Water
Geo-Logic Associates provides technical guidance on the optimal development, use, and management of water resources to provide safe and sustainable water supplies.
GLA’s experts conduct specialized technical analyses to assist clients with water resource management, particularly in areas with impacted or threatened public water supplies.
Market Leader
45
Licensed Hydrologists/ Hydrogeologists
300+
Supply wells developed
>2,000′
Depth of wells designed and managed
2m+
Records managed with GLA-Data
Services
Water resources planning
GLA works with state and local governments, water districts, and private clients to support water supply, quality, and sustainability goals. Expertise includes:
- Undertaking sustainability studies, including drought mitigation, aquifer safe yield studies, and water demand forecasting
- Preparing local water plans, including groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs), regional water plans, water master plans, and water quality protection plans
- Performing water rights analyses and acquisition, including conservation planning
- Facilitating public engagement and stakeholder participation
- Participating in the Environmental Impact Statement/Report (EIS/EIR) process for complex development and water use projects
Water/wastewater engineering
GLA has expertise in planning, designing, and constructing efficient and regulatorily compliant water distribution and wastewater collection and treatment systems. We work closely with communities and help to procure funds through grant and loan programs to subsidize the cost of these projects. Our expertise includes:
- Planning, design, and construction of water towers, wells, distribution systems, treatment plants, and pumping/booster stations
- Assistance with securing discharge permits, modifications and renewals
- Collection system maintenance and rehabilitation
- Master plan development
- Regulatory agency compliance
Wells/wellfields
GLA has considerable experience with permitting, design, construction, development, testing, maintenance, and rehabilitation of water supply and monitoring wells. Expertise includes:
- Water supply development services, including site suitability assessments, exploratory drilling and hydrogeologic characterization, well design, aquifer testing, conjunctive use studies, and water quality assessments
- Providing pre- and post-design construction quality assurance (CQA) services, including developing specifications and providing bidding assistance
- Zone-specific characterization of aquifer hydrologic properties and water quality using packer tests and/or temporary wells.
- Geophysical logging oversight and analysis, including detailed lithologic descriptions and interpretations using innovative techniques
- Permitting, design, and construction oversight of evaporation ponds
- Permitting, design, and construction oversight of deep injection wells, including deep injection wells used for aquifer storage and recovery (ASR), brine disposal, and carbon capture and storage (CCS).
Water storage distribution systems
GLA assists clients in evaluating and designing water storage and distribution systems to provide efficient and economical solutions to water system challenges. We rely on state-of-the-art engineering principals and water system modeling to provide everything from conceptual planning to full-scale design and construction services. Our designs provide clients with systems that accommodate future growth and environmental challenges while also meeting all necessary federal and state regulations.
Groundwater recharge/reuse
GLA is a national leader in the siting, characterization, design, and implementation of aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) and managed aquifer recharge (MAR) systems using surface infiltration and direct injection methods. We have extensive experience in working with many state recycled water policies, and we offer strategies and resources to assist clients in overcoming regulatory obstacles. Our team works closely with clients and regulators to ensure maximum reuse of water.
Stormwater management
GLA supports all aspects of stormwater management, from permitting and design to regulatory compliance (inspections, sampling, reporting, etc.). Our engineers assess the capacity, functionality, and quality of stormwater systems in the context of site-specific hydrogeologic conditions and facility operations to develop creative and effective stormwater solutions. Our expertise includes:
- Assistance with national and state stormwater regulations, including U.S. EPA National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) requirements
- Developing plans and programs to meet regulatory compliance, including stormwater pollution prevention plans (SWPPPs), stormwater quality sampling plans and programs, site-specific best management practices, and routine inspections
- Conducting water quality sampling, analysis, interpretation and data uploads to federal and state stormwater reporting systems (NeT, SMARTS, STEERS, etc.)
- Performing low-impact development (LID) studies
Numerical modeling
GLA’s modelers have experience with all forms of computer modeling, from the application of simple analytical solutions to state-of-the-art, highly complex numerical computer codes. Our experts have published their findings in peer-reviewed journals and have worked with the U.S. EPA and USGS to develop and/or modify computer codes and guidance for national dissemination. We offer a wide-range of modeling services, including:
- Development of hydrogeologic conceptual models (HCMs) that identify major physical characteristics and sources/sinks (i.e., fluxes) of water
- Surface water and groundwater supply/characterization modeling, including rainfall-runoff, vadose (unsaturated) zone flow, agricultural demand estimation, and groundwater-surface water interactions
- Contaminant fate and transport modeling, including non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) and vapor transport modeling
- Geologic modeling and 3D visualization
- Scenario analysis to evaluate and rank multiple project alternatives to identify which is most likely to provide the best return on investment based on project goals
- Evaluation of potential impacts from future climate change on basin or system resiliency and sustainability
Watershed management
GLA has extensive experience working on protecting water quality in forest and range land in the central and western U.S., where fire danger and wildfire impacts have been a major concern in recent years. Our expertise includes:
- Watershed restoration and recharge modeling
- Erosion control, nonpoint source pollution management, and forest thinning
- Mudflow/debris-flow hazard analysis and mitigation
- Archaeological and biological survey coordination
- Catastrophic fire response
Data management
GLA has extensive experience developing functional and user-friendly database management systems (DBMS or DMS) to effectively manage, store, retrieve, map, and present water resources data. Collectively referred to as GLA-Data, our suite of web-accessible applications can be rapidly deployed for a new site and/or customized to meet specific needs. A subset of GLA-Data applications and general functionality are provided below:
- Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) Application: Developed specifically to support implementation of California’s SGMA, this application provides map-based visualization of monitoring points (wells, steam gages, weather stations, etc.), interactive tables and graphs of time series data (water levels, water quality, production, etc.), and numerous other tools for Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) to efficiently utilize the vast quantity of data available at the groundwater basin scale.
- Groundwater Banking Application: Developed to support complex groundwater banking operations by tracking physical water, the legal right to water (i.e., “paper water”), and the costs associated with operating a water bank (purchase, transport, recharge, extraction, etc.) across multiple basins and agencies.
- Emerging Contaminants Program Application: Developed to support the New Mexico Environment Department’s (NMED) Emerging Contaminants Program (ECP), this application provides public access to the data used in ECP’s initial monitoring effort and supports transparency by enabling users to easily view results across geography and analytes.
- Solid Waste Application: Developed to support our solid waste clients, this application contains several water quality focused features such as automated generation of publication-ready figures (hydrographs, analyte time series, piper diagrams, stiff diagrams etc.) and formatted tables.
- Utility Asset Management Application: Developed to support large (>50,000 population) water utility clients meet the requirement to make their water service line inventory publicly available, this application provides customers with the ability to see what materials their service line is made of by providing their address, account number, or simply navigating to their house using the map provided.
Environmental litigation/expert services
We provide subject matter expertise to attorneys and mediators in legal disputes involving water resources and rights. Our professionals have extensive experience providing expert testimony, lending technical expertise with legal and regulatory programs to clients, and providing technical analyses and tools to assist in water rights disputes. Expertise includes:
- Confidential consulting during all phases of dispute resolution
- Technical assistance during alternative dispute resolution, litigation, mediation, and settlement negotiations
- Expert opinion reports and declarations
- Expert testimony and depositions
- Environmental database development and management
- Visual aids for courtroom exhibits and conceptual renderings
