National Groundwater Awareness Week

March 11-17 is National Groundwater Awareness Week.  The purpose of this week is to educate the public about the importance of groundwater and water well stewardship.  To find out more and to get involved, visit the National Ground Water Association's website.

Monthly Groundwater Monitoring

On Feb 14th, we collected another round of monthly depth to water measurements. One thing I noticed this month was that the depth to water measurement was a larger number compared to January. This means that the groundwater level has dropped. Typically, the groundwater doesn't drop continuously until April when the plants begin to grow and less water is available for recharge. However, we are still above the typical groundwater level for this time of year.

If you check NOAA's precipation site for Adams County, you will notice that we are 1.4 inches of precipation behind normal for the past 30 days. We also have been behind normal for the past 90 days.

Deviation from normal rain fall for Adams County can be found at www.erh.noaa.gov/marfc/Maps/barcharts/Adams.PA.html

February 15th Workshop Prep

Please make plans to attend the upcoming Critical Area Advisory Committee workshop which will be held on February 15th from 9am-3pm at the Agriculture and Natural Resources Center in Gettysburg (670 Old Harrisburg Rd).  Lunch will be provided.

The purpose of the workshop is to evaluate and prioritize management alternatives that were compiled at the January advisory committee meeting.  The workshop will be an application of the ILBM methodology, discussed during previous advisory committee meetings (for more information on ILBM, see the blog post by Beverly Saunders from 12/20/11). 

The draft agenda and the list of management alternatives that will be evaluated are now available for download.  If you have ideas for additional management alternatives that are not currently on the list, please submit them by February 10th via email (marshrockpa@gmail.com); phone (301.274.8116); or mail (ICPRB, 51 Monroe St. PE-08, Rockville, MD 20850). 

See you on February 15th!