The firm

Services and Sectors

What the firm delivers, the sectors it delivers into, and the field and subsurface methods behind the work.

Three views of the same work. The services are what the firm delivers, each with the approach it takes and the deliverables it produces. The sectors are where they are delivered, which is usually the first thing a client wants to establish. The methods are the ten ways the work is done on the ground and below it, which is the part a scope of work turns on.

The fields of competence these sit within are set out in About the Firm; completed work is in the Project Portfolio.

Services

  1. Watercourse crossing assessments

    Hydrotechnical characterization and design inputs for road, pipeline, and utility crossings. Channel geometry, design flows, and scour and erosion considerations are assembled into the record a crossing design and its approvals depend on.

    Approach
    Terrain analysis from LiDAR (SAGA) delineates the contributing catchment. Spatial climate analysis sets the design rainfall, hydrological modelling (HEC-HMS) converts it into a hydrograph, and channel and hydraulic modelling (HEC-RAS) resolves the depths and velocities the crossing has to pass.
    Deliverables
    Crossing design report · table of watercourses · channel profiles and cross-sections · design flow and scour calculations · figures and site plans
    Clients
    Environmental consultancies acting as prime contractor · pipeline and facility operators · road and rail infrastructure owners

  2. Dewatering plans

    Groundwater and surface-water management planning for construction and works below the water table. Inflow estimates, drawdown behaviour, and discharge routing are set out so that construction sequencing and regulatory conditions can be met.

    Approach
    Terrain analysis from LiDAR (SAGA) establishes the catchment draining to the excavation, and spatial climate analysis sets the surface-water contribution. pumping-test analysis (AQTESOLV) gives the aquifer properties that govern inflow, and groundwater time-series analysis (Pastas) separates the pumping response from natural variation in the monitoring record.
    Deliverables
    Dewatering plan · inflow and drawdown estimates · discharge routing and management measures · monitoring schedule · supporting calculation sheets
    Clients
    Environmental consultancies acting as prime contractor · oil and gas operators · construction contractors · aggregate producers

  3. Hydrogeology and water wells

    Groundwater investigation from the drill rig through to the interpretation. Water well drilling is supervised in the field, pumping tests are designed and analysed to establish aquifer properties and sustainable yield, and monitoring networks are designed to answer a defined question over time.

    Approach
    Drilling is supervised on site, with the log and the samples recorded as the hole advances. Pumping-test analysis (AQTESOLV) resolves transmissivity, storativity, and boundary effects from the drawdown record; groundwater time-series analysis (Pastas) separates pumping response from climatic signal in longer records; and terrain analysis from LiDAR (SAGA) with spatial climate analysis places the results in their recharge setting.
    Deliverables
    Field supervision and drilling records · well logs and completion details · pumping-test design and analysis · aquifer parameter estimates and sustainable yield opinion · monitoring network design and installation schedule · hydrogeological assessment report
    Clients
    Environmental consultancies acting as prime contractor · oil and gas operators · aggregate producers · farms and irrigation districts · municipalities and rural water utilities

  4. Water balance assessments

    Quantified inflow–outflow accounting for borrow pits, aggregate operations, and disturbed catchments. Precipitation, runoff, evaporation, seepage, and storage are reconciled over the period of interest, with the assumptions stated alongside the result.

    Approach
    Terrain analysis from LiDAR (SAGA) defines the direct catchment and the geometry of the pit. Spatial climate analysis supplies precipitation and evaporation normals for the nearest station, and the firm's modified monthly water balance methodology (MMWB) reconciles inflow, outflow, and storage month by month across the period of interest.
    Deliverables
    Water balance report · storage volume and direct catchment tables · climate normals for the nearest station · annual and monthly balance results · time-to-fill · appended survey plan, pit cross-sections, water well search, and balance tables
    Clients
    Environmental consultancies acting as prime contractor · oil and gas operators · aggregate and borrow producers

  5. Watershed and peak-flow studies

    Flood generation, peak-flow behaviour, and wetland hydrology assessment. Catchments are delineated and characterized, and design events are derived from the climate and streamflow record available for the basin.

    Approach
    Terrain analysis from LiDAR (SAGA) delineates and characterizes the catchment. Spatial climate analysis derives design rainfall for the return periods in question, and hydrological modelling (HEC-HMS) converts those events into the peak flows and hydrographs the assessment turns on.
    Deliverables
    Hydrology report · delineated catchments and watershed codes · design storm and return-period tables · hydrographs · peak flow summary
    Clients
    Environmental consultancies acting as prime contractor · engineering firms engaging a subconsultant · infrastructure owners · municipalities and regional authorities

  6. Terrain and geohazard analysis

    Stability, surface processes, and sediment pathway evaluation. Terrain analytics are read together with geological interpretation to identify the topographic controls that govern outcomes at a site.

    Approach
    Terrain analysis from LiDAR (SAGA) generates the slope, aspect, and flow-accumulation derivatives, which are read together with the geological setting to identify the pathways along which water and material move. Spatial climate analysis supplies the precipitation regime that drives them.
    Deliverables
    Terrain assessment · derivative mapping for slope, aspect, and flow accumulation · hazard and sediment-pathway commentary · annotated figures
    Clients
    Environmental consultancies acting as prime contractor · pipeline and facility operators · infrastructure owners and land managers

  7. Aggregate assessment and exploration

    Identification and evaluation of sand and gravel deposits — where the material sits, how much of it there is, and what the ground and water conditions mean for getting it out. Surficial geology and terrain are mapped, a test programme is laid out to confirm what the mapping suggests, and the deposit is bounded against the end use.

    Approach
    Terrain analysis from LiDAR (SAGA) reads the surficial landforms that host granular deposits and narrows the ground worth testing. Test pit and borehole results are mapped back onto that framework to bound the deposit, and where extraction will reach below the water table, pumping-test analysis (AQTESOLV) and spatial climate analysis establish the conditions a working pit will meet.
    Deliverables
    Surficial geology and terrain mapping · deposit delineation and volume estimates · test pit and borehole programme with logs · granular resource assessment report · figures and cross-sections · input to pit development and reclamation planning
    Clients
    Aggregate producers and pit operators · construction contractors · road and infrastructure authorities · environmental consultancies acting as prime contractor · rural municipalities

  8. Agricultural and irrigation water supply

    Water supply development for farms, irrigation districts, and rural operations — from locating and characterizing a source through to the licence that permits its use. Springs, wells, and infiltration galleries are assessed for yield and for whether that yield holds through a dry season, and the works that carry water from source to use are set out.

    Approach
    Terrain analysis from LiDAR (SAGA) locates the source and the ground the works must cross. Spatial climate analysis sets irrigation demand against available precipitation, pumping-test analysis (AQTESOLV) establishes what a well or gallery will yield, groundwater time-series analysis (Pastas) tests whether that yield holds from season to season, and the firm's modified monthly water balance methodology (MMWB) closes the account between supply and use.
    Deliverables
    Source assessment and yield estimates · spring water harvesting systems · infiltration gallery design · groundwater well design · injection well design · distribution network design · Water Act applications and licensing support · environmental farm water plans
    Clients
    Farms and ranches · irrigation districts and water co-operatives · agricultural producers · rural municipalities and county water services

  9. Monitoring and instrumentation

    Custom sensors and software integrated into geoscientific methodologies. Instrumentation is specified, deployed, and read into a data framework built for the question the monitoring is meant to answer.

    Approach
    Instruments are specified and installed for the question the monitoring is meant to answer. groundwater time-series analysis (Pastas) separates signal from seasonal variation in the record they produce, and spatial climate analysis supplies the climate series that record is read against.
    Deliverables
    Monitoring plan · instrument specification and installation record · time-series datasets in a documented format · interpretation memoranda
    Clients
    Environmental consultancies acting as prime contractor · oil and gas operators · aggregate producers · infrastructure owners

  10. Regulatory review and policy analysis

    Technical review of submissions, and analysis of the guidance and policy the review is conducted against. The work is reading rather than producing: a proposal, an application, or a monitoring record is read against the instrument that governs it, and the gap between what is claimed and what is supported is set out plainly.

    Approach
    The governing instrument is established first — statute, regulation, code of practice, or published guideline — and the submission is read against its actual requirements rather than against custom. Where a claim rests on a model or a dataset, the inputs, parameters, and assumptions are examined for whether they support the conclusion drawn from them. Findings are separated into what is deficient, what is unsupported, and what is a matter of professional judgement on which reasonable practitioners differ.
    Deliverables
    Review memorandum with findings ordered by materiality · information requests drafted for issue to a proponent · comparison of a submission against the governing instrument · commentary on draft policy or guidance
    Clients
    Government departments and regulators · First Nations and their technical advisors · municipalities · operators seeking an independent read before submission

Sectors

  1. Upstream oil and gas

    Well pads, compressor sites, access roads, and connecting pipelines, in the Peace region of northwest Alberta, west-central Alberta, and northeast British Columbia. Work supports authorizations under the Water Act and permits issued by the BC Energy Regulator, directly for operators and as a subconsultant to prime engineering consultants.

  2. Aggregate and granular resources

    Borrow and gravel sources assessed from surficial geology through test programme to recoverable volume, with the groundwater and terrain conditions that govern whether a pit can be worked and how it must be managed.

  3. Transportation and linear infrastructure

    Road, highway, pipeline, and utility corridors, where the questions are crossing hydrology, scour, drainage through wetland terrain, and the terrain and geohazard controls on a route.

  4. Municipal and land development

    Development sites and rural subdivisions, where catchment boundaries, overland flow paths, and site drainage have to be established before a design team can proceed.

  5. Agriculture and irrigation

    Farms, irrigation districts, and rural operations, from source development through the works to the licensing that permits the use.

  6. Governments and First Nations

    The firm works with First Nations, and with public bodies at the municipal, provincial, and federal level. The regulatory and approval processes these decisions run through are familiar ground, as is the technical material they turn on.

Field and subsurface methods

  1. Site reconnaissance and surficial mapping

    The ground walked before it is modelled. Exposures, seepage, drainage patterns, and the surficial materials underfoot are recorded and reconciled against the mapping and imagery the desk study produced.

    Applied
    Granular deposit delineation · terrain and geohazard assessment · catchment and drainage characterization · verification of mapped units before a programme is designed
    Produces
    Field notes and photographic record · surficial geology and terrain unit mapping · revised interpretation where ground truth departs from the desk study

  2. UAV digital elevation modelling and multispectral imaging

    Uncrewed aerial survey flown for terrain and land cover at a resolution the available public data does not reach. Photogrammetric processing produces a surface model of the site as it stands on the day; multispectral bands add vegetation and moisture information the visible image does not carry.

    Applied
    Pit and stockpile volumes · site drainage and micro-topography where a LiDAR tile is too coarse · wetland and vegetation extent · change detection between seasons or before and after works
    Produces
    Digital surface and terrain models · orthomosaics · multispectral index rasters · volume calculations with the surfaces they were derived from · data in the coordinate system the design team works in

  3. Channel and crossing survey

    The cross-sections, longitudinal profile, and structure dimensions a hydraulic model needs, measured rather than assumed. Bank and bed materials, high-water indicators, and existing structure condition are recorded with the geometry.

    Applied
    Watercourse crossing assessment and scour analysis · channel and hydraulic modelling · culvert and bridge condition context
    Produces
    Surveyed cross-sections and profile · structure inventory and dimensions · photographic record · geometry prepared for hydraulic modelling

  4. Wetland delineation and mapping

    Wetland extent and class established to the Alberta Wetland Mapping Standards, with the hydrological function that goes with them. Where the boundary matters, the mapped extent is checked on the ground rather than accepted from a published layer.

    Applied
    Well site and access road planning · highway and linear project grading · water balance and drainage assessment in peatland terrain
    Produces
    Delineated wetland extents and classification · peat thickness and basal contact profiles · hydrological function commentary · spatial data in the standards and formats the receiving team uses

  5. Test pits and soil profiling

    Shallow excavation logged to expose the section directly, which is often the fastest way to bound a deposit or confirm what a geophysical section is showing.

    Applied
    Granular resource delineation and calibration of geophysical interpretation · surficial stratigraphy · shallow groundwater and seepage observation
    Produces
    Test pit logs and profile descriptions · sample descriptions and locations · photographic record · calibration points for geophysical sections

  6. Drilling supervision and logging

    Water well and test hole drilling supervised on site, with the log and the samples recorded as the hole advances rather than reconstructed afterwards.

    Applied
    Water well programmes · test pit and borehole programmes for granular resource assessment · monitoring well installation
    Produces
    Field supervision records · lithologs and well logs · completion details · sample descriptions

  7. Pumping tests

    Constant-rate and step tests designed, run, and analysed to establish what an aquifer will yield and how it behaves under stress.

    Applied
    Sustainable yield opinions · dewatering inflow estimates · aquifer parameter estimation for a licence application
    Produces
    Test design and field record · transmissivity, storativity, and boundary interpretation · drawdown and recovery analysis · sustainable yield opinion

  8. Geophysics

    Non-intrusive profiling used to carry the section between the points where the ground has actually been tested, and to bound a deposit or a contact without drilling it out.

    Methods
    Ground-penetrating radar for granular contacts, depth to till or bedrock, and peat thickness · electromagnetic terrain conductivity where clay content or depth attenuates radar · electrical resistivity for confining layers and the position of the water table · seismic refraction where depth to bedrock and rippability govern a pit design
    Applied
    Aggregate deposit delineation and volume · wetland peat thickness and basal contact · depth to bedrock for excavation planning
    Produces
    Profile sections tied to test locations · interpreted contacts and depths · input to volume and excavation estimates

  9. Groundwater monitoring and sampling

    Water levels and samples collected on a schedule and to a procedure, so that a record is comparable across visits and across years rather than being a set of one-off readings.

    Applied
    Monitoring network operation · water balance and recharge assessment · baseline characterization before works · post-construction confirmation
    Produces
    Water level records in a documented format · sample collection and chain-of-custody records · hydrographs read against the climate series · interpretation memoranda

  10. Instrumentation and monitoring

    Instruments specified, installed, and read into a documented data framework built for the question the monitoring is meant to answer.

    Applied
    Groundwater level monitoring networks · surface water level and flow · continuous records supporting a licence condition or an operating commitment
    Produces
    Monitoring plan · instrument specification and installation record · time-series datasets in a documented format · interpretation memoranda

Work is carried out under the firm's Permits to Practice and carries the professional responsibility of the geoscientist of record. The standards and technical references behind these methods are set out in References, the terms in Lexicon, and completed work in the Project Portfolio. Client references are available on request. Enquiries are welcome.