Service

Environmental

Environmental

Always Innovative

Groundwater quality investigations at local and regional scales

LSCE’s environmental services address groundwater quality at local and regional scales including anthropogenic and naturally occurring water quality phenomena. Projects range from site-specific investigations at wastewater treatment plants, landfills, mining operations, and other facilities to non-point source regional water quality issues. We repeatedly demonstrate novel and innovative approaches to tackling intractable issues, including regional concerns associated with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program, and the Central Valley Dairy Representative Monitoring Program.

 

Expertise

  • Salt and nutrient (including nitrate) management and planning
  • Hydrogeologic vulnerability analysis and assessment (agricultural lands, etc.)
  • Modeling of fate and transport of salinity, nutrients, etc.
  • Geostatistical modeling
  • Groundwater flow and transport modeling
  • Seawater intrusion vulnerability assessment
  • Groundwater monitoring plan development, data collection and management, and reporting
  • CEQA and NEPA impact analysis, mitigation development, and technical support
  • Regulatory compliance monitoring and reporting
  • Deep well injection feasibility, design, and permitting (including EPA Class I waste disposal)
  • Peer review, technical testimony, and legal support services
  • In-situ seepage testing of ponds and basins
  • Infiltration testing
  • Spatial analysis of land use, hydrogeologic parameters, and environmental factors using
    geographic information systems (GIS)
  • Groundwater, surface water, and soil sampling

Representative Groundwater Monitoring on California’s Central Valley Dairies

We devised a pioneering, industry-wide monitoring well network in response to the Regional Water Quality Control Board’s Dairy General Order (R5-2007-0035). The Dairy General Order was the Regional Board’s first effort to address agricultural non-point source contamination of groundwater and required the installation of monitoring wells on all ~1,370 regulated...

Seepage from Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluent Basins

The District serves a population of approximately 1.4 million and treats an average of 130 million gallons of wastewater per day. Wastewater enters the facility in pipes of up to 12 feet in diameter, and treated effluent is stored in 20 earthen-lined basins with a total area of over 120...

Nitrogen and Salt Loading to Groundwater from Concentrated Animal Facilities

Quantitative subsurface loading estimates from earthen corrals and liquid manure ponds are critically import to the Central Valley dairy community to effectively guide efforts to reduce industry-wide impacts on groundwater quality. We devised and implemented a multi-faceted approach, including geophysical methods, continuous soil coring and sampling, depth-specific pond sampling, groundwater...

Representative Groundwater Monitoring on California’s Central Valley Dairies

We devised a pioneering, industry-wide monitoring well network in response to the Regional Water Quality Control Board’s Dairy General Order (R5-2007-0035). The Dairy General Order was the Regional Board’s first effort to address agricultural non-point source contamination of groundwater and required the installation of monitoring wells on all ~1,370 regulated...

Seepage from Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluent Basins

The District serves a population of approximately 1.4 million and treats an average of 130 million gallons of wastewater per day. Wastewater enters the facility in pipes of up to 12 feet in diameter, and treated effluent is stored in 20 earthen-lined basins with a total area of over 120...

Nitrogen and Salt Loading to Groundwater from Concentrated Animal Facilities

Quantitative subsurface loading estimates from earthen corrals and liquid manure ponds are critically import to the Central Valley dairy community to effectively guide efforts to reduce industry-wide impacts on groundwater quality. We devised and implemented a multi-faceted approach, including geophysical methods, continuous soil coring and sampling, depth-specific pond sampling, groundwater...