Project Success
1. Water Rights and Resource Permitting Expertise
- Successfully persuaded the State Engineer to approve 7000 acre feet of new appropriations for mining operations in the Black Rock, even though they were junior rights to other pending applications.
- Assisted the Nevada Division of Minerals in drafting the state’s first ever regulation to address hydraulic fracturing, providing careful research and writing the response to public comment all the way through final adoption of the regulation in 2014.
- Assisted legal counsel in at least two separate appeals of decisions of the State Engineer, successfully pushing back on positions that we do not believe are defensible in District Court.
2. Groundwater Development Projects, Drilling Engineering and Well Design
- I completed the permitting, drilling engineering, aquifer testing, well design, construction and well development for a major new public water supply well project in Washoe County for the developer that was ultimately received by the utility, (Utilities Inc. of Nevada, in Cold Spring Valley). The well steadily produces 1,050 gallons per minute (gpm) directly to the utility infrastructure and is capable of more on a peak demand basis.
- For a small community water system in Pershing County, after efforts to rehabilitate the existing old public supply wells failed to bring the water quality into compliance, I provided the option of drilling a new well and was responsible for the permitting, well design, construction and well development for the new public supply, and brought the water system into compliance with the TDS standard, (TA Travel Centers of America, Truck Stop and Restaurant, in Imlay/Mill City).
- I provided the expertise for locating, drilling, designing, developing and testing of four new large diameter irrigation wells to supplement the waters of Long Valley Creek near Doyle, California, an area that had previously seen virtually no other groundwater development. The wells were all on the order of 900 feet deep and produced 1200-1350 gpm.
3. Well Development and Rehabilitation
- I have directed well development projects to bring in wells where the well screen had been clogged or the formation contaminated with drilling mud and fines, recently using line swabbing techniques and a double surge block with a pump. The most important aspect of well development is getting sufficient energy into the formation by using the correct tools.