Groundwater Resource Investigation

Posted 19 May 2011

Peter Graham, Wellington Site Manager and CVEN4503 students examining cores taken with the new Geoprobe.

UNSW Year 4 Groundwater Resource Investigation students obtained hands-on experience with various hydrogeological investigation techniques at the UNSW Farm at Wellington, NSW in April.

The 3-day course included instruction in geophysical methods (electrical resistivity, seismic refraction, gravity and borehole logging); hydrochemical methods (including sampling from one of the multi-level piezometers) and hydrogeological methods (including pump testing, preparation of flow nets and drilling techniques).

Student groups were each led by a qualified instructor and the numbers in each group were limited to 15.

Groundwater Resource Investigation (CVEN4503) is a 4th year elective in the Civil and Environmental Engineering programs. The first half of the course began with 6 weeks of classroom tuition on the Kensington Campus. The second half moved to the field to make use of the newly installed Field Station facilities on the UNSW Farm at Wellington. These facilities have been provided by a NSW State Government Grant of approximately $800k and include classroom facilities, a groundwater abstraction bore and a suite of observation bores. Additional investment at the site has been provided as a part of the Groundwater Environmental Investment Fund (EIF) from the Federal Government. Students will use the data they collected to complete an assessment exercise in which they will compile individual reports designed to inform the University about options to develop groundwater resources at the site.

The final morning of the course was taken by Professor Andy Baker who showed the students around the Wellington Caves and demonstrated some of the Groundwater EIF project investment at the site. A suite of drip loggers has been installed that record the time each stalactite drips. This can then be related back to surface rainfall to reveal the flow paths through the limestone.

This new combination of classroom teaching and direct fieldwork experience helps to differentiate UNSW from other institutions and is attractive to students who want to get real experience before graduating. In the days of web delivery of teaching, where students may elect to download lectures from anywhere, this mixture of classroom teaching and fieldwork experience is expected to be attractive.

Source: UNSW School of Civil and Environmental Engineering news

Links and further information:

Latest news

Wildfire and Groundwater

Wildfire and Groundwater

14 October 2020

Professor Andy Baker features in American Water Resources Association ‘Water Resources Impact’, September 2020 edition. 

Read more…

CWI’s network of researchers is widening - Welcome Taylor Coyne!

CWI’s network of researchers is widening - Welcome Taylor Coyne!

10 October 2020

The Connected Waters Initiative (CWI) is pleased to welcome Taylor Coyne to its network as a postgraduate researcher. If you’re engaged in research at a postgraduate level, and you’re interested in joining the CWI network, get in touch! The CWI network includes multidisciplinary researchers across the Schools of Engineering, Sciences, Humanities and Languages and Law.

Read more…

Grand Challenge to rethink our subterranean cities

Grand Challenge to rethink our subterranean cities

30 September 2020

The Grand Challenge on Rapid Urbanisation will establish Think Deep Australia, led by Dr Marilu Melo Zurita, to explore how we can use our urban underground spaces for community benefit.

Read more…

National Water Reform Inquiry Submission

National Water Reform Inquiry Submission

6 September 2020

On the 21 August 2020, CWI researchers made a submission to the National Water Reform Inquiry, identifying priority areas and making a number of recommendations as to how to achieve a sustainable groundwater future for Australia.

Read more…

Finding the hole in a Thailand bucket

Finding the hole in a Thailand bucket

3 September 2020

Results published from a research project between the Land Development Department (LDD) Thailand and UNSW has demonstrated how 2-dimensional mapping can be used to understand soil salinity adjacent to a earthen canal in north east Thailand (Khongnawang et al. 2020).

Read more…