Hydro-Terra Group specializes in all phases of water resource development and management. There is no more precious natural resource on the planet than the Earth’s drinking water, and we are dedicated to finding technologically-innovative solutions to the challenges of water supply management.
WATER SUPPLY SERVICES
- Well design, construction, and testing
- Water balance analyses and appropriation permits
- Streamflow monitoring and analyses
- Potable water treatment system design and permitting
- Pumping and irrigation supply systems
- Watershed restoration, planning, and monitoring
- Small scale infrastructure design/build for municipal water resources
- Water supply permit assistance – MDE, SRBC, PADEP, DRBC, DNREC, VADEQ Withdrawal, NPDES, and Construction Permits
GROUNDWATER DEVELOPMENT
Our Hydro-Terra Group Geologists, Engineers, and Designers have over 30 years of experience working in the Mid-Atlantic Region providing new drinking water sources for many townships, boroughs, and developments.
What is Ground Water?
When rain falls to the ground, the water does not stop moving. Some of it flows along the land surface to streams or lakes, some is used by plants, some evaporates and returns to the atmosphere, and some seeps into the ground. Water seeps into the ground much like a glass of water poured onto a pile of sand.
As water seeps into the ground, some of it clings to particles of soil or to roots of plants just below the land surface. This moisture provides plants with the water they need to grow. Water not used by plants moves deeper into the ground. The water moves downward through empty spaces or cracks in the soil, sand, or rocks until it reaches a layer of rock through which water cannot easily move. The water then fills the empty spaces and cracks above that layer. The top of the water in the soil, sand, or rocks is called the water table and the water that fills the empty spaces and cracks is called ground water.
Click here to download the pdf “What is Ground Water” from the USGS.
AQUIFER TESTING
Finding the water is only the beginning of the process. Hydro-Terra Group can also evaluate the sustainable capacity and water quality of a newly developed groundwater source. Our scientists and environmental engineers can set up comprehensive monitoring plans, capture the raw data during testing using state-of-the art data-logging and remote monitoring, and interpret and model the data to expedite regulatory agency approvals.
EPA WATER FACTS
- It takes, on average, 39,090 gallons of water to manufacture a new car and its four tires.
- 62,600 gallons of water are needed to produce one ton of steel; 1,500 gallons to process one barrel of beer; and 9.3 gallons to process one can of fruit or vegetables.
- On average, 50-70% of household water is used outdoors (watering lawns, washing cars).
- The average American uses over 100 gallons of water per day; the average residence uses over 100,000 gallons during a year.
- Americans drink more than 1 billion glasses of tap water per day.
- The average cost for water supplied to a home in the U.S. is about $2.00 for 1,000 gallons, which equals about 5 gallons for a penny.
- It costs over $3.5 billion to operate water systems throughout the United States each year.
Click here to read more in the EPA pdf “Drinking Water Facts and Figures”
SURFACE WATER: STREAMS, CREEKS, AND RIVERS
The quality and condition of our surface water is often linked to the overall health of the entire ecosystem. Our scientists and engineers offer a host of surface water evaluation services to help gauge the health of creeks, streams and rivers. Hydro-Terra Group scientists have broad experience in measuring total stream flow, bedload sampling, suspended sediment sampling, channel mapping, long-term monitoring of temperature & stream stage as well as many other physical factors that affect stream health.
For compliance monitoring for maintenance of nominal Streamflow, HTG can site, design, permit, and construct stream gauging stations with flow capacities ranging form a few gallons per minute to over 100 cubic feet per second.
In addition to the physical stream characteristics, our staff tests, monitors, and samples fof various important chemical quality parameters. Our field data collection includes dissolved oxygen, salinity, pH, iron, hardness, free chlorine, dissolved solids, and temperature as well as developing specific testing procedures for other chemicals suspected of being introduced into streams. In this, HTG provides grab and automated sampling services.
WATER SUPPLY AND TREATMENT SYSTEMS
HTG staff have designed, permitted, and constructed numerous water pumping and tereatment systems. These have included commercial systems for shopping centers and manufacturing plants, municipal pump houses and treatment facilities, manufacturing plants, and sumpiong systems for supply and management of irrigation water. Paramenters we have successfully treated include pH, hardness, nitrates, iron and manganese, volatile organic compounds, and radon.
BEECHTREE WATER SUPPLY PROJECT
Hydro-Terra Group personnel lead a comprehensive water supply project in Upper Marlboro, Maryland that required our services across many different areas of expertise. We assisted with design, permitting, and construction of a large scale irrigation and ecosystem management system to provide irrigation water to a championship golf course and maintain downstream aquatic habitat.
The project included construction of a dam, creation of a 30-acre lake and wetland perimeter, and completion of one of the deepest wells in Maryland (1600 feet) to tap an aquifer deep enough to protect the area’s potable water supplies. Our control system automatically regulates the flow and quality of water through the system to maintain adequate environmental release and meet permit requirements.
In this photo gallery, you’ll see the project progress from stream diversion and sub-grade preparation, to anchor trench excavation and panel installation, through to construction of the dam.
