Underground and Surface Water Data Collection Methods

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I am working on data collection of underground and surface water in Nigerian regions.

The data majorly should include: bacteriological and physio-chemical parameters and seasonal groundwater level change. What are the best water data collection methods for all these different parameters?

Is there any software available for water data computing and analysis? 

Looking forward to hearing from you all.  

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14 Answers

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    Three technologies come to mind

  2. I worked for one of the Dutch regional water authorities. There they used Lizard FEWS for the collection of water levels. We are the endpoint of several European rivers and we are mostly below sea level. We also collected chemical parameters about pollution, saltness and agricultural pesticides in the system since our much of our land is for agricultural purposes.

    https://www.deltares.nl/en/software/operational-water-quality-management-system-delft-fews/
    https://www.lizard.net/index.en.html

  3. The data requirements and software's actually all depends on what analysis you want to conduct. You need to be more specific and we will surely guide you.

    1 Comment

  4. As already noted, your question need to be more precised. Within a watershed, concentration of bacteries and physico-chemical parameters depend on the points of sampling as well as the season. Therefore, please give us more details to help us help you. 

    1 Comment

  5.  There are many ways to collect data using simple technology , what areas are you looking at ,if you can be more specific , can help  . 

    1 Comment

    1. I am looking at major contaminants in different locations at different times (seasons) of the underground water and averagely, surface water. This is quite a huge task, so I need an easier way of accomplishing it.

      1 Comment reply

  6. You have asked a very generalised question. But having said that and with the knowledge of the Nigerian environment I would advise that you get in touch and we can discuss the details so I can give you better guidance. There are several things to take into consideration when collecting such data, but most importantly the data collected must be fit for purpose. Feel free to get in touch as I can provide you with the right advice. 

    1 Comment

    1. I am looking at major contaminants in different locations at different times (seasons) of the underground water and averagely, surface water. This is quite a huge task, so I need an easier way of accomplishing it.

      1 Comment reply

      1. That sounds like a good sized project. Take Michael up on his offer. There are many pitfalls and it's hard to cover the topic completely in this kind of discussion forum. Get a solid knowledge foundation and your project will be successful. Good Luck!

  7. Just a word of advice about using pressure transducers and data loggers. I have a lot of experience with these devices and they are wonderful at generating great data sets, but you need to make sure the data is useful.

    Firstly, you need to know the elevation of the Top of Casing (TOC) (top of the well) so you have a reference point to measure the fluctuating water table against. Then you need to know the length of the string/wire from the TOC to the transducer pressure disc (marked on the device) which can never change while it hangs in the well - so it has to be attached firmly to the J-plug/well and may need to be weighed down (I've used stainless steel lug nuts and bolts). The wells needs to be vented to the atmosphere so the J-plug/lid needs to have a vent hole but not allow in rain water (so it doesn't run into the well and mess up your measurements). After it is deployed in the well, you must measure the Depth to Water (DTW) from the TOC manually (I recommend doing this several times) in order to calibrate the transducer measurements but not when it's taking the actual reading, otherwise you mess up the water level. The software with the transducer should come with instructions and helpful software.

    Sometimes its just easier to get a person to go take a water level reading. It depends on how accessible the Site is, availability of staff, and how often you need to measure the water level. If you are looking for gross seasonal changes, then sending someone out once per week maybe enough data points. But if you are investigating tidal fluctuations or there is nearby pumping, a down hole transducer is better as you can set it to collect data every 15 min or so.

    Transducer measurements drift over time, so if you plan to deploy them for years they will need to be check for the amount of drift by submerging them in a known depth of water (I use a graduated beaker/cylinder). After 5 years of use, some of our transducers had drifted by 10 cm.

     

  8. For seasonal groundwater level change, one usually drills a narrow well ( diameter 5 cm) down to the lowest water table in the dry season, backfills with crushed rock, inserts a slotted PVC pipe and into it a pressure transducer, that logs the pressure of water column, converts it into height and logs the data at the desired interval ( 15 minutes, or hourly, or daily). The data can be downloaded from the transducer on site visits, or if realtime monitoring is required, connect that to an external datalogger with a cellphone modem to send the data out. The expensive part is the sensor, usually $500-700 ( Insitu trolls, Campbell Scientific), but one can also jave lower cost options such as Odyssey capacitance probes, or ulltrasonic rangers if one is looking a water level in an open water body. The data is in text files that can be opened in Excel for QA/QC, plotting and analysis. Cheers

  9. I agree with Maria and Hasan. It also depends on what kind of hydrogeological units you're working in. Is this karst? alluvial? volcanic?glacial? In each case you might have to consider different tests as well as different protocols for collection. In addition, are you testing water quality or groundwater-surface water interaction? I think it is wise to check with the local laboratories as someone else mentioned. I'm afraid I made plenty of mistakes not doing all these things first and ending up with a lot of information that was not as useful as I'd hoped. Best of luck!

  10. Our company, Ayyeka (www.ayyeka.com) has a data collection device and data management platform. We have a number of sensors for surface water and groundwater quality that integrate with our device. Feel free to contact us if you would be interested in learning more.

  13. Hi,

    What do you need to know? This is a simple question but the answer could fill a text book. What is your end goal(s)? That will help determine what protocols to follow with regards to sample collection, preservation, transportation, and analyses. These protocols have been developed for legal reasons to preserve the fidelity of the sample and to be able to defend the lab results in court if needed. I can provide you with working instructions, etc but I first need to know your situation.

    I agree with Hasan's recommendations. Be sure to consult your local laboratories before sending them samples; go visit the facilities and look at their equipment. How old is it? What are the detection limits (how low of concentrations can they reliably report)? You can also measure some of these parameters yourself in the field which maybe more cost effective, but then you are responsible for making sure the equipment is calibrated and giving you a reproducible measurement.

    As for software, what do you want to know? There are simple excel sheet that help you determine natural attenuation, or runs stats. Most consultants plug the lab results into a database of some sort and publish results in tables (PDF of MS Excel sheets) and often there is manual data entry or at the very least data QA/QC. Plotting the results on a map is good for mapping out concentrations but setting up the software can be a hassle. I can provide more details if you want.

    Marie 

     

  14. Dear ENg. chinenye, 

    Regarding to you question please note that the most important parameter you need to collect as chemical parameter are as below : 

    - TDS - Total Dissolved Salts 

    - TH - Total Hardness 

    - pH 

    -TA- Total Alkalinty 

    - Na+- Sodium cations conc.

    -K+- Potassium cation conc.

    -Ca++- Calcium Cations conc. 

    -Mg++- Magnisium Cation conc.

    -Fe ++/Fe+++ - Iron cation 

    -Si -Silica

    -Cl- /Cloride anion 

    -SO4-- / Sulfate anion 

    -HCO3- /Bicarbonat anion

     Nitrates and Nitretes anion 

    NH3+- N khjeldal

    you need also to check if there is any heavy metals and depends on the area if there is any near industrial area or battrey manufacture . etc