WaterUnderground

Tom Gleeson

I am a hydrogeologist at University of Victoria, Canada who is interested in groundwater sustainability, mega-scale groundwater systems, groundwater recharge and discharge and fluid flow around geologic structures. My goal is fundamental and applied research and teaching to enable sustainable groundwater use.

Global Groundwater Sustainability – A Call to Action… do you want to sign?

Global Groundwater Sustainability – A Call to Action… do you want to sign?

I am excited about a new initiative called “Global Groundwater Sustainability: A call to action” that was first drafted at the recent Chapman conference in Valencia, Spain.  Overall, we are a global group of scientists calling for action to ensure groundwater benefits society now and into the future, and hope that you would like to join us by signing. You can see the statement, list of ...[Read More]

Quest for Sustainability of Heavily Stressed Aquifers at Regional to Global Scales: Upcoming Chapman Conference

Quest for Sustainability of Heavily Stressed Aquifers at Regional to Global Scales: Upcoming Chapman Conference

Abstracts are due soon (July 10th) for the upcoming Chapman conference on groundwater sustainability on Oct 21-24, 2019 in Valencia, Spain. Hopefully this will be a rare opportunity where many of the leading people on groundwater sustainability will gather with a shared intention to share, discuss and debate scientific advances and encourage a pivot towards groundwater sustainability. A range of p ...[Read More]

The true meaning of life … for a hydrogeologist

I am currently on sabbatical with Thorsten Wagener’s group at the University of Bristol. While on campus, I stumbled upon this quote from Nelson Henderson (a farmer from Manitoba).  It encapsulates what I have been thinking about groundwater sustainability for a number of years: “The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit”. For me, as a ...[Read More]

Unconventional Oil and Gas Development and Groundwater – Comparing the English and Canadian Experiences

Unconventional Oil and Gas Development and Groundwater – Comparing the English and Canadian Experiences

by Grant Ferguson1 and Sian Loveless2 Department of Civil, Geological and Environmental Engineering, University of Saskatchewan British Geological Survey, Cardiff, Wales   The differences between the English* and Canadian experiences of unconventional hydrocarbon development were apparent at a meeting co-hosted by the British Geological Survey, Geological Society of London and IAH in London i ...[Read More]

How can we make hydrogeology free from plagiarism? Reflections five years after a documented case of plagiarism in the hydrologic sciences

How can we make hydrogeology free from plagiarism? Reflections five years after a documented case of plagiarism in the hydrologic sciences

Tom Gleeson and Matt Currell (just to be clear about our sources…header image from http://iditis.blogspot.ca/2006/03/plagiarism-lesson-learned.html) Plagiarism is a clear contradiction of scientific values and practice. Although no universal definition of plagiarism exists, a useful working definition is the wrongful appropriation, stealing and publication of another author’s language, ...[Read More]

Want to contribute to IAHS’ discussion about 23 unsolved problems in hydrology?

Want to contribute to IAHS’ discussion about 23 unsolved problems in hydrology?

Inspired by the famous list of unsolved math problems (hence the header image), the International Association of Hydrological Sciences has an interesting challenge for us all: define 23 unsolved problems in hydrology: The International Commission on Groundwater is going to submit a few problems via the LinkedIn forum. A few of us at Water Underground are going to put our thinking caps on and submi ...[Read More]

AGU fall meeting New Orleans – what we’re most looking forward, to reduce your FOMO!

AGU fall meeting New Orleans – what we’re most looking forward, to reduce your FOMO!

Two words: French Quarter. OK, well beyond that quite a few things… On Sunday the fun kicks off with the Hubbert Quorum (link) – a nice and informal meeting with lots of interaction. On Monday is Advances in Hydrologic Science by Early Career Scientists: A Discussion of the Publishing Process (TH13A; link) On Tuesday is Mars Underground: Subsurface Waters, Diagenesis, Hydrothermal/Meta ...[Read More]

Video: Why and how I communicate on social and traditional media, and some mistakes I made along the way…

Display content from Vimeo Click here to display content from Vimeo. Learn more in Vimeo’s privacy policy. Always display content from Vimeo Open “Why and how I communicate on social and traditional media, and some mistakes along the way…” directly Water Underground creator Tom Gleeson gave this talk at a session called “How my water research made the news” at the 2017 EGU Genera ...[Read More]

What is the volume (in kegs) of groundwater is stored on earth?

What is the volume (in kegs) of groundwater is stored on earth?

Last week I gave a ‘blue drinks’  presentation for a networking evening for the Victoria chapter of the Canadian Water Resources Association entitled “How much groundwater is on earth?” based on our paper from Nature Geoscience last year. Since the night was hosted at Philips Brewery, an awesome local brewery (who makes Blue Buck, the perfect blue drink, and lots of other g ...[Read More]