NGWA Offers Course, 'Environmental Isotopes In Ground Water Resources And Contaminant Hydrogeology'

The National Ground Water Association is offering the short course, "Environmental Isotopes in Ground Water Resources and Contaminant Hydrogeology," December 8-9 in New Orleans.

The course begins with the basic principles of isotope hydrology and covers methods and case studies in two fundamental areas of application: environmental isotopes in groundwater resources and in contaminant hydrogeology.

The second part of the course focuses on a selection of isotopes in solutes and solids to trace the origin of contaminants and attenuation processes active in the aquifer. The areas of application to be covered include groundwater contamination due to agricultural (nitrate), industrial (LNAPLs and DNAPLs), urban, and mining activities.

In this course, participants will learn how to:

• Routinely apply environmental isotopes
• Solve hydrogeological problems using environmental isotopes
• Design field programs, including what and how to sample
• Interpret isotopic data
• Integrate isotopic and geochemical data
• Apply new nonroutine isotopes and methods that are the focus of current research.

The course is best suited to environmental consultants, engineers, geologists, water-supply engineers, administrators, and regulatory personnel.

The course instructors are:

• Ramon Aravena, Ph.D., a research professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Waterloo. With more than 20 years experience in the application of isotope techniques in hydrology, he has been involved in numerous groundwater studies in Latin America, Canada, and the United States related to evaluation of groundwater, resources and groundwater protection.
• Ian Clark, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Ottawa. He has been teaching courses in groundwater geochemistry and in environmental isotopes in hydrogeology to senior undergraduate and graduate students for more than 15 years, and is director of the G.G. Hatch Isotope Laboratories.

To learn more about this course, as well as the many other NGWA educational programs, visit www.ngwa.org.

About NGWA
NGWA, a nonprofit organization comprised of more than 13,000 U.S. and international groundwater professionals—contractors, equipment manufacturers, suppliers, scientists, and engineers—is dedicated to advancing groundwater knowledge. NGWA's vision is to be the leading groundwater association that advocates the responsible development, management, and use of water.

SOURCE: National Ground Water Association