The Journal of the American Water Works Association has published an article written by Project Engineer Nick Johnson, who is located in our Tulsa office. The article entitled “Aquifer Plume Delineation of Mixed Population Nitrate Data Using ArcGIS” appears in JAWWA Volume 105 Number 9, which is also available online by clicking here.
Nick’s article discusses a study in which the nitrate levels of water samples from three aquifers in north-central Oklahoma providing water to the city of Enid were examined. These nitrate levels are important to monitor because excessive nitrate levels can lead to Blue Baby Syndrome in infants. The article reviews both the change in nitrate levels and where the changes happened, specifically since January 2000. The study set the basis for a future study that will be conducted by Nick’s co-author, Dr. Avdhesh Tyagi of Oklahoma State University, examining expansion of the well-fields to accommodate city growth.
“The article gave me an opportunity to learn how to sort large files of data that was sometimes regularly collected and sometimes intermittent,” Nick said. “The data also represented three distinct statistical populations represented by five sampling areas, which afforded me an opportunity to explore statistical spatial analysis applied to engineering and then explain it to a city board before submitting it to an academic journal.”
Congratulations, Nick! We’re proud of our engineers who lead the way in their respective research fields.
