Overview: The assessment and remediation of groundwater contamination requires knowing the magnitude and distribution of the hydraulic conductivity of soils and sediments. Slug testing of monitoring wells has become the most common means of determining hydraulic conductivity at contamination sites. Slug testing entails instantaneously lowering the water level in a well by bailing, pumping or displacement, or by instantaneously raising the water level in a well by adding water and then monitoring the water level recovery as a function of time. The hydraulic conductivity may be determined by the rate of water level recovery using appropriate models. Pneumatic slug testing entails using air pressure or vacuum in the well headspace to instantaneously change the water level. It is particularly useful in wells installed in formations that have high permeability. Such wells have very rapid response times on the order of seconds and may exhibit oscillatory inertial response. These conditions preclude the use of conventional slug testing for determining the hydraulic conductivity.

Your Instructor: Dr. Gary Robbins.  You may reach him for questions at grobbins@vgwacademy.com.

Course Objectives: In this course you will learn how to conduct pneumatic slug testing and analyze underdamped and overdamped responses for hydraulic conductivity.

Course Outline 1.Slug test review 2.Pneumatic slug test procedures 3.Overdamped water level response and models 4.Critically damped water level response 5.Underdamped water level response 6.Underdamped response theory 7.Underdamped slug test model solutions 8.Practical aspects in conducting and analyzing slug tests 9.Some last words by the author 10.How to obtain CEUs 11.Select references

Learning Level: Advanced level. The course requires basic knowledge of algebra, geology, physics and use of spreadsheets. It is assumed the participants are familiar with conventional slug testing.

Timeframe: The course should be completed in 4 hours, but take your time. Once enrolled, you have 60 days to complete the course before your enrollment expires.

Tuition: $xxxx

Professional Continuing Education Units(CEUs): This course was developed in partnership with the Environmental Professionals' Organization of Connecticut (EPOC) A portion of the tuition will help support the EPOC Environmental Scholarship Fund. The EPOC will provide course completion certification for CEUs.

COURSE APPOVALS HAVE NOT BEEN OBTAINED AT THIS TIME

The course has been approved for professional CEUs as follows:

CT LEPs: 4 CECs, course number xxxxx

MA LSPs: 4 CECs, course number yyyyy

NY PE: 4 PDHs PIE xxx Seminar Approval

To obtain CEU credits, you have 60 days after you register to submit required material to grobbins@vgwacademy.com. For this course, you must submit answers to the review questions, the spreadsheet analyses for the two pneumatic slug test simulations and registration information. You will then be issued course completion certification(s) by EPOC.

Getting Started: Click on the purchase & register link above to enroll and to obtain a username and password. Once you enroll, return to this page and obtain the needed downloads. Then click on the Enter Course link above to begin. The course consists of a slide presentation (in Flash) that allows you to scroll and resize pages and search for content. As appropriate, you will find links to animations, simulations, videos and spreadsheets.

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