You are here:
US EPA OPTIMAL WELL LOCATOR (OWL): A SCREENING TOOL FOR EVALUATING LOCATIONS OF MONITORING WELLS
Citation:
STRIZ, E. A., J. T. WILSON, AND M. SMALL. US EPA OPTIMAL WELL LOCATOR (OWL): A SCREENING TOOL FOR EVALUATING LOCATIONS OF MONITORING WELLS. Presented at 17th Annual UST/LUST National Conference, Seattle, WA, March 14 - 16, 2005.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public.
Description:
The Optimal Well Locator (OWL): uses linear regression to fit a plane to the elevation of the water table in monitoring wells in each round of sampling. The slope of the plane fit to the water table is used to predict the direction and gradient of ground water flow. Along with the hydrological characteristics of the aquifer, OWL will predict the future distribution of contamination based on the characteristics of ground water flow in each round of sampling. OWL then averages data from each round to generate a composite estimate of future contamination. OWL then compares the predicted concentration of contamination at any point to the square of the distance to an existing monitoring well to generate a predictor of the hazard of missing a plume at that point with the existing monitoring infrastructure.