Westerville, OH — Volunteers are needed to assist with development of a nationwide, long-term ground water quantity and quality monitoring framework. The newly created Subcommittee on Ground Water (SOGW) is charged by the federal Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI) with leading this nationwide effort.

The SOGW goal is to have a draft proposal in the next 12-18 months.

“With 36 states expecting either statewide or localized shortages in the next 10 years (1) it is important that we work toward a nationwide framework for ground water monitoring and collaboration that will facilitate the assessment of the U.S. ground water reserves,” said Robert Hirsch, ACWI Co-Chair and U.S. Geological Survey Associate Director for Water.

Ground water is the nation’s principal reserve of freshwater (2). In the United States, ground water is the primary water source for 74% of community water systems (3), provides more than 40% of agriculture irrigation water and serves nearly all rural households (4).

“Ground water and ground water professionals will be increasingly called upon in the future to help address the nation’s water needs,” said Robert Schreiber, SOGW Co-Chair. “Access to fundamental data on the ground water resource and its quality is needed for current and future decision-making,” Schreiber added.

SOGW is seeking volunteers with expertise in ground water monitoring design, field practices, data standards, and data management to participate in one of four work groups:

• Inventory Work Group – Co-Chairs: William Cunningham, USGS; Emery Davis, Association of American State Geologists; and Michael Wireman, USEPA.
• Field Practices Work Group – Co Chairs: Mike Nickolaus, Ground Water Protection Council and Rod Sheets, USGS
• Data Standards and Data Management Work Group – Chair: Charles Job, USEPA
• Monitoring Design Work Group – Chair: Robert Schreiber, American Society of Civil Engineers ACWI representative

1—U.S. Government Accountability Office, Freshwater Supply: States’ Views of How Federal Agencies Could Help Them Meet the Challenges of Expected Shortages,” GAO-03-514, July 2003, p 1
2—Alley, William et al, Sustainability of Ground-Water Resources, U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1186, 1999, p. 1
3—US EPA, “Community Water System Survey 2000,” EPA 815-R-02-005A, December 2002, p 8.
4—Hutson, Susan et al. “Estimated Use of Water in the United States in 2000”, U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1268, 2004, p. 9

SOURCE: National Ground Water Association