GWPC Annual Forum Held this Week
The Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) held its Annual Forum this week in St. Louis, Missouri. Forum attendees included state staff from ground water, drinking water, and oil and gas programs (including ASDWA staff), EPA and USGS staff, as well as consultants. GWPC session presentations and discussions focused on a variety of groundwater resource and protection topics as follows:
- Examining the water quality and quantity issues associated with using deep groundwater for public water supply sources.
- Addressing EPA and state roles and concerns in making aquifer exemption decisions and determinations to inject waste into potential underground sources of drinking water (USDWs).
- Using Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) to augment water supplies while addressing potential problems from leaching of arsenic and other naturally occurring contaminants, as well as disinfection by-products (DBPs) in treated water.
- Highlighting water quantity and quality and land use disturbance issues in hydraulic fracturing activities, as well as best practices to help address them.
- Discussing nutrient pollution and mitigation strategies to protect groundwater from potential agriculture and stormwater related impacts.
- Using water quantity and quality monitoring data to develop the National Ground Water Monitoring Network (NGWMN).
On the last day of the meeting, GWPC held a media and public communication training session on dealing with a contentious public that highlighted a variety of good practices such as: stick with one message and three supporting messages; prepare for your statements and responses to questions in advance; and be empathetic and establish an emotional connection with your audience.
