Manual of Applied Field Hydrogeology

As a young person in high school, my friends and I would come to a stop at a red light, put the vehicle in park, open the doors, run around the vehicle, and then get back in before the light turned green. This silly activity was fun because of the chaotic flurry of confusion that took place, reminiscent of the Keystone cops, plus the bemused expressions of other drivers as they looked on. It was always a challenge to get everyone around the vehicle and back in so that traffic was not held up. This activity will be referred to as a wacky fire drill (WFD). The first few times one runs a pumping test, the chaotic flurry at the beginning of the test of synchronizing watches, obtaining manual readings every few tens of seconds, the management of a fairly long list of equipment, and the stress of being responsible to obtain meaningful data is much like a WFD.
I can still remember my first experience in being involved with a pumping test back in the fall of 1980 in northern Wyoming. My job was to continue manual readings for the night shift and to radio in if there was trouble. At about 2 o'clock in the morning the pump started making a terrible noise and the radio had gone faint because the vehicle battery had run low from not restarting the engine to keep things charged up. I felt foolish and scared and wondered how long it...