STUDENT OBSERVES THE EFFECT OF CONSTRUCTION ON WATER LEVELS IN A NEARBY CREEK

A wetland within the campus of Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) is being studied to determine the groundwater flow direction and the water quality. We have designed the study to be a multiple-stage study as undergraduate students are involved. The first stage deals with the placement of two PVC pipes within the wetland and three PVC pipes in a creek adjacent to the wetland. Stage two involves the placement of a well field consisting of eleven wells in additional to two other wells in the wetland. The three PVC pipes are each five feet in length and are drilled to different depths into the creek bed. The water levels in the PVC pipes are monitored for more than twenty months along with temperature, pH, and conductivity.

Within the first six months of measurement, a simple calculator was designed by a student and used to predict the water levels within the PVC pipes based on their depth from the PVC below the creek floor level. A linear trend shows a good correlation between two of the PVC pipes (r=0.721). However, the correlation between the two wells became negative for the next nine months (r=-0.205). During this time, less than 100 yards away, a draining for the construction of a building foundation was going on. Now that the construction is almost over, pumping has stopped and we intend to continue to monitor the water levels for another twelve months to see if there is any correlation between the building construction and the groundwater in wetland. A student is already looking into this anthropogenic effect on groundwater levels in the wetland.