Revised: April 10, 2000
Water Supply Evaluation for the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community
A. Project Purpose: Provide information to the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community planners on the ground water resources within Tribal Lands so that community planners can use this information to influence future land developments to manage their water resources.
B. Organizational Structure
B.1. Faculty Advisor: John S. Gierke
B.2. KBIC Contact:
B.3. Graduate Teaching Assistant: Taking Applications
A graduate teaching assistant will be employed to assist the groups involved with the hydrogeological characterization and ground water development. The graduate student will be able to use their results as part of his/her M.S. thesis/report. The M.S. student should be in either geological engineering, applied geophysics, geology, civil engineering, or environmental engineering.
B.4. Undergraduate Project Leader: To Be Selected by the Entire Project Group
The undergraduate project leader will ensure the timely completion of the activities of the project groups. The groups will establish the objectives, scope, and timeline of their activities
B.5. Project Areas, Groups, and Responsibilities
All of the engineering and geoscience students will participate in one, or more, of 5 technically focused working groups listed under the two areas below pertaining to characterization and development of ground- and surface-water resources. The two groups involved in the regional planning activities will be composed of representatives from both the ground- and surface-water development areas and students majoring in Business Adminsitration, Social Science, and Scientifical Communications and Technical Writing. Group leaders will be senior-level students. Junior- and sophomore-level students may also contribute any of the groups in activities that correspond to the abilities (e.g., member of a geophysical survey crew, data entry, etc.)
B.5.a. Hydrogeological Characterization and Ground Water Development
The groups involved in this area will collaborate on the assessment of the groundwater resources within the KBIC lands. The assessment will consist of a both the quanity of the groundwater resources and the quality. (see Tasks )
B.5.a.1. Ground Water Modeling Group: Sophisticated, commercially available, ground water flow models will be used to characterize the ground water flows regionally and in specific local areas where concentrations of pumping wells exist. This group will be 2-4 students, senior-level, and can be from any disciplinary field, but the group leader should have coursework experience in geohydrology. Group members should have extensive computer experience.
B.5.a.2. Geophysical Surveying Group: Existing and potentially new areas important for ground water development will be surveyed to characterize the subsurface geology (e.g., depths to bedrock) and hydrogeology ( e.g., depth to ground water). This group will be 4-6 students, junior- and senior-levels, and most members should be geological engineering, applied geophysics, and geology majors who have completed a summer course in field geophysics.
B.5.a.3. Ground Water Engineering Group: Planned growth of the KBIC will be used to propose areas for ground water development by selecting appropriate locations for new wells and designing the types of wells that are needed in these areas. A system for the community of Zeba will be designed and its construction cost will be estimated. This group will be 2-4 students, at least a two should be seniors, with geohydrology and fluid mechanics course backgrounds. No disciplinary preferences.
B.5.b. Surface Water Development
The groups involved in this area will collaborate on the design of a water treatment system using L. Superior as a water source and distributing the treated water on a community-wide basis for Zeba.
B.5.b.1. Surface Water Development Group: This group will design a water intake, pumping, and treatment system to provide the community of Zeba with drinking water. Approximately 4 students will comprise this group. At least one student should be a senior with coursework in water treatment. Ideally, the group leader will be majoring in either Environmental Engineering or Civil Engineering (Environmental Engineering emphasis).
B.5.b.2. Water Distribution Group: This group will design a water distribution system for Zeba. Approximately 4-6 students will comprise this group. At least one student should be a senior with coursework in hydromechanics. Ideally, the group leader will be majoring in either Environmental Engineering or Civil Engineering (Water Resources or Environmental Engineering emphases).
B.5.c. Regional Planning
The groups involved in this area will work with KBIC planners to estimate future growth and to take inventory of current activities that potentially could harm ground-water quality.
B.5.c.1. Hazard Indentification Group: These students will survey the KBIC Tribal lands and surrounding areas to develop an inventory of businesses and facilities that could potentially harm ground water resources if pollutants were leaked or spilled at their facilities. Any of the members of the groups in Surface or Ground Water Development can participate in this activity. The group leader should be an Environmental Engineering major.
B.5.c.2. Communit Planning Group: The future growth of the KBIC will be estimated using current plans provided by KBIC planners. This group should be led by senior-level students majoring in Business Administration, Social Science, or Scientifical Communications. Other majors and sophomore- and junior-level students could make contributions in various aspects.
D. Technical Objectives:
D.1. Develop a comprehensive picture of the hydrogeological setting in which the groundwater supplies reside.
D. 2. Conduct a regional water budget analysis to identify groundwater recharge and discharge areas. Recharge or wellhead protection areas are the most important for protection of groundwater quality.