Are you thirsty? LSU Geology & Geophysics faculty member, Dr. Annette Summers Engel, asks this question every semester of students enrolled in her graduate and undergraduate environmental aqueous geochemistry course.

Water is one of our most important natural resources. It is not only essential for all life on the planet, but it is vital to industry, including growing and producing our food, manufacturing plastic and steel, making paper, refining hydrocarbons, and even recycling. But, drinking water is becoming scare. Recent estimates consider that approximately <0.007% of the freshwater on Earth is drinkable. To make matters worse, that water is not equally distributed around the world.

Engel says that the saying ‘water flows toward money’ means that water usually is used and regulated by those with the most political clout, power, and money. So, in her class, students learn how water-related political conflicts, both nationally and internationally, have erupted because of desperation and deprivation. It is well-known that the global poor pay the heaviest toll for water, both to obtain it and because of the lack of it. The World Bank recently estimated that 80 nations have water shortages that severely limit agricultural production and, needless to say, any possible economic viability from industrial or municipal activities unrelated to food supply.

Engel believes that students need to learn more than simple aqueous geochemistry in this type of class. The nuts and bolts of geochemistry are important, but should be framed in the context of what water is eventually going to be needed and used for.

“To make aqueous geochemistry more interesting, I think that students should also be more aware of water use practices, as well as sustainable, management approaches that are currently being implemented to increase the supply of water into the future around the globe,” she explains. Most of these approaches typically include regulation, permitting, and charging for water use. Very rarely do these approaches involve behavioral modifications, like reducing wasteful (over)use of water.

This past spring semester, students in the class got a taste for both the regulatory and the behavioral approaches during a field trip to San Antonio, Texas, to learn about the Edwards Aquifer. This aquifer is one of the most permeable and productive aquifers in the United States, and is one of the only sources of drinking water for ~ 1.7 million people in the region and all of the city of San Antonio. This year marked the third time she led this trip.

“One of the goals of the trip is to expose students to real people working on real geological, geochemical, or political issues associated with the aquifer,” says Engel. The Edwards Aquifer is ideal because it is such a large aquifer, and use is actively regulated and overuse is actively prosecuted. The aquifer is also interesting from the standpoint of geochemistry, having both a fresh water and a saline water component. The aquifer is also a unique ecosystem, with eight endangered or threatened species of the more than 40 species of highly-adapted, subterranean species that are known to live in the aquifer.

Undergraduate students on the trip were graduating Geology & Geophysics seniors Jordyn Spizale and Carl Frisby, and graduate students in Geology and Geophysics and Natural Science, including Lee Foersterling, John Adam D’Aquin, Brendan Headd, Celeste Bonnecaze, and Cassie Gray.

Students visited with scientists employed with the Edwards Aquifer Authority in San Antonio, where they learn how this organization, created through Texas legislation, was mandated to manage, preserve, and protect the Edwards Aquifer. Students had a two-hour meeting with Mr. Geary Schindel, Chief Technical Officer of Aquifer Science, who explained some of the regulatory issues currently affecting aquifer use and management, as well as aquifer geology and hydrology research that the group is conducting. He also advised them as to the training and educational background that he looks for in a potential employee of their organization, which is valuable information for students to hear.

On the field trip, the group visited extremely large fresh water springs that discharge from the aquifer, which included taking a glass bottom boat ride over spring heads at San Marcos Springs. Students also got to go “inside” the aquifer on a Natural Bridge Caverns tour. Students were able to compare water use practices by contrasting the River Walk and the Espada Aquaduct in San Antonio. The aquaduct, which is on the National Registry of historic engineering landmarks, was made and used by missionaries in the 1730s, and is still used today to distribute water to the missions and local neighborhood.

During one of the days, students sampled water wells in New Braunfels, Texas, approximately 50 km north of San Antonio. The wells are part of the United States Geological Survey monitoring well program, and are important because they cross the fresh water to saline water transition zone. Well sampling shows students what they would do if they were employed by an environmental consulting company, as well as what typical fresh and saline aquifer water chemistries are like. The students learned about basic sampling techniques and analytical methods, and lab results back at LSU were acquired from funding from a Louisiana Board of Regents grant to Engel.

“Field-based trips that mix science with cultural and employment experiences are essential to the geoscience curriculum because the exposure lets students see what it will be like to be a gainfully employed member of the global community,” Engel says, adding, “these trips also showcase how scientific research can be used to help solve environmental and societal challenges.”