Keystone Clean Water Team – Groundwater Foundation Library – Links to Educational Webinars – Groundwater Guardians Pennsylvania
“The Groundwater Foundation’s library of FREE educational webinars, available on-demand.”
The Keystone Clean Water Team (KCWT) -Carbon County Groundwater Guardian Program (CCGG) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, volunteer, environmental education organization which provides homeowners with information on private wells, water quality and quantity, and septic systems. We are dedicated to protecting private well owners from illnesses caused by our drinking water. We advance good groundwater stewardship by raising awareness on a variety of groundwater issues that affects everyone with a private water supply. We can help you get your water tested at the lab of your choice and explain the test results.
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Click on the webinar title for a description, presenter information, length, and link to view.
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Becoming a Groundwater Guardian Green Site: An Overview of the Application Process
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Introduction to Groundwater Guardian Green Sites
Our Educational Booklet on Groundwater
Looking for a speaker related to Well Issues, Septic Systems, or Groundwater in Pennsylvania – contact: http://www.pacleanwater.org
Be Part of #GivingTuesday Support Groundwater Education Outreach in Pennsylvania
#GivingTuesday inspires personal philanthropy and encourages bigger, better and smarter charitable giving during the holiday season, show that the world truly gives as good as it gets.
#GivingTuesday will take place in December. You can be part of this effort, Help Make Groundwater Education in PA Go Viral !
Help Us Make PAGroundwater Education Go Viral !
#PAGROUNDWATER @KeystoneWater
Things you can do – To make a Difference in Pennsylvania!
1. Send out a twit that includes #PAGROUNDWATER and @KeystoneWater
2. Visit one of our portals and follow our websites on twitter (@PACleanwater and @KeystoneWater) and facebook.
3. Consider a donation for as little as $ 5.00 or give the gift of groundwater education by obtaining an Education Guide.
4. Consider becoming a family supporter of the Keystone Clean Water Team- Our New Brochure!
5. Protect Our Groundwater – Submit Your Baseline Data to the Citizens Database.
6. Get an Water Quality Well Check Up for your Well.
7. Check out our New PSA !
8. Consider adding some water conservation or other conservation products to your home.
9. Sign Up for the Water Research or the Private Well Owner Newsletters.
10. Schedule an Educational Workshop in Your PA Community.
Share this image on your favorite social media to help spread the word about groundwater education and #GivingTuesday. Don’t forget to share an educational fact with your comment below.
Together we can keep it clean!
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Thanks
Keystone Clean Water Team
http://www.pacleanwater.org
Water Cycle, Wellowner, Groundwater, and Pollution Prevention Workshops Available
The Carbon County Groundwater Guardians is partnering with the Pocono Northeast RC&D Council to make available a number of informational and education workshops in Pennsylvania. The topics that are currently available include:
Groundwater and Surfacewater Interconnection and the Water Cycle
The Care and Mainteance of Your Well
Water Quality and the Need for Water Treatment
Baseline Testing as it Relates to Marcellus Shale, Shale Gas Development, or Development in Your Community
Citizen Science and the Groundwater Surfacewater Database
Taking the First Step and Getting Back to Zero with Stormwater (Rain Barrel Workshop and Water Conservation)
How to Test, Screen, and Track Well Water Quality – Interpreting Water Quality Data.
To request a workshop in your community, please email bfenviro@ptd.net and put CCGG in the subject. Please tell us your location and the type of assistance you need.
New Booklet on Drinking Water Quality in PA – sales of booklets support groundwater education in Pennsylvania.
The Baseline Water Testing Process It is NOT Just About Getting a Sample
The Baseline Water Testing Process It is NOT Just About Getting a Sample
By Brian Oram, Professional Geologist
Carbon County Groundwater Guardians
Published in March ONG Marketplace
We have had the opportunity to witness a wide range of practices that have been called baseline testing. We have seen a team of 4 professionals working for the EPA in Dimock, Pennsylvania, take 4 to 5 hours to collect one water sample and we’ve seen a single sampler with virtually no training take 15 minutes to purge and sample a private well with no field measurements or even gloves. The potentially negative impacts of this wide variation in sampling techniques and experience is compounded by the lack of field documentation and a quest for that “single” list of parameters. This approach will make for great future lawsuits and media stories, but does little to generate the reliable data required by professionals, scientists, regulatory agencies, and the public.
The key elements to effective baseline testing should include:
a. A selection of parameters and indicators that meets the regional environmental conditions and addresses the historic and proposed activities and practices in the region and not just a simple list provided or recommended by a regulatory agency;
b. chain-of-custody practices with internal and external quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) that start and end with the certified laboratory working with a trained third-party professional;
c. field documentation, including notes, field measurements, and photos, that includes a summary of the existing condition of the private water distribution system;
d. field sampling done by third-party samplers that are either licensed professionals or specifically trained in the standard operating procedures of the certified testing laboratory, plus these individuals must have a working understanding of common water treatment systems; and
e. prior to releasing the data, the certified laboratory must validate and review the data, plus work with the third-party professional to confirm or check the reliability and validity of the results.
As part of our outreach efforts, we have been able to review baseline testing conducted by multiple entities. Here is just one example for your consideration.
The sample was collected by a non-professional, third party sampler, tested by a certified testing laboratory, and then given by a natural gas company to a private well owner. The sample was collected only a few weeks before drilling started. The well owner was given a report with the raw data, spike and recovery analysis, surrogate testing results, field data sheet, and a full listing of the methods and the laboratory certifications. When the homeowner, a royalty owner, asked if there was any problems, we provided them a list.
1. The field conductivity was reported at 250 uS/cm, but the certified laboratory data had reported a total dissolved solids of 1500 mg/L;
2. The cation and anion mass balance was out of balance by over 25 %;
3. Total metal values less than dissolved metal values; and
4. The well had arsenic at over 10 times the primary drinking water standard, but this was never flagged as a problem for the private well owner.
This data is not scientifically valid and does not make sense. It may be certified, but it is wrong and there is no time to collect another pre-drill sample.
As professionals, we have the obligation to attempt to get it right and to properly inform citizens when a problem is identified. It is critical that we implement a process to screen the water quality data before it is distributed to the community. To build trust, the data must be provided to the private well owner in a format they can understand.
Baseline testing can be a valuable tool for the environmental professional, gas drilling industry, and community. With proper planning, baseline testing can used to determine where additional documentation or monitoring is needed and to determine the location of systems or wells vulnerable to influence.
In our opinion, baseline testing is not just part of an environmental audit, but in many ways, it is an opportunity for the company and consultant to build trust in the community. At the same time, the company is attempting to mitigate risk by documenting pre-existing conditions, the data collected during this baseline assessment should be used to make critical decisions related to the use of best management practices and build trust in the community through education and outreach.
Baseline testing is a community issue. We ALL live downstream and we need to solve problems as a community. This is a great opportunity to make a positive difference in your host community. Options for informational well water testing.
Support Groundwater Education in Pennsylvania and Consider Scheduling an Education Workshop for Your Community – just email bfenviro@ptd.net
Carbon County Groundwater Guardians is a 501(c)(3) IRS approved nonprofit, volunteer organization and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.