The Anthropogenic Aquifer

Team Hydro is tracking the water at Foothills

This past week, Christine led a field campaign to collect samples and data at Foothills Preserve. Our team included Lyn Watts, Emma Cady, Diana Holmes from UMass Amherst, as well as Francis Li from Smith College and Arianna Suarez from Williams College. We spent two days at Foothills Preserve measuring water levels, collecting water level and temperature data from data loggers, measuring stream discharge, installing seepage meters, and installing seepage meters. The water level in one of the ponds was lower than it was at the beginning of May, but there is still plenty of water on site! 

Ari, Emma and Diana download data from piezometer 9 in the round bog at Foothills Preserve. This piezometer was on the cranberry growing surface before restoration and is now in a lake!


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Near piezometer 7 at Foothills Preserve, Diana and Frances install a seepage meter to capture groundwater inflows.

n one of the ponds was lower than it was at the beginning of May, but there is still plenty of water on site! 

Ari and Emma measure upstream flow at Foothills Preserve to track how inputs and outputs have changed since restoration.


By Christine Hatch
June 13, 2022