Worthington Groundwater specializes in evaluating preferential flow and transport in bedrock aquifers, and is built around the expertise of Dr. Stephen Worthington, M.Sc., Ph.D., P. Geo. He has been active in consulting and research on preferential flow in bedrock aquifers for more than 30 years. His consulting work in Canada, U.S.A., U.K., Ireland, Jamaica, and China has included water supply, water rights, source protection for wells and springs, groundwater contamination, bedrock stability, and feasibility projects on landfills, quarries, and residential developments. See the Projects page for further details.
Preferential flow through fractures is common in bedrock aquifers, resulting in them usually behaving as dual-porosity aquifers. Treating them as porous media usually works well for flow calculations, but characterizing transport is more challenging. The fracture networks facilitate rapid movement of contaminants, but matrix diffusion results in long contaminant residence times in the matrix. The following web pages give an overview of some important characteristics of bedrock aquifers, with the focus on Steve’s research contributions. An up to date list of Steve’s research publications can be found here.