College students put theory into practice at groundwater monitoring lab

The groundwater stewardship work taking place in this story is located on the traditional territories of the Ktunaxa, Sinixt, Syilx and Secwépemc Peoples.

Hidden underground, groundwater quietly does its job for the environment, playing a crucial role in the health of watersheds and ecosystems while also forming a crucial source of drinking water for millions of people across Canada.

For several years, Living Lakes Canada has been helping equip college students with practical experience in groundwater monitoring as part of a hydrology class within Selkirk College’s School of Environment and Geomatics. Fifty-nine students benefited from one such class at the end of October led by Carol Luttmer, Field Operations and Data Manager with the Columbia Basin Groundwater Monitoring Program.

This photo essay captures their experience:

The groundwater lab began as soon as the group left the campus building, with a short stop at a sign announcing a “Groundwater Protection Zone” — and an area where potential contamination could impact a drinking water source.

“When hiking or living in a rural area, you’ll likely see a lot of these,” Carol explained. “If you were a city planner, you wouldn’t put a garage that may spill fuel or oil within the groundwater protection zone.”

A short walk later, the students gathered around a Volunteer Observation Well, where the lesson started with some essential theory on where groundwater is found and how it’s connected to surface water.

Carol introduced the students to the equipment commonly used in groundwater monitoring and shared practical insights from her own field experience.

Divided into small groups, the students had the chance to manually take a water level measurement from the well, and compare it to the one registered by the well’s data logger read via Bluetooth technology.

The students experimented with reel-mounted, electric water-level sounding tape and measured the well’s depth to water. The measurements were recorded on a lab sheet and a summary discussion followed.

Here’s what some of the students shared about their experience:

As part of the Columbia Basin Groundwater Monitoring Program, 35 Volunteer Observation Wells are actively monitored throughout the region, with some wells having up to six years of data. In August 2023, Living Lakes Canada reported that water levels in some wells were the lowest recorded to date.

“One of the goals of the program is to collect long-term data, so we can see seasonal trends and changes year to year,” said Carol. The data are available to the public on the Columbia Basin Water Hub.  “We know we were in stage 4 drought conditions (in 2023), so what we want to measure is long-term conditions and what happens if we have multiple droughts in a row. We need long-term data to understand what’s happening.”

Learn more about the Columbia Basin Groundwater Monitoring Program, here.

The groundwater labs at Selkirk College were made possible thanks to Columbia Power and the Province of BC. The on-campus observation well was previously established thanks to funding from TD Friends of the Environment and Columbia Basin Trust. Living Lakes Canada would also like to thank the Selkirk instructors and staff.