• Company Firsts 
• Specialized Services
• Company Clients
• Protocols and Standards
• Terms and Conditions

DESCRIPTION OF FIRM  

 AGW Consultants (AGW) provides consulting services in the areas of 

• Ground-water exploration, development, protection, remediation 
• Water rights acquisition, legal, and technical support
• DRASTIC analysis 
• Wellhead protection and vulnerability assessments 
• Water well permitting 
• Drilling program evaluations 
• Well drilling methods 
• Well log interpretation 
• Water well design, construction supervision, testing 
• Equipment specification 
• Underground injection well permits and design 
• Discharge plans 
• Saturated and vadose zone hydrology and modeling 
• Contamination transport 
• Hydrogeochemistry 
• Water corrosion potential 
• Ground water tracer studies 
• Water system design and construction supervision 
• Wastewater lagoon liner design and construction supervisor 
• Environmental Site Assessments, Phases I, II, and III 
• LUST site investigations and remediation 
• Waste water lagoon leak detection 
• Litigation support 
• Expert testimony 
  

AGW operates largely through an association with other specialized professionals who have many years of experience in their own field.  AGW will add staff when specific projects require.

 

FIRSTS

Thermonics (1971)   

 Developed the Thermonics geophysical methods for: 

• Locating optimum well sites (Arizona, U.S.A.; Chapucal, Ecuador; Leon, Mexico; Sierra Leone, Africa; Kansas, U.S.A.; New Mexico, U.S.A)
• Tracing buried paleo-stream channels. (New Mexico, U.S.A.; Arizona, U.S.A.; Ecuador) 
• Tracing movement of water through large earthen dams in the United States and abroad (Tarbela, West Pakistan; Wolf Creek, Kentucky) 
• Tracing movement of petroleum product plumes in meandering paleo-stream channels.

Computer Modeling (1972)  

First firm to create and commercialize digital computer models of ground-water systems. Prepared the first computer models of the Santa Fe, and Carlsbad, New Mexico and Tucson, Arizona areas.

Ground Water Transport Modeling (1972)  

AGW was the first firm to carry out commercial computer modeling of ground water contaminant transport. Work was carried out in southern part of Tucson Basin to track contamination from copper-mine tailings piles.

Zeta-SP and Electrospot -- Location of Leaks in Lined Ponds (1973)   

AGW developed the Zeta-SP and Electrospot methods of locating leaks in lined impoundments and has applied the method to pump-storage projects, industrial waste water lagoons, and municipal wastewater aeration ponds.

Underground Injection Permitting (1976)

AGW was the first firm in New Mexico to work on the permitting of a commercial underground injection well for Beker Industries in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Work included injection and casing integrity tests, aquifer analysis, and computer modeling of contaminant transport.

Discharge Plans (1976)

First Discharge Plans in New Mexico in 1976 for Plateau Refining Co. and Beker Industries. AGW also prepared discharge plans for Phillips Uranium and Gulf Mineral Resources Corporations in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico and several large residential developments.

Field Geochemistry Laboratory (1978)

AGW was the first firm in the United States to field a mobile, laboratory grade, gas chromatograph with detection limits of specific CFC tracers of 0.01 parts per trillion. The laboratory was used for a number of projects including determination of sources of water at the Tao Ski Valley for the New Mexico State Highway Department; tracing ground- water flow beneath an earthen dam embankment at the Cholla electric power plant near Holbrook, Arizona; and tracing of sea water circulation patterns in an Alaskan fjord. 

Aquatrace -- Tracers (1978)

First commercial application of proprietary conservative CFC tracers in ground water now widely used by others. 

Superfund Work (1981)   

First New Mexico firm to work on a Superfund ground-water-contamination site in 1981; namely, the Albuquerque South Valley Superfund Site.  AGW has carried out work on the Phoenix Litchfield Superfund site for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers where our task was to analyze all consultants reports, RI/FS and OUFS documents and to completely reanalyze all basic data to determine the party's) responsible for the TCE contamination and to assign liability.  As part of this work effort, we were responsible for evaluating site history and use, the source of contamination, the extent of contamination, the rate of plume movement, and the mass of contaminant within the soil horizon and the ground water.

Attribute Analysis for Well Field Siting (2000)

Attribute analysis is a method of well field location newly applied to exploration for oil and gas.  Attribute analysis is based on the analysis of geospatial data.  Geospatial data includes items such as aquifer transmissivity, specific yield, depth to water, total well depth, well costs, pipeline requirements, funding sources, topography, right-of-way availability and other parameters.  If total cost per unit of water delivered is to be minimized, cost is assigned to each attribute and a geospatial cost surface is created using geographic information system (GIS) methods.  The ultimate well field location is based on cost surface minima.   AGW first applied this method in identifying well sites for a ground-water supply project for the City of Laredo, Texas.  An important conclusion reached in this study is that well sites need not always be in the best hydrogeological location in order to minimize cost.  That is, other cost considerations may be more important than optimal well site locations.

SPECIALIZED SERVICES 

AGW has carried out hydrogeochemical analysis of ground-water basins.  We have specified drilling equipment for purchase for water development projects around the world (Bolivia, Brazil, Tunisia).  We have recommended against purchase of drilling equipment in Zaire in favor of labor intensive methods.  We have also participated in the evaluations of multi-million dollar ground-water development projects in a number of countries (Somalia, Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Dominican Republic, Honduras).  AGW scientists have conducted mine ground-water inflow and dewatering studies for mines in  Sierra Leone, China, Australia, and the United States.

AGW scientists have provided expert witness services in more than 25 cases before State and Federal courts and administrative hearing panels.  We have provided invited testimony before committees of both houses of the Federal Congress and the New Mexico State Legislature. 

AGW has developed a number of proprietary geophysical technologies for tracing the movement of ground water in the vadose and saturated zones and for location of minute leaks in lined wastewater ponds and large earthen dam embankments.  Our project work in this regard has ranged from New Mexico and the American Southwest to Canada and Pakistan.

 CLIENTS 

 AGW has a wide range of clients some of whom are listed below: 

 Hydrological Services 

• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Branch 
• U.S. National Park Service 
• U.S. Bureau of Reclamation 
• U.S. Agency for International Development 
• New Mexico Attorney General 
• New Mexico Environment Department, Underground Storage Tank Bureau 
• Empresa Municipal de Agua Potable de Guayaquil
• Secretaria de Recursos Hidraulicos de Mexico
• Los Alamos National Laboratory
  

Water Supply Projects

• Empresa Municipal de Agua Potable de Guayaquil - Surface and ground-water resources identification and quantification for the Santa Elena Peninsula, an area of 1,800 square miles, for development into municipal and agricultural water supplies.
  
• U.S. Agency for International Development - Various ground-water development projects in Mexico (Juarez, Hermosillo, Leon), Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Brazil, Somalia, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Zaire.
  
• U.S. Agency for International Development - Evaluation of ground-water potential for Surakarta in Central Indonesia as a source of municipal water supply.  Project was constructed based on work completed.
  
• Government of Cyprus/Water Development Department/United Nations Development Program - Geological mapping of 120 square miles and water balance studies of large coastal plain aquifer as a precursor to ground-water development.
  
• City of Tucson - Ground-water computer modeling and identification of zones of optimal well locations.
  
• Congress Junction, Arizona - Application of Thermonics to develop reliable municipal ground-water supply.
  
• Horizon Corporation - Location of optimal well sites at Vail, Arizona, east of Tucson.   Project led to discovery of the East Tucson well field.

 

Water Rights Technical Support  

• Phillips Uranium Corporation - Filed applications for 30,000 acre feet of water rights, provide technical support and chains-of-title. 
• R.H. Hudson - Filed declarations for acequia water rights and technical support. 
• National Park Service - Consultation on water rights for Great Basin National Park. 
• Vista de Oro de Placitas - Move water rights. 
• P.G. Corp. - Move water rights. 
• Horton Water Company - Carry out regional hydrological study in support of 3,000 acre foot water rights application, conduct computer modeling. 
• Winfield Farms - Conduct historical research to verify priority date of 189 acre feet of water rights. 
• WayCor - Move water rights.

Engineering Projects 

• Vallecitos Domestic Mutual Water Association - Water system design, New Mexico 
• Armand Hammer United World College - Wastewater lagoon liner replacement, wastewater treatment system upgrade, and conservation plan, New Mexico
• Riverside Construction - Landfill closure, New Mexico
• TAMS International - Tarbela Dam seepage analysis, West Pakistan 

 Environmental Site Assessments  

• Taco Bell 
• Metlife Capitol Corporation 
• Mark Twain Kansas City Bank 
• Kelco Mechanical 
• Chevron 

 Oil and Gas Industry  

• Plateau Refinery, - Discharge plan and environmental monitoring 
• Beker Industries - Discharge plan and Underground Injection Control permits 
• Pride Energy Company - Underground injection permitting 
• Playa Energy & Minerals - Modified Phase I environmental assessment of three major oil fields including 528 producing wells, tank batteries, and pipelines.

Mining Industry  

• Phillips Uranium - Discharge plans, mine shaft dewatering, hydrogeology, New Mexico 
• Flour Corporation - Coal mine dewatering projects, China, Australia, U.S. 
• Noranda Mining Co. - Mine shaft dewatering, New Mexico 
• Ranchers Exploration - Lagoon seepage detection, New Mexico 
• Nord Resources - Ground water development, California 
• Sierra Leone Development Corp. - Open pit mine dewatering, West Africa 
• Sohio Uranium - Ground-water exploration, well-site location, development, discharge plans, monitoring, New Mexico 
• Kennecott Copper - Tailings-related, ground-water contamination study, New Mexico 
• ASARCO - Hydrogeochemical prospecting for molybdenum, Arizona 

 Process Industries  

• National Beef Packing - Ground water development, Kansas 
• Earth Minerals Extraction Co. - Lagoon leakage detection, Canada 
• Plateau Refining - Environmental permits and monitoring, New Mexico 
• Marathon Oil Company - Refinery water supply, Illinois.
  
  

  PROTOCOLS AND STANDARDS 

AGW adheres to the highest professional standards in the performance of projects.  AGW follows all pertinent published protocols.

For more information, please contact us.