Protect Your Groundwater Day, September 9, 2014

Protect Your Groundwater Day (PYGWD) is coming up on September 9, 2014. That’s still plenty of time to prepare to help raise public awareness about the importance of groundwater and water well stewardship for the health of the public and the environment.  Visit the National Ground Water Association (NGWA) web page to find useful, educational information to share through your web sites, social media, newsletters, news releases, and events.  

http://sourcewaternews.asdwa.org/2014/07/25/protect-your-groundwater-day-is-coming-up-on-september-9th/

http://www.ngwa.org/Events-Education/groundwater-day/Pages/default.aspx

DEP Hosts Open House for Activities in Streams and Wetlands

News for Immediate Release

June 12, 2014

DEP Hosts Open House for Activities in Streams and Wetlands
Harrisburg-The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) today announced it will host an open house from 10a.m. to 7p.m. on Thursday, June 26, for property owners, homeowners, municipalities and small developers to learn about permitted activities in and along streams and wetlands.
The open house will be held at DEP's South-central Regional Office on 909 Elmerton Ave. in Harrisburg.
"The open house will provide people with a chance to have 'face time' with department permitting staff and ask questions about permitting requirements for stream and wetland activities," South-central Regional Director Lynn Langer said. "This is an educational opportunity that should not be missed because we often find the public is unaware that certain permits are required."
Typically during the summer, DEP receives a higher volume of complaints from the public regarding work in streams and wetlands. DEP frequently finds that dredging, which is cleaning out a stream; filling in or draining wetlands, also known as ditching; placing fill in a floodway to build-up the property; relocating a stream; stabilizing a stream bank; and installing culverts,  bridges, boat docks or ramps have occurred without permits. Before conducting any of these activities, people should consult first with DEP's Waterways and Wetlands Program.
During the open house, stations will be set up where staff from DEP's Waterways and Wetlands program will be ready to assist; answering questions ranging from stream bank stabilization projects to installation of driveway culverts to small land development projects. Staff will also be available to identify required permits for stream, wetland, pond, lake, and creek and river projects, conduct Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory searches and explain permit application requirements.
People attending the event are encouraged to bring pictures and descriptions with them if they have a question about the potential presence of a stream, wetland or area of where a project will be located.
The open house is intended for people who have questions or a project in the South-central Region. DEP's South-central Regional office serves Adams, Bedford, Berks, Blair, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Mifflin, Perry and York counties.
For more information about the open house or waterways and wetlands permitting activities, call DEP's Waterways and Wetlands Program at 717-705-4802.
Media Contact: Lisa Kasianowitz, 717-787-1323
Source: Department of Environmental Protection South-central Regional Office
###

Upcoming Outreach Events on Water Issues

Penn State Extension Workshop on Ensuring Water Quality in Your Watershed

 

Penn State Extension will hold a workshop on high priority watershed issues affecting water quality and quantity in Pennsylvania on June 9 at the York Water Company Education Center in York. Topics include: Green Infrastructure, Riparian Buffers & Maintenance, Conservation Easements, Invasive Species Management and Control.

There is a nominal registration fee and the deadline to register is June 3.  Additional information and the link for online registration is available athttp://www.cvent.com/events/ensuring-water-quality-in-your-watershed/event-summary-6d26e4cbe74f4914a6d18abf86af0ab6.aspx

 

 

2014 PA Ground Water Association (PGWA) Summer Field Conference on Using Stiff-Foam to Air-Rotary Drill through Caving Overburden

 

For the 13^th consecutive year, PGWA is waiving the registration fee for local, state, and federal government agency staff along with students, faculty, Master Well Owners, and Authority/Commission members or employees to attend the PGWA Summer Field Conference.  The field conference will be held on Friday June 13 at PGWA’s well demonstration site just west of State College (same site as last year – beside the Home Depot near Exit 69 of I-99).  This year's conference will demonstrate the use of Stiff-Foam to air-rotary drill through caving overburden. The Stiff-Foam drilling method uses significantly less air volume and creates a pseudo-wall-cake to minimize the collapsing of the caving overburden and to decrease the erosion of the borehole wall.  The foam also carries drill cuttings up the annular space to the surface.

 

This innovative drilling approach offers another option to overcome caving overburden conditions encountered during water well and geothermal borehole drilling.  The proper drilling and construction of any well is critical for protecting ground water quality and PGWA’s summer field conference is one of several initiatives by the group to provide outreach on the subject.  Large equipment and products used for water well construction, operation, and decommissioning along with the components of geothermal heat pump systems will also be on display.  A session on long-term water level monitoring to better characterize an aquifer will also be provided.  PGWA is offering 4.5 Professional Development Hours to licensed Professional Geologists and Professional Engineers who attend the entire program.  Advance registration is required and the deadline to register is June 6.  Lunch will be provided.  Additional details and the online registration link can be found at www.pgwa.org

Lower Susquehanna Source Water Protection Partnership Meeting

 

The next meeting of the Lower Susquehanna Source Water Protection (SWP) Partnership will be held on July 2 in Harrisburg.  The Partnership is a group of water utilities and municipal/county officials interested in protecting drinking water in the Lower Susquehanna region.  The Partnership has been focusing on land-use planning and emergency preparedness/response as ways to enhance source water protection.  The July 2 meeting will cover the planning process and tools to enhance SWP efforts, SWP and emergency response nexus, PA Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network (WARN), case studies of recent spills (chemical spill on Elk River in West Virginia and the train derailment in Lynchburg, VA) and MS4 mapping strategies.  If you are interested in attending this meeting, please contact Patrick Bowling (gbowling@pa.gov or 717-772-3600).

 

PA Rural Water Association Short Course on Source Water Protection – Managing Risks

 

The PA Rural Water Association will be offering a short course that will enable water system operators and managers to understand their source water assessment results and to develop/implement effective source water protection area management approaches to minimize risks to their drinking water sources.  The course will be held on July 23 at the Aspire Hotel & Suites at the Eisenhower Hotel & Conference Center complex near Gettysburg.  There is a registration fee to attend and the course is worth 6 contact hours for eligible PA-certified drinking water operators.  Additional details and registration info can be found at http://www.prwa.com/content/source-water-protection-managing-risks-7-23-2014

Public meeting on GMA-York Water connection

On Tuesday, March 25^th a public information meeting was hosted at the Adams County Agricultural Center by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on the proposed connection between the Gettysburg Municipal Authority (GMA) and the York Water Company.  This connection would allow GMA to purchase water from York Water resulting in an interbasin transfer of water from the Susquehanna River basin to the Potomac River basin, the reason the connection has to be approved by SRBC and DEP.  Presentations were made by SRBC and DEP describing the procedure for reviewing and approving applications for water allocations.  GMA gave a presentation describing the process they used to determine the need for the importation of water from York Water, their evaluation of alternatives and their projections for water demand in the future.  In addition to the presentations by the hosts, 16 members of the audience spoke during the meeting, voicing varying views of the proposed interconnection and water purchase.  An article appeared in the March 26, 2014 edition of the Gettysburg Times.

Model Well Ordinances Enacted Locally

One of the draft recommendations of the CARP was to develop and promote a model well and geothermal construction ordinance. On June 25, 2103, the Adams County Conservation District’s Board of Directors adopted the Adams County Construction Standards and Material Specifications for Wells & Geothermal Systems, Model Ordinance for Well Construction, and Model Well Drilling Permit Application. Since that time, the Conservation District has been promoting the documents to the local municipalities through municipal meetings, newsletters, and other educational methods. To date, there are two municipalities (Arendtsville Borough and Hamiltonban Township) that have enacted the model ordinance and related documents and other municipalities are still in the process. For more information, contact Adam McClain at amcclain@adamscounty.us.

Call for Abstracts -- PA Groundwater Symposium

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
Pennsylvania Groundwater Symposium
May 7, 2014
Ramada Inn Conference Center, State College, PA
Abstract Deadline is January 31, 2014
Abstracts can be submitted at: http://agsci.psu.edu/pa-water-symposium

In celebration of National Drinking Water Week, Penn State Extension’s Master Well Owner Network and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection along with numerous other sponsors invite you to submit abstracts for the 2014 Pennsylvania Groundwater Symposium at the Ramada Inn Conference Center in State College, PA on May 7, 2014.  The Symposium theme: Building Groundwater Knowledge through Monitoring will provide a forum for researchers, students, professionals and educators working in the groundwater field to exchange information and promote protection of groundwater resources throughout the state.

Abstracts will be accepted through January 31, 2014 for oral or poster presentations on a wide variety of groundwater topics including:

• Groundwater monitoring
• Data availability and access
• Groundwater processes
• Wellhead protection
• Water well studies
• Emerging contaminants
• Aquifer studies
• Groundwater/surface water interactions
• Issues related to energy extraction
• Education and outreach
• Groundwater use for geothermal energy

The conference planning committee will review all abstracts and notify authors of acceptance via email by February 14, 2014.  The conference registration site and agenda will be available by March 1, 2014. Thanks to generous support from sponsors, a nominal registration fee of approximately $30 is currently expected for this symposium. 

The Headwaters - Well Construction Standards

Click here for the third edition of The Headwaters.  This periodic publication is compiled through the collaborative efforts of the Adams County Water Resources Advisory Committee (WRAC), Adams County Conservation District, and Adams County Office of Planning and Development.  The third edition provides information on the Well Construction Standards documents that have been adopted by the Adams County Conservation District.