Abstracts

protection (SWP) has been an important priority for municipalities in Ontario under the
Clean Water Act since 2006, there has been little First Nations’ participation in these processes
for a variety of reasons. First Nations are often constantly in a state of crisis management,
with little time or resources to attend SWP Committee meetings, for example. First
Nations have also voiced concern over their lack of input and the general lack of cultural
recognition in these processes . The Chiefs of Ontario have highlighted that although it is
well known that increased First Nations involvement in SWP would reduce rising expenditures
on drinking water infrastructure, governments continue to regard on-reserve SWP
as a low priority. Current Canadian federal guidelines for First Nations’ on-reserve SWP
planning discard hydrogeological studies as too expensive to carry out, and recommend using
‘rules of thumb’ to determine wellhead protection zones. However, particularly for First
Nations situated above sensitive aquifer settings such as shallow fractured sedimentary
bedrock, this lack of hydrogeological data leaves communities unprepared and vulnerable
to a host of potential drinking water threats. To this extent, the University of Guelph has
partnered with the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation – a community situated
above fractured sedimentary bedrock – to develop an effective SWP process for the
community. This research aims to develop an improved understanding of groundwater
processes in fractured bedrock through the use of anthropogenic tracers and 7-channel
CMT multilevel monitoring systems installed in three retrofitted five- and six-inch drinking
water wells. Field activities completed to provide aquifer characterization data include
conducting pumping tests on existing wells in the study area to investigate aquifer yield;
collecting downhole geophysical data (conductivity and resistivity, gamma ray, temperature,
and acoustic televiewer) to characterize the subsurface and design the multilevel systems;
collecting field parameters such as temperature, pH, EC, DO, ORP and turbidity;
and installing new multilevel monitoring systems in unused five- and six-inch diameter
wells. The project also aims to determine what implications this fractured rock aquifer
data may have on SWP processes, particularly for Indigenous communities with limited
resources located in these vulnerable hydrogeological systems. These findings will be used
to inform several participatory processes (e.g., focus groups, community events) to develop
a functioning SWP plan for the community.
287 - Temporary Sensor Deployments: a Method for Improved
Insight into Hydraulic Variations and Design of Permanent
Multilevel Installations
Peeter Pehme, Beth Parker, Ryan Kroeker, Steven Chapman, & John Cherry.
G360 Centre for Applied Groundwater Research, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Detailed investigations of groundwater flow through fractured rock are consistently progressing
towards an increased focus on hydraulic characterization of both large and small
aperture fractures, the latter having an important role on matrix diffusion processes influencing
plume transport and fate. With increased frequency, the field investigations progress
to the installation of one of several available detailed multilevel monitoring systems
(MLS) to monitor pressure and/or variations in groundwater chemistry. Inevitably the
choice of which MLS to use and its design (i.e. details of port and seal intervals) is a
IAH-CNC 2015 WATERLOO CONFERENCE
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