Brewster to call in Law Firm!!

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Three feckin cheers fer Craig Brewster

:021: :021: :021:

I am reliably informed that Brew has challenged CC and Grassa in regard to the misinformation and "cover up" regarding the fourth stand construction delays. As I had reported all along Brew has threatened to leak a confidential report penned by Weitz and Luxenburg Solicitors in regard to their examination of the area earlier last year.

The report apparently confirms that high concentrations of Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) were measured at the Longman site. The report also suggests that the causation was due to a pre-existing shallow sandy aquifer being contaminated by gasoline and other pollutants in the early 1980's. It is feared that the findings suggest that an AQUIFER in the shape of a scaled down replica of the Edwards Aquifer in Central Texas has been discovered.

I will say no more at this juncture but I suspect that "Longmangate" will long outlast the mere discussions on transfers.

[Guest calaiscasual]

Are you sure the lawyers aren't Dewey, Cheatham and Howe?

[RiG]

I still don't understand the obsession with this aquifier thing.

[Johnboy]

Are you sure the lawyers aren't Dewey, Cheatham and Howe?

Or Sue, Grabbit & Runne.....

[KingBeastie]

More like Huey Louie and Dewey

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

I still don't understand the obsession with this aquifier thing.

It is the reason that the fourth stand is being delayed and almost caused two cancellations through waterlogged pitches and Tommy Cumming cant use his spikes in case he activates it. But most of all the club are trying to keep it quiet.

[Alex MacLeod]

Methyl tert-butyl ether is a highly flammable chemical that has been used, since the ban on lead, as an octane booster in petrol. The quantities used are very small so for IHE's aquifer to be contaminated in high concentrations then one **** of a lot of petrol must have been dumped in the area.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

What does a rigger know about the geochemical heterogeneity of contaminated aquifers!! :017:

MTBE is indeed a flammable liquid, a subtle blend of isobutylene and methanol. It is also indeed used as an additive for unleaded petrol. Quantity in itself is not the issue as small ammounts can create problems. It dissolves quickly in underground water and can remain for long periods of time and eventually settles to the bottom sediment.

High estimations of MTBE in the soil relates to the sedimentary factors. I am sure that inhabitants of Old sneck will recall that the area of the stadium was a renowned fuel dumping ground, used by the local refineries and passing cargo ships.

[Alex MacLeod]

This 'rigger' has a higher national in chemical engineering. With the health service in such a state and a national shortage of personnel, wher does a nurse find the time to do so much surfing on this subject anyway :016:

[Guest Bonzo]

ooooooh! getting tetchy you pair.

Must be the fumes!

[Guest Sam]

Oh good grief... how long before the new season starts?!!!

[Alex MacLeod]

Tis ok Bonzo, not tetchy. Johndo and I go back a couple of years even though he was raised from the ashes on the shores of Glenfinnan, in the heart of my homeland of Lochaber, way back in the year dot and long before petroleum spirit was ever discovered. The man, being immortal, has the brain capacity of ten thousand scientists so the world should heed his warnings.

Global warming!!!!!!!! Johndo MacKenzie invented it. :003:

[Scotty]

even though he was raised from the ashes on the shores of Glenfinnan

Thats a BIG pile of Ashes !!!

Global warming!!!!!!!! Johndo MacKenzie invented it

Why does the word methane spring to mind :farting01:

[KingBeastie]

Not many people know this but IHE is actually Barney Rubbles faither. :010: :004:

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Best feckin retorts ever. :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015:

Touche ya bestards. :011:

[bigmack]

Utter Sh@t stirring from JJ Booster,all he is doing is "exposing" himself as the 2 faced prat that very few saw in his ICT days.

[CaleyJulz]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm im all confused :026: :confused06: :confused06: :confused06:

[DJS]

It's very simple really, though perhaps too complex for girls.

Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and benzene have been measured since 1993 in a shallow, sandy aquifer contaminated by a late-1980's release of gasoline. In wells downgradient of the release area, MTBE was detected before benzene, reflecting a chromatographic-like separation of these compounds in the direction of ground-water flow. Higher concentrations of MTBE and benzene were measured in the deeper sampling ports of multilevel sampling wells located near the release area, and also up to 10 feet (3 meters) below the water-table surface in nested wells located farther from the release area. This distribution of higher concentrations at depth is caused by recharge events that deflect originally horizontal ground-water flowlines. These data suggest that milligram per liter to microgram per liter decreases in MTBE concentrations relative to benzene are caused by the natural attenuation processes of dilution and dispersion with less-contaminated ground water in the direction of flow rather than biodegradation at this point-source gasoline release site.

The transport of MTBE was simulated using two numerical modeling approaches. One approach was based on varying the first-order biodegradation rate constant in space to account for zones of strongly anaerobic ground water within the plume and adjacent oxygenated water outside the plume boundary.

[Alex MacLeod]

Kiltmaker to driving instructor to Geo-scientist. Christ Davy your versatile. Now could you translate all that into laymans terms. :015:

[DJS]

I have to be honest and say that my contribution came courtesy of the aforementioned Weitz and Luxenberg.

The plot thickens! :004:

[tm4tj]

Yer using too much Bisto then.

Misconception about aquifers and groundwater

A common misconception is that groundwater exists in underground rivers (e.g. caves where water flows freely underground). This is only sometimes true in eroded limestone areas known as karst topography which make up only a small percentage of Earth's area. More usual is that the pore spaces of rocks in the subsurface are simply saturated with water — like a kitchen sponge, which can be pumped out and used for agricultural, industrial or municipal uses.

The beach is an example of what most aquifers are like. If you dig a hole into the sand at the beach you will find very wet or saturated sand at a shallow depth. This hole is a crude well, the beach sand is an aquifer, and the level which the water rises to in this hole represents the water table.

Aquifer classification

Saturated versus unsaturated

Groundwater can be found at nearly every point in the earth's shallow subsurface, to some degree; although aquifers do not necessarily contain fresh water. The earth's crust can be divided into two regions: the saturated zone (e.g., aquifers, aquitards, etc.) and the unsaturated zone (also called the vadose zone). Saturated means the pressure head of the water is greater than atmospheric pressure (it has a gauge pressure > 0). The definition of the water table is surface where the pressure head is equal to atmospheric pressure (where gauge pressure = 0). Unsaturated conditions occur above the water table where the pressure head is negative (absolute pressure can never be negative, but gauge pressure can) and the water which incompletely fills the pores of the aquifer material is under suction. The water content in the unsaturated zone is held in place by surface adhesive forces and it rises above the water table (the zero gauge pressure isobar) by capillary action to saturate a small zone above the phreatic surface (the capillary fringe) at less than atmospheric pressure. This is termed tension saturation and is not the same as saturation on a water content basis. Water content in a capillary fringe decreases with increasing distance from the phreatic surface. The capillary head depends on soil pore size. In sandy soils with larger pores the head will be less than in clayey soils with very small pores. The normal capillary rise in a clayey soil is less than six feet but can range between 5 and 100 feet. [1]

The capillary rise of water in a small diameter tube is this same physical process. The water table is the level to which water will rise in a large diameter pipe (e.g. a well) which goes down into the aquifer, and is open to the atmosphere.

For more detail on the saturation of an aquifer, see the water content and soil moisture articles

Aquifers versus aquitards

Aquifers are typically saturated regions of the subsurface which produce an economically feasible quantity of water to a well or spring (e.g., sand and gravel or fractured bedrock often make good aquifer materials). Aquitards (sometimes, if completely impermeable, called an aquiclude or aquifuge) are saturated regions, which due to lower hydraulic conductivity, do not yield a sustainable amount of water in an economic fashion (e.g., clay, silt or fresh bedrock often form aquitards). Economically feasible is a relative term; for example, an aquifer that is quite adequate for local domestic use, as in a rural area, might be considered an inadequate aquitard for industrial, mining, or urban water supply.

In non-mountainous areas (or near rivers in mountainous areas), the main aquifers are typically unconsolidated alluvium. They are typically composed of mostly horizontal layers of materials deposited by water processes (rivers and streams), which in cross-section (looking at a two-dimensional slice of the aquifer) appear to be layers of alternating coarse and fine materials. Coarse materials, due to the high energy needed to move them, tend to be found nearer the source (mountain fronts or rivers), while the fine-grained material will make it farther from the source (to the flatter parts of the basin or overbank areas - sometimes called the pressure area). Since there are less fine-grained deposits near the source, this is a place where aquifers are often unconfined (sometimes called the forebay area), or in hydraulic communication with the land surface.

For more details on ranges of parameters in aquifers and aquitards, see the hydraulic conductivity and storativity articles

Confined versus unconfined

There are two end members in the spectrum of types of aquifers; confined and unconfined (with semi-confined being in between). Unconfined aquifers are sometimes also called water table or phreatic aquifers, because their upper boundary is the water table or phreatic surface. Typically (but not always) the shallowest aquifer at a given location is unconfined, meaning it does not have a confining layer (an aquitard or aquiclude) between it and the surface. Unconfined aquifers usually receive recharge water directly from the surface, from precipitation or from a body of surface water (e.g., a river, stream, or lake) which is in hydraulic connection with it. Confined aquifers have the water table above their upper boundary (an aquitard or aquiclude), and are typically found below unconfined aquifers. A "perched aquifer" occurs when the porous, water-bearing segment of rock is located on top of a layer of non-porous rock.

If the distinction between confined and unconfined is not clear geologically (it is not known if a clear confining layer exists, or the geology is more complex, e.g., a fractured bedrock aquifer), the value of storativity returned from an aquifer test can be used to determine it (although aquifer tests in unconfined aquifers should be interpreted differently than confined ones). Confined aquifers have very low storativity values (much less than 0.01, and as little as 10-5), which means that the aquifer is storing water using the mechanisms of aquifer matrix expansion and the compressibility of water, which typically are both quite small quantities. Unconfined aquifers have storativities (typically then called specific yield) greater than 0.01 (1% of bulk volume); they release water from storage by the mechanism of actually draining the pores of the aquifer, releasing relatively large amounts of water (up to the drainable porosity of the aquifer material, or the minimum volumetric water content).

For more details on parameters related to the confined vs. unconfined distinction, see the porosity or storativity articles.

Human dependence on groundwater

Most land areas on Earth have some form of aquifer underlying them, sometimes at significant depths. Fresh water aquifers, especially those with limited recharge by meteoric water, can be over-exploited and, depending on the local hydrogeology, may draw in non-potable water or saltwater (saltwater intrusion) from hydraulically connected aquifers or surface water bodies. This can be a serious problem especially in coastal areas and other areas where aquifer pumping is excessive.

Aquifers are critically important in human habitation and agriculture. Deep aquifers in arid areas have long been water sources for irrigation (see Ogallala below). Many villages and even large cities draw their water supply from wells in aquifers.

Some aquifers are "riparian aquifers". These are related to rivers, fluvial deposits, or unconsolidated deposits along river corridors, and are usually rapidly replenished by infiltration of surface water. Some municipal well fields are specifically designed to take advantage of induced infiltration of surface (usually river) water, leaving them potentially vulnerable to water quality problems in the surface water body (chemical spills, petroleum spills, and bacteriological problems).

Aquifers that provide sustainable fresh groundwater to urban areas and for agricultural irrigation are typically close to the ground surface (within a couple of hundred meters) and have some recharge by fresh water. This recharge is typically from rivers or meteoric water (precipitation) that percolate into the aquifer through overlying unsaturated materials.

Subsidence

In unconsolidated aquifers, groundwater is produced from pore spaces between particles of gravel, sand, and silt. If the aquifer is confined by low-permeability layers, the reduced water pressure in the sand and gravel causes slow drainage of water from the adjoining confining layers. If these confining layers are composed of compressible silt or clay, the loss of water to the aquifer reduces the water pressure in the confining layer, causing it to compress due to the weight of overlying geologic materials. In severe cases, this compression can be observed on the ground surface as subsidence. Unfortunately, much of the subsidence due to groundwater extraction is permanent (elastic rebound is small). Thus the subsidence is not only permanent, but the compressed aquifer has a permanently-reduced capacity to hold water.

Examples

An example of a significant and sustainable carbonate aquifer is the Edwards Aquifer [2] in central Texas. This carbonate aquifer has historically been providing high-quality water for nearly 2 million people and, even today, is completely full because of tremendous recharge from a number of area streams, rivers and lakes. The primary risk to this resource is human development over the recharge areas.

One of the largest aquifers in the world is the Guarani Aquifer, with 1.2 million km² of area, from central Brazil to northern Argentina.

Aquifer depletion is a global problem, and is especially critical in northern Africa; see the Great Manmade River project of Libya for an example. However, new methods of groundwater management such as artificial recharge and injection of surface waters during seasonal wet periods has extended the life of many freshwater aquifers, especially in the United States.

The Ogallala Aquifer of the central United States is one of the world's great aquifers, but in places it is being rapidly depleted for growing municipal use, and continuing agricultural use. This huge aquifer, which underlies portions of eight states, contain primarily fossil water from the time of the last glaciation. Annual recharge, in the more arid portions of the aquifer, is estimated to total only about ten percent of annual withdrawals.

The Mahomet Aquifer supplies water to some 800,000 people in central Illinois and contains approximately four trillion US gallons (15 km³) of water. The Mahomet Aquifer Consortium [3] was formed in 1998 to study the aquifer with hopes of ensuring the water supply and reducing potential user conflicts.

The Great Artesian Basin is one of the largest groundwater aquifers in the world. It plays a large part in water supplies for remote parts of South Australia.

hmmmmnnnn, no mention of the ICT aquifer, (sometimes known as the IHE aquifer)

Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) is a chemical compound that is manufactured by the chemical reaction of methanol and isobutylene. MTBE is produced in very large quantities (more than 200,000 barrels per day in the United States in 1999) and is almost exclusively used as a fuel component in motor gasoline. It is one of a group of chemicals commonly known as oxygenates because they raise the oxygen content of gasoline. MTBE is a volatile, flammable and colorless liquid that is relatively soluble in water. When in groundwater MTBE moves more quickly than other fuel components. (California Air Resources Board, 2004). MTBE has a typical odor reminiscent of diethyl ether, leading to unpleasant taste and odor in water. MTBE is used in organic chemistry as a cheap solvent with properties comparable to diethyl ether but with a higher boiling point and lower solubility in water. It is also used medically to dissolve gallstones.

MTBE has been used in U.S. gasoline at low levels since 1979 to replace tetra-ethyl lead to increase its octane rating and help prevent engine knocking. Since 1992, MTBE has been used at higher concentrations in some gasoline to fulfill the oxygenate requirements set by Congress in Clean Air Act amendments; however, since 1999, in California and other locations MBTE has begun to be phased out because of groundwater contamination (California Air Resources Board, 2004), citing unproven health effects. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 drops the federal requirement for oxygen content in reformulated gasoline.

Thats all I can remember about it, sorry.

[Heilandee]

Eh never new you coluld learn so much on here...........

absolutley fascinating

eh'm of oot to meh back garden to do a wee bit testing

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Fer fecks sake Alan. You MUST look fer professional guidance before even attempting to locate an aquifer. Its a feckin complex science. However ya could get in touch with Arnie as he probably still has one of ma old divining sticks and Arnie is well known fer his ability to spot a liquid store through the olfactory senses. You may also wish to contact Tommy Cumming who has been on a Training Course recently.

[Yompa]

Best fvcking thread I've read on here in ages! :015: :015: :015: :015:

Nae fvcking wonder ITN Junior's been doing so fvcking well at Chemistry.... :011:

[CaleyJulz]

I will read all this laters when i fell better one has a really bad case of smirnoff/ shots flu.