MODERN CONTAMINANT HYDROLOGY at The Watershed Institute, Pennington-Princeton New Jersey

 PENNINGTON-PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY 29-30 APRIL 2026

The 2-day training for MODERN CONTAMINANT HYDROLOGY at The Watershed Institute was packed with expertise in every corner of the room.

Thank you to all the participants for your active contributions before, during, and after the event.  I appreciate you taking the time to share ALL of your expertise.   I learned plenty along the way too.  

Tom Sale and I at the onset encourage the 2 days to become a dialogue between everyone because it's the two-way conversations that enrich learning moments for everyone, especially me.

The course is designed around the new textbook, Modern Subsurface Contaminant Hydrology written by Tom Sale and Joseph Scalia (2025). The goal is to advance modern conceptual foundations for contaminant transport in natural subsurface settings in support of better use of finite cleanup resources.

The new textbook moves away from the conceptualization of a homogenous "classroom aquifer", recognizes the capacities of aquifers to passively assimilate contaminants, and stylistically embraces inherent uncertainties. The primary audiences for the book are professionals needing a modern reference and the generalized framework to achieve realistic remediation goals.

The course sets a rigorous foundation of first principles for modern contaminant transport wherein the term "modern" is based on embracing 9 main points listed on the following page. Sources for additional information include a remarkable set of electronic books (e-books) developed through The Groundwater Project that have been written by leading scientist and engineers whose experience spans the last half century under the leadership of Dr. John Cherry.

This course is designed to walk professionals through modern paradigms of contaminant hydrology and provide resources for anyone working in characterization and remediation of contaminated sites.

We tip our hat to all the course participants because we all have a noble responsibility to advance our God-Given talents and to serve as stewards of this precious planet.