Willowstick Technologies LLC
Willowstick is a technology company that maps, models and predicts groundwater paths and patterns. Willowstick provides quick and nonintrusive technologies to identify, map and model preferential groundwater connection paths. Like an angiogram that enables medical personnel to see blood flow inside the body, the Willowstick method is able to quickly identify groundwater flow paths. This technique is a powerful tool for finding seeps through or under engineered embankments, leaks through inaccessible liners or for finding preferential flow paths of groundwater. The Willowstick method has been ground-proofed in projects completed throughout the world.
Company details
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- Business Type:
- Service provider
- Industry Type:
- Soil and Groundwater - Soil and Groundwater Monitoring and Testing
- Market Focus:
- Globally (various continents)
- Year Founded:
- 2004
- Employees:
- 11-100
- Turnover:
- 1,000,000 - 10,000,000 €
About Us
Willowstick Technologies helps you identify, map, track and monitor preferential patways of groundwater and provides unprecedented insight into hydrogeologic conditions. Take guesswork, trial and error and frustration out of the equation with accurate and reliable groundwater maps and models.
Dr. Jerry Montgomery, PhD Geophysics from the University of Utah, delivered the first version of Willowstick’s technology in 2004. Jerry spent a long and distinguished career developing and applying geophysics in the mining industry. Coupled with the insight of Dr. Rondo Jeffery, PhD Physics University of Illinois – Urbana/Champaign, he developed an innovative technique and custom instrumentation that proved highly effective in mapping groundwater.
In 2004 Amp Capital Partners, a venture capital firm, invested in Willowstick Technologies. They became acquainted with Willowstick through a project at one of their geothermal electricity generating plants. Using Willowstick instruments and software they were able to map and model groundwater in order to pinpoint geothermal resources thus saving millions of dollars for their company. Using Willowstick’s technology, rather than their ongoing drilling efforts, AMP saw a return on investment that was so compelling that they acquired controlling interest in the Willowstick Technologies, LLC.
The Willowstick Instrument™ measures the magnetic field produced by the distribution of electric current to track patterns that help characterize preferential groundwater flow. Our Magnetometric Resistivity (MMR) technology differs markedly from traditional resistivity and other electromagnetic (EM) methodologies. First, it capitalizes on the fact that water content is a dominant factor in enhancing the subsurface electrical conductivity of soil and rock. Second, by directly energizing a conductive groundwater medium with strategic electrode placement, the electric field can more effectively “illuminate” the target of interest with less interference from overlying layers, and 3) Our instruments, pattern recognition software, and robust processing power enable us to rapidly iterate and change the direction of energy bias in real-time. This “adaptive mapping” capability enables our models to be precise representations of in the ground reality. The Willowstick process is protected by patent process No. US 8,688,423 and other patents pending.
Over the past few years Willowstick has taken significant steps forward in terms of refining its instruments used to collect and map a wide variety of groundwater reading and the software algorithms and filtering capability necessary to see groundwater activity with much greater acuity than ever before. The order of magnitude increases in computing power have made it possible for us to recognize and amplify very faint signals at greater depths than previously possible. Furthermore, the breadth of our technology applicability has expanded from tracking water leaks in dams to oil and gas applications, from there to addressing mining and refining water problems, and finally to a variety of environmental applications that presuppose the ability to track contaminant transport through water bearing zones.
Today, Willowstick has completed over 230 groundwater characterization projects all over the world. Willowstick is happy to count as its clients the most sophisticated clients and consulting engineers around the world.
Application/Industries Served
Willowstick has deployed their technologies across many different types of applications. The following is a list of particularly good applications, although there are many ways in which the technologies can be applied. If you have inquiries into whether we can help you on your site, please contact us.
- Mapping leaks in dams or canals
- Characterizing preferential flow in fractured rock matrices
- Finding targets for monitoring well installation
- Seeing groundwater flow in karst geology
- Mapping the connection of surface water to an underground source
- Characterizing preferential flow in contaminated sites
- Seeing distribution of fluid in leaching operations
- Mapping the movement of fluid in a water flood or secondary oil recovery operation
- Characterizing groundwater related to natural gas extraction
- Understanding the source of groundwater inundation
- Mapping leaks from evaporative or retention ponds
- Many others
