AQUIFER TESTS: EDUCATIONAL, TECHNICAL AND PRESENTATION EXPERIENCES AT A RESEARCH UNIVERSITY: A CASE STUDY WORKING WITH A LOCAL WATER DISTRICT

Aquifer tests provide field, technical, report writing and presentation educational experiences for students and faculty. An aquifer test involves a blend of field work that includes operating pumping equipment, measuring discharge, gauging well water levels and then data analysis and report writing for a client: the water district. This entire process from field work to report writing was completed by a team of Baylor University students and faculty, groundwater district staff, state agency assistance and local water well contractor. This complex, skilled team was essential to a successful aquifer test and contributed to the learning environment for all parties. The field experience gives the students an understanding of wells, water level gauging, and automatic data gathering with pressure transducer-data loggers. The field data are then converted into spreadsheets to be analyzed by hand using standard curve matching techniques followed by well hydraulic software. The technical analysis is then organized into a report that is critiqued by the student team and university faculty. The final report is sent to the groundwater district and reviewed by their staff and expert consultant. Then the final step is presenting the report results to the water district. The overall purpose of the report is to understand aquifer properties to better manage the community groundwater resource that provides potable household water. However, beyond the water management objective the aquifer test also provides student learnings linking field and analysis that enhance the educational experience.