Deep science with aquifer man

UNDERGROUND: The Gisborne District Council’s new managed aquifer recharge project manager Dr Graeme Card enjoys finding solutions to complex, scientific problems. Picture by Liam Clayton

Scientific challenges and project management is new Gisborne resident Dr Graeme Card’s speciality — and that passion has led him to take on the role of project manager for Gisborne’s managed aquifer recharge. He tells Mark Peters how his career in human health has led to this point.

From studying flesh-eating bacteria to working on ground-breaking technology used to determine the structure of biological macromolecules, nothing excites Dr Graeme Card as much as finding solutions to complex, scientific problems.

Originally from Newcastle, England, Graeme is now project manager for Gisborne’s managed aquifer recharge (MAR).

The aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock. Water from the aquifer is used to irrigate crops. In this region it is worth an estimated $20 million annually to industry.

In 2017, a trial recharge began when 64,000 cubic metres of filtered water from the Waipaoa River was pumped into the Makauri aquifer. The MAR trial was done to determine if water levels in the aquifer could be increased.

With another injection trial planned to start at the end of August, the Gisborne District Council was in need of a project manager. Graeme took on the role last month.

“The reason this role interests me is it ticks all the boxes in the project management and science part of my mind. because it’s a complex science project,” he says.

“Finding solutions to complex problems excites me. When I find a project I’m interested in I’m dedicated to making it work.”

Hard science and project management are clearly his vocational passions. Graeme’s CV includes project management for six years from 2006 at US Department of Energy /Stanford University Beamline at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre in California. His role was to commission, maintain and develop the world’s first dedicated micro-focus beamline which is used for protein microcrystallography.

“This was a unique, exciting experimental area,” he says.

Funded by the The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, an endowment established by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore and his wife to support scientific discovery, environmental conservation and patient care improvements, the project was completed under the budget of $US13 million and on time.

“Everything I have done in the past has been related to human health. My first post-doctorate was looking at Kaposi sarcoma.” Kaposi sarcoma is a rare tumour that has numerous types, the most common of which is associated with advanced HIV.

That research was undertaken at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London headed by Sir Paul Nurse who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2001. Sir Paul was part of a team who discovered the protein molecules that control the division of cells in the cell cycle.

Graeme later came to New Zealand for two years and worked on tuberculosis and necrotising fasciitis (flesh-eating disease).

Prior to making their home in New Zealand, Graeme and his wife Ananda lived in San Francisco for 10 years. The couple worked at a biotech company that developed the multi-million dollar cancer therapeutic, Zelboraf. The cost of living in the Californian city was high, says Graeme. And he spent four hours a day commuting to and from work.

After arriving in New Zealand in 2012, he and Ananda travelled around the country in a motorhome. They settled in Hamilton where Ananda worked in manuka honey-testing, while Graeme became project manager for the methamphetamine testing programme with Hill Laboratories.

When Ananda returned to work after maternity leave Graeme became self-employed as a stay-at-home dad for two and a half years. After the birth of their second son, the vacancy came up for a MAR project manager and Graeme found it ticked many boxes for he and his family.

“The opportunity to move to the beach was attractive to my wife and I. Newcastle has a beautiful, long white sandy beach but it’s the North Sea so it’s frigid. In winter there is frost on the sand.

My wife is from San Diego which is also a beach city. To have the opportunity to move to the beach to raise our kids is awesome.”

Then there was the cool job.

“I have no personal, hands-on experience with aquifers but I’m good at science and project management and with 30 years of working with large amounts of data I can apply rigorous analysis to this pilot trial.”

The aim of the trial was to use managed aquifer recharge technology to inject water from the Waipaoa River into the aquifer to increase water levels. The MAR project is now in its second phase.

“It’s still a pilot project,” says Graeme.

“We’re still carefully looking at the science behind what we’re doing. In the winter of 2017 they took some water — close to 73,000 cubic metres — from the river, filtered it and injected it into the Makauri aquifer.”

The water level was monitored and an increase was seen. Enough data was obtained to determine the MAR is a feasible option to replenish the Makauri aquifer, said a council report.

The water was also tested for contaminants such as E. coli.

“We have tight controls for what can go in there. The water has fine sediment that needs to be filtered out.”

Graeme has spent his first few weeks in his new role getting himself up to speed with aquifer science, meeting with stakeholders, and finding out about what has been done in the past. Cultural, economic and environmental impacts are uppermost in considerations to making it work.

“With any project it’s vital you get input from all stakeholders,” he says.

One advantage of coming as an outsider to Gisborne is that he has no preconceptions. Within his first week of taking up the role of MAR project manager he was in communication with Rongowhakaata representatives. The iwi is concerned about the mixing of waters from the river and aquifer.

“I said, ‘I carry no baggage. I’m a clean slate. We have had a lot of positive engagement.

“One of the last pieces of the puzzle is to get a completed cultural impact assessment from Rongowhakaata.”

Graeme is working with Rongowhakaata to define a set of contaminants in the water the iwi wants monitored. Graeme is also meeting with representatives from Mahaki to discuss the Mauri Compass they have undertaken.

Graeme also has to take into account “emerging contaminants”. One report he has read, although it’s source is unknown, says 300 new chemicals are registered worldwide every hour. These include variants on compounds such as those used in personal body-care, antibiotics, insect repellents and anti-inflammatories.

“There has been a lot of research around tracking emerging contaminants through waste-water plants but no standard of what could be tested for and what those levels mean during testing. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to stay on top of emerging contaminants.”

The council is continuing to engage Golder Associates as consultants, says Graeme. The company specialises in design, and construction services in areas of earth, environment, and energy.

“They have a large amount of experience with aquifer science and hydrogeology and have experience with projects in Netherlands, Canterbury and Australia.

“Right now we’re talking to contractors about making some modifications to the headworks in the light of a report from Golder Associates.”

A management plan is soon to be lodged to ensure it fits with the consent.

“In the 1980s and 1990s people freaked out about oil and looked for alternative fuels,” says Graeme.

“There is no alternative to water. We all need it. It’s a critical resource that needs to be carefully-controlled and planned.

“That’s common ground for everybody.”