Abstracts

effects dewatering would have on the local environment. For these reasons, the hydrogeological
assessment of the mine was a priority to all parties.
The assessment of the mine was supported by a multi-year hydrogeological investigation
including drilling, pumping tests, groundwater sampling and modelling. This investigation
concluded that construction of a 300 m deep open pit mine in the limestone was feasible,
but would require large scale dewatering with a drawdown cone that would extend
kilometers. There would however, be no long term groundwater related impacts to the
surrounding wetlands or the nearby rivers.
The hydrogeological assessment of the mine underwent several rounds of peer review,
including internal reviews, external reviews, government reviews, and third party reviews.
A number of groundwater issues were identified by reviewers, with several reviewers indicating
that the prospect of wide spread drainage of the muskeg and sudden, uncontrollable
inflows from the rivers as possible reasons to restrict mine development.
Eight years into dewatering at rates of up to 90,000 m 3 /day, neither of these scenarios has
materialized. The purpose of this presentation is not to review the original hydrogeological
investigations, but review the conceptual model more than two thirds of the way through
the project. This will be supported by a review of select monitoring data from the more
than 160 monitoring wells. The presentation will illustrate the local hydrogeology by explaining
why neither widespread wetland drying nor uncontrollable inflows has occurred.
POSTER SESSION: Groundwater Issues from
Oil and Gas Exploration & Production
Thursday October 29, 16:40
Room: Regent
125 - Baseline Groundwater Quality Monitoring and
Unconventional Gas Development
Richard E. Jackson
Geofirma Engineering Ltd, Heidelberg, Ontario, Canada
Dru Heagle
Geofirma Engineering Ltd, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
It has become standard practice to monitor domestic (i.e., ‘landowner’, ‘farm’ or ‘residential’)
wells to establish the baseline groundwater quality (GWQ) in areas of oil and gas
development. This is because of both regulatory requirements and the proximity of such
water wells to areas of drilling operations that can lead to complaints of perceived GWQ
deterioration from landowners.
However domestic and farm water wells are not scientific instruments designed for sampling
GWQ and they present numerous constraints that need to be understood and accounted
for in such reporting. Given (i) the spatial and temporal variability of GWQ in
154 IAH-CNC 2015 WATERLOO CONFERENCE