JMAR – Just Measure Robotic Remote Control: The mobile vertical profiler for water boreholes measuring nitrate levels in groundwater
Just-measure
Sit in your office and remotely obtain detailed water profiles from wells, measuring meter by meter with 12 readings at each step. With JMAR, you have complete control over the sensor and data logger.
Challenge
The world’s groundwater is challenged by pollutants from various sources. In Denmark, the groundwater is threatened by high levels nitrate – a direct consequence of the vast discharge of fertilizer on the fields during the 70s and 80s. Over the years, unconsumed nutrients in the form of nitrate have passed through the soil layers into the groundwater and thus into the drinking water reservoirs jeopardizing public health. Against this backdrop, technological solutions that can predict and measure these levels are utmost crucial in order to secure clean drinking water today and in the future.
At Aalborg Utility they would like to secure the drinking water supply for the future so that citizens can continue to get clean drinking water from their taps. The problem in the Aalborg area with nitrate in the groundwater is generally quite complex, as the geological conditions around Aalborg mean that you do not have natural protection against excess nitrate, as you have in other parts of the country. There is simply a lack of nitrate reduction capacity in the soil layers.
Solution
In collaborations with the Danish Technological Institute, Aalborg University and WSP Denmark, Just Measure has developed a technological solution that can measure levels of nitrate and other substances in drinking water wells down to 100 meters at 10 bars.
JMAR simply works by lowering the tool into water supply bore using an automated process externally controlled by a mobile device. The electronic meter gauge then provides information about the depth, which is compared with level specific measurements from a given time. Thus, a clear picture of nitrate deposits in the water layers is drawn from top to bottom down to a depth of 100 meters.
Implementation
Just-measure has together with Aalborg utility and Danish Institute of Technology developed JMAR, Just Measure Robotics remote control, which helps Utilities, Consultants, well drillers, and others by:
- Monitoring nitrate levels in boreholes, including mapping vertical variations in nitrate concentrations through the aquifer.
- Avoiding nitrate zones when drilling new boreholes.
- Using data from JMAR as part of the decision-making process for reducing nitrate content of wells to be rehabilitated.
Results
Vertical Profiling provides a more differentiated picture of where nitrate deposits occur in the various water layers than the current top and bottom sample method that are is commonly used today. This offers a much better foundation for making decisions regarding appropriate depths for pumping, while also providing data for forming a comprehensive and accurate understanding of how nitrate will impact the supply of clean drinking water in the supply area, now and in the future. Hereby, it also informs the construction of new wells at the water source location.
Partners
Just-measure, Danish Technological Institute, Aalborg Utility, and WSP-Denmark
Contact
Dines Juhl Barsøe
CEO, Just-measure
djb@just-measure.com
Martin Mortensen
Geologist
Martin.mortensen@aalborgforsyning.dk
Henrik Andersen
Market Director, Ground Water
Henrik.andersen@wsp.com
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