Project Highlight: Monitoring well installation on Sevier Lake playa utilizing a sonic drill rig mounted on a tracked swamp buggy, Sevier Lake, Utah.

For additional questions about our projects, feel free to contact us:

Office: (970) 641-3562

Mobile: (307) 438-2219

email jfk@mesahydro.com.

• Groundwater Exploration and Aquifer Testing, Private Party Project, Mt. Crested Butte, Colorado – Conducted groundwater exploration and successfully located groundwater resources in an environment (Mancos Shale) historically known for poor quality and production.  Supervised drilling operations and conducted aquifer testing.  Sampled well for general water quality parameters, organics (volatiles, pesticides) inorganics including nitrate/nitrite, metals, and micro-biologicals.
• Hydrologic Evaluation, The Corner at Brush Creek Proposed Affordable Housing Development, Crested Butte, Colorado – On-going evaluation of groundwater resources for a prospective high density residential development. Instrumented on-site well to characterize seasonal groundwater level changes and possible interference from nearby wells. Developed preliminary plans for future aquifer testing to be conducted at the appropriate project phase.
• Water Quality Impact Source Assessment, Crested Butte, Colorado – Due to suspected septic related impacts to water quality, Mesa Hydro-logic conducted DNA-protocol sampling to determine/rule-out possible sources of contamination (human, ruminants including wildlife and livestock, canine or avian). Several surface water locations and one groundwater location were sampled and submitted to laboratory for analysis.
• Environmental Evaluation, Various mining properties, Bonita Peak (Eureka and Animas) Mining Districts, Silverton, Colorado – As part of a team (Cushman & Wakefield, Gustavson Associates LLC) contracted by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to perform real property and mineral appraisals of several mining properties, Mesa Hydrologic assessed past, current and future environmental conditions resulting from mining activities (subcontract to Cushman and Wakefield, Park City, Utah).
• CAD Support, Downing Reservoir, Lakewood, Colorado – Provided CAD services to produce record drawings that illustrate the changes to the original reservoir design for a large environmental remediation project in Lakewood, Colorado (subcontract to Anders Environmental, LLC, Boulder, Colorado).
• Hydrologic Evaluation and Groundwater Resource Development, Gunnison County, Colorado – Conducted evaluation of groundwater resources in an unexplored geologically complex mountainous terrain for a prospective luxury residential development.  Based on the study results, planned and supervised the drilling, logging, and construction of exploratory water wells.
• Geomorphology and Hazards Evaluation, Crested Butte South, Colorado – Characterized geomorphology and assessed geologic hazards from earth flows in moderately steep terrain underlain by unstable Cretaceous marine shales and Jurassic siltstones, mudstones, and shales prone to failure.
• Hydrologic, Geomorphic and Hazards Evaluation, Round Mountain, Gunnison County, Colorado – Evaluated groundwater resource and identified favorable locations for domestic groundwater supplies. Conducted an investigation of site geomorphology and mapped and assessed geologic hazards associated with rock creep, slides, and rock fall for steep terrain overlying a proposed residential development site along State Highway 135.
• Hydrologic Evaluation, Star Mountain, Gunnison County, Colorado – Conducted evaluation of groundwater resources in a highly disturbed area underlain by mined-out subsurface coal workings, and siting and planning for a domestic water well.
• Waste-Water Treatment Facility Water Balance, Town of Saguache, Colorado – Conducted a water balance at the town’s waste-water treatment facility lagoons to characterize a significant imbalance of inflow (sewer + precipitation + high groundwater) with respect to outflow (evaporation + infiltration + treated release).
• Hydrologic Evaluation, Private Party Project, Mt. Crested Butte, Colorado – Conducted evaluation of shallow groundwater resources for a prospective residential expansion.  Supervised drilling operations and conducted aquifer testing.  Sampled well for general water quality parameters, organics (volatiles, pesticides) inorganics including nitrate/nitrite, metals, and micro-biologicals.
• Hydrologic Evaluation, Big C Builders Project, Gunnison, Colorado – Conducted evaluation of groundwater resources for a prospective residential and commercial development.
• Owl Creek Watershed Study, Hot Springs County, Wyoming – Responsible for geologic, hydrogeologic, and hydrologic characterization within the Owl Creek basin, a watershed within the Greater Yellowstone Area, for a study commissioned by the Wyoming Water Development Commission (subcontractor to Lowham Walsh, Lander, Wyoming).
• Hydrologic Evaluation, Whetstone Industrial Park Project, Crested Butte, Colorado – Numerous test boreholes sited in Quaternary glacial units underlain by Cretaceous shale all failed to find adequate groundwater resources for a proposed industrial park. Mesa Hydro-Logic was retained to evaluate subsurface hydrogeology to identify a well site that would have high probability of meeting the desired yield.  The analysis comprised the creation of a subsurface model built in GIS from data drawn from over 200 well logs, the USGS geologic quadrangle map, and surface topography generated from a DEM raster file, resulting in the discovery of groundwater resources meeting the client’s needs.
• Mineral Trespass Case, Uinta Basin, Utah – Conducted field observations and provided expert opinion on mineral trespass case where surface owner’ operations were alleged to have interfered with the mineral estate owner’s ability to access minerals and adversely impacted the quality and distribution of salable minerals (subcontractor to Gustavson Associates LLC, Boulder, Colorado).
• Yellowstone Generator Station MSAs, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming – Services provided to the National Park Service in compliance with Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WDEQ) rules for Minimum Site Assessments (MSAs). Conducted core drilling and subsurface sampling around several buried fuel tanks associated with power generator stations within in the Park (subcontractor to Lowham Walsh, Lander, Wyoming).
• Lisbon Valley Copper Mine, La Sal, Utah – On-going assistance to the company in developing a mine plan modification for submission to BLM with a focus on evaluating potential groundwater impacts from mining operations.  Prepared Environmental Assessment (EA) for BLM to evaluate environmental impacts from mine pit backfilling. 
• TomCo Oil Shale Pilot Project, Bonanza, Utah – Hydrogeologic evaluation of site conditions for the submission of a Ground Water Discharge Permit to the State of Utah.  Conducted aquifer stress tests in several monitoring wells and prepared a geologic evaluation of the mining zone for comparison to similar nearby proposed mining sites (subcontractor to Lowham Walsh, Lander, Wyoming).

• Sevier Lake Potash Mine Project – Led team responsible for recharge analysis, hydrologic properties testing and analysis, and groundwater flow and transport modeling using MODFLOW-SURFACT.  Output from the model was used to assist in mine layout and design, brine extraction rate, brine grade dilution rate, characterization of sources of recharge, ET rates, and solute transport.  These data were then used to assist the calculation of reserves for feasibility studies as well as helping calibrate the environmental modeling for the eventual EIS required by the permitting agency (BLM, UDOGM).

• Rasmussen Valley Phosphate Mine EIS – Assisting the 3^rd party NEPA contractor and the agencies (BLM, USFS, IDEQ) as a participant on an ID team of scientists investigating hydrological, hydrogeological, and geochemical aspects of a planned phosphate mine in Southeast Idaho.  Participated in step-test and constant rate aquifer stress testing, and corrected all data for Earth tide and barometric effects.  Wrote Water Resources Technical Report and Hydrology section for EIS.

• Paris Hills Phosphate Mine Project – Agency permitting support.  Conducted the analysis of pneumatic slug tests to estimate hydrologic properties for initial estimates of groundwater flow into a proposed underground phosphate mine.  These data will also be used to plan additional drilling and aquifer stress tests to better constrain the estimate of water in-flow to the mine.  Assist in developing hydrogeologic model to estimate impacts from underground mine dewatering.

• Wind River Gas Field hydrofracking impact investigation, Pavillion, Wyoming (BLM) – Participated in the regulatory/industry cooperative workgroup chartered to evaluate the claim of connection between hydrofracking in a shallow gas reservoir and suspected groundwater contamination.  Work group was responsible for planning and design of various research initiatives, including field data collection and evaluation.  Key participant in public outreach in a highly contested and controversial atmosphere, with prospective far-reaching implications for industry and Federal/Tribal jurisdictional responsibilities.

• Strathmore Gas Hills Conventional Heap Leach Uranium Mine, Wyoming (BLM) – Led department responsible for preparing an EA for exploratory operations and planning for an eventual EIS covering conventional open-pit/heap leach uranium operations.  Concerns and challenges included designing a mine plan to work constructively with the State of Wyoming Abandoned Mine Lands Division in addressing impacts to previously-reclaimed pre-law mining disturbances, transportation issues surrounding four isolated mine units with a central heap facility, and consensus building among a variety of regulators including the BLM, Wyoming DEQ and the NRC, as well as issues affecting neighboring mine operations conducted by other parties.

• Sheep Mountain Conventional Heap Leach Uranium Mine, Wyoming (BLM) – Led department responsible for preparing an EIS for a conventional open-pit/underground/heap leach uranium operation on previously mined lands.  Concerns and challenges included designing a mine plan to work constructively with State of Wyoming Abandoned Mine Lands Division plans to continue remediating existing pre-law disturbances in the permit area, dewatering of old mine workings, legacy mine pit water quality, and consensus building among a variety of regulators including the BLM, Wyoming DEQ and the NRC.

• Grieve Field Secondary Enhancement Project, Wyoming (BLM) – Led department responsible for preparing a large EA for a secondary enhancement project (CO₂ flood) in an older, depleted oil field.  Components included plugging and abandonment of numerous wells, permitting new recovery and injection wells, and pipeline and power-line alternative development.

• Bison Basin Field Secondary Enhancement Project, Wyoming (BLM) – Led department responsible for preparing an EA for water flood secondary enhancement project in an older, depleted oil field.  Components included plugging and abandonment of numerous wells, permitting new recovery and injection wells, and addressing field expansion issues in Greater Sage-Grouse (candidate species) core habitat.

• Lander Field Office Resource Management Plan Revision (BLM) – Led minerals-related contributions for the Resource Management Plan revision, encompassing an area of 6.6 million acres containing 4.7 million acres of federal mineral estate and 2.5 million acres of public lands are managed under the multiple-use mandate by the BLM.  Authored the Mineral Occurrence and Development Report which informs alternative development with respect to mineral resource use and/or protective measures for other resource concerns.

• Cameco/Power Resources Gas Hills In-Situ Recovery Uranium Mine, Wyoming (BLM) – Led department responsible for preparing an EIS for a five mine-unit in-situ leach uranium operation on previously conventionally mined lands.  Concerns and challenges included characterizing the effects on hydrogeology from over 15,000 delineation boreholes historically drilled in the area and hydrologic interactions with remaining pit lakes.

• Moneta Divide Gas Field Development Project, Wyoming (BLM) – Led department responsible for preparing an EIS for the future development of the Moneta Divide Gas Field (formerly the Gunbarrel/Madden/Iron Horse project), a 4,200 gas well expansion.  Main concerns and challenges include air quality, surface disturbance/reclamation, and treatment and disposal of approximately 1,000,000 bbls per day of highly saline produced water.  

• Rattlesnake Mountains Gold Project, Wyoming (BLM) – Led department responsible for preparing a large EA, and several amendments for the multi-year core/reverse drilling of a deep gold/REE exploration target.  Concerns and challenges included wildlife impacts, and designing reclamation in a relatively un-impacted area due to extremely steep terrain and low precipitation.

• Various Developers, Pierce County/Thurston County, Washington – In accordance with Washington State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) and various county regulations, prepared pre-development hydrogeologic reports for a numerous clients, including residential developers,  manufacturing facilities, and several schools and fire stations.  Collected and analyzed precipitation data, soil textural data, mapped glacial units at the reconnaissance scale, and performed storm water run-off, percolation and nitrate loading analyses.

• Princeton Bridge Geotechnical Project, City of Seattle, Washington – Supervised geotechnical drilling and conducted physical sample analysis (water content, texture) for the design of the foundation for the new Princeton Street Bridge, Seattle, Washington.

• Reynolds Metal Company/(associated confidential client), Oregon – Principal Investigator for a legal conflict involving accusations of Drilling-Introduced PAH Contamination in Several Boreholes at The Reynolds Metals Company, Troutdale, Oregon.

• Thurston County LOTT Project, Olympia, Washington – Principal Investigator for the estimation of County-wide Hydrogeologic Parameters Bearing on Potential of Vertical Movement of Reclaimed Water Related to the Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater, and Thurston County (LOTT) Project.

• Tumwater School District No. 33, Seasonal Flooding Project, Tumwater, Washington – Designed and constructed piezometers and groundwater monitoring plan to determine the nature of seasonal water table fluctuations in an effort to design solution for shallow flooding of low-lying areas at the Support Services Facility and Tumwater High School.

• INL New Waste Treatment and Storage Facility Surficial Characterization, Idaho – Conducted analyses of physical properties of sediment samples from various candidate sites for a replacement waste treatment and storage facility at the Idaho National Laboratory.

• Expert Testimony, US EPA Region IX Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory – Provided expert testimony and technical support for volatile organic contamination case involving several PRPs operating on the grounds of what is now the Burbank Airport in Southern California.

• INL Test Area North Groundwater RI/FS, Idaho - Principal Investigator for the multi-year Idaho National Laboratory Test Area North Groundwater RI/FS.  Led installation of deep monitor wells, aquifer properties testing, groundwater sampling and analysis, and a remedial interim action to remove radiological/organic-contaminated sludge plugging an injection well.  Implemented a packer test, sampling, and mobile laboratory procedure to profile a contaminant plume, calculate mass, and select screen intervals in quasi-real time.

• INL Test Reactor Area Shallow Groundwater Contamination Investigation, Idaho – Logged cuttings, installed stainless steel monitoring wells, and performed aquifer tests and data analysis to develop hydraulic conductivity values for inter-bedded silt and fractured basalt aquifer.

• INL Drilling Additives Chemical Interaction Experiment, Idaho – Co-investigator for the design and implementation of an experiment designed to characterize the impacts of various drilling additives on groundwater chemistry on the Idaho National Laboratory.

• INL RWMC Infiltration/Drainage Experiment, Idaho - Conducted vadose-zone infiltration/drainage experiment in surficial soils to generate hydraulic properties for modeling the flux of water and radioactive contaminants from disposal horizons at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex to the Snake River Plain aquifer.  Project generated the first-ever measurements of in-situ unsaturated flow through surficial sediments at the Idaho National Laboratory.

• INL Interactive Instantaneous Profile Program, Idaho – Developed computer software calculation solution for estimating unsaturated hydraulic properties of field soils in situ using an instantaneous profile-type methodology, used in processing a large number of time and water content data pairs for comparison to unit gradient and van Genuchten parameter estimation methods.

• Various Municipal Water Purveyors, Washington – Conducted aquifer protection (well head protection program) and groundwater resource studies for various water purveyors.

• City Of Olympia, Washington - Designed and conducted the City of Olympia’s North Percival Storm water Facility Site Investigation, implemented to reduce storm water impacts on salmon habitat.  Installed a network of shallow piezometers, and developed a water balance for the site.

• Beartrack Mine Associated Exploration targets, North Fork, Idaho - Conducted mineral exploration in areas peripheral to a prospective open-pit gold mine in an effort to develop additional reserves in the area.  Collected soil samples, logged drill cuttings, performed geologic field mapping, drafted maps and assay results.

• FMC Gold Company Grassroots Exploration Activities, Nevada, ,Utah, Oregon, and Idaho - Conducted  grassroots mineral exploration with the purposes of discovering mineable deposits of gold and associated metals.  Collected soil samples, stream sediment samples, logged drill cuttings, performed geologic field mapping, drafted maps and assay results.

• USGS Coterminous United States Mineral Assessment Project, Utah - Geologic field work (mapping and geochemical sampling) as part of a USGS Coterminous United States Mineral Assessment Project (CUSMAP) team, investigating prospects in West Tintic Utah Mining District, Simpson Mountains, and Deep Creek Mountains, Utah.