since its creation, the Capital Area Groundwater Conservation District has been involved in the efficient administration, conservation, orderly development, and supplementation of groundwater resources in the five-parish area. The CAGWCC has driven investigative efforts and policy changes and fostered an atmosphere of cooperation to promote the responsible development of the groundwater resources in the Baton Rouge area and to protect the quality of these resources.

Water Withdrawals for Aquaculture in the United States
John Lovelace
Rice Cultivation in the Mid-South: Challenges and Solutions
Michele Reba, Ph.D., PE

Few issues today elicit more public response than the topic of hydraulic fracturing as we attempt to meet our energy needs. Anyone working in or with the groundwater industry should have an awareness of what the actual hydraulic fracturing process involves and the ancillary issues often associated with it. This presentation will address the scientific and technical aspects of the process.

Gas Well/Water Well Subsurface Contamination—Plan for Investigation
Rickard R. Railsback, Professional Geologist
Aquatic Toxicity Testing of Various Freshwater Drilling Additives
Shantel J. Stone, Scientist, Chemist

NOAA and other state and federal natural resource trustees have been working to clean up the oil, assess natural resource injuries, and restore the environment after the spill. We will provide an update on the status of oil spill response activities and the assessment and restoration phases of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) from the NOAA perspective. The locations and types of activities occurring across the Gulf of Mexico will be discussed, but detailed scientific conclusions about injuries cannot be provided for legal reasons. Background on the NRDA process and early restoration decisions to date will be discussed.

In June 2010, oil from the Deepwater Horizon accident began washing ashore along Alabama and Florida coastlines. Alabama’s sandy beaches were heavily inundated, primarily by emulsified oil which survived all emergency remedial actions in its 150-mile journey from the Macondo Prospect well to the Alabama shoreline. This resulted in significant contamination of beaches and the associated water resources. In this presentation, we will present our current understanding of what are the knowns and known-to-be unknowns with regard to the current state of Alabama’s beaches in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. We will provide both observational field data and detailed chemical characterization data collected by our team to discuss how the residual oil trapped in the near shore environment has evolved over the past two years. We will also share our thoughts on some possible unknown unknowns that could potentially affect the future status of these sandy beaches.

Assessment of Brackish Water Resources in the Texas Gulf Coast
Steven C. Young, Ph.D., PG, PE

Development of an Updated Hydrostratigraphic Framework for the Texas Gulf Coast Aquifer System
Steven C. Young, Ph.D., PG, PE
Multiple Risks of Saltwater Intrusion to Drinking Water Supplies
Treavor H. Boyer, Ph.D.
Understanding Saltwater Intrusion Processes Using Laboratory-Scale Physical Models
T. Prabhakar Clement, Ph.D.
Saltwater Monitoring In Situ and in Real Time with a New Geophysical Observatory
Marc Cherpion, Engineer