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Gerard J Gonthier

Gerard Gonthier is a hydrologist with the South Atlantic Water Science Center in Norcross, Ga. with more than 30 years of experience in groundwater studies.  He is currently project chief for the assessment of water quantity and quality of groundwater resources in Richmond County and is performing a census of public-supply wells in Georgia.

Gerard began his career in 1989 as a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Little Rock, Arkansas working mainly on surface-water/groundwater interactions within a bottomland hardwood wetland in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain of eastern Arkansas. By 1994, he served as the groundwater specialist for the Mississippi Embayment National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program, focusing on the water quality in the Tertiary aquifers, Mississippi Alluvial aquifer, and the shallow aquifer system in the Memphis metro area.

Gerard transferred to the Georgia District in Norcross, Georgia in 1999 where he worked with a team assessing a contaminated site at Air Force Plant 6 near Marietta, Georgia. It is then that he operated a continuous-recorder network of about 50 wells around the site, performed slug tests, and an aquifer test within fractured-crystalline rock. By 2010 Gerard was interpreting results from several constant-discharge aquifer tests performed in the Cretaceous or Floridan aquifer systems, using analytical methods and axis-symmetric groundwater models. Gerard has also interpreted flow-meter survey data for Waynesboro, Georgia; and Wake County, North Carolina; and interpreted data from slug tests performed in Wake County, North Carolina.

Gerard is currently program chief for the assessment of groundwater resources in Richmond County working in cooperation with Augusta Utilities.  The project annually monitors water levels throughout the county and water quality in several of the production wells within the area.  The data are compiled and interpreted to determine the state of the groundwater for the study area which includes assessing trends through time.  Gerard is also performing a census of public supply wells throughout Georgia, verifying the location and construction information, and determining from which aquifer the wells withdraw water.

Professional Experience

  • 1999 - present - Hydrologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Norcross, Georgia

  • 1989 - 1999 - Hydrologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Little Rock, Arkansas

Education and Certifications

  • Master's of Science in Geology, Louisiana State University

  • Bachelor's of Science in Geology, Louisiana State University

Science and Products

Filter Total Items: 17

Hydrology of the Claiborne aquifer and interconnection with the Upper Floridan aquifer in southwest Georgia

The U.S. Geological Survey conducted a study, in cooperation with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, to define the hydrologic properties of the Claiborne aquifer and evaluate its connection with the Upper Floridan aquifer in southwest Georgia. The effort involved collecting and compiling hydrologic data from the aquifer in subarea 4 of southwestern Georgia. Data collected for this stud
Authors
Debbie W. Gordon, Gerard Gonthier
By
Water Resources Mission Area, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Hydrogeology and water quality of the Floridan aquifer system and effect of Lower Floridan aquifer withdrawals on the Upper Floridan aquifer at Barbour Pointe Community, Chatham County, Georgia, 2013

Two test wells were completed at the Barbour Pointe community in western Chatham County, near Savannah, Georgia, in 2013 to investigate the potential of using the Lower Floridan aquifer as a source of municipal water supply. One well was completed in the Lower Floridan aquifer at a depth of 1,080 feet (ft) below land surface; the other well was completed in the Upper Floridan aquifer at a depth of
Authors
Gerard Gonthier, John S. Clarke
By
Water Resources Mission Area, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Hydrogeology and water quality of the Dublin and Midville aquifer systems at Waynesboro, Burke County, Georgia, 2011

The hydrogeology and water quality of the Dublin and Midville aquifer systems were characterized in the City of Waynesboro area in Burke County, Georgia, based on geophysical and drillers’ logs, flowmeter surveys, a 24-houraquifer test, and the collection and chemical analysis of water samples in a newly constructed well. At the test site, the Dublin aquifer system consists of interlayered sands a
Authors
Gerard Gonthier
By
Water Resources Mission Area, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Hydrogeology and water quality of the Floridan aquifer system and effect of Lower Floridan aquifer pumping on the Upper Floridan aquifer, Pooler, Chatham County, Georgia, 2011–2012

Two test wells were completed in Pooler, Georgia, in 2011 to investigate the potential of using the Lower Floridan aquifer as a source of water for municipal use. One well was completed in the Lower Floridan aquifer at a depth of 1,120 feet (ft) below land surface; the other well was completed in the Upper Floridan aquifer at a depth of 486 ft below land surface. At the Pooler test site, the U.S.
Authors
Gerard Gonthier
By
Water Resources Mission Area, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Hydrogeologic characteristics and water quality of a confined sand unit in the surficial aquifer system, Hunter Army Airfield, Chatham County, Georgia

An 80-foot-deep well (36Q397, U.S. Geological Survey site identification 320146081073701) was constructed at Hunter Army Airfield to assess the potential of using the surficial aquifer system as a water source to irrigate a ballfield complex. A 300-foot-deep test hole was drilled beneath the ballfield complex to characterize the lithology and water-bearing characteristics of sediments above the Up
Authors
Gerard Gonthier
By
Water Resources Mission Area, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Summary of hydrologic testing of the Floridan aquifer system at Fort Stewart, Georgia

Two test wells were completed at Fort Stewart, GA, in January and February 2010 to investigate the potential of using the Lower Floridan aquifer as a source of water to satisfy anticipated increases in water use. One well was completed in the Lower Floridan aquifer at a depth of 1,255 feet below land surface; the other well was completed in the Upper Floridan aquifer at a depth of 560 feet below l
Authors
Gerard Gonthier
By
Water Resources Mission Area, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Groundwater conditions and studies in the Augusta–Richmond County area, Georgia, 2008–2009

Groundwater studies and monitoring efforts conducted during 2008–2009, as part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Cooperative Water Program with the City of Augusta in Richmond County, Georgia, provided data for the effective management of local water resources. During 2008–2009 the USGS completed: (1) installation of three monitoring wells and the collection of lithologic and geophysical loggin
Authors
Gerard Gonthier, Stephen J. Lawrence, Michael F. Peck, O. Gary Holloway
By
Water Resources Mission Area, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Hydrogeology and water quality of the Floridan aquifer system and effects of Lower Floridan aquifer pumping on the Upper Floridan aquifer at Fort Stewart, Georgia

Test drilling, field investigations, and digital modeling were completed at Fort Stewart, GA, during 2009?2010, to assess the geologic, hydraulic, and water-quality characteristics of the Floridan aquifer system and evaluate the effect of Lower Floridan aquifer (LFA) pumping on the Upper Floridan aquifer (UFA). This work was performed pursuant to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division inter
Authors
John S. Clarke, Gregory C. Cherry, Gerard Gonthier
By
Water Resources Mission Area, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

A Graphical Method for Estimation of Barometric Efficiency from Continuous Data - Concepts and Application to a Site in the Piedmont, Air Force Plant 6, Marietta, Georgia

A graphical method that uses continuous water-level and barometric-pressure data was developed to estimate barometric efficiency. A plot of nearly continuous water level (on the y-axis), as a function of nearly continuous barometric pressure (on the x-axis), will plot as a line curved into a series of connected elliptical loops. Each loop represents a barometric-pressure fluctuation. The negative
Authors
Gerard Gonthier
By
Water Resources Mission Area, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Quality of ground water in Pleistocene and Holocene subunits of the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, 1998

No abstract available.
Authors
Gerard Gonthier

Quality of shallow ground water in recently developed residential and commercial areas, Memphis vicinity, Tennessee, 1997

Twenty-four monitor wells screened in the shallow water-table aquifer and eight monitor wells screened in the upper part of the Memphis aquifer in the Memphis vicinity, Tennessee, were sampled as part of the Mississippi Embayment National Water-Quality Assessment Program. These samples were collected during April and May 1997, and were analyzed for turbidity, water temperature, pH, specific conduc
Authors
Gerard Gonthier

Water quality in the deep tertiary aquifers of the Mississippi Embayment, 1996

No abstract available.
Authors
Gerard Gonthier
link
Map of Augusta Georgia groundwater wells

Groundwater Monitoring Program for the Augusta–Richmond County Area, GA

Water supply in the Augusta–Richmond County, GA area is provided in part by three well fields that withdraw water from the Dublin–Midville aquifer system. The U.S. Geological Survey operates a groundwater-level and water-quality monitoring program to support water-management decisions and provide a basis for future groundwater modeling efforts while adding to regional characterization of...
By
South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)
link

Groundwater Monitoring Program for the Augusta–Richmond County Area, GA

Water supply in the Augusta–Richmond County, GA area is provided in part by three well fields that withdraw water from the Dublin–Midville aquifer system. The U.S. Geological Survey operates a groundwater-level and water-quality monitoring program to support water-management decisions and provide a basis for future groundwater modeling efforts while adding to regional characterization of...
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Water-level data and results for slug tests performed in 17 wells in Wake County, North Carolina, 2020 and 2021

A water-supply plan is being developed for Wake County, North Carolina, in accordance with the 50-year planning window used by the North Carolina Division of Water Resources for residents in unincorporated areas of the county. To develop this supply plan, Wake County seeks to better understand the sustainability of groundwater resources of the regolith/fractured-rock aquifer system. Slug tests wer
By
South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Estimated Use of Water for Coastal Carolinas Focus Area Study

The Cape Fear and Pee Dee River Basins in North Carolina and South Carolina were chosen as a focus area study (FAS) for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Census (NWC) in 2016. The objective of the NWC is to place technical information and tools in the hands of stake holders so that they can make decisions on water availability. The USGS South Atlantic Water Science Center, comprised
By
South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Data collected for Claiborne aquifer study in southwestern Georgia during 2015 to 2016

A 72-hour constant-discharge aquifer test was performed at the University of Georgia Stripling Irrigation Research Park, Mitchell County, Georgia, in order to assess the potential of the Claiborne aquifer as a source of water for irrigation supply. At the Stripling site the Claiborne aquifer is 260 feet thick. Between the Claiborne aquifer and the overlying Upper Floridan aquifer is the Lisbon con
By
South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

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