What's new?

The Minutes of the Hydrogeology Day 6 held in Quebec from March 10 and 11 of this year is now available.
You can access it by clicking on "Reports online" on the left-hand side column.

December 2007 Newsletter on-line
Our latest program's newsletter is now on-line. You can access it by using the website's main menu.

The Groundwater Mapping Program has a new section!

The Groundwater Mapping Program web site has a new section: "Fact Sheets" You can access it by clicking on "Fact Sheets" on the left-hand side column.
Come to visit this section from time to time to find new fact sheets.

May 2007 Newsletter on-line
Our latest program's newsletter is now on-line. You can access it by using the website's main menu.

MINUTES of the Hydrogeology Day 5 now available
The minutes of the fifth Hydrogeology Day, held in Ottawa, February 28 to March 2 this year, are now available.

Check this site under "Reports on-line" where you will find the full minutes of this event as well as all decks of presentations.

Drilling in Kelowna

A drilling project by the GSC has been conducted in Kelowna, B.C. as part of the Groundwater Assessment of the Okanagan Basin project. This is a multi-year project that's just coming to the end of its first year, being part of the Groundwater Mapping Program. You may find more details of this project by clicking on the left-hand side column under “Projects– Inventory”

The well, located on a corner of Mission Recreation Park, Kelowna, had a successful completion of drilling and core recovery (~90%) reaching 288 feet at which point flowing artesian conditions appeared and the drilling had to stop. This work generated significant media interest, with regional (BC wide) coverage on CTV and Shaw TV, as well as the local Kelowna newspaper.

The core samples were all boxed and identified for analysis in the laboratory of the GSC offices in Calgary; instead of being capped, the hole that's been drilled will be used to monitor groundwater in the area,becoming a groundwater monitoring station for the BC Ministry of the Environment

The difference with this drilling as compared to previous drillings, is that the design of this well was focused not on the discovery of water but on the detailed “coring” of the well, thus care was taken to keep the core material together.

Steve Grasby (Calgary) and Serge Paradis (Quebec) were responsible for this very successful drilling on site and followed activities until full completion.

They've found more than half of this 100-metre sample has been a clay barrier, which is good news in terms of providing protection for the aquifer below. They also reached glacial till, which will allow them to date the depth to when the valley was inundated with glaciers. Both scientists were quite excited to reach the pebbly material deposited when this valley was covered in glaciers.

The objective of this drilling in the context of the Okanagan Groundwater assessment project is to prepare a 3D geological model of the Quaternary conditions which will later be used as a framework for developing a hydrogeological model of the region. Aquifer recharge, capacity, quality and sustainability are among and issues to be explored with the 3D model.

Keep tuned for more on this project in the future.

Hg Day-5

The fifth Hydrogeology Day was held in Ottawa, February 28 to March 2 this year. This meeting attracted 60 participants from seven provinces, four federal departments, universities and the CCA.
The HgD-5 Motto this year was: “Groundwater Program: Recent past, 2003-06; the future, 2006-09; and beyond 2009”

The HgD-5 was planned to be strategic, that is, we were asked to reflect on what we have done during the past 5 years; what we are doing now; and most importantly, where we are going. In brief: what is the next/best strategy of this program/team within the context of the political, social, economical and environmental issues facing our country?

The 5^th HgD is different from the previous four in that we now consider new aspects and issues regarding groundwater resources: social, political and environmental, to frame our scientific work.

Check this site under “Reports on-line” where you will find the full minutes of this event and all the presentations; to be available in a few weeks.

Signing of MoU with BC

A small ceremony took place for the official signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between NRCan ESS Groundwater Mapping Program and BCMoE. This ceremony took place taking advantage of the presence of partners from the British Columbia Ministry of Environment (BCMoE) at the HgD-5.

The MOU was signed by Natural Resources Canada represented by the ESS Groundwater Program (Alfonso Rivera, Program Manager) and the British Columbia Ministry of Environment, represented by the Water Stewardship Division (Fern Schultz, Director). This MOU came into effect on March 1st and is valid for a length of 2 fiscal years spanning until March 31, 2009. This date coincides with the current program's approved 2nd phase and may be extended by mutual consent of the participants.

Given the mutual understanding on groundwater assessments between BCMoE and ESS GWP, this MoU will provide a framework for joint activities intended to identify and address data or information gaps about the groundwater resources in British Columbia through regional Groundwater Characterization or Groundwater Assessment studies.

The Groundwater Mapping Program has a new section!

The Groundwater Mapping Program web site has a new section: "Reports Online" You can access it by clicking on "reports online" on the left-hand side column. You will find documents of workshop minutes, meeting minutes, full published reports related to the program, and in some cases, decks with presentations at meeting and/or workshops. Come to visit this section from time to time to find new reports.

Potential research cooperation on Groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin

USGS/GSC Research Cooperation Meeting

On September 14-15, scientists from the USGS, the GSC (ESS, NRCan) and EC met in Ottawa to exchange information and explore possibilities of cooperation to investigate groundwater flow and storage in the Great Lakes Basin.

As background for discussion, the participants presented results of two studies on both sides of the lakes. The USGS study: "Great Lakes Basin Water Availability and Use" and The GSC studies: "Aquifer systems in Canada: the Great Lakes Basin." As well as Canadian Groundwater Inventory and transboundary issues.

These projects, developed on both sides of the Great Lakes Basin, pursue similar general objectives, namely the inventory of aquifers and assessments of groundwater resources availability, sustainability and vulnerability (Canada); and the assessment of the availability and use of the Nation's water resources including aspects of regional water balances, groundwater divides, recharge and storage (USA). In both cases there is a current focus on the Great Lakes Basin.

The meeting had a workshop-like format where some presentations were made, followed by group discussions on approaches and methodologies used. The ultimate discussion developed the basis for an overall strategy on short- to middle-term cooperation and projects expansions, a joint marketing strategy, as well as a plan for a mid- to long-term joint project between the two countries.

The outcome of the meeting will be written in the minutes of the meeting and will be posted in this site in the near future. Stay tuned.

The Groundwater Mapping Program has a new site!

The second phase of the groundwater program, now called "Groundwater Mapping Program", began last April for a period of three years from 2006 to 2009.

Come to visit this site regularly to learn more on the development of this program.