Indian Officials Investigate Ground Water Modeling Software

Indian Officials Investigate Ground Water Modeling Software

Published in Ground Water Monitor, April 1999

Indian officials are exploring ways to use U.S. technology to assess ground water shortages and contamination.

Representatives of India’s Ministry of Water Resources and Central Ground Water Authority met with officials at Environmental Modeling Systems, Inc. (EMS), based in Provo, Utah, to learn about a ground water modeling system developed at Brigham Young University’s Environmental Modeling Research Laboratory. They also visited Psomas Associates, Salt Lake City, to visit the ground water recharge project they help manage in the Los Angeles Basin.

The trip was arranged through the United States-Asia Environmental Partnership (US-AEP), a public-private interagency program directed by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The program works to pair Asian countries with U.S. companies and environmental officials to solve environmental problems.

India’s shallow aquifers are over-used, and the deeper ones contain high levels of pesticides and naturally occurring arsenic, according to Alexander Patico, senior program officer, US-AEP’s Environmental Exchange Program.

Most of the drilling done in India to investigate problems is "low tech" and not reliable to a certain depth," he added. "Without knowing the scope of the problem, they’re working blind," he said.

EMS offered the training in hopes of developing an agreement with India to provide them with the ground water modeling software, said EMS President Royd Nelson. The World Bank could help fund the exchange, although no agreements have been reached, he said.

Developing countries are beginning to examine ways of conserving water resources and cleaning up contamination, offering U.S. companies an opportunity to distribute technology, Nelson said. "Increasingly, these countries are starting to deal with their problems," he added.

Brigham Young University professors founded EMS in 1995 to help distribute university technology. The firm distributes modeling software for ground water, surface water, and watersheds. It also conducts training courses and education programs.

The company serves about 2,500 users in about 60 countries, Nelson said. Last year company representatives traveled to Egypt to scout for ground water supplies beneath the Sahara. Officials also have visited with officials in Yugoslavia and Russia in the past year, he said.