National Ground Water Association

(WESTERVILLE, OH — September 28, 2011) Daniel B. Stephens & Associates Inc. of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has won a National Ground Water Association Outstanding Ground Water Project Award for outstanding science, engineering, and contractor innovation in the area of supplying groundwater.

The NGWA Ground Water Supply Award was given for DBS&A's $9 million project involving the design of a new wellfield in Potter County, Texas. DBS&A used a three-dimensional hydrostratigraphic model to optimize well site selection and modeled groundwater drawdown impacts from an existing nearby wellfield. The data was used to develop a wellfield design that minimizes local drawdown impacts and balances pumping demands between the two wellfields.

Phase I of the project tested aquifer properties and four prototype well designs. The new wellfield was designed to maximize capacity and efficiency so that production goals and all regulatory requirements could be met.

Phase II involved installation of 17 high-capacity production wells. Twenty-one production wells were installed with a tested capacity of more than 25 million gallons per day — exceeding the initial goals for the project.

This was the largest groundwater development project in the western United States during 2010. DBS&A used an innovative application of three-dimensional modeling software designed for the mining industry to help characterize the complex hydrostratigraphy of the Ogallala Aquifer and guide development of the new wellfield designed for maximum production capacity while limiting depletion impacts.

This award will be presented on November 30 at the NGWA Ground Water Expo and Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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NGWA, a nonprofit organization composed of U.S. and international groundwater professionals — contractors, equipment manufacturers, suppliers, scientists, and engineers — is dedicated to advancing groundwater knowledge. NGWA's vision is to be the leading groundwater association that advocates the responsible development, management, and use of water.