GROUNDWATER GUARDIANS OFFERS WATER SEMINAR

GROUNDWATER GUARDIANS OFFERS WATER SEMINAR
County commissioners declare week of March 13-19 National Groundwater Guardian Week in Carbon County
The Times News, Copyright 2005

March 8, 2005

The Carbon County Groundwater Guardians (CCGG), a local non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of groundwater resources in the county, will host a water seminar in honor of National Ground Water Awareness Week. The event will be held at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center in Summit Hill at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 16. The seminar is free and open to the public.

The seminar is designed to help residents learn more about their drinking water, where it comes from and how it can become contaminated. Information will be available on proper well drilling and maintenance, health effects related to water quality and proper care of septic systems. The program will also include tips for water conservation and protection.

CCGG members Keith Lotier, project manager for Duane Moyer Well Drilling Inc., and Brian Oram, laboratory director for the Water Lab at Wilkes University GeoEnvironmental Sciences and Engineering Department’s Center for Environmental Quality, will both make presentations.

Lotier has been speaking to audiences about these topics for the last four years.

“I’ll be sharing information on proper well construction and tips to make a water system last longer,” he said. “Most people come away pretty surprised by what they learn in these seminars,” said Lotier.

There will be a question and answer session after the presentations.

“This is a great opportunity to share some of the vast experience our members have with the community,” said Rick Grant, president of the Carbon County Groundwater Guardians. “Our goal is to give every citizen of Carbon County a better understanding of the water that they drink, where it comes from and exactly what they can do to keep our groundwater clean and safe. This program will get us closer to that goal.”

Ground Water Awareness Week is March 13-19. On Thursday, the Carbon County commissioners declared that time period National Ground Water Awareness Week in Carbon County as well.

The Carbon County Groundwater Guardians is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, volunteer organization dedicated to the conservation of groundwater resources in Carbon County. The organization advances good groundwater stewardship through its efforts to educate local residents on a variety of groundwater issues, endorses a countywide recycling program for household hazardous waste, and encourages increased awareness and involvement of county residents by providing private well water testing at a reduced cost. Carbon County is a Groundwater Guardian Community recognized by the Groundwater Foundation.

CCGG holds regular meetings on the first Monday of every month. All members and guests are welcome to attend. Meetings are held in the county’s Emergency Management Agency Conference Room, 1264 Emergency Lane, located on the grounds of the Carbon County Correctional Facility, off Route 93, on the Broad Mountain in Nesquehoning. For more information, call Susan Gallagher at (570) 645-8597 or surf to www.carbonwaters.org/

Groundwater Awareness Week

Groundwater Awareness Week is sponsored by the National Groundwater Association (NGWA), the nation’s leading authority on the use and protection of groundwater and
runs from March 13-19.

The NGWA takes this opportunity to urge citizens to have an annual water well checkup before the peak water-use season begins. The week is co-sponsored by the United States Interior Department’s U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Centers for Disease Control, Underwriters Laboratories Inc., and The Groundwater Foundation. For more information, surf to www.ngwa.org

About the Groundwater Foundation

The Groundwater Foundation, Lincoln, Neb., was founded in 1985 to educate and motivate people to care for and about groundwater. The Foundation helps citizens learn in ways that were scientifically accurate, but also user-friendly. It has served a valuable role as an incubator for local groundwater champions.

As a result of its Groundwater Guardian program, which supports, recognizes, and connects communities taking proactive, voluntary steps to protect groundwater, the Foundation now works with hundreds of communities in over 40 states that concentrate efforts on comprehensive protection of local groundwater supplies. For more information, surf to www.groundwater.org.