Groundwater presentation standing room only!

A standing room only crowd greeted Hydrogeologist, Dr. Gilles Wendling, last week when he presented the results of the MVIHES Groundwater Mapping and Education study (phase one) in Parksville at the Community and Conference Centre.

Dr. Wendling explained how the monitoring done by volunteers over the past year has contributed to a greater knowledge about groundwater in the Englishman River Watershed.

Well-owners in the Morison Creek, Englishman River Estates and Riverside Estates areas, had data loggers installed in their wells, or they monitored the depth to water in their wells every two weeks, which produced data that Dr. Wendling could interpret to begin to say where the aquifers are and how they are behaving in the watershed. This is important to our understanding of how much water we really have available to us and how we need to protect the lands that impact the aquifers.

Another facet of the project was to monitor the pH, temperature and electrical conductivity in the Englishman River. If we are to protect river water for people, fish and the ecosystem we need to know where the surface and ground water interact. These tests are an indication. Many thanks to the volunteers!

Clearly, much more study is required to get the full picture, but with this report, we're well on the way. You can see Dr. Wendling's report here.