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Serving the Canadian Ground Water industry for 48 years.
An interview with a P.E.I. ecological water scientist.
Exploring the potential for undersea groundwater.
Experts weigh in on the status of this
ON THE WEB:
Research finds ways to draw drinking water from air in world’s most arid regions
Study targets hottest, driest places, potentially giving millions access to drinking water. Technology Networks report.
Project studies effective removal of emerging contaminants in wastewater treatment plants.
New technologies allow infrastructure greater efficiency and the ability to remove contaminants that would go into waterways. From the Institut national de la recherche scientifique.
www.groundwatercanada.com
Some good news among the bad
New water research projects are encouraging
by Mike Jiggens
Seldom is the lead story in a newscast or at the top of a newspaper’s front page considered good news. Nine times out of 10, the story is a downer. It might be a new development in Russia’s war with Ukraine. Maybe it’s the discovery of a new COVID variant. Or perhaps it’s a mass shooting at a school.
The news isn’t always rosy when it pertains to this industry, either. Something always seems to come along that causes a setback in a community, a region or a large part of a province. In recent months, we’ve heard about massive flooding which has knocked out municipal water services in different parts of Canada, fuel spills which have contaminated local drinking water supplies and various water pressures associated with climate change. Sometimes, though, the news is good and even encouraging.
Reading about what might be in store is encouraging.
Since the publication of our Spring issue, we’ve featured a few of these “good news” and “encouraging” stories on our website. Each involves some of the latest research that, amid some of this doom and gloom, promises brighter days ahead. When it comes to this precious resource called water – namely drinking water – reading about what might be in store for the days ahead is especially encouraging.
One such item is a report out of Texas where university researchers have developed a solution to help people living in arid countries and regions access clean drinking water by drawing it from the air.
At the forefront of this research is a type of gel film made from a multitude of materials capable of pulling water from the air in some of the world’s driest climates. This film is said to be inexpensive and can be molded into various shapes.
Previous studies have been conducted in which water is successfully pulled from the air
in places of high humidity, but research has progressed to the point where hotter and drier areas are being targeted with success.
This provides optimism for millions of people living in such places – where drinking water is scarce – to be able to access a new and readily available source by means of a water-generating device that can be used at home and which is simple to operate.
Previous attempts at pulling water from desert air were mostly fruitless and required considerable energy. The U.S. Department of Defense financially supported the research project as a means of providing soldiers stationed in arid climates with necessary drinking water.
Another exciting research project of note, conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is looking at the removal of salt particles from seawater to produce clean drinking water. Researchers have developed a suitcase-size device that removes particles and salts without the need for filters or high-pressure pumps.
The result has been the production of drinking water that exceeds quality standards set by the World Health Organization.
Instead of filters, the unit uses electricity to remove the unwanted particles. This breakthrough greatly reduces long-term maintenance.
The unit adopts ion concentration polarization technology that repels salt, bacteria and viruses.
It’s all rather exciting. News of these research breakthroughs provide a nice little pick-meup amid the not-so-good news we seem to be hearing much of the time in the water world.
NEXT ISSUE: The next issue of Ground Water Canada will focus on the desalination of water, with a look to the world’s East for inspiration. Watch for it this fall! @GroundWaterMag groundwatercanada
UNLICENSED WELL INSTALLATIONS ARE BOTH ILLEGAL AND DANGEROUS, WARNS OTTAWA TECHNICIAN
The owner of Paradise Pumps and PV Water & Plumbing in Ottawa warns that the construction, extension or repair of a well without the assistance of a licensed specialist is both illegal and dangerous.
While well construction poses its own hazards during the building process, including exposure to dangerous gases and chemicals, falls and electrocution risk, the final product itself is something not to be taken lightly, Brendan Montgomery says.
“There’s a lot of reasons why you want to hire a licensed well technician,” he says, citing his 10-plus years of experience in well water services in the Ottawa Valley. “It’s regulated by the Ministry of Environment for the safety of the installers and for the people who are paying for and using the final product.”
Siting a new well or repairing an old one requires more than just a visual examination. Elevation, accessibility, and proximity to sewage and power lines all play an important part and are stipulated clearly in the Ontario Wells Regulation Act. Qualifications and requirements for obtaining and maintaining both well contractor and well technician licenses are set out specifically for protection of the installer and the consumer, particularly regarding the well construction process to avoid contamination, ensure sealing, and continued disinfection.
As recently as November, Fairhaven residents noticed an increase of E. coli in their well water due to developments that started – and continued – without proper environmental or health surveys. With developments in Ottawa Valley suburbs like Stittsville and Kanata growing up to 27 per cent annually, well water remains the only viable option for many of these new houses and developments. With inner city homes like Fairview’s put at risk, there is an increasing worry for those with less serviceable homes on the outskirts of the Ottawa valley.
“At the end of the day, safety is a top priority,” Montgomery says.
While the Provincial Policy Act of 2020 only recommended protecting the quality and quantity of residents’ water by “implementing necessary restrictions,” there is more work to be done by advisory committees both provincially and locally. According to Montgomery, the best way to ensure water is protected is to hire a licensed well technician.
SAFETY FOOTWEAR MANUFACTURER PLEDGES $1M TO SUPPORT WOMEN IN SKILLED TRADES
KEEN Utility, the safety work boot division of KEEN Inc., has launched a program that supports non-profit organizations in the United States and Canada dedicated to the empowerment and education of women seeking a career in the skilled trades.
The She Builds grant program has pledged $1 million in needed product and financial support over the next five years to trailblazing non-profit organizations in both countries. Organizations to benefit from She Builds grants include the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s Trades Discovery for Women, Black Women Build-Baltimore, Girl’s Garage, Vermont Works for Women, Oregon and Tradeswomen.
“Women are essential to the future of the skilled trades,” Robin Skillings, vice-president and general manager at KEEN Utility, says. “Supporting organizations that are deeply dedicated to the empowerment and advancement of women in the trades is critical. Through the She Builds grant program, we are solidifying our commitment to their future, and the growth of the trades, one step at a time.”
The She Builds Grant is funded through The KEEN Effect, part of KEEN’s larger mission to make outside and the trades accessible to all. KEEN has committed millions of dollars toward social and environmental justice since 2003.
A leader in women’s safety footwear, KEEN Utility is positioned to champion the cause of welcoming more women into the trades and encouraging skills acquisition. The Tradeswomen Tested collection from KEEN Utility enlists the insights of tradeswomen working in a variety of professions from initial conception all the way through final product release and incorporates on-the-job feedback into future designs. By creating more inclusive and adaptive footwear built for and inspired by women in the trades, the brand established early on that the future of the trades is diverse and demands support. For more information, visit www.keenfootwear.com/work-tradeswomen-tested-collection/.
BCGWA REPORTS
TO FIRST IN-PERSON CONVENTION SINCE START OF COVID PANDEMIC
The British Columbia Ground Water Association is reporting a successful 2022 convention held recently in Penticton. It marked the association’s first in-person convention since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several discussions were held about the current state of the groundwater industry and the role the association can play. Surveys are to be sent out to members for their input related to the discussions.
In an email to members, BCGWA general manager Dave Mercer noted three primary topics upon which the association will focus:
• developing strategies to attract younger industry people to the association and convention
• identifying how the BCGWA can help promote trades in British Columbia, to youth and the general population
• assisting member companies to determine what they can do to attract and retain employees
Several new individuals were elected to the association’s board of directors during the annual general meeting portion of the convention.
“To me, this is an indication that our association is healthy and vital and will continue to bring valuable services to our members and the groundwater industry,” Mercer said in his email message.
ONTARIO GOVERNMENT INVESTING IN TRAINING TO BOLSTER PIPING AND PLUMBING CAREERS
The Ontario government is working for workers by investing more than $11.6 million in two projects that will help nearly 1,500 apprentices and journeypersons upgrade their skills in plumbing, steam fitting, welding, sprinkler fitting, and refrigeration trades to earn bigger paycheques. The investment will also help construction employers find the workers they need to build the province’s highways, hospitals, and schools on time and on budget.
“Across Ontario, businesses continue to see a shortage of skilled workers needed to build our province,” Monte McNaughton, minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development, says. “These projects will help 1,500 hard-working men and women take the next step in their careers so they can earn more take-home pay, provide for their families, and build stronger communities for us all.”
For the first project, the Ontario Pipe Trades Council will be receiving $10.5 million to deliver state-of-the-art training for more than 1,000 registered apprentices and journeypersons. The funding will help participants attend virtual and in-class training to upgrade their skills, and support the purchase of specialized equipment, such as spider cranes, so that apprentices can learn proper operating techniques. Training is open to members of the United Association within Ontario.
“The United Association has been an apprenticeship leader since the inception of trade designations in Ontario and across the country,” Mike Gordon, director of Canadian training, United Association Canada, says. “Within Ontario alone, our UA Local Training centres support upwards of 6,500 apprentices throughout their journey toward successful completion while simultaneously upskilling an additional 16,000 journeypersons with the best training available in the piping industry.”
For more information or to apply to the Ontario Pipe Trades Council’s project, contact office@optc.org or 905-665-3500. Registered apprentices interested in applying to the JTAC training program can contact Vince Kacaba, director of training, at 416-759-9351.
PROTECTING P.E.I.’S PRECIOUS WATER
An interview with a P.E.I. ecological water scientist
As anyone connected to the water industry knows, the importance of ensuring a clean, sustainable water supply cannot be overstated.
by CAROLYN CAMILLERI
RIGHT: Ecological water scientist Dr. Audrey Murray is studying ways to mitigate the effect of chemicals and nutrients in the ecosystem. One solution is to create wetlands on farmland to filter water from fields before it enters other watercourses.
Predictions for future water supply and quality are often dire, especially in places like Prince Edward Island, where freshwater is limited and depends on rainwater and snowmelt.
That’s why the innovative work of Dr. Audrey Murray, an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada ecological water scientist at the Charlottetown Research and Development Centre (CRDC), is so exciting. She is researching natural, sustainable solutions to preserve water and care for the natural ecosystem surrounding agricultural lands.
“P.E.I. has a high density of agricultural land, and the fisheries are also a very important industry so water quality in general
– not necessarily just freshwater – is of high importance to everyone,” she says.
Dr. Murray is an environmental engineer with a PhD focused on wastewater treatment, specifically the removal of emerging contaminants from wastewater. She did her post-doctoral work with the Drinking Water Research Group at the University of Toronto and focused on disinfection by-products and trace contaminants in drinking water. She has been at the CRDC since last July, where she is focused on emerging contaminants, such as pesticides in agricultural runoff. It’s a natural fit for her expertise.
“We have some issues with high nitrate
levels,” she says, adding that 97 per cent of nitrates in the Northumberland Strait have been shown to originate from P.E.I. “We receive heavy rainfall events and have shallow well-drained soils which lead to high sediment loads in water –with attached pesticides – and also have the potential to cause pollution events.”
Dr. Murray says farmers are acutely aware of these issues.
“I’m interested in supporting them to implement easy and cost-effective solutions to remove potentially harmful chemicals and nutrients from the water cycle to mitigate the effect to the entire ecosystem on Prince Edward Island,” she says.
One of these solutions involves constructing wetlands on farmland to filter water from farm fields before it enters other watercourses.
“Wetlands are known as the ‘kidneys of the ecosystem’ and have water filtering and purifying abilities beyond that of other ecosystem components,” Dr. Murray says.
THE IMPORTANCE OF WETLANDS
At the same time, wetlands provide natural habitats for diverse species of plants, insects, amphibians, birds, waterfowl, and other wildlife. They can even play a role in sequestering carbon and contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to address climate change. Several wetlands have already been constructed on P.E.I. and data is being collected.
“We have only preliminary data so far, but the wetlands have begun to increase biodiversity,” Dr. Murray says. “Results from other areas show that wetlands are capable of treating nutrients, sediments, and pesticides.”
As the work continues, more farmers are seeing the value of the wetlands and are getting involved with re-development.
Dr. Murray is also researching the potential of vegetated drainage ditches (VDDs).
“Vegetated drainage ditches began as a way of mitigating some of the concerns associated with on-farm drainage – that drainage provides a direct conduit for pollutants to surface waters, reducing the retention time across land and decreasing the opportunities for natural mitigation,” she says. “By widening the
ditches, slowing down the retention time, and planting wetland species, researchers found that the properties of wetlands that made them so great at water treatment could be incorporated right into surface drainage.”
She notes that they are using the technology differently on P.E.I. than in other places.
“P.E.I. has quick-draining soils and farm drainage is not common, but I am installing the VDDs to intercept surface runoff and provide edge-of-field
treatment, so they will be used more like on-farm constructed wetlands but will have a size and shape more similar to a ditch.”
The goal is to slow down the water in the VDD using a clay liner, for example, to provide adequate retention time to treat pollutants.
“Pollutants, including pesticides, can be naturally treated within the ecosystem, but not if they do not have adequate retention time before reaching ground water or surface water,” she says.
LOWEST COST WATER WELL
Is The Answer
WATER SCIENCE
OTHER BENEFITS
While filtering pollutants out of water is a key benefit of these innovative solutions, there are other benefits.
“Wetlands are very biodiverse,” Dr. Murray says. “They also contain a lot of sub-environments within the same wetland. There are plants to provide phytoremediation and support microbial populations, there is exposure to UV from the sun, there may be aerobic and anaerobic zones within the wetland, there are surfaces for adsorption. From a wastewater treatment perspective, each of these represents a removal mechanism or unit process that can remove pollutants. These mechanisms work together to remove a wide range of pollutants with different characteristics.”
She adds that we are expecting more intense rainfall events because of climate change, so the issues we are facing now are only going to get worse.
“Surface storage of water in the form
of wetlands can reduce flooding and mitigate some of the impacts of this,” Dr. Murray says.
Ultimately, the link between water and agriculture is immense.
“Basically, farming relies on the natural ecosystem so enhancing the natural ecosystem will increase the sustainability of farming practices but will also increase the resiliency of the ecosystem as a whole, which will increase the resiliency of our farms,” Dr. Murray says. “We have historically removed a lot of these ecosystem features to create farmland, reducing the resiliency of the ecosystem. At the same time, we are increasing our demands on the ecosystem through intensive agriculture, addition of chemicals, etc.”
Climate change further increases these pressures.
“We need to look at agriculture from an ecosystem perspective to find ways to build some of those ecosystem features
back into our farmland and increase resilience again.”
While Dr. Murray says her expertise is not in groundwater, she knows there are nature-based treatments for groundwater and sees potential for working with experts in the field.
“It can be more difficult to remediate groundwater than it is to prevent pollutants from reaching groundwater to begin with,” she says. “I would say that I need to work alongside groundwater experts to determine the right balance – small changes, like putting in a vegetated filter strip to slow down water flow, can improve the quality of surface water but increases infiltration and can increase concentrations of soluble pollutants such as nitrates in groundwater. If we are looking at agriculture from an ecosystem perspective, we need to work together and understand these interactions.”
While the present focus of her
PHOTO CREDIT: DR. AUDREY MURRAY.
An aerial photo of an Atlantic wetland site.
WATER SCIENCE
research is on PEI, Dr. Murray says there are probably many other parts of the country and world where these solutions could be even more easily adapted than P.E.I.
“[In P.E.I.], we don’t currently have existing surface drainage, but in an area with existing surface drainage, it would be even simpler to implement,” she says. “Also, re-establishment of wetland land
is very important. It is important to find ways to do this that can co-exist with existing farming practices so that we can better integrate farmland into the ecosystem.”
Carolyn Camilleri is a Toronto-based writer and editor. She has been writing for consumer and trade magazines, as well as for businesses and organizations, for more than 20 years.
P.E.I. RESEARCH PROJECT EXPLORES POTENTIAL FOR UNDERSEA GROUNDWATER
Prince Edward Island’s 100 per cent reliance on groundwater has forced the province to be cautious as to how it is used. As such, studies are ongoing to explore the potential for groundwater undersea as a possible freshwater source for coastal communities.
A project being conducted by the Ocean Frontier Institute off P.E.I.’s north shore is searching for groundwater below the floor of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The search involves seismic testing of cracks of the sea floor to determine the presence of groundwater, followed by an electromagnetic exploration to identify any existing fluids.
The discovery of viable groundwater in the sea could be of extreme importance to residents on the island. Climate change is believed to have a negative impact on water flow, affecting what is available to the province.
Researchers hope to know not only how much water might be present but how much of it can be used.
The research team is also exploring if aquifers under the sea are connected to those under the land mass, allowing for the modeling of possible extraction.
The impact on P.E.I. residents, as to how they might be affected by a potential new groundwater discovery, is another component of the research project.
The Canadian-funded Ocean Frontier Institute’s research project includes the involvement of Atlantic Canadian universities and partnerships with North American and European organizations.
REFLECTING ON MY PRESIDENCY
It’s hard to believe this will be the last time that I will be sending out my President’s Message in The Source. As I began my term as president at our last Convention/AGM in the Spring of 2019, we had no idea what the next three years would bring. No one saw the COVID-19 pandemic coming and all the changes that would need to be made. As an essential industry, we all worked hard to keep the water flowing to the millions of Ontarians that rely on us to supply potable water.
With millions of Canadians vaccinated, we are now able to ease back to a more normal existence and put the worst of the pandemic behind us. Many of the things we moved towards during the pandemic are probably here to stay (like video meetings) and other things may only persist in specific situations (like masking in medical settings). Either way, fuel prices won’t be going down any time soon!
Looking back over the last three years, while we have been sidetracked by COVID and other unforeseen obstacles, we have worked together for the best interests of the OGWA. We have increased the amount and scope of our member benefits, most importantly with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. We have solidified our annual Scholarship Golf Tournament as a mainstay of our calendar and have raised thousands of dollars for young people
entering our industry. We have worked through challenges with the MOE and our Continuing Education Courses and got our members the training they needed to maintain their licences. Changes to our internal structure have us better organized and we continue to update our operations to serve you better.
As you read this message, the weekend of our most recent AGM will be upon us. This year’s Annual General Meeting will be a combination of on-line and in-person participation. It was/is/will be at the Lamplighter Inn in London (the same place as the last AGM we were able to have!). A new slate of board members will be elected, and a new executive will be put in place.
I would like to thank the members of the board of directors who have served with me over the past three years. Some board members have decided to move on, while others plan on continuing to serve into the future. Regardless, I appreciate your service to our association, and all your efforts towards the betterment of the ground water industry. I look forward to working with the continuing and new board members in the role of past president. Be healthy. Be safe. Be well.
MATT WILSON, President
IN MEMORIAM Donald Wilfred Goll
Donald Wilfred Goll of Harriston passed away at Palmerston & District Hospital on Tuesday, May 17, 2022, in his 83rd year.
He was the husband of Donna (Shannon) Goll and father of Douglas Goll.
He was the brother to Bertha Bester of Kilbride, Marilyn Spitzig and Dave Spiesz of Walkerton, Harold Goll of Mildmay, Carl and Pat Goll of Walkerton, Rosemary and Ray Meyers of Harriston, Lynda and Paul Hill of Ayton, Mary Ann Lewis and Dave Erwin of Hanover, Alvin and Wendy Goll of Wingham, Dennis
INSIDE THE ISSUE
Executive Director’s Report
A trip down memory lane
OGWA Golf Tournament
A look ahead at September’s event
OGWA Membership Application
Time to Apply or Renew
CFIB Benefits
Our partner, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, has many benefits and resources to help you
and Joan Goll of Walkerton, Susan Smith of Hanover, and Alfred and Gayle Goll of Formosa. He was the brother-in-law of Catherine Goll of Walkerton, and Eleanore and Wes Gerber of Clifford. He is also remembered by his many nieces and nephews.
Don was predeceased by his brother Gerald Goll, brothers-in-law Wilfred Bester and Mervin Keller, and by his parents Elmer and Marie (Niesen) Goll.
Visitation was held May 21 at the Hardy-Lee Funeral Home in Harriston. Interment was at Mount Forest Cemetery.
PUBLISHED FOR THE ONTARIO GROUND WATER ASSOCIATION
Canadian Pipe & Pump Supply Ltd. 416-244-6476 Fax: 416- 241-2022
JEFFERY MCCRACKEN Franklin Electric 647-641-2178
KYLE SMITH
Aardvark Drilling Inc. 519-826-9340 Fax: 519-826-9108
BRYAN WATSON Hart & Sons Well Drilling Ltd. 705-887-3331 Fax 705-887-4788
MATTHEW D. WILSON
J.B. Wilson & Son Well Drilling Ltd. 519-639-9988 Fax: 519-269-3552
A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE
Wow, it’s that time again! Where does the time go? Time is money is a favourite saying of many! I will tell you this – I have rarely had a point in my life where I have had enough time or money. I am intrigued at the correlation of the two and how it works into our modern – am I still able to say modern – life. How it has changed life and our industry, especially in comparison to, say, 50 years or 100 years or 200 years ago.
So, there have been many discussions, arguments and perhaps conclusions made to the legislated and market-based trends to the governance of the commodification of water. It is relatively clear these debates will be ongoing, and to say we have it at hand is naive. It is said an estimated one billion people do not have access to safe drinking water – “a basic need to life.” “Water promises to be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th century: the precious commodity that determines the wealth of nations.” [Barlow & Clarke (25 September 2017). Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water. New York: The New York Press]. Is water a “human right?” The debate goes on.
Various instances in the last few weeks have led me to the point of this discussion today and I will attempt to be concise and keep the rambling under control. No promises, but here goes.
As you all I’m sure realize, I’m provided the opportunity to speak to you on and off throughout the months – most often with purpose around one issue or another, but we often talk about what is going on generally. Due to my background, I especially enjoy the conversations with contractors around drilling and pump issues. That is where I came from. As I have said here before, when I was not in school, I started following my dad around at the age of 9. I have been around this business for a long time. He firmly implanted in us (myself, my brother, and our employees) that we should not sell to or do for any client anything we would not want to own ourselves. It was his rule. It has stuck with me all these years.
Like most seniors I have a great ability to look back and use that lens to look at where I am at. To top it off I am somewhat of a history buff. I am a firm believer in Winston Churchill’s 1948 paraphrase of Georges Santayana when he told the House of Commons, “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it,” and so my story goes.
To pull this all together and give you an idea what I am on about, let’s start with this scenario. I do not know for sure and am only assuming as I certainly have no reference material at hand, that the first well drilled was a communal affair, developed for the common good. Some of the earliest evidence of water wells is in China. The neolithic Chinese discovered and made extensive use of deep drilled groundwater for drinking. It is hard for me to believe one single Chinese gentleman, even with members of his close family, made this happen on his own. It would have been a community group effort, I suspect. We can certainly envision that over the ensuing course of time groups got together to create sources of water, rather like the process of “barn raising” where folks in a community come together for a purpose.
In 1808 in the United States, mechanical drilling was invented by the Ruffner Brothers. They successfully first used mechanical drilling in Charleston, West Virginia to access water at Great Buffalo Lick. This invention allowed many more wells to be drilled efficiently all over America. I do not know for sure but would have to believe that by the time someone discovered an oil-producing well when drilling for an intended drinking water well in Oil Springs, Ont. in 1858, you could hire a well driller for a well on your land. Don’t you wonder what they charged, what it would cost a farmer? I’m sure the information is out there, and I suppose I will have lots of time to find it in my retirement. In the meantime, I stay on record that in relative comparison to other things our customers purchase, a water well and pumping system does not cost enough. I say one more time – $ 85,000 for a vehicle that loses 20 per cent of its value in depreciation the first time you drive it and is generally scrap in 10 years. Try to sell a house or farm with no water – how does one fill a $ 25,000-plus septic system without a well? Then there are the mortgage implications of no water well. Don’t discount your services.
However: I hear my dad now – do not sell to or do for any client anything you would not want to own yourself.
I must trust that you are all producing the very best product you can, following the
provincial guidelines and producing the shallowest wells, with the sweetest water that is available in your area. We all know that water is at different levels in different areas of this province. My well is 110 feet deep and not that far from here that would be 210 feet deep, and as we proceed north up into the province 410 feet deep and it’s so different everywhere.
Word of mouth is the best most cost-effective advertising. So, continuing to weave in the threads of economics, how do you suppose the costs of your equipment compare to those of the past? The first well I ever saw drilled was ours at home (before we were in the business). It was a cable tool rig mounted on what appeared to be a hay wagon, containing the rig and casing, and pulled with an old Ferguson tractor. Once the rig was set in place, the tractor was turned around a big belt that went from the PTO to the rig’s fly wheel, and that was the power source.
The driller spent most of the day with one hand on the cable going up and down and a pocket novel in the other hand. Most adjustments were made because of his feel on the cable, and he worked alone. That would have been around 1960. There were, I am sure, drillers with truck mounted rigs in those days, but this is how he chose to work. Our first rig was a Bucyrus-Erie 22W. Mounted on a truck, it would pull the pipe trailer and a pickup with a water tank in the back to and from the job sites. We called it a “Wayne train.” Wayne was the driller who worked alone. He would set out on a Monday morning and, if luck prevailed, we would see him roll into the yard on a Friday afternoon or evening.
Not always, though invariably, a well could take longer. I remember the great debates when it was suggested that we purchase a rotary rig. Cable tool was too slow and clients on the waiting list were never happy. Rotary was too fast for my dad who said it was too easy to miss water, and eventually my brother won him over with an air rotary and cable tool combination. Eventually, that rig became a triple combination with air rotary, mud rotary and cable tool. It took a much larger water truck and never ever
worked with only one man, but did allow faster drilling. Certainly, in these three scenarios covering several decades you can see where the cost of manpower and equipment would be dramatically different if we had those numbers to analyze.
Now consider the cost of the purchase of a new rig, water truck, pipe trailer, pickup truck, tools, pipe, supplies, and at least two employees with a living wage and benefits to keep them happy and coming back to work. Don’t forget in these current times the other costs of doing business – licenses, and insurance as well as someone in the office to keep it all straight.
Wow, is it any wonder we don’t see many start-ups from new? So, like farming you need a lot of capital.
In closing I will say there are still the same number of minutes in an hour, the same number of hours in a day and the same number of days in a week. They are all just increasingly more expensive than they were, perhaps even more than yesterday. Is water a commodity? In my opinion if it isn’t now, it soon will be. Well drilling is an industry that is changing dramatically as well. Local family-owned companies are giving way to corporate ownership, larger companies who own a few smaller companies and bringing them under one umbrella. Times are a changing and sure have from my vantage point.
What started this all? As I said early on here, numerous conversations contributed to this thought process. Finally, two significant pictures shared by a member driller: one of a drilled well with wooden casing still in use – I bet that does not owe anybody anything – and finally a picture of a cable tool rig all painted up – an elderly driller’s pride and joy, I am sure. When you think of the well, the rig and the driller, I’m sure each is responsible for hundreds and hundreds of gallons of water over the years – “a basic need to life.”
Keep your eye on the OGWA website for all the news and events.
CRAIG STAINTON, Executive Director
STAY ON TOP OF ONTARIO BILL 88 REGULATIONS
Hello to all!
How great to “see” you all for the Regionals! I hope that you found the courses informative! Sadly, COVID-19 is still here in Ontario – not to the same degree perhaps, but the case count is up there.
On any given week, my employers are running at 75 per cent capacity due to this virus and absenteeism. Remember to stay home if you are feeling ill and use those rapid test kits!
Ontario reminders:
The Ontario Government passed Bill 88. A couple of items that you need to be aware of:
• Fines for convictions under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) have increased: individuals up to $500,000 and directors or offices of corporations up to $1.5 million, per offence.
• There is a new Electronic Monitoring written policy requirement for those with 25 employees. If this applies to your company, you will need to have a policy in place by Oct. 11, 2022.
Coming down the pipe at some point in time is the Naloxone policy
requirement. Stay tuned for more information on this one!
Should the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development (MLTSD) adopt the CSA Standard for First Aid (kits and training), then this will be another area that you need to address. At this time, there is no talk on “when” these will come in.
The WSIB has just announced that small businesses (1-99 employees) will receive a $1,000 signing incentive for joining the WSIB Health and Safety Excellence program in 2022. They have also added some other goodies in for small businesses. If you wish any information on this program, please let me know!
Take care – hope to see you at the AGM!
ELLALINE J. DAVIES, P.GSC, CHSO, CHSR
Exemplar Global: ISO 45001 Lead Auditor
Exemplar Global: ISO 45001 Lead Management Consultant
Exemplar Global ID. 115238
President, Safety Works Consulting Inc.
WELL WISE WATER
TESTING PROGRAM
Administered by the Ontario Ground Water Association
In Ontario, well owners should test their water quality regularly until it can be considered stable. Bacteriological testing is provided by the Ministry of Health at no charge to property owners and Well Wise does not offer those tests.
To be sure of what your water contains be it natural or man-made contaminants we recommend your water be tested at minimum for Metals, Minerals & Salts. Drilled wells are generally stable, however shallow wells, surface water sources or wells influenced by surface water should be checked more frequently.
The only way to tell if your drinking water is safe is by having it tested.
Test Packages offered include: Metals/Minerals/Salts, Solvents, Fuels, Mercury, Fluoride, Sulphide, Tannin/Lignin, Glyphosates & OP Pesticides/Herbicides. This test will provide a general chemistry of your water. The minimum recommended testing is the Metals, Minerals & Salts package.
1,2-Dichloropropane Xylenes, total cis-1,3-Dichloropropylene
Fuels
Volatiles Hydrocarbons
Benzene
Ethylbenzene
Toluene
m/p-Xylene
o-Xylene
Xylenes, total
F1 PHCs (C6-C10)
F2 PHCs (C10-C16)
F3 PHCs (C16-C34)
F4 PHCs (C34-C50)
Fluoride
Anions
Fluoride
Mercury Metals
Mercury
Sulphide
General Inorganics
Sulphide
Tannin/Lignin
General Inorganics
Tannin & Lignin
Glyphosates (Roundup)
Glyphosates
For more information or to order a test visit: http://www.ogwa.ca/ resources/wellwise
Send your order form to: wellwise@ogwa.ca
Difficulties or to order by phone call: (519) 245-7194 extension 101 Return shipping is included with your order.
ONTARIO GROUND WATER ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS
Ontario Ground Water Association Membership Benefits
Ontario Ground Water Association Membership Benefits
The OGWA has negotiated special Corporate Membership rates with the 3 district areas in Ontario with CAA. Please remember besides roadside assistance CAA offer members discountson many goods and services. CAA Members can enjoy the features and services offered by affiliate auto clubs across North America and around the world.
The OGWA has negotiated special Corporate Membership rates with the 3 district areas in Ontario with CAA. Please remember besides roadside assistance CAA offer members discounts on many goods and services. CAA Members can enjoy the features and services offered by affiliate auto clubs across North America and around the world.
Enjoy all the Benefits brought to you by being associated with the NGWA, as a member of the Ontario Ground Water Association you will have access to many of the programs and offerings brought to you by the largest groundwater association in the world.
Enjoy all the Benefits brought to you by being associated with the NGWA, as a member of the Ontario Ground Water Association you will have access to many of the programs and offerings brought to you by the largest groundwater association in the world.
As the largest insurer of groundwater contractors in Canada, Lackner McLennan Insurance has made available a unique and taylor-made product covering all aspects of your insurance requirements. Starting back in 1992 they have continued to service the industry’s changing requirements and have earned the trust of over 200 professional groundwater companies. Your company’s assets are your investment and Lackner McLennan will provide you the protection required for you Automobiles, Buildings, Contents, Equipment and Commercial Liability.
As the largest insurer of groundwater contractors in Canada, Lackner McLennan Insurance has made available a unique and taylor-made product covering all aspects of your insurance requirements. Starting back in 1992 they have continued to service the industryʼs changing requirements and have earned the trust of over 200 professional groundwater companies. Your companyʼs assets are your investment and Lackner McLennan will provide you the protection required for you Automobiles, Buildings, Contents, Equipment and Commercial Liability.
Recently through the Economical Insurance Company, we can now offer a reduced cost Home and Automobile insurance product available to all your employees. This offering is an employment benefit that comes to you at no cost. Have your employees call direct for savings on their personal insurance requirements.
Recently through the Economical Insurance Company, we can now offer a reduced cost Home and Automobile insurance product available to all your employees. This offering is an employment benefit that comes to you at no cost. Have your employees call direct for savings on their personal insurance requirements.
Thrifty Car Rental services offers special member rates and benefits throughout all their North American locations and access to their Blue-Chip Express Rental Program with availability to commercial vehicles - pickups and vans.
Thrifty Car Rental services offers special member rates and benefits throughout all their North American locations and access to their Blue-Chip Express Rental Program with availability to commercial vehicles - pickups and vans.
GOSTWEAR provides good quality Canadian and American made work wear for you and your employees. Please visit their website and take advantage of free shipping on orders over $149.00 - https://www.gostwear.com
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Choice Hotels is Canada’s largest lodging chain with over 270 hotels coast to coast. They offer 8 distinct brands at different budget levels providing more lodging choices than any other hotel chainin the world. Choice Hotels also represents hotel brands in 46 countries with more than 4700 locations. Offering a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee to our members or there is no charge for your room.
Choice Hotels is Canadaʼs largest lodging chain with over 270 hotels coast to coast. They offer 8 distinct brands at different budget levels providing more lodging choices than any other hotel chain in the world. Choice Hotels also represents hotel brands in 46 countries with more than 4700 locations. Offering a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee to our members or there is no charge for your room.
OGWA Members’ Newest Benefit Program. 1% above dealer invoice pricing! As a member of the Ontario Ground Water Association, you can purchase or lease a new Ford or Lincoln vehicle from Parkway Ford Lincoln Waterloo. When it comes to your bottom line, your membership in the OGWA pays dividends.
OGWA Members' Newest Benefit Program. 1% above dealer invoice pricing! As a member of the Ontario Ground Water Association, you can purchase or lease a new Ford or Lincoln vehicle from Parkway Ford Lincoln Waterloo. When it comes to your bottom line, your membership in the OGWA pays dividends.
Discover the value CFIB has to offer its members. Get resources from business experts, access webinars and templates for common HR issues. Get exclusive discounts on payment processing, banking, payroll, shipping and more. Have your say with policies that affect your business, as CFIB is your strong voice for Canadian Businesses and included in your OGWA Membership.
Perkopolis is Canada’s leading provider of fully managed perk programs, continually sourcing exclusive, high-value offers, rewards, and benefits. Get savings on entertainment, travel, shopping, dining and more! Included in your OGWA membership.
ONTARIO GROUND WATER ASSOCIATION
NEW MEMBERSHIP
MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL *RETURNING MEMBER
* NOTE: If your Membership has lapsed in the last 3 years and you are re-applying there is a $100 re-instatement fee
New, renewing or returning members of the OGWA are required to log-in to the Members Only section and create/update their profile. There are many benefits to the “members only portal” including a robust search engine for the public You can effectively advertise the services your business has to offer and the preferred geographical area in which you work. Your OGWA membership entitles you to automatically become a member of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and the National Ground Water Association (NGWA). Information on your profile will be listed in those memberships. Please keep you profile current. accurate.
COMPANY INFORMATION:
COMPANY NAME:
MAIN CONTACT NAME:
ADDRESS: CITY:
PROVINCE:
CONTACT EMAIL:
POSTAL CODE
BILLING EMAIL:
BUS PHONE: CELL: FAX:
CONTRACTORS MECP LICENCE NUMBER: EXPIRY DATE : MANDITORY: MECP CONTRACTOR LICENCE NUMBER REQUIRED FOR ALL QUALIFIED CONTRACTORS
CHOOSE YOUR MEMBERSHIP CATEGORY/DIVISION CONTRACTORS
Groundwater Contractor with 1 Licenced Technician $395.00
Groundwater Contractor with 2 Licenced Technicians $490 00
Groundwater Contractor with 3 Licenced Technicians $585 00
Groundwater Contractor with 4 Licenced Technicians $680 00
Groundwater Contractor with 5 Licenced Technicians $775 00
Groundwater Contractor with 6 Licenced Technicians $870 00
Groundwater Contractor with 7 Licenced Technicians $965 00
SCIENTISTS/ENGINEERS
Scientist/Engineers <10 Ground Water Professionals
Scientist/Engineers 10-20 Ground Water Professionals
Scientist/Engineers >20 Ground Water Professionals
$550 00
$875 00
$1350.00 GOVERNMENT AND ASSOCIATES
An individual or organization interested in the welfare and success of the Ground Water Industry but unable to be classified in any other of our membership categories may apply to this division/category. Please note, this division/category receives no voting power.
with 1 Salesperson/Associate
Supplier with 2 Salesperson/Associate
Supplier with 3 Salesperson/Associate
Supplier with 4 Salesperson/Associate
Supplier with 5 Salesperson/Associate
Supplier with 6 Salesperson/Associate
More than 6? See checkout on next page
MANUFACTURERS
Manufacturers with 1 Associate
Manufacturers with 2 Associate
Manufacturers with 3 Associate
Manufacturers with 4 Associate
Manufacturers with 5 Associate Manufacturers with 6 Associate
$130 00
ONLY COMPANY NAMES, BUNDLE MANAGERS, ENROLLED SALESPERSONS AND ASSOCIATES WILL APPEAR IN OUR PRINTED MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY THEY WILL HAVE ACCESS TO THE MEMBERS’ ONLY PORTAL AND WILL BE SEARCHABLE ON OUR WEBSITE ALL UN PAID STAFF LISTED IN YOUR PROFILE WILL NOT RECEIVE MEMBERSHIP DISCOUNTS WHEN REGISTERING FOR EVENTS AND WILL BE BILLED AT THE NON-MEMBERS RATES.
ONTARIO GROUND WATER ASSOCIATION 2022 MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION (CONTINUED)
NEW MEMBERSHIP
MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL *RETURNING MEMBER
* NOTE: If your Membership has lapsed in the last 3 years and you are re-applying there is a $100 re-instatement fee
New, renewing or returning members of the OGWA are required to log-in to the Members Only section and create/update their profile. There are many benefits to the “members only portal” including a robust search engine for the public. You can effectively advertise the services your business has to offer and the preferred geographical area in which you work Your OGWA membership entitles you to automatically become a member of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and the National Ground Water Association (NGWA) Information on your profile will be listed in those memberships Please keep you profile current accurate.
COMPANY INFORMATION:
COMPANY NAME:
MAIN CONTACT NAME:
ADDRESS: CITY:
PROVINCE:
CONTACT EMAIL:
POSTAL CODE
BILLING EMAIL:
BUS PHONE: CELL: FAX:
CONTRACTORS MECP LICENCE NUMBER: EXPIRY DATE : MANDITORY: MECP CONTRACTOR LICENCE NUMBER REQUIRED FOR ALL QUALIFIED CONTRACTORS
Groundwater Contractor with 2 Licenced Technicians
SUPPLIERS
$395.00 Supplier with 1 Salesperson/Associate $675.00
Groundwater Contractor with 3 Licenced Technicians $585 00
Groundwater Contractor with 4 Licenced Technicians
Supplier with 2 Salesperson/Associate
$490 00 $805 00 $860 00
$680 00
Groundwater Contractor with 5 Licenced Technicians $775 00
Groundwater Contractor with 6 Licenced Technicians $870 00
Groundwater Contractor with 7 Licenced Technicians $965 00
SCIENTISTS/ENGINEERS
Scientist/Engineers <10 Ground Water Professionals
Scientist/Engineers 10-20 Ground Water Professionals
Scientist/Engineers >20 Ground Water Professionals
GOVERNMENT AND ASSOCIATES
An individual or organization interested in the welfare and success of the Ground Water Industry but unable to be classified in any other of our membership categories may apply to this division/category. Please note, this division/category receives no voting power.
$550.00
$875 00
$1350 00
$130.00
Supplier with 3 Salesperson/Associate
Supplier with 4 Salesperson/Associate
Supplier with 5 Salesperson/Associate
Supplier with 6 Salesperson/Associate
More than 6? See checkout on next page
MANUFACTURERS
Manufacturers with 1 Associate Manufacturers with 2 Associate Manufacturers with 3 Associate
Manufacturers with 4 Associate
Manufacturers with 5 Associate Manufacturers with 6 Associate
ONLY COMPANY NAMES, BUNDLE MANAGERS, ENROLLED SALESPERSONS AND ASSOCIATES WILL APPEAR IN OUR PRINTED MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY. THEY WILL HAVE ACCESS TO THE MEMBERS’ ONLY PORTAL AND WILL BE SEARCHABLE ON OUR WEBSITE. ALL UN PAID STAFF LISTED IN YOUR PROFILE WILL NOT RECEIVE MEMBERSHIP DISCOUNTS WHEN REGISTERING FOR EVENTS AND WILL BE BILLED AT THE NON-MEMBERS RATES.
CHECKING IN ON CANADA’S GROUNDWATER
Experts weigh in on the status of this all-important resource.
Groundwater is one of Canada’s most important, yet poorly understood resources. Canada is often perceived as a country with a seemingly unlimited supply of freshwater, but that surface water is only the tip of the iceberg among the nation’s freshwater reserves.
by MIKE JIGGENS
RIGHT: Canada’s dependence on groundwater as its primary drinking water source has been on the rise for the past 50-plus years. With this dependency expected to grow, it’s important this valuable resource is protected for future generations.
A larger reserve lies underground in the form of groundwater – most of which exists as an invisible entity.
“The groundwater reserves have an enormous yet often unrecognized strategic and economic value worldwide, and it’s something that’s becoming even more significant in light of the changing climatic conditions,” David Rudolph, a professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Waterloo, remarked on World Water Day in March.
Rudolph led a virtual panel discussion –sponsored by the university – to commemorate
World Water Day. The “cross-country checkup on Canada’s groundwater” featured insights from some of the country’s foremost authorities on the subject, who shared their perspectives on the future of one of Canada’s most valuable resources.
Panel members included Dr. Grant Ferguson, professor of civil, environmental and geological engineering at the University of Saskatchewan’s school of environment and sustainability; Magdalena Krol, associate professor in the department of civil engineering at York University; Dr. Andrea Brookfield, assistant
professor at the University of Waterloo; Dr. Barret Kurylyk, assistant professor at Dalhousie University’s department of civil and resource engineering; Dr. Jean-Michel Lemieux, professor of geology and geological engineering at Université Laval; and Dr. Tom Gleeson, associate professor at the University of Waterloo’s department of civil engineering.
Rudolph noted Canada’s dependence on groundwater as its primary drinking water resource realized a significant spike between the years 1970 and 2015, with an increase of about 10 per cent to 30 per cent. Today, about 10 million Canadians depend daily on groundwater as their source of freshwater.
“This dependency is expected to grow,” he said.
Canada’s dependency on groundwater varies from province to province. In Ontario, for example, about 40 per cent of the population relies on groundwater while the entire province of Prince Edward Island is dependent on the resource.
GRANT FERGUSON
Ferguson, whose research is focused on hydrogeology and hydrogeochemistry of deep groundwater systems and the interplay between energy and groundwater resources, said the earth’s store of groundwater is massive compared with other parts of the hydrogeological cycle.
“We have about 48 million cubic kilometres of groundwater beneath our feet on the continents,” he said.
The turnover rate for the resource is slow, however, he noted. Some groundwater is shallow – perhaps only a few metres beneath our feet near the water table that is turning over. It’s snow melt that’s being recharged with some of it entering rivers and wetlands. Much further below the surface is water that melted from glaciers following the last Ice Age.
Ferguson said that although it represents a huge resource, not all of it is accessible because it’s too deep in the ground and some of it is apt to be poor in quality.
There are some places throughout the world where well drilling is getting increasingly deeper to access this older
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water, but he questioned how it can be renewed if it’s so old.
As we look to the future, he said it will likely mean pumping more groundwater as surface water becomes scarcer due to climate change and increased demand.
“We have a huge resource in groundwater but also a huge challenge in terms of management because we can’t see it, and accessing some of
these deeper areas presents a serious challenge.”
MAGDALENA KROL
The beauty of groundwater, Krol said, is that it connects with subsurfaces, but she questioned what would happen if the top of the surface was contaminated.
“Those pollutants can percolate through the ground and contaminate
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that groundwater,” she said.
Not only can a river be impacted, but the spread can also reach domestic wells and lead people to ingest contaminated groundwater. Contamination can occur in both rural and urban settings by various means.
Krol cited such scenarios as improper waste disposal sites, gasoline spills, septic tanks, underground storage tanks, sewer pipe leakage and other accidental spills. It presents both a national and global concern. In Ontario, there are close to 4,000 contaminated sites, including about 500 where groundwater is contaminated.
“These sites are typically in urban settings, which are called brownfield sites, but they can also be in rural areas.”
Groundwater can be remediated by various means, including a pump-andtreat system in which contaminated groundwater is extracted, treated and put back into the subsurface or surface water body, by thermal technology or by electrical resistance heating. There are physical ways of cleaning up compounds as well as natural methods such as injecting microbes into the surface to help degrade the compounds at that site.
In more recent years, science has looked at making remediation technology more sustainable and “green.”
Krol said such methods as electrical resistance heating and pump-andtreat strategies use up a lot of energy, prompting the scientific community to explore ways to reduce the amount of energy required.
Solar and thermal energy are two such considerations.
“Overall, what we really want to do is reduce the risk to humans as well as the environment, and we do that by either getting rid of the contaminants by remediating sites and making sure there are no receptors for those contaminants or getting rid of the exposure pathways. By getting rid of one of these things, we’re reducing the risk.”
ANDREA BROOKFIELD
Brookfield looked at the hydrogeological conditions of an agricultural region
where water is scarce due to overuse and mismanagement, and where the economic impact of drought is severe.
Recalling research from her previous tenure at the University of Kansas, she said most of the state’s groundwater is used to irrigate agricultural crops, which is the major economic driver in Kansas. Significant declines in groundwater have been observed over the years, however. In some areas of the state, the groundwater level in the aquifer has dropped almost 100 metres because more water is being pulled out than that going back in. Most of this is attributed to irrigation.
Brookfield said efforts are now being made to manage this condition, assessing what is happening, identifying the trends and working toward the future.
Monitoring the groundwater provides a snapshot of what the resource is doing and is being done in January when wells aren’t actively pumping and when aquifers can recover the most from irrigation pumping. Sensors are placed in monitoring wells to access data in real time.
“We see that daily fluctuation in our water levels,” she said.
Groundwater levels had become so depleted over the years to a point where irrigation would begin but couldn’t be sustained over an entire season. Brookfield said farmers might be forced to vary their pump rate or turn to dry land farming.
“There are implications here for the economics of not only the landowner, but the state and country as a whole, because this is a huge agricultural contributor to the country and is quite drastic.”
In Kansas, groundwater has made itself visible in a sense, but not in a good way, she said. Areas in the western and central parts of the state have produced streams that are no longer flowing except during intermittent precipitation events.
Brookfield said a trend is emerging in the U.S. south where a consistent decline in base flow to streams is being realized, and it’s happening during each month of the year and not necessarily during only hotter periods.
“This is troubling.”
What this means for Canada, she said, is that we must assess how much groundwater we have and ensure we
don’t find ourselves in Kansas’ situation.
Current studies being conducted in the Maritime provinces show a decline in its base flow in April. Perhaps it’s just a shift in water events and is not a serious issue, Brookfield speculated, but maybe it’s something more. In Canada’s west and north, significant declines are being realized during the summer months.
“Perhaps we’re OK, but we do have to watch and measure and assess these resources to make sure that if we do
change how we’re using them, we do it in a way that’s sustainable.”
Planning for Canada’s groundwater future requires gathering information now, she said, adding it must continue and be augmented with an understanding of the resources we have and how they can be managed effectively.
BARRET KURYLYK
Kurylyk has been studying the impact on coastal aquifers by society and climate change. A transition zone
MICROPLASTICS AND FARMLAND
Focus on the Environment.
Plastic particles smaller than 5mm (known as microplastics) are well-documented pollutants in ocean and freshwater habitats. The discovery of microplastics in the most remote rivers of the Himalayas and the deepest trenches of the Pacific Ocean has sparked widespread concern. But how much microplastic lies closer to home – buried in the soil where food is grown?
Our latest study estimated that between 31,000 and 42,000 tonnes of microplastics (or 86 trillion-710 trillion microplastic particles) are spread on European farmland soils each year, mirroring the concentration of microplastics in ocean surface waters.
The cause is microplastic-laden fertilizers derived from sewage sludge diverted from wastewater treatment plants. These are commonly spread on farmland as a renewable source of fertilizer throughout European countries, in part due to EU directives that aim to promote a circular waste economy.
As well as creating a massive reservoir of environmental microplastics, this practice is effectively undoing the benefit of removing these particles from wastewater. Spreading microplastics onto farmland will eventually return them to natural watercourses, as rain washes water on the surface of soil into rivers, or it eventually infiltrates groundwater.
Wastewater treatment plants remove solid contaminants (such as plastics and other large particles) from raw sewage and drain water using a series of settling tanks. This produces an effluent of clean water that can be released to the environment. The floating material and settled particles from these tanks are combined to form the sludge used as fertilizer.
We found that up to 650 million microplastic particles between 1mm and 5mm in
filtered from sewage sludge at
wastewater treatment plant.
size entered a wastewater treatment plant in south Wales, U.K., every day. All of these particles were separated from the incoming sewage and diverted into the sludge rather than being released with the clean effluent. This demonstrates how effective default wastewater treatment can be for removing microplastics.
At this facility, each gram of sewage sludge contained up to 24 microplastic particles, which was roughly 1 per cent of its weight. In Europe, an estimated 8 million to 10 million tonnes of sewage sludge is generated each year, with around 40 per cent sent to farmland. The spreading of sewage sludge on agricultural soil is widely practised across Europe, owing to the nitrogen and phosphorus it offers crops.
U.K. farms also use sewage sludge as fertilizer. In our study, the U.K. had the highest amount of microplastic pollution within its soils across all European nations (followed by Spain, Portugal and Germany). Between 500 and 1,000 microplastic particles are applied to each square metre of agricultural land in the U.K. every year.
At present, there are no adequate solutions to the release of microplastics into
the environment from wastewater treatment plants.
Microplastics removed from wastewater are effectively transported to the land, where they reside until being returned to waterways. According to a study conducted in Ontario, Canada, 99 per cent of microplastics in agricultural soil were transported away from where the sludge was initially applied.
Until then, they have the potential to harm life in the soil. As well as being easily consumed and absorbed by animals and plants, microplastics pose a serious threat to the soil ecosystem because they leach toxic chemicals and transport hazardous pathogens. Experiments have shown that the presence of microplastics can stunt earthworm growth and cause them to lose weight.
Microplastics can also change the acidity, water holding capacity and porosity of soil. This affects plant growth and performance by altering the way roots bury into the soil and take up nutrients.
There is currently no European legislation to limit the amount of microplastics embedded in sewage sludge used as fertilizer. Germany has set upper limits for impurities like glass and plastic, allowing up to 0.1 per cent of wet fertilizer weight to constitute plastics larger than 2mm in size. According to the results from the wastewater treatment plant in south Wales, applying sewage sludge would be prohibited if similar legislation were in place in the U.K.
For the time being, landowners are likely to continue recycling sewage sludge as sustainable fertilizer, despite the risk of contaminating soils and eventually rivers and the ocean with microplastics.
Reprinted from The Conversation under Creative Commons licence and based on EU information.
Microplastics
a
Photo credit: James Lofty
between freshwater and saltwater exists at the mouths of rivers that flow into oceans. The same thing happens in the subsurface with coastal aquifers where there are subterranean estuaries or a mixing zone between freshwater and saltwater.
“One of the most important features of coastal aquifers is this saltwaterfreshwater interface,” he said.
Because Canada boasts the world’s largest coastline, Canadians should be interested in what happens to their coastal aquifers, Kurylyk said. What holds the most interest for him is Canada’s Maritime region which is regarded as a national “hot spot” of sea level rise and where the percentage of people relying on groundwater ranges between 50 and 100 per cent.
“Maritimers use more groundwater per capita than the average Canadian,” he said. “So, what happens to our coastal groundwater matters, and most
GROUNDWATER WEEK
of our communities are along the coast and those who use groundwater are using coastal aquifers for their water supply.”
Nova Scotia has issues with arsenic and manganese as well as groundwater shortages due to drought in the southern part of the province.
On Prince Edward Island, there are issues with nitrate in the agricultural industry and concerns about over pumping.
Saltwater intrusion is driven by sea level rise. There is also downward saltwater intrusion. During coastal storms with high waves, the land surface can be inundated with saltwater which can infiltrate down into the aquifer. Eventually, the infiltrating saltwater will flood the unsaturated zone. Plumes of saltwater can eventually be flushed out with fresh recharge from precipitation and snow melt, but the process can take
anywhere from days and weeks to decades, depending on the geology. In some cases, fresh aquifers may never be seen again in the context of a human lifetime, Kurylyk said.
Freshwater ponds on Sable Island –located about 175 kilometres southeast of the Nova Scotia mainland – have been shrinking over the past few years.
Some ponds are disappearing while others are getting smaller or becoming saltier. The ponds support the island’s ecosystem.
One of the reasons Sable Island is threatened, Kurylyk said, is because it is situated on the path of hurricanes. Flooded seawater infiltrates into the underlying aquifer, and groundwater goes up and down, driven by tides, storms and heavy rainfall. Large spikes are caused by hurricanes and nor’easters.
The aquifers are normally flushed out with rainfall over time. Before they
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GROUNDWATER WEEK
are fully flushed out, however, another storm comes in, he said, adding the frequency of these flooding events will likely continue to increase in the coming decades.
What happens in the ocean doesn’t stay in the ocean, he said, nor does it stay in the land surface. Kurylyk said changing ocean conditions, whether it’s sea level rise or coastal flooding, can trigger devastating impacts on critical coastal groundwater resources, posing a challenge for freshwater security in the coming decades.
JEAN-MICHEL LEMIEUX
Lemieux addressed water supply challenges in Canada’s remote northern communities. Nunavik, Quebec’s northernmost region, is home to 14 villages where drinking water is distributed by tanker trucks because
compromising the quality of surface water in the region as thawing permafrost is creating more erosion, allowing more sediment to enter the water and making water treatment more difficult and more expensive.
He said there have also been more extreme precipitation events in the region that are causing more turbidity and facilitating the transfer of bacteria from fecal matter found on the surface.
Rivers can run dry in winter, prompting the need for other drinking water sources to be found, Lemieux said.
Groundwater isn’t usually considered a source in colder regions for several reasons. The geology makes it difficult to find an aquifer in such environments, and the bedrock is usually composed of crystalline rocks which makes the success of water prospecting about the
said. Most people believe that all groundwater is frozen in areas where there is permafrost, and that it’s not viable for pumping, he noted, but he added there are places where it isn’t frozen and can be used as a source of drinking water.
Drinking water management remains a major issue for northern communities, Lemieux said.
TOM GLEESON
Gleeson, whose work addresses groundwater sustainability and systems, said a “people-centric” approach must be taken toward groundwater sustainability.
He said that if people don’t care enough about social problems, they’re apt not to care about the invisible water in dirt and rocks, either.
“We do a lot of great applied research, but we don’t let community needs and public interest drive our research enough,” Gleeson said. “We deal a lot of with maps and graphs and not enough coming from community needs and
Researchers should listen to community needs and interests first, allowing them to structure research questions, approaches and outcomes, he said. The focus can then be placed on how groundwater is connected to the social, economic and ecological systems rather than simply on the hydrogeology
Putting people and ecosystems first and aquifers and hydrogeology second is the key, he added.
“These types of community-driven needs and interests can and should drive our work in how we relate to the climate crisis, for example.”
One of Gleeson’s projects involves moving away from just hydrogeology by borrowing frameworks from sustainability science and looking at climate, geology, topography, groundwater and surface water interactions.
A social-economic systems framework is being used to map hot spots of water
He said this approach of connective groundwater systems connects people and ecosystems.
Drills the straightest holes
NEW GROUNDWATER SAMPLING PUMP
QED Environmental Systems, Inc., a manufacturer of environmental products and subsidiary of Graco Inc., has announced its Well Wizard ST1000, which provides high sample accuracy and reliability of QED’s Well Wizard dedicated bladder pumps in a smaller diameter format. The sampling device is the heart of every low-flow groundwater monitoring system. The ST1000, which goes deeper than other pumps and has a durable construction, provides value to organizations with these systems.
The ST1000, being 0.80 inches (20mm) OD, can sample wells as small as one inch in diameter at depths of more than 600 feet (183m), which is deeper than other small-diameter bladder pumps. Further, wells can be sampled at almost unlimited depth with its optional drop tube inlet kit.
This pump also fits larger wells with partial obstruction.
The pump proves reliable in many environments, and the long life of the bladder provides years of reliable operation. The pump is defined by its durability. It has a 316 stainless steel construction and uses QED’s exclusive DuraFlex PTFS bladder formulation. The pump also uses a QED twin bonded tubing, specifically, HDPE that is either teflonlined or all teflon. QED provides a 10-year sampling
pump warranty.
The ST1000 is also distinguished by its performance. The pump has an operating pressure of up to 300 PSI. It also supports flow rates up to 474 milliliters per minute (ml/min). Further, the pump achieves low flow sampling accuracy that is EPA accepted.
These pneumatic bladder pumps are specifically designed for superior lowflow sampling performance. They operate with a unique, gentle action ideal for lowflow sampling. Their timed on/off cycles of compressed air also alternately squeeze the flexible bladder to displace water out of the pump, and then release it to allow the pump to refill by submergence. This all occurs without creating any disturbance that could affect sample chemistry.
These pumps run easily at low rates for extended times, without having problems associated with other pumps on the market. For example, there is no overheating of high-speed electric pump motors, a problem that can alter samples and ruin pumps.
There is also no churning action, which is seen in bailers or inertial-lift samplers that increase turbidity. Degassing of dissolved volatile contaminants is also avoided, as there is no suction. Moreover, the pump helps protect against disturbance or the risk of cross contamination, as the bladder prevents contact between the pump drive air and the sample, and the down well equipment is permanently dedicated to each well.
wwww.qedenv.com.
Post-COVID biz development
by Dave Mercer
Don’t ignore what was learned during the pandemic
Two years ago, in this column I talked about what changes we needed to make to our business development strategies in the time of COVID. Specifically, I addressed how to be visible, exhaust your rolodex, and pivot during the “new normal.” But now Canada and the world are starting to open up again. In-person events and meetings are happening, and air travel is picking up. Should we abandon our COVID strategies and simply go back to what we were doing before?
In a word – no. Although our world is reopening, it has also changed. More people are working remotely and spending less time in an office. Video conferencing will increasingly replace business trips. The new normal is now a hybrid of how we did business pre-COVID and during COVID. Our business development strategies need to be a hybrid as well. Let’s look at the three basics of business development that we did in 2020 and see what we need to be doing differently in 2022 and beyond.
1
– BE VISIBLE
Businesses need to be visible in the marketplace to survive. In the past we relied heavily on in-person activities like trade shows and networking events. During COVID we needed to find ways to get noticed online.
As we look forward, my best advice is to not let up on your digital marketing efforts even though you may be participating in more in-person events. The items we discussed, like your website, social media activity, Google ads and Google My Business presence are just as important in the hybrid business world as they were during COVID. Use your digital marketing to support your in-person sales and marketing and use the presentations and experiences from in-person events to create content for your digital marketing. The trade-off is you’ll be visible to a lot more potential customers and clients.
2 – EXHAUST YOUR ROLODEX
Just because you’re back out on the road doesn’t mean you should stop reaching out to people online. During COVID there was a lack of networking events, and I recommended “exhausting your rolodex” to connect with your existing contacts. The idea wasn’t to stop finding ways to network or make connections (see pivoting), but at a time when we were all isolated it made sense to reach out and check in with people.
As networking events come back, it may be tempting to put away that rolodex. Do so at your own peril. Maintaining relationships is a major key to business success, and anything that you had put in place to that end during COVID should remain on your to-do list. Getting out and making new connections is an important part of sales, but business more than often comes from existing relationships. Keep reaching out.
3 – PIVOT
It became one of the most overused words from the last two years, but during that time we all had to pivot in one way or another to keep doing business. Whether it was sending clients craft beers for a virtual Friday Happy Hour (as a client of mine did to great success), or finding new ways to network online, the key to success was creative, “out of the box” thinking.
The business world is still shifting. The effects of the pandemic are far from over as we all face supply chain issues and labour shortages. We don’t know what normal is going to look like in the near or distant future and that is why pivoting will continue to be an important part of business development. The most successful businesses will be the ones that respond to the ever-changing environment through creative thinking and, of course, pivoting.
Dave Mercer, P. Geo, is a geologist and general manager of the BCGWA. Dave@undergroundcommunications.ca.
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