JOSEPH AMAR
Senior Groundwater Geologist
EDUCATION
- University of Arizona, Tucson
B.S., Geosciences, 2006
CERTIFICATIONS
- Professional Geologist, State of California. 2015
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Mr. Amar has been a Groundwater Geologist with the firm since 2013. Major areas of groundwater work have encompassed project management and field services during the drilling and field monitoring of construction of municipal- and irrigation-supply water wells. These efforts have included: geologic logging of pilot boreholes by direct air, direct mud, and reverse circulation drilling methods; field monitoring and office services during the construction, testing, destruction, and/or rehabilitation of numerous deep monitoring wells and/or water-supply wells in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego, Kern, Inyo, Siskiyou, Sonoma and Napa counties as well as Viti Levu, Fiji; graphically interpreting data in a variety of hydrogeologic settings; and using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to evaluate hydrogeologic conditions.
Prior work has included assisting in the development water-resource projects at several properties in California including sites in Ventura, Los Angeles and Riverside counties. Other work included site assessments, soil and groundwater environmental contamination investigations and mitigation for major retail petroleum companies throughout Northern and Southern California.
EXPERIENCE HISTORY
RICHARD C. SLADE & ASSOCIATES LLC
Consulting Groundwater Geologists
FEBRUARY 2013 – PRESENT
Employment position as a Project Groundwater Geologist with major responsibilities as a project manager directed towards groundwater evaluation, exploration, and development projects. The areas of responsibilities in these projects encompass: preparation of proposals and cost estimates for various types of hydrogeologic projects; preparation of technical specifications for new well projects and well rehabilitation; providing technical and administrative oversight of well drilling and rehabilitation, construction, development, and testing activities on well projects, and; the preparation and completion of final project reports. Other duties include: technical report writing; electronic data management and analysis; and field work relating to the siting, design, construction and testing of new water-supply wells in sedimentary deposits of various geologic ages, as well as in numerous types of volcanic rocks and in intrusive igneous rocks. Other responsibilities include: installing transducers and conducting pumping tests of new/existing wells; prepare technical guidelines and summary reports for aquifer (pumping) tests of water-supply wells; detailed geologic logging of numerous pilot boreholes throughout California; monitoring of groundwater inflow rates and field water quality parameters for boreholes drilled into volcanic rocks in Napa and Sonoma counties by direct air method; field water quality and water level data during isolated aquifer zone testing in open boreholes; field monitoring of the installation of casing, gravel packs and cement seals; field monitoring of all elements of chemical/mechanical/pumping development of municipal-supply and irrigation-supply water wells within Los Angeles Basin, Orange County, San Diego County, Inyo County, Napa Valley, and Central Valley areas of California and also Viti Levu, Fiji; providing technical and administrative oversight of well drilling, construction, development, and testing activities on production well and deep monitoring well projects; hydrogeologic interpretation of data via computational or mathematical means under various aquifer settings; producing spatial analyses, raster maps, and presentations of datasets using Geographic Information System (GIS) software to create various maps and graphics; database management of well information; forming informational networks with clients to provide them with clear understanding of hydrogeology with respect to their projects; and State DWR CASGEM monitoring plan writing and implementation for various adjudicated water basin districts throughout Southern California.
ENVIROSOLVE, INC.
MARCH 2012 to FEBRUARY 2013
Employment position was as a Senior Staff Hydrogeologist with responsibilities that included the identification of groundwater basins, worked with developers, municipalities, water districts, and private individuals to acquire and develop the water resources for use and/or for sale; scheduled and implemented fieldwork for HydroSolve’s water resource department.
ETIC ENGINEERING, INC.
JUNE 2008 to MARCH 2012
Employment position was as a Project Geologist. Duties included technical report writing, electronic data management and analysis, and field work relating to the site assessment, investigation (soil and groundwater) and remediation of contaminated sites in Southern and Northern California. Responsibilities included a variety of subsurface soil and groundwater investigations that include the logging of exploratory borings in accordance with the Unified Soil Classification System; soil, groundwater, and soil gas sample collection; groundwater monitoring and remediation; well installation (confined and unconfined aquifers); familiarity with a variety of drilling techniques, including CPT, hollow-stem auger, sonic, air rotary, and direct-push technologies; prepared a variety of technical reports, geologic cross-sections, groundwater gradient maps, isoconcentration maps, and hydrographs; worked closely with clients and vendors on many large projects.Dickinson, W.R., Stair, K.N., Gehrels, G.E., Peters, L., Kowallis, B.J., Blakey, R.C., Amar, J.R., and Greenhalgh, B.W., 2010, “U-Pb and 40Ar/39Ar Ages for a Tephra Lens in the Middle Jurassic Page Sandstone: First Direct Isotopic Dating of a Mesozoic Eolianite on the Colorado Plateau,” Journal of Geology, v. 118, p. 215-221.
PUBLICATIONS
Dickinson, W.R., Stair, K.N., Gehrels, G.E., Peters, L., Kowallis, B.J., Blakey, R.C., Amar, J.R., and Greenhalgh, B.W., 2010, “U-Pb and 40Ar/39Ar Ages for a Tephra Lens in the Middle Jurassic Page Sandstone: First Direct Isotopic Dating of a Mesozoic Eolianite on the Colorado Plateau,” Journal of Geology, v. 118, p. 215-221.