Happy New Year! ๐ We hope everyone had a wonderful break. To kick off 2023 we’d like to share our “Conversation with the Team” with Jens Rekker, a principal hydrogeologist at KSL
๐ง๐ฒ๐น๐น ๐๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฑ?
I had always been fascinated with freshwater in my formative years. So, after four years working in South Island hydro-electricity schemes I enrolled in papers in aquatic biology, geography and geology. I rolled out of university as a geologist with specialisations in hydrogeology. I had to travel around the globe to get my first job and two years of experience, where my second nationality to the Netherlands came in handy. I landed back in New Zealand during the 1990s recession and went into survival mode to keep myself employed in hydrogeology. I have worked for myself, small consultancies, multinational consulting corporations, regional councils and a university over the last thirty years and loved most of it.
I have a strong affinity for regional authority work where most water management in NZ is actually carried out, plus the research that informs it. However, I keep coming back to consulting, which I consider is an important interface between the community and water environmental managers, and therefore an important role to fill.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐น๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ผ๐ป?
The new and emerging mineral sands industry has been a pre-occupation this past year, which looks like it will continue for a few years to come. My first mineral sands hydrological assessment was in 2018 and now I am contributing to investigations on three separate West Coast deposits. Itโs always exciting working from the ground up with drilling, aquifer testing and instrumentation programmes to characterise unexplored groundwater systems.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐โ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ด๐ด๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฎ?
The usual consulting industry challenges of keeping all of the pots on the stovetop simmering without boiling over during a busy year for everyone.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ด๐ด๐ฒ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฎ?
Getting vehicles and rigs in and out of muddy paddocks in one of the wettest years and on our wettest Coast! Actually, that was mostly the drilling contractorsโ success but I spent a lot of hours worrying about what to do if we remained stuck.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ด๐ต๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ๐๐๐๐ฟ๐?
I am noticing more collaboration and cooperation between hydrologists in different organisations working in the same patch. Itโs something heartening to see.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐ผ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ?
I started canoeing on the Otago Harbour when I was barely 7 years old. In my teens, twenties and thirties, I loved nothing more than to kayak whitewater gorges all over the South Island. Nowadays I find myself canoeing on Otago Harbour again but in a much flasher, expensive new kayak!
