GW1
Scope of Work
Brigham
Young University
Michael
Burns
David
Jones
Ginger
McAllister
Pablo
Moreno
Introduction
GW1
is a team of Brigham Young University(BYU) students that are working
with water
resource engineers in the Dominican Republic to come up with solutions
to
groundwater problems in the Dominican Republic.
The Dominican Republic is located on the island of
Hispaniola in the
Caribbean. Their
water is obtained from
aquifers located on the island. When
too
much water is pumped out of the aquifers, saltwater is drawn into the
aquifer
which causes problems with water quality.
Proposed new agriculture projects of Baigua I and Baigua
II may cause
problems with salt intrusion and water quality but would also benefit
local
farmers. The
general objective of the
engineers in the Dominican Republic is to evaluate the position of the
interface between the fresh and salt water to estimate the
concentration of
chlorides in the wells that will be used for the agriculture projects
of Baigua
I and Baigua II. GW1
will facilitate
the Dominican engineers in making informed decisions regarding Baigua I
and Baigua
II.
Understanding
and Approach to Project
The
coastal aquifer of Baigua is located in the
municipality of Baigua, San Rafael de Yuma in the province of
Altagracia in the
Dominican Republic. This aquifer has an area of 560 km2.
On the
surface of this system there are two agricultural production
projects—Baigua I
and II—whose main focus is the cultivation of short cycle
products with high
levels of salinity (spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, and
papaya).
These projects seek to give incentives to small farmers in the
community who
have limited access to land and water.
The
main water source of this project is a well field, which is pumped
to feed the irrigation systems. In the period of 2005 - 2007 these
wells were
subjected to chemical analysis of water quality and measurements of
electrical
conductivity at different depths to estimate the salinity profiles and
determine the position of the interface.
The measurements of electrical conductivity at different
depths proved
that the chlorides present in groundwater evolve as a function of
depth.
The
Dominican Republic has
collected data on electrical conductivity and concentration of
different salts
at wells that are part of the aquifer of Baigua.
The information is located in a database but
there is little organization of the data to make it useful. A way to manage and
visualize the data is
needed to determine where more data is needed, what data should be
collected,
and how often the data should be collected.
The GW1 team is currently working on putting data into
ArcHydro in ArcGIS
to help the engineers in the Dominican Republic visualize the evolution
of
chlorides in the aquifer. In
the past,
foreign companies have brought in computer programs and helped with
projects
but did not provide adequate training so that the projects could
continue
without the help of foreign companies.
The goal of GW1 is to show the engineers in the Dominican
Republic what
they can do with the data they are collecting and how to use the
resources
available to them so they can solve problems with less need for outside
help.
Specific
Objectives
The
specific objectives of the BYU GW1 team are:
a)
Teach
the Dominican Republic team how to use ArcGIS to visualize and organize
data
b)
Demonstrate
the capabilities of GMS to model salt intrusion
c)
Help
determine gaps in data and the most effective way to collect more data
ArcHydro
in ArcGIS will help the Dominican Republic team organize and visualize
the data
they currently have available. The
sample model in GMS will be used to show what can be done in the future
with
more data. This
will help determine what
data is needed for present and future goals so that data collection can
be done
as efficiently as possible. The
hope of
the BYU GW1 team is that this will help the team in the Dominican
Republic
achieve their objectives. The
specific
objectives of the Dominican Republic team are:
a)
Monitor
the quality of the water in the aquifer
b)
Model
the concentration of chlorides in the study zone
c)
Determine
if the chloride concentrations are rising in the area
Project Team
Ginger
McAllister:
Ginger
is a civil
engineering graduate student at BYU.
She
currently works as a teaching assistant for the course of Elementary
Soil
Mechanics. She also
worked as a research
assistant for a project on Hobble Creek.
She has completed courses in Groundwater Modeling,
Hydraulics, and Fluid
Mechanics.
Pablo
Moreno:
Pablo
is a civil
engineering graduate student at BYU. He has experience in testing and
analysis
of data. He currently works as a teaching assistant for the course of Materials Science. Also he is a research
assistant for the Deer Creek team. He has worked on different projects
in
Mexico and China. He also worked as an intern in Chile collecting data
for the
design of landfills. He is currently taking a WMS course. He has
completed
courses on Hydrology and Hydraulics.
Michael
Burns:
Michael
is a senior
studying civil engineering at BYU. He has completed Groundwater
Modeling,
Engineering Applications of GIS, Hydrology, and Environmental
Engineering. He
is also an EIT.
David
Jones:
David
is a
senior studying civil engineering at BYU.
He has completed Groundwater Modeling, Engineering
Applications of GIS,
and a GIS course offered by the geography department.
His coursework experience also includes
hydrology and environmental engineering.
Scope
of Work and Schedule
The
work to reach our objectives includes:
1.
Data
collection – Data pertinent to the study zone will be
collected from the
Dominican Republic counterparts. The data that will be needed includes
well
locations, groundwater depths, bore hole data (including soil
properties at
depth), salinity concentrations, well pumping rates, frequency and
duration of
pumping. This data will be requested and then sent via email or other
necessary
internet data transfer. Additional data or metadata will be requested
if
necessary via email and then sent via similar means as the initial data.
2.
Data
analysis – Data retrieved for the project will be analyzed to
access usability
to accomplish the project objectives.
3.
Data
organization – Once the data is analyzed it will be placed
into appropriate
tables so that it can be imported in GIS and utilized in GMS or any
other
modeling software.
4.
Project
presentation – The project will be presented to the engineers
in the Dominican
Republic in such a way that they will be able to constructively utilize
the
models we create as well as continue to learn and prefect the use of
the
modeling software and data management we introduce to them.
Cost Proposal
Summary
As
the GW1 team develops the data for the area of study in the Dominican
Republic
they will develop a view of how the data should be maintained in the
Dominican
Republic so that the local engineers can continue to develop the data
in the
study area. The team will also be able to develop models to
characterize the
data that is collected. They will then be able to demonstrate to the
local
engineers how they can use the same modeling tools to visualize the
data how
they wish. Overall, the work of the GW1 team will improve the processes
by
which the local engineers in the Dominican Republic manage and monitor
their
wells and in general their groundwater.