Willy Zawadzki

Principal Hydrogeologist

Willy Zawadzki, M.Sc., P.Geo. (BC), has 30 years of consulting, industry, and academic experience that he gained while supporting major mining, infrastructure, and water supply projects in Canada and abroad. Willy has been involved in hydrogeological interpretation and modelling for over 60 mining projects in various climatic settings, from the high Arctic to the Atacama Desert, and at facilities extending over 1500 m below the ground surface. He has conducted assessments and reviews including evaluating the influence of mining activities on groundwater regimes throughout the mining cycle (construction, operation, closure, and post-closure); pit slope depressurization; dewatering and inflow mitigation at open pits, underground developments and exploration workings; tailings and waste rock facilities seepage; and formation of pit lakes. Willy was also involved in the assessment and modelling of seepage at large hydroelectric dams, hydrogeological support during the design and construction of deep tunnels, design and testing of large capacity water supply wells, and participated in several aquifer protection studies on both local to regional scales. Willy has authored or co-authored over 30 technical papers in hydrogeological publications and since 2000 has been a part-time sessional lecturer and more recently an adjunct professor in hydrogeology at the University of British Columbia.