About Us
Company Overview:
Ground Water Science is focused on the science and technique of ground water (groundwater*) and how to keep it flowing. We have been providing hydrogeology and planning and diagnosis for well and wellfield operations for more than 30 years. This practice is built on even longer experience. Our command of rock and glacial hydrogeology is second to none regionally. Our expertise in ground-water system biofouling, maintenance, and rehabilitation (asset management) is recognized and in-demand across North America and beyond. This work includes some very large and technically demanding ground-water projects.
Our partners, Stuart A. Smith and Allen E. Comeskey, are certified and licensed geologists and ground water (groundwater) professionals with advanced degrees and over 40 years each of diverse, high-quality, hands-on professional experience. We offer an integrated understanding of hydrogeologic, biogeochemical, and well construction and performance issues. We have contributed to landmark publications pertaining to drilling, well construction, biofouling analysis, and well rehabilitation.
Ground Water Science is a small firm by design (see Joys of Small Consultancy Ownership), in that the managing principals work directly (not filtered through field staff) with each of our clients, large or small. Our veterans are not kept in captivity, nor put out to pasture by the HR manipulations that hobble our corporate colleagues. Instead, we are free to escape the office and take our expertise to the job site, regionally or worldwide, working hands-on with our colleagues in well construction, service, engineering, and water operations.
We strive to consistently deliver superior client service by insisting that things are done the right way, by serving as advocates for our clients, and by valuing and maintaining our integrity in everything that we do.
Partner Bios
Allen Comeskey, MS, CPG
Allen has been involved in water supply hydrogeology and exploration since 1979. During this time, he has earned a reputation as an extremely knowledgeable and dedicated scientist who is committed above all else to accuracy, credibility, and honesty.
Allen’s extensive career in water supply hydrogeology includes 10 years with the North Dakota State Water Commission, where he logged 50,000 ft of borehole per year (lithologic and geophysics) while conducting community and county water resource exploration and delineation and wetlands water budgets. He is proud to have been a critical part of the exploration and mapping of North Dakota’s vast network of hidden lakes aquifer systems. Prior to joining Ground Water Science in 1996, he worked with Earth Data and LBG Inc. on wellhead protection and contaminant delineation projects throughout Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and New England.
Today, Allen employs his considerable training and experience to solve a variety of challenges related to the delivery of public water supplies and related environmental engineering challenges. He is an expert on the subjects of aquifer systems and water well design and construction, aquifer modeling, pumping test analysis, and the use of GIS and image analysis in aquifer exploration. He is well-known by municipal clients as an indispensable project manager in the construction of large-scale wellfields and ground water production facilities. He is a Certified Professional Geologist (CPG) by the American Institute of Professional Geologists and a Registered Professional Geologist in the states of Indiana and Pennsylvania. He is a co-author, along with business partner Stuart Smith, of Sustainable Wells: Maintenance, Problem Prevention, and Rehabilitation (CRC Press, 2009).
Allen earned a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Geology from Bowling Green State University in 1978 and a Master of Science (MS) degree in Geology from The University of North Dakota in 1993. To connect with him on LinkedIn, click here!
Stuart Smith, MS, CGWP
Stuart’s interest in ground water dates back to his teenage years when, while pulling and setting pumps for his father’s rural Ohio plumbing business, he literally had the black and brown products of well microorganisms on his hands. Later, that experience led to his pioneering work in the application of biofouling testing methods in ground water system analysis. He also listened to the water cascading in the rock wells of his home country and wondered about the flow of water underground.
Today, Stuart is one the nation’s foremost experts on the diagnosis and treatment of well problems and performance deterioration, and well and wellfield asset management. He is a Certified Ground Water Professional (CGWP) by the National Ground Water Association, a Registered Geologist with the State of Kentucky (he would have an Ohio registration if there were one), and has been consulting in the ground water field since 1983.
In addition to his consulting career, he has also worked for the National Water Well Association (now NGWA), developed the curriculum and instructed ground water science and technology at Wright State University (where he developed portions of the WSU IRIS distance-learning hydrogeology training program), and taught biology courses and advised hydrogeological engineering projects at Ohio Northern University. He has spoken on well maintenance and asset management, rehabilitation, and microbiology topics in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, England, Tanzania, Slovenia, Jordan, and throughout North America. In recent years, he has become active in the effort to equip professional water sector capabilities and to develop water supplies in Tanzania and other developing countries. He is currently also a partner in a water management and construction company, Ground+Water Tanzania Ltd. and its Ohio-corporation affiliate Earth Water Services Africa LLC.
He is the author or co-author of numerous works [link to Publications], including contributions to well maintenance and rehabilitation practice, most recently in book form, he and Allen Comeskey have contributed Sustainable Wells: Maintenance, Problem Prevention, and Rehabilitation (CRC Press). He is also a coauthor of both the 1992 Australian Drilling Manual and the 1997 edition of its successor, Drilling (CRC Press), a major contributor to AWWA’s Manual M21, Groundwater (two editions) and ASCE’s recent Hydraulics of Wells text, and a principal author-editor of NGWA’s Manual of Water Well Construction Practices, as well as contributing to the Water Well Journal, National Driller, GeoDrilling International and other publications.
Stuart earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree with majors in Biology and Earth Science from Wittenberg University in 1977 and a Master of Science (MS) degree from The Ohio State University in 1984. To connect with him on LinkedIn, click here!
Joys of Small Consultancy Ownership
Owning and operating a small business is not always easy in this economy. Especially as we provide services that are not always understood to be essential (but can be) and sometimes thought to be available from anyone (definitely not). We need to keep getting the message out about what we do, and keeping up relentlessly with performance and quality. We have financial obligations ourselves.
But it has its rewards. We, the veterans, spend time on the job site and with every client. So we see the situation first hand and we know our clients’ hopes and fears. We see it in their eyes. We also get to travel and contribute extensively to a better world. We don’t have to ask the stockholders (we are the stockholders) or the home office in France or whatever to do these activities.
So you may say “that’s nice”. Why should that make us your next ground water adviser (or specialty subcontractor)?
We remain happy, professionally fulfilled, and motivated. That brings a better experienced ground water adviser to your table and your job site.
Consequently, we do not lose our “edge” while you also gain our experience.
Our wide experience and knowledge of the science allows us to creatively and quickly solve your problem. Since we can schedule to go to technical meetings or do other personal capacity building when we want and budgets and schedules permit, we come to your task with up-to-date and expanded knowledge year by year. With our kind of quality experience (not “1 year, 30 times”) we efficiently address your needs. You pay for results rather than someone’s steep learning curve (we get a certain number of panicky “pick our brains” calls and emails).
As a small firm, we focus strongly on your project. Your small project is not “below our radar” or delegated to the under qualified. Yet we have the experience and versatility to work on your big project without struggle.
We make good things happen when others give up.
We contribute "above our weight class" to your water supply sector and what it cares about. Maybe we do too much (but we don't answer to shareholders). Those values and that contribution does a little bit to make the world a better place and if we were you, we would patronize these people. Those values and that energy and integrity are working for you in your corner. A small firm like us has staying power.
Some small firms suffer as they have enough overhead and not as many reserves as we have to weigh them down when the big firms are bottom-feeding in their markets or when the economy seems to go away, as in 2009 or Covid times for example. We can weather tough times and not lose capacity before the next upturn. We are committed to our craft and science, not moving up the corporate food chain, or watching our back when HR comes hacking. Consider giving us a call or drop us an email with your needs, hopes, and fears. We’ll also take the time to work through it with you and turn those into fulfillment.