Internship Program

The District has an active Intern Program that provides real-world opportunities for students to take part in its ongoing activities. Our interns take part in every facet of District operations including field activities, office work, and special projects. They occasionally attend regional and statewide meetings and gain exposure to numerous potential employers at those meetings.

Special projects are varied and based on the needs of the District and the interests of the intern. Some of the projects are ongoing and may pass from one intern to the next as time goes on. A summary or report of the project is typically required and can be used to support problems course credit at the undergraduate or graduate level.

One of the largest projects is the development of a water well database with more than 5K well entries which is now the primary well database for the District. This work included creating an orderly hardcopy file system, scanning in-house forms, cleaning up and combining multiple digital resources, and creating the basic framework of the database that was transformed into a GIS Product by an outside contractor. The intern continues to update the GIS dataset as new wells are completed in the District.

Another special project was the collection and analysis of VES surface geophysical data at select sites across the District. The sites were a combination of potential Managed Aquifer Recharge sites and sites where the subsurface geology was poorly understood.

Several potential recharge sites were in need of subsurface mapping. An intern was tasked with learning Surfer by Golden Software for that purpose. Wells with geologic formation descriptions were then selected near the sites and analyzed using the tools within that program. Finally, the Intern presented that analysis to the District’s staff and Board.

Occasionally, the District works with other entities to accomplish shared goals. These may include sharing equipment or expertise and crosses over into surface water or other areas of interest.

If you are a student and have an interest in gaining real-world experience in Texas groundwater science and management, complete the form below to be considered for an internship at Rolling Plains GCD.