DGS staff member A. Scott Andres along with J. Thomas Sims of the University’s Department of Plant and Soil Science have had a paper “Assessing Potential Impacts of a Wastewater Rapid Infiltration Basin System on Groundwater Quality: A Delaware Case Study” published in the Journal of Environmental Quality. This paper is the latest technical report from a DGS-led project “Evaluation of Rapid Infiltration Basin Systems (RIBS).” Four additional reports on this project are nearing release in the DGS bulletin series. Information about this project can be found at: http://www.dgs.udel.edu/projects/evaluation-rapid-infiltration-basin-systems-ribs

The Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) has published a report that details new findings on the subsurface geology of the Delaware City area.

Titled Subsurface Geology of the area between Wrangle Hill and Delaware City, Delaware, Report of Investigations Number 78 presents the results of cooperative research between geological consultant John W. Jengo of the firm MWH Americas and DGS researchers Peter P. McLaughlin Jr. and Kelvin W. Ramsey.

A poster "Modeling Engineered Approaches to Enhance Denitrification under Rapid Infiltration Basins" resulting from a collaborative research project between Paul Imhoff, Maryam Akhavan (UD Civil&Environmental Engineering), A. Scott Andres (DGS), and Stefan Finsterle (Lawrence Berkley National Lab) was presented at the Fall 2012 AGU meeting in San Francisco, CA on Dec. 3.

Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) scientists have uncovered hard proof of faults in northern Delaware, indicating the occurrence of earthquakes millions of years ago.

September 11, 2012 is Protect Your Groundwater Day. This annual recognition is promoted by the National Ground Water Association (NGWA) to spotlight how individuals can protect and reduce health risks to an important drinking water source for rural America—groundwater.

Delaware Geological Survey improving groundwater monitoring efforts with new wells, sampling. Scientists are digging for answers about the amount and quality of water available underground in central Delaware, where ongoing development will put increasing demands on water supplies in the coming decade.

The Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) is installing 7,700 feet of wells at eight sites in southern New Castle and northern Kent counties to improve groundwater-monitoring efforts, supported by a $600,000 grant from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC). Groundwater is the primary source of drinking water south of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and populations there are projected to continue expanding.

Rapid, significant groundwater recharge occurred in response to tropical storms Irene and Lee.a

Tropical storms Irene and Lee caused a 9-1/2 foot rise of the water table in western Sussex County near Laurel. Groundwater levels and temperatures in Qb35-08 were collected with an automated pressure-temperature datalogger system. At the same time, rainfall and soil moisture data were recorded by the DEOS Laurel Airport station located approximately 5 miles from the well.

Scott Andres of the Delaware Geological Survey presented "Delaware Groundwater Monitoring Network -- Planning for Sustainable Future Groundwater Supplies" to the Delaware River Basin Commission, Dec. 8, 2011, West Trenton, N.J.

David R. Wunsch is the new Director and State Geologist at the Delaware Geological Survey.

After a nationwide search, David R. Wunsch has been appointed the next Director of the Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) and Delaware State Geologist, effective Nov. 1. He will succeed John H. Talley, who retired on June 30 after more than 38 years of service. Wunsch holds a doctorate in hydrogeology from the University of Kentucky, a master’s degree in geology from the University of Akron, and a bachelor’s degree in geology, with a minor in chemistry, from the State University of New York, Oneonta. In 2011, Wunsch was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America. He is an Honorary Member and a past President of the Association of American State Geologists (AASG) and has previously served a term as Secretary of the American Geological Institute.

David R. Wunsch has been appointed the next Director of the Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) and Delaware State Geologist, effective Nov. 1.

John Talley joined the Delaware Geological Survey as a project geologist in 1972, became a senior scientist and hydrogeologist by 1986, and rose to director and state geologist by 2004. He’s consulted with dozens of university, state, and federal governments and groups and amassed a list of more than 50 publications and reports.

On a small, homemade barge, built from the skeleton of an old ship, a gray slurry of bay bottom sand flows out, of a pipe into a bucket. Two scientists, a well driller and two student interns drill a hole in the floor of the Indian River Bay. They'll install a very long pipe into the hole and use it to monitor groundwater - how much flows 'into the bay, how salty it is and how many nutrients it carries with it.

The Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) currently monitors groundwater levels in a network of 68 wells in Delaware. Long time-series of water levels in major aquifers serve as critical baseline data for resource management and analyses of aquifer response to pumping, climatic variability, drought hazards, seawater intrusion, and interaction with streams and their ecosystems.

Scott Andres of the Delaware Geological Survey and Holly Michael, assistant professor of geological sciences, participated in 2011 National Ground Water Association (NGWA) Groundwater Summit and were co-organizers of the session titled "Submarine Discharge of Groundwater and Nutrients into Estuaries and Oceans," May 3, Baltimore.