The IGM project team, Center for Water Quality Research, and Alabama Water Institute at The University of Alabama jointly organized and hosted the NSF EPSCoR workshop on groundwater security planning and management from October 24th to 26th, 2022 at the Bryant Conference Center located on the campus of The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Water security is the availability of acceptable quantity and quality of water for sustaining human health, economic welfare, and the well-being of environmental and ecological systems. The objective of this workshop is to establish collaborative teams of investigators to build sustainable water security management research capabilities across and among multiple EPSCoR jurisdictions. Over 50 participants from various states including the following seven EPSCoR states, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, South Carolina, Kansas, and North Dakota, attended the workshop.
This 3-day workshop provided a scientific forum for researchers, academics, consultants, and industry professionals to discuss and develop novel ideas for solving groundwater and other water security problems that are relevant to EPSCoR and other states. The workshop covered a variety of groundwater security management topics to address our need to access an adequate amount of groundwater to meet basic human needs, support the ecosystem services by maintaining baseflow in streams and rivers, and support economic activities (e.g., agriculture, industry, and tourism) of the region. The workshop also explored the use of novel technology and policy solutions for managing both water quality and quantity problems (e.g., treatment technologies for managing metals, chlorinated solvents, PFAS, and engineering challenges in implementing managed aquifer recharge systems). The workshop was organized into the following 5 sessions (click the individual session to get further details and ppt files).
1. Understanding and Quantifying Natural Aquifer Recharge Processes
2. Understanding and Designing Artificial Aquifer Recharge Processes
3. Policy Solutions to Groundwater Quantity Management (MS vs. TN case study)
4. Groundwater Quality Management and Related Policy Issues
5. PFAS Treatment and Management
Monday: October 24th
| 7:45 – 8:30 a.m. | Registration / Meet & Greet | ||
| 8:30 – 9:05 a.m. | Welcome & Introductions (UA VPR, COE Dean, NOAA, and AWI) | ||
| 9:05 – 9:15 a.m. | Introduction to the GW security workshop (UA team) | ||
| 9:15 – 9:45 a.m. | Lesson learned from the Mississippi Alluvial Valley Project (MAP) and Mississippi Embayment Regional Aquifer Study (MERAS), Wade Kress (USGS) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 9:45 – 10:15 a.m. | Estimation of diffuse recharge and groundwater storage changes through land surface modeling and GRACE/GRACE-FO data assimilation, Bailing Li (NASA) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 10:15 – 10:45 a.m. | Beverage Break | ||
| 10:45 – 11:15 a.m. | Estimated groundwater use in the United States and a national perspective on the availability of data to support water use estimates, Cheryl Dieter (USGS) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 11:15 – 11:45 a.m. | Approaches to high-resolution, regional-scale groundwater storage quantification, Soumendra Bhanja (Oak Ridge National Lab) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 11:45 a.m – 12:00 p.m. | The concept of net inflow concept, an alternate approach for conducting groundwater balance studies using pumping and water-level measurements Jim Butler (Kansas Geological Survey) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 12:00 – 12:30 p.m. | Roundtable discussion on groundwater recharge and water balance assessments | ||
| 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. | Lunch Buffet | ||
| 1:30 – 1:50 p.m. | Methods for managing aquifer recharge (MAR)– the state of the art and the technical challenges, Michael Clay (USARMY CEMVM) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 1:50 – 2:10 p.m. | Groundwater Transfer and Injection Pilot project: A potential managed aquifer recharge technology to support groundwater security of the Mississippi River Valley alluvial, Andrew O’Reilly (USDA) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 2:10 – 2:30 p.m. | Characterizing subsurface systems using different types of geophysical methods including airborne surveys, Wade Kress (USGS) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 2:30 – 2:50 p.m. | Managing artificial recharge in karst and fractured systems – case studies based on Edwards aquifer and Floridian aquifer, Eve Kuniansky (USGS) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 2:50 – 3:10 p.m. | Managed Aquifer Recharge in the Mid-South: Lessons learned and initial findings, Michele Reba (USDA) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 3:10 – 3:30 p.m. | Challenge in managing groundwater plumes in karst aquifers, Daniel Montiel (Geo Syntec Consultants) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 3:30 – 3:50 p.m. | Beverage Break | ||
| 3:50 – 4:05 p.m. | Is human learning relevant in this modern age of machine learning? Standing on the shoulders of giants, a perspective from and for modeling natural systems Mary Hill (University of Kansas) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 4:05 – 5:00 p.m. | Roundtable discussion on MAR to identify various research needs | ||
| 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. | Poster Session & Evening Drinks | ||
| 6:00 p.m. | Conference Dinner |
Tuesday: October 25th
| 8:30 – 8:35 a.m. | Welcome & brief introduction to groundwater quantity and quality management day (UA team) | ||
| 8:35 – 9:00 a.m. | General overview of the recent Supreme Court decision on TN vs. MS case and its implications – groundwater education and management needs, Nimisha Wasankar (UA) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 9:00 – 9:30 a.m. | Review of Kansas v. Colorado equitable apportionment case, and Tarrant Water District v. Herrmann territorial sovereignty case. How do these two different approaches help share different types of water bodies— e.g., rivers (linear flowing sources) and lakes (stagnant sources)? What are their benefits and shortcoming, how can science help advance the dialogue? Heather Elliott (UA) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 9:30 – 10:00 a.m. | What are the advantages and disadvantages of extending the Tarrant vs Herrmann sovereignty logic to groundwater? What are the advantages and disadvantages of extending equitable apportionment logic to groundwater aquifers? What are the challenges and how can science help? Matthew Draper (Draper & Draper LLC) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 10:00 – 10:30 a.m. | Data interpretation: the tipping point between arguments at a national scale – U.S. Supreme Court Case, Brian A Waldron (University of Memphis) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 10:30 – 11:00 a.m. | Beverage Break | ||
| 11:00 – 11:30 a.m. | Is equitable apportionment the magic solution for resolving all interstate groundwater conflicts – what are the challenges from the hydrogeological viewpoint? Greg Guthrie (GSA) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 11:30 – 12:30 p.m. | Roundtable discussion on TN vs MS Supreme Court case and its implication on groundwater management. What is the role of groundwater modeling tools in resolving such interstate problems? Identifying research needs. | ||
| 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. | Lunch Buffet | ||
| 1:30 – 2:00 p.m. | Groundwater Contamination Models for Litigation and Risk Evaluation: A Consultant’s Perspective on Current Practice and Future Directions Charles Andrews (Senior Principal and Former President of S.S. Papadopoulos & Associates, Inc., Maryland) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 2:00 – 2:20 p.m. | Challenges in reconstructing historical drinking water contamination events: A case study of U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Morris Maslia (ATSDR Scientist-Retired, Atlanta) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 2:20 – 2:40 p.m. | Legal issues and recent updates on Camp Lejeune litigation, Kevin Dean (Attorney at Law, Motley Rice LLC) | (Presentation not available) | (Click for Abstract) |
| 2:40 – 3:00 p.m. | Health impacts of large-scale arsenic contaminations- a case study from Panjab, India, Prasad Modak (Director, Ekonnect Knowledge Foundation & Managing Director, Environmental Management Centre Pvt. Ltd.) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 3:00 – 3:20 p.m. | Challenges in linking diseases to contaminated water exposure data Jeffrey Wickliffe (Professor & Chair, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, UAB) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 3:20 – 3:40 p.m. | Quantifying the health impacts of environmental contaminants using different organism and animal models—UA research capabilities, Ravi Majeti (UA) | (Presentation not available) | (Click for Abstract) |
| 3:40 – 4:00 p.m. | Beverage Break | ||
| 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. | Roundtable discussion on groundwater contamination assessment – research needs | ||
| 5:00 p.m. | Adjourn and dinner on your own – enjoy one of our local restaurants! See attached listing for recommendations. |
Wednesday: October 26th
| 7:45 – 8:30 a.m. | Registration / Meet & Greet | ||
| 8:45 – 9:15 a.m. | Challenges posed by emerging groundwater contaminants – discussion of PFAS case studies and scientific needs for health and fate-and-transport assessment, Rebecca Fonseca (Attorney at Law, Motley Rice LLC) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 9:15 – 9:45 a.m. | Combine targeted PFAS analysis with adsorbable organic fluorine measurement to reveal PFAS contamination in water, Mei Sun (UNC) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 9:45 – 10:15 a.m. | PFAS and Water: Research at the Water Tower Institute, EPA Regulations, and Analytical Methods, Chris Impellitteri (TWT) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 10:15 – 10:45 a.m. | Beverage Break | ||
| 10:45 – 11:00 a.m. | Functionalized membranes for enhanced PFAS treatment, Milad Esfahani (UA) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 11:00 – 11:15 a.m. | Mapping multiple contaminant sources from class-4 injection wells and quantifying risks – lessons learned, Rohit Goswami (RRG Consultants, Texas) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 11:15 – 11:30 a.m. | Exploration of treatment technologies for PFAS remediation, Achintya Bezbaruah (North Dakota State University) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 11:30 – 11:45 a.m. | Sorption processes to monitor PFAS, Steven Weinman (UA) | (Click for Abstract) | |
| 11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. | Roundtable discussion (potential opportunities for consultants/regulators/academics) | ||
| 12:45 – 1:30 p.m. | Boxed Lunch & Program Wrap-Up | ||
| 1:30 – 3:00 p.m. | Optional session: Report writing, and identification of possible joint proposal idea |