Wednesday, May 1, 2013: 8:40 a.m.
Regency West 6 (Hyatt Regency San Antonio)
Eve L. Kuniansky, U.S. Geological Survey
Melinda J. Chapman, U.S. Geological Survey
Jason M. Fine, U.S. Geological survey
William M. Alley, National Ground Water Association
Knowledge of the hydraulic properties of an aquifer is critical to understanding groundwater systems and to the development and calibration of groundwater flow models that can be used to assess sustainability of groundwater supply. Free data includes data available from well drillers; online continuous tide and water level data; and public supply records, which can be compiled and analyzed for hydraulic properties. Each state has different regulations for well design, construction, and development. In most states there are requirements for aquifer testing when production wells are permitted, and at minimum most drillers will perform specific capacity and step-drawdown tests. Often these data are not analyzed for hydraulic properties by the drillers and the data is in the well completion report; however, for many USGS regional groundwater flow studies these “free data” are compiled and analyzed. With the availability of customized time-series analysis tools, the fitting of water levels using environmental signals or the known pumping rate of a well near an observation well can be used to estimate hydraulic properties. For example, hydraulic diffusivity (transmissivitiy divided by storage coefficient) can be estimated from tidal signals. Transmissivity and storage coefficient can be estimated by fitting continuous monitor-well water levels using a time-series approach that uses the Theis function with the pumping signal.
| Eve L. Kuniansky
, U.S. Geological Survey
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Eve L. Kuniansky has over 30 years of experience in hydrology, hydrogeology, and hydraulics. In 1983 she began a career with the U.S. Geological Survey, gaining experience in surface water modeling, project management, borehole geophysics, geologic mapping, field data collection, groundwater flow simulation of near shore sediments, carbonate rock aquifers, and karst systems. She has developed and applied code for both finite-element and finite-difference simulation of groundwater flow and transport. Kuniansky currently is the Groundwater Specialist for the USGS in the southeastern United States, providing technical assistance to groundwater projects throughout the southeastern U.S., Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
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| Melinda J. Chapman
, U.S. Geological Survey
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Melinda Chapman has worked for U.S. Geological Survey for 22 years; 12 years in Atlanta, Ga. and 10 years in Raleigh, N.C. Melinda received her M.S. degree in Geology, with an emphasis on hydrogeology and geophysics from The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, under the direction of Dr. Scott Bair and Dr. Jeff Daniels. She received her B.S. degree in Geology from West Georgia College, Carrollton, GA. She has worked in a variety of hydrogeologic settings, including glacial deposits and karst aquifers, and has been conducting detailed investigations of fractured crystalline-bedrock aquifers during the past 16 years.
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| Jason M. Fine
, U.S. Geological survey
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Jason M. Fine is a hydrologist in the U.S. Geological Survey Raleigh, North Carolina Water Science Center. He has over 10 years experience in hydrogeologic studies working on regional aquifer system studies and groundwater flow and transport simulation projects.
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| William M. Alley
, National Ground Water Association
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