University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Students in Chris Lowry’s hydrogeology class use measuring tapes to gauge the height of the underground water table at one of UB’s four open groundwater wells on the North Campus. Photo: DOUGLAS LEVERE

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  The data students obtain, along with other details, should enable them to evaluate characteristics of the aquifer. Photo: DOUGLAS LEVERE

By CHARLOTTE HSU

Published: November 3, 2011

Engulfed by the pungent smell of sulfur, groups of hydrogeology students threaded measuring tapes down open groundwater wells on a far corner of UB’s North Campus last Thursday and Friday.

Their task: gauge the height of the underground water table at three adjacent wells as water was released from one of them. The data, in conjunction with details on the distance between wells and the amount of water being pumped, would enable the students to evaluate characteristics of the aquifer, such as how readily water flows through it.

If you’ve never seen UB’s well field, you’re not alone. The wellheads are inconspicuous—small, cylindrical and industrial-looking. There are just four of them and they sit on a narrow swath of land off the university’s Webster Entrance, north of UB Stadium and near South Lake Village.

Unassuming as they are, the wells serve an important purpose.

Last week’s pumping tests, part of Assistant Professor Chris Lowry’s hydrogeology class, gave students the opportunity to work with tools and methods that professionals use to determine aquifer properties. Undergraduates at other colleges have few opportunities to complete such exercises because most campuses don’t have wells, Lowry says.

At UB, the field experience is relatively authentic, down to the stench of sulfur, which occurs naturally underground. Despite the offensive odor, the students seemed to be having a decent time, shouting out water heights to one another and marking down data in notebooks.

Zack Munger, a geology master’s student and teaching assistant, says the learning experience could be useful for young people planning to move on to water-related careers.

“Our students could go on to be hydrogeologists in the real world,” he says. “They’re the people who are going to be out there digging wells and doing environmental remediation of groundwater.”