ESR's ground water research team addresses issues associated with land-use intensification and its effects on groundwater quality. We offer a range of services to regional councils:
- Regional and national asessments of groundwater quality
- Modelling the impacts of on-site wastewater discharges
- Applying bacterial and viral tracers to mark and follow effluent plumes in groundwater
- Design of appropriate groundwater monitoring systems
- Providing advice and asessments on groundwater contamination issues
- impacts of contaminated sites
- effects of on-site sewage discharges
- setback distances for on-site waste-water systems
- survival transport and attenuation of bacterial and viral indicators and pathogens in groundwaters
- protection zones for water supplies
- appropriate microbial standards for groundwater
- contaminant leaching models
- selection of microbial indicators of groundwater contamination
- Interpretation and reporting
- input to regional water plans
- input and review of technical reports
- interpretation of AS/NZS 1547 on-site domestic wastewater management
- coordination of national surveys of pesticides in groundwater
We have a range of science and research activities that underpin the services we offer.
Current groundwater research projects include:
- modelling contaminant transport
- unsaturated zone transport processes
- impact of landuse on groundwater quality
- pesticide contamination of groundwater systems
- sewage and greywater systems