We now have over 50 research sites globally, as far away as China, Sweden and France and as close as downtown Guelph, and our neighbouring communities in Puslinch, Cambridge, Erin and Elora .
In keeping with our Morwick G360 Institute mission to advance groundwater science through highly collaborative and multi-disciplinary, field-based research; our projects demonstrate the variety of technologies used for data collection and applied in various hydrogeologic environments around the globe.
Several sites are possible contributors of trace 1,4‐dioxane detections in a municipal supply well pumping from the karstic Upper Floridan aquifer. Efforts are underway in partnership with a site owner and its consultants, University of Florida and HSW Engineering, Inc., to assess potential contributions from one nearby industrial site.
Read More “Site Characterization by Direct Mass Flux in Central Florida”
Conventional and unconventional oil and gas development pose potential threats to groundwater resources. In order to anticipate environmental impacts to nearby aquifers, the G360 Institute and collaborators will be conducting a baseline groundwater quality investigation in the portion of the Transboundary Liard Basin located within the Northwest Territories (NWT).
Read More “NWT Laird Basin Groundwater Quality Investigation”
This study is being conducted at an urban pilot field system where 51 hybrid poplars were planted in 2008 to remediate toluene released 40 years ago into an underlying fractured bedrock aquifer. The phytoremediation system is now mature and ripe for performance evaluation and to investigate plant-mediated toluene attenuation processes.
Read More “Evaluation of Phytoremediation System in Ontario (NSERC Alice CRD)”
The Morwick G360 Group was invited to adapt and apply its recently developed active distributed temperature sensing (A-DTS) method to characterize, in detail, the groundwater flow in a poorly cemented sandstone aquifer contaminated with trichloroethene (TCE) in southern France in collaboration with Sanborn Head & Associates, New Hampshire, USA.
The Morwick G360 Group integrated high resolution field and laboratory characterization and monitoring techniques, referred to as the DFN (Discrete Fracture Network) field approach, to refine the site conceptual models and design and install four multilevel monitoring systems in Guelph, Ontario, to provide ongoing monitoring of water chemistry in three dimensions.
Read More “Sentry Well CSM Investigation and Flow Modelling (NSERC Sentry CRD)”
In 1982, a train derailment near Sarnia, Ontario resulted in the release of parachlorobenzotrifluoride (4-CBTF), a dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL). This release site offered a unique opportunity to characterize and evaluate source zone evolution and plume formation from an aged 4-CBTF DNAPL source, a contaminant for which little is known about its environmental fate.
Read More “Assessment of 4-CBTF Release in Ontario (Sarnia Project)”
To assess the potential influence of climate change on watershed hydrologic processes, an integrated monitoring and modelling investigation of the Upper Parkhill watershed in southwestern Ontario is underway, led by principal investigators Dr. Jana Levison, Scott MacRitchie of the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) and PhD student Elisha Persaud.
Read More “Watershed Investigation Under Changing Climate Conditions in Ontario”
The objective of this project, sponsored by ESTCP (Project ER-201630), is to complete a comprehensive, robust, scientific evaluation of the use of the FLUTe™ Activated Carbon Technology (FACT™) as a low-cost contaminant screening tool for fractured bedrock environments.
Read More “Evaluation of FLUTe FACT™ as a Screening Technology in New Jersey (ESTCP FACT Project)”
Geospatial analysis of water quality and physiography will help to determine the distribution of susceptible water wells and its relationship to the subsurface geology, which in turn can help inform well vulnerability and water quality management at the regional scale.
Read More “Geospatial Analysis of Groundwater Quality in Southern Ontario”
A detailed study of a trichloroethene (TCE) source zone and dissolved phase plume in a fractured dolostone aquifer was undertaken to assess the spatial distribution, temporal evolution and contribution of natural processes on contaminant attenuation. The research site is in Guelph, Ontario and is the location of an automotive manufacturing facility where TCE, as a DNAPL, entered the subsurface nearly three decades ago.
Read More “Assessment of TCE Source Zone and Plume Evolution in Guelph (NSERC IRC Project)”
This project aims to advance source water protection through the development and validation of high-resolution groundwater characterization and monitoring infrastructure, augmented by robust scientific protocols that directly support and enhance municipal groundwater protection plans.
Read More “Improved Source Water Protection in South Wellington (NSERC South Wellington CRD)”
A mixture of organic contaminants that occurs as a dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) has accumulated in a fractured sandstone 45-55 meters below ground surface at the Hydrite site in south central Wisconsin. Between 1999 and 2002, sixteen boreholes were drilled to evaluate the vertical extent of mobile DNAPL.
Read More “Characterization of DNAPL Source Zone in Wisconsin (NSERC IRC Project)”
A detailed research study sponsored by NSERC, DuPont, Chemours, and the University Consortium with support from the University of Waterloo and University of Neuchâtel (UNINE) has been ongoing since 2008 to evaluate the contaminant distribution from mixed solvent DNAPL releases into a surficial heterogeneous sandy aquifer underlain by an organic-rich clayey aquitard.
Read More “Evaluation of DNAPL Distribution in South Carolina (Florence)”
There are over 10,000 sites in Canada contaminated by toxic substances, most of which are hydrocarbons, organic solvents and heavy metals (e.g. hexavalent chromium). The success and safety of the subsurface remediation of pollutants relies on: 1) effective contact between the reactive species and pollutants, and 2) adequate containment of the pollutants (trapping) during the remedial treatment.
Read More “Emulsions to Trap and Treat HC/OS for Subsurface Remediation”
This project, in collaboration with the State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention (SKLGP), Chengdu University of Technology, focuses on the development of an enhanced monitoring and early-warning detection system of geologic hazards using real-time, depth-discrete groundwater pressure data from multi-level systems.
Read More “Enhanced Monitoring of Geologic Hazards in China (SKLGP)”
