Sacramento Branch Meeting

JOIN US FOR OUR NOVEMBER BRANCH MEETING

PRESENTATION:

Rapid-High Resolution Zone-Testing For Groundwater Pilot Holes and Test Wells: Essential Data for Design of GW Production Wells After performing zonal flow and chemistry profiles on more than 800 supply wells, we ask why do production wells fail on the basis of water quality when the zone test data from the pilot hole indicates that the well should have compliant water quality? This is not a trivial problem, but an issue that has cost the water resources industry billions of dollars in unexpected infrastructure costs related to treatment, blending facilities, pipelines, and their associated O&M costs. The presentation will delve into data deficiencies arising from conventional zone testing in pilot holes and then show a new rapid, high-resolution testing approach to avoid or minimize the ensuing cost impacts from conventional testing methods.

SPEAKER:

Noah Heller, PG President, BESST Inc., San Rafael, CA

Noah has been a practicing geologist for the past 35 years, has a masters in geology, and is a California licensed professional geologist. He has received 16 patents and has patents pending related to the development of groundwater investigation technologies and methods. Since 2005, much of his time has been dedicated to the commercialization and ongoing technical development of the Tracer Flowmeter and Depth Dependent Sampler, initially developed by the USGS. Over the past 15 years, and under license from the USGS, BESST has profiled over 1,000 public supply wells, primarily for water quality, and has amassed a large database of zonal geochemistry throughout California. This applied knowledge has been used to better understand subsurface distribution patterns of naturally occurring and anthropogenic compounds. Insights from these data have led to the development of a new technology application called Stacked Dynamic Profiling of Long Screened Test Wells. The technology and method employ the Tracer Flowmeter and Depth Dependent Sampler which is now being applied at various sites throughout the US and is the topic of today's presentation. Mr. Heller is an avid hiker, loves to grill, and enjoys being with his partner Leslie, friends and their menagerie of horses, cats, dogs, turtles, and fish.