Find the Water Before the Excavation Does
Groundwater discovered by the excavator is the most expensive way to find it. Magrym assesses groundwater conditions for construction across Midland and the Permian Basin: where the water is, how it moves seasonally, and what the excavation, the foundation, and the schedule need to do about it
The Condition That Changes Everything
Groundwater is the site condition with the longest reach. It decides whether an excavation needs dewatering, whether a below-grade wall sees hydrostatic pressure, how deep a pier can be drilled dry, whether a trench stands or sloughs, and how an impoundment embankment behaves. A groundwater conditions assessment establishes where the water is, how it varies, and what that means for design and construction, before the contractor finds out the hard way.
West Texas groundwater misleads people in both directions. Much of the region drills dry to depths that lull designers into ignoring water entirely, and then a perched zone above a caliche or clay layer floods an excavation that borings a hundred feet away never hinted at. Seasonal swings and irrigation return water move the picture further. Subsurface water conditions change across a single tract, and the absence of water in one boring is not the absence of water.
Magrym builds the groundwater picture as part of the geotechnical work: observations during drilling, piezometers where conditions warrant, and engineering translation into the numbers design needs, covering dewatering expectations, hydrostatic conditions, and buoyancy checks. The hydrogeological assessment is scoped for construction, distinct from water supply studies and contamination sampling, and it is engineered by the same team that runs your investigation. You talk directly to them throughout.
Groundwater, Translated for Construction
From the first boring log to the dewatering plan, the groundwater conditions assessment answers what design and construction actually ask.
Water Table Evaluation
We establish the groundwater surface across the site from borings and piezometers, including the seasonal range design has to accommodate, not just the level on drilling day. The water table assessment reports elevation as a range, because that is how design has to treat it.
- Boring and piezometer data
- Seasonal variation estimates
- Site groundwater mapping
Perched Water and Problem Zones
The water that floods West Texas excavations is often perched above caliche or clay. We look for the zones a single boring misses and flag where groundwater seepage will show up in construction.
- Perched zone identification
- Caliche and clay aquitards
- Wet zone risk flags
Dewatering Guidance
When the excavation will meet water, our dewatering assessment defines what the contractor is up against: expected inflows, drawdown behavior, and the dewatering approaches that fit the soils.
- Inflow expectations
- Dewatering approach guidance
- Discharge coordination support
Hydrostatic and Buoyancy Design
Below-grade walls, vaults, sumps, and tanks care about water pressure. We provide the hydrostatic design conditions and buoyancy checks structures below the water line require.
- Design groundwater levels
- Hydrostatic pressure conditions
- Uplift and buoyancy checks
Piezometers and Monitoring
Where one-day readings are not enough, groundwater level monitoring runs over time through installed piezometers, so foundations, impoundments, and deep excavations design against real data.
- Piezometer installation
- Scheduled readings
- Trend interpretation
Construction Phase Support
When water shows up mid-construction anyway, we respond: verify the condition, adjust the recommendations, and support the groundwater control the excavation needs to keep moving with engineering behind it.
- Unexpected water response
- Recommendation updates
- Excavation support
Who Relies on Our Groundwater Assessment
Anyone digging, drilling, or building below grade needs to know where the water is first.
Developers and Contractors
Basements, elevator pits, and deep utilities meet groundwater with a schedule on the line. Magrym provides groundwater assessment services for construction that tell you where the water is and what handling it will take, before mobilization.
Energy and Oil and Gas
Facility excavations, containments, and impoundments across the Permian Basin interact with shallow and perched water. We deliver groundwater assessment for industrial sites as part of the site geotechnical picture.
Municipalities and Districts
Lift stations, vaults, and buried infrastructure live below grade for decades. We provide the groundwater conditions their design and buoyancy checks require.
Design Teams
Structural and civil designers need a number for the water, not an anecdote. Our groundwater consulting services deliver design groundwater levels with the reasoning documented.
Construction Groundwater Is Its Own Question
Water supply studies, contamination sampling, and construction groundwater are three different disciplines. Magrym covers all three in-house and keeps them distinct, so the groundwater consulting services you receive match the question your project is actually asking, with one firm accountable for the answer.
- Licensed Professional Geoscientists and Engineers
- Groundwater assessed within the geotechnical investigation
- Perched and seasonal water experience across West Texas
- You talk directly to the professional on your assessment
- HUB and DBE certified, Minority-Owned
From Boring Log to Design Number
A clear path, run by the same professional, sized to how much the water matters on your site.
Scope the Question
We establish what the project needs from groundwater: a design level, a dewatering picture, or monitoring over time. Fixed-fee proposal up front.
Observe and Measure
Groundwater is logged during drilling, and the water table assessment extends through piezometers where the question deserves data over time.
Translate to Design
We deliver the design groundwater levels, hydrostatic conditions, and dewatering guidance the design team and contractor build from.
Support Construction
When conditions differ or water appears unexpectedly, we verify, adjust, and keep the work moving.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is the evaluation of where water sits beneath a site, how that level moves through the year, and what design and construction have to do about it. Magrym logs water during drilling, installs piezometers where the question warrants, and converts the readings into design groundwater levels, hydrostatic conditions, and dewatering expectations. That includes groundwater assessment for foundation design, where pier depth and slab performance depend on the water the borings found.
No, and the difference matters. Groundwater availability certification is a regulatory study of water supply, whether an aquifer can support the wells a subdivision needs, required by counties for certain plats. A geotechnical groundwater assessment is about construction: how water affects excavation, foundations, and buried structures. Magrym provides both services separately; this page covers the construction side.
No. Environmental monitoring samples groundwater for contamination under a regulatory requirement, with laboratory analysis and agency reporting. A geotechnical groundwater assessment measures where water is and how it behaves physically, for design and construction purposes. The field tools overlap, piezometers and wells, but the questions and deliverables are different. We offer both, so the right one gets ordered.
Usually perched water: rain and irrigation water that collects above a caliche or clay layer well above the true water table. It is discontinuous, so one boring can miss a zone the excavation then finds. Seasonal timing matters too. An assessment that looks specifically for perching surfaces and reads the geology reduces those surprises substantially.
Expected inflow behavior, drawdown response in the site soils, and the handling approaches that suit the conditions, whether that is sumps and pumps, well points, or deep wells. Our dewatering assessment gives the contractor a defensible basis for pricing and planning the work, and we coordinate on discharge requirements where the project calls for it.
We install and read piezometers for construction purposes, where groundwater level monitoring across weeks or months gives the design a real range instead of a single reading. Environmental wells built for contaminant sampling fall under our environmental scope and are permitted and constructed to different standards. Tell us the purpose and we will scope the correct installation.
Digging Below Grade in West Texas?
Know where the water is before the excavator finds it. Magrym delivers a hydrogeological assessment
scoped for construction in Midland, TX, with the design groundwater levels, dewatering expectations,
and buoyancy conditions your team needs. Call (432) 999-2737 to get a fixed fee proposal this week.