Finding Critical Underground Water Sources with MUD™
Project Overview
Parksville British Columbia
Water is essential for industry, communities and individuals to survive and thrive. Pressure on the water supply is expected to increase for the coming years as populations grow and climate change affects water availability worldwide. Technical innovation is essential for the responsible development, conservation and use of groundwater resources
Auracle's MUD™ system remotely detects, measures and tracks near surface and subsurface water systems, across wide areas. This study advanced the MUD™ technology to locate water underneath a complex, industrial site obstructed by buildings, roadways and waste.
The test area is an industrial site located in Parksville, located on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. There are three established artesian commercial water-well occurrences located in the area. These 3 water wells were drilled by a Canadian water company, that also provided drill logs that defined the locations and depths of overlying material.
Sector:
Water Management
Service:
Water Detection
Satellite:
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)

Challenges

buildings and infrastructure impede site making it impossible to survey with ground penetrating radar or other geophysical equipment

no evidence of water systems at surface

to demonstrate that underground water systems can be located and monitored remotely, from space

Image 1. View of the study area looking west with heliport, buildings, roadways, buildings and industrial yards.

Image 2. View of the study area looking east with steel buildings, roadway, and parking lot obstructing the surface.

Image 3. Optical image of the study area

Solutions
Auracle successfully applied its 3D MUD™ system to :
-
verify water well-surface locations
-
identify near-surface groundwater occurrences
-
identify capping material
-
locate higher absorbing inner water bearing material
-
define an impervious bottom material
-
identify the locations and depths of overlying materials in an active industrial site.

Image 4: The labels depict the groundwater location between the boundary lines. This encapsulation is the pressure generator causing the artesian wells.

Image 5: Showing the machine classification of the groundwater barriers in blue.

Image 6: Differential classification of the south to north volume section shows underlying shale (in orange); water (in blue); and overlying clay (brown) and the subsurface depths at which they lay. The blue dots represent the water intercepts that align with the drill log. A fault in the subsurface geological structure is displayed in green.
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
Actionable Geospatial Intelligence

Machine classification discretely and anonymously detects and defines underlying bedrock, soil saturation and structural bounds

Machine classification discretely and anonymously detects and defines underlying bedrock, soil saturation and structural bounds

Automated tool available 24/7 through all seasons for domestic, municipal, industrial, ecological and agricultural applications

Benefits
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
By adding critical geospatial information, including subsurface composition, Auracle's MUD™ system proactively locates and monitors water issues before they reach a crisis point.
The MUD™ system, with its machine learning, data analyses and 3D subsurface modelling, contributes to a full understanding of the conditions at a particular project site so that appropriate solutions can be evaluated and designed.
Auracle provides a tested advanced technology that goes beyond compliance and recognizes water as a finite resource that can and must be managed efficiently. This data forms a base model for potential monitoring to identify changes to water levels at, on and under the ground.
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.