It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Water Inside Us}

Did you know that humans are made up of 60-70% water? Water helps blood flow easily, food digest in your body, and allows toxins to be filtered through your liver and kidneys before flushing them out as waste. People like you need to drink water and eat things with lots of water in them (like watermelon and strawberries and cucumbers and celery!) to keep our bodies happy and healthy.

Humans aren't the only living things made up of water - so are fish like Frannie! Fish, on average, have are made up of 78-85% water, just a little higher than humans.  Frannie has a fun activity you can do to illustrate just how much of your body contains water particles.

All you need is a few simple things:

• A large piece of paper, big enough for you to lay down on
• Markers/crayons/colored pencils
• Scissors
• A friend or family member to help

Steps:

1. Set the large piece of paper on the ground and lay on top of it.
2. Have your friend trace your outline onto the paper with a marker.
3. Measure the total height of the outline and multiply by 0.70 in order to find the height of 70% of your body. If you don't have a ruler, you can estimate 70% of your body by dividing your outline into quarter and drawing a line a bit below the 3/4 mark.
4. Using a blue marker or coloring utensil, color in 70% of your body.
5. You can color in the remaining 30% of your body with another color or leave it blank.
6. Cut out your outline and either hang it next to you on a wall or lay down beside it.

Look at how much of you contains water! It's in your bones, your blood, your skin, your belly, and even your eyes! Seeing how much of our bodies are made up of water helps us understand why always having a clean drinking water source is so important.

BLOG: Emergency Management and Drinking Water Protection Workshop

The effects of the historic flooding Nebraska experienced this spring are still being felt all these months later, and will continue to be felt into the future. A natural disaster such as this is a good opportunity to look at contingency planning for community drinking water supplies in the event of an emergency.

Image credit: Nebraska State Patrol

The Nebraska Wellhead Protection Network is hosting a workshop on the subject October 3, 2019 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Valley Irrigation (28800 Ida Street, Valley, Nebraska) and invites you to join us. "Emergency Management and Contingency Planning to Protect Nebraska's Water Supply" will cover:

• Why having a comprehensive emergency management plan is important
• How to develop an emergency management plan
• Stories of how towns and businesses survived Nebraska's flooding this spring

The agenda includes:

• Nebraska's Changing Climate - Dr. Natalie Umphlett, High Plains Regional Climate Center
• Flooding and Debris Management - Erik Waiss, Nebraska Department of Energy and Environment
• Valmont Valley Flood 2019, a Retrospective - Bob Gillen, VP of Operations for Valley Irrigation
• Nebraska's Drinking Water Response to a Catastrophic Flood - Sue Dempsey, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services

Lunch and a tour of Valley's facilities, which were impacted by spring flooding, are generously provided by Valley Irrigation.

Join us and help your community be prepared for emergencies! Register by October 1.

Questions? Contact the Groundwater Foundation at info@groundwater.org or 402-434-2740.

BLOG: One Person Doesn't Leave a Legacy

by Jennifer Wemhoff, Groundwater Foundation

Groundwater Guardian teams are often the result of the interest of a community’s sparkplug - someone who is passionate, committed, and capable. That’s certainly been the case in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, which was first designated as aGroundwater Guardian in 1998 under the leadership of Lisa Corbitt.

Lisa was first introduced to the Groundwater Guardian program at a conference in Chicago in the fall of 1997. Hearing different Groundwater Guardian teams talk about what they were doing in their communities - water festivals, educational outreach, establishing regulatory requirements - inspired Lisa to get a team going in Mecklenburg County.

Mecklenburg County is an urban county home to over one million people. The County encompasses 546 square miles and includes the City of Charlotte as the county seat. Most people in the county get their drinking water through Charlotte’s municipal water source, Mountain Island Lake, a surface water source. Approximately 15% of the population relies on groundwater for drinking water, industrial water, or irrigation from an unconfined bedrock aquifer.

Lisa’s background as a Licensed Geologist and 31 years of working on groundwater issues in Mecklenburg County as a Hydrogeologist and Program Manager gives her a unique perspective on the County’s water resources. Though groundwater provides a small portion of the city’s water source, protecting it and raising awareness has long been a goal of the Lisa and her team. Over 1,800 groundwater contamination sites can be found in the county, ranging from a leaking home heating oil tank to a Superfund site.

The County’s programs and approaches have changed dramatically over the last 20 years. “In the beginning we were in the towns and schools educating high school students to teach elementary school students about the groundwater system through Aquifer Clubs, and annually we would have a Water Festival,” she says, which were great ways to reach students.

Then in 2005, the Mecklenburg County Groundwater Well Regulations were adopted. About the same time, the Learn and Serve Grant the team had been relying on stopped funding the type of educational programs they were offering, and the school system began implementing new restrictions on student involvement.

As a result, the team combined with other local efforts and shifted its focus to new water supply wells, identifying and sampling wells near contamination sites, and educating Water Well Contractors as well as Realtors. Team members are still able to participate in youth education efforts, such as classroom presentations, Science Olympiad, and Envirothon.

Before Lisa retired in December 2018, she laid the foundation for the efforts of the Groundwater Guardian team she’s led for over two decades to continue.

“Mecklenburg County’s GroundwaterAdvisory Board was established in 2005 as a requirement of the Groundwater Well Regulations,” she explains. “As long as the regulations are in effect there will be a citizen advisory board,” which is part of the Groundwater Guardian team. Staff members from Mecklenburg County Groundwater & Wastewater have taken leadership roles in education outreach as part of the Groundwater Guardian team’s efforts.

As for her personal legacy? Lisa is humble: “One person does not leave a legacy. Each success we’ve accomplished is because we have had a great team working together.”

Over 30 years ago, she was hired to establish a groundwater program. The program has gone from zero to:

• Groundwater Well Regulations for permitting, repairing and abandoning water supply wells
• Requirements for areas of regulated groundwater usage 
• Groundwater Contamination Database 
• A program that identifies and samples wells within 1500 feet of a known contamination site (Mecklenburg County Priority List) 
• A public portal for well and groundwater contamination information (Well Information System) 
• A public portal for permitting and abandoning monitoring wells (MAPS) 
• Combined Groundwater Program with the Onsite Wastewater Program to address an entire piece of property with groundwater in mind. 

Groundwater Guardian has been a memorable part of Lisa’s career. And the best part of it? “The building of collaborative relationships and friendships with people across the United States that care about protecting the groundwater resource,” she says. “We openly share ideas and information. We learn from each other on what works well and what does not work well. We encourage each other to use our ideas. When one community is successful we are all successful.”

“It’s been rewarding to help individuals that have found out their well is contaminated and don’t know what to do next. I’ve had the opportunity to work beside them in making sure that they have a safe drinking water source,” she says.

After all, groundwater is the water we drink. And we thank Lisa for being an active partner through Groundwater Guardian and working to protect it for over 30 years.

BLOG: Proactively Addressing Nitrate Contamination

by Jane Griffin, Groundwater Foundation Executive Director

At the Groundwater Foundation, we always say that your community’s drinking water in your hands.

This is specifically the case for residents of Springfield, Nebraska. We've been working with a group of stakeholders, along with various state and local agencies, consultants, and involved community members, to develop a Drinking Water Protection Management Plan. Springfield's water situation is one faced by many small communities - its drinking water wells are threatened by nitrate contamination.

The City of Springfield is taking a proactive approach to their nitrate issue, and developing a Management Plan to address the rising nitrate levels before they become problematic. To do this, all the Springfield community needs to be involved to help protect their drinking water source - groundwater - now and for the future.

Community members are invited to attend an Open House on July 30 from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. at the Springfield Community Building (104 Main Street). This won't be a typical boring open house with talking heads at a microphone - it will include fun, hands-on activities to learn about groundwater for kids and adults of all ages, agency representatives to answer all questions about groundwater quality and quantity in Springfield, and information about the new well that will serve the community.

Be part of this process and let your voice be heard about the future of Springfield's most precious resource - its drinking water. Join us, and remember, your community’s drinking water is in your hands!

BLOG: Arbor Day - Plant a Tree

by Jennifer Wemhoff, Groundwater Foundation

In our home state of Nebraska, Arbor Day is a big deal. I've seen a ton about it circulating on social media and local media the past week or so. And every time I think of Arbor Day, this song from John Denver (which was created as part of a PSA for the Arbor Day Foundation) always pops into - and gets stuck in - my head:

Trees are great. They provide shade on a sunny day, help clean the air, provide us with oxygen, reduce the effects of climate change, help save energy, and more.

Turns out, trees are a big deal to our drinking water supplies. This video from the Arbor Day Foundation (which is based in Lincoln, Nebraska) explains why:

Forested watersheds contribute to drinking water for 180 million Americans and are an important part of the hydrologic cycle. 

So go hug a tree, plant a tree, marvel at a tree, sit under a tree - whatever you want to do to appreciate trees.

BLOG: World Water Day 2019

With 1 in 9 people lacking access to safe water, World Water Day 2019 emphasizes the importance of delivering clean, safe water across the globe. What are some of the critical reasons for the lack of access to fresh water globally? What's the importance of a safe water supply? Check out the infographic below from Waterlogic.

__________

Waterlogic provides office a variety of point-of-use water purification and dispensers for businesses.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the view of The Groundwater Foundation, its board of directors, or individual members.

BLOG: 10 Cool Things About Groundwater

by Jennifer Wemhoff, Groundwater Foundation

Groundwater is a unique resource, in that we can't see it. In honor of this week's National Groundwater Awareness Week, here are 10 cool things about groundwater.

• Groundwater is the water that fills the cracks and crevices  in beds of rocks and sand beneath the earth's surface. Groundwater is recharged when water soaks into the soil from rain or other precipitation and moves downward. Groundwater is generally considered a renewable resource, although renewal rates vary greatly from place to place according to environmental conditions.

• The aquifer in the U.S. is the Ogallala, underlying 250,000 square miles under eight states (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico). Scientists guess that it could take 6000 years to naturally refill the aquifer if it were ever fully depleted.

• There's a lot more groundwater on Earth than surface water, to the tune of 20 to 30 times more than all U.S. lakes, streams, and rivers - combined!

• There's a lot of water on Earth, but only 1 percent of it is useable; 99 percent of that is groundwater!

• Groundwater provides much of the flow of many streams. The USGS estimates that about 30 percent of U.S. streamflow is from groundwater (although it is higher in some locations and less in others).

• The United States uses nearly 80 billion gallons per day of fresh groundwater for public supply, private supply, irrigation, livestock, manufacturing, mining, thermoelectric power, and other purposes.

• The temperature of shallow groundwater in the U.S. ranges from 44°F in north central areas to approximately 80°F in Florida and southern Texas.

• Groundwater is an important part of the hydrologic cycle. When precipitation hits the ground, it can take many paths. It can be absorbed by plants; stored on the surface in a lake, river, stream, or ocean; evaporated due to the sun's energy; absorbed into the soil temporarily; or pulled by gravity through the soil to be stored for years as groundwater.

• India has the most water wells in the world, with 21 to 25 million wells. The U.S. is second with 15.9 million wells and China has 3.4 million.

• Irrigation accounts for the largest use of groundwater in the U.S. Over 53 billion gallons of groundwater are used daily for agricultural irrigation from 407,923 wells to help feed the world.

Groundwater is truly amazing, and needs our protection. Get started today!

BLOG: Nebraska Wellhead Protection Network

by Sara Brock, The Groundwater Foundation

The Nebraska Wellhead Protection Network is a collaboration of the Groundwater Foundation, state agencies, local municipalities, and private organizations who are involved in protecting and conserving groundwater and drinking water sources in Nebraska. A recent meeting was held on September 26, 2018 at the Water Treatment Plant in Auburn, Nebraska. Ken Swanson, manager of Auburn’s Water and Wastewater Treatment, and Dave Hunter, general manager of Auburn Board of Public Works, hosted the 24 of us inside Auburn’s Water Treatment Plant amidst all of the pumps, filters, and equipment.

Auburn’s public water system is supplied by groundwater from the alluvial aquifer underneath the Nemaha River valley and, because of this, is classified as “Groundwater Under the Direct Influence of Surface Water” or GWUDI. Communities that utilize GWUDI as a source have to have additional methods and treatments to ensure that the water that enters the public system meets all drinking water standards. The water treatment plant one part of Auburn’s complex and proactive approach to providing clean water in their area.  Fully automated, the plant self-cleans its filters, provides treated and safe water to all of its residents, and was designed to allow for additional filtering tanks and treatment processes should water quality and quantity issues arise in the future. While the filters were turned off during the presentation portion of the meeting, Ken and several of Auburn’s water operators were able to show us how the plant performs a filter flush and backwash during the tour.

Beyond the plant, Auburn has been working closely with the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality to update their Wellhead Protection (WHP) Plan, including a re-drawing of the boundaries to include the Surface Water Contribution Area, encompassing a whopping 51,000 acres of land in and around Auburn. Dave’s presentation focused very passionately on the idea that groundwater and surface water protections absolutely must be integrated because “they all end up in the same bucket” and the 2017 version of the plan not only reflects this, but has also opened up Auburn’s WHP and Drinking Water Protection Management Plan (DWPMP) to new sources of funding. Auburn is the first municipality in the U.S. to utilize federal 319 funding for an integrated groundwater and surface water management plan.

The complex history and future plans of Auburn’s water system was a useful subject for many of the attendees of this meeting, including representatives from Syracuse, York, and Wilber.  These communities are in the process of developing and implementing wellhead protection and drinking water protection management plans. Talking with Ken and Dave as well as Jonathan Mohr, a senior environmental planner with JEO Consulting Group who assisted in the development of the plans, the meeting provided potential next steps and opportunities to replicate and improve upon Auburn’s WHP model.

For more information about the Nebraska Wellhead Protection Network, visit https://www.groundwater.org/action/community/newhp.html.

BLOG: Proactive Source Water Management for a Unique Water System

by Jonathan Mohr, JEO Consulting Group, Inc. and David Hunter, Auburn Board of Public Works

The City of Auburn, population 3,000, is located in southeast Nebraska, near the Little Nemaha River, approximately seven miles upstream of its confluence with the Missouri River. The City receives its drinking water from a wellfield located east of the community within an alluvial aquifer along the Little Nemaha River. The wellfield consists of 11 vertical wells averaging 45 to 50 feet below the ground's surface, pumping up to 150 million gallons per year. The source water area also includes multiple small perennial tributaries, which provide recharge to the aquifer, and are therefore hydrologically connected to the alluvial aquifer.

This connection has resulted in several unique water management challenges for the Auburn Board of Public Works (BPW), which is responsible for managing the community’s water system. This hydrologic connection resulted in a 2008 determination by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services that the water system is a “groundwater system under the influence of surface water.” Only 12 water systems in Nebraska (out of 602) carry this designation, which requires a higher level of water treatment. As a result, the BPW started construction of a new water treatment plan in 2009 which went online in 2011.

In order to better manage this unique resource, the BPW developed the Auburn Drinking Water Protection Management Plan (DWPMP) to guide decision-makers towards their goal of providing a long-term, safe, and reliable source of drinking water. The plan was approved by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region VII in July 2018, making Auburn the first municipality in the United States with an approved DWPMP.

The idea behind the DWPMP began in 2014 by the NDEQ Source Water Protection Program. NDEQ staff worked with U.S. EPA Region VII to recognize the hydrologic connection between surface water and groundwater. Historically, EPA has only focused funds towards protecting surface water quality; however, by recognizing this hydrologic connection and the risks to groundwater from nonpoint source pollution, NDEQ has opened the door to funding additional opportunities. NDEQ can now allow communities with an approved DWPMP to use funding from the Nonpoint Source Management Program 319 Funds to implement projects and programs to safeguard a groundwater-based drinking water source. Auburn’s DWPMP focuses on improving the water quality within the perennial streams that recharge the alluvial aquifer where Auburn’s wells are located.

A hydrologically connected aquifer requires a unique methodology to identify and delineate the wellhead protection area (WHPA). The former WHPA was updated to include a "conjunctive delineation" which identifies an area from which surface water may contribute to the groundwater reaching a well. Auburn’s conjunctive WHPA now includes the watersheds of the locally contributing tributaries, and a small portion of the Little Nemaha River watershed upgradient of the wellfield. This allows for holistic management and protection of both surface and groundwater resources. The new WHPA is 51,400 acres, one of the largest in Nebraska, and the first to be officially designated a conjunctive delineation by NDEQ.

Working with stakeholders and the public was critical to developing the DWPMP.  These included the Nemaha Natural Resources District (NRD), NDEQ, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and private property owners. Stakeholders, including agricultural producers, provided input on preferred best management practices (BMPs), including cover crops, grassed waterways, no-till farming, soil sampling, and use of bioswales and constructed wetlands within urban areas.

Another key plan recommendation, currently under design by JEO Consulting Group, Inc., is exploring the use of artificial groundwater recharge (AGR) to increase the storage capacity of the aquifer. This could increase the quantity of water available to Auburn’s wells, build resistance to drought, and create a more sustainable and resilient water system. Structures used to achieve AGR will also improve streambank stabilization, improve water quality, and improve aquatic habitat. AGR structures include in-stream grade control, low-head weirs, or similar structures which raise the surface level of the tributaries, thereby increasing storage in the aquifer. An existing 19-acre borrow pit immediately north Auburn is another target for AGR, by pumping water from a local tributary into the pit and allowing it to seep into the aquifer.

The DWPMP is a shining example of collaboration between Auburn BPW, Nemaha NRD, NDEQ, agricultural producers, and citizens. The Auburn community and agricultural producers will benefit from the plan and its future actions with safe drinking water, improved soil health, reduced erosion, and improved water quality for years to come.
__________

Jonathan Mohr is a Senior Environmental Planner at JEO Consulting Group, Inc. in Lincoln, Nebraska. Reach him at jmohr@jeo.com. David Hunter is the General Manager for the Auburn, Nebraska Board of Public Works. Reach him at dhunter@auburnbpw.com.

BLOG: National Drinking Water Week

It's Drinking Water Week!

The American Water Works Association (AWWA) and the water community across North America celebrate Drinking Water Week by recognizing the vital role drinking water plays in daily lives. This year's theme is “Protect the Source” with a focus on ways in which water consumers can take personal responsibility in caring for their tap water and protecting it at its source. 

How can you do that? First, get to know your local H2O. Finding information about local water is simple. As required by the Safe Drinking Water Act, water utilities must provide customers with an annual water quality report, also called a Consumer Confidence Report (CCR). A CCR identifies the quality of local drinking water and if any contaminants are detected and if so, which ones. Also available in the report is information on each community’s local source for drinking water. Everyone should learn about their local water source, whether it’s groundwater, a stream, lake or reservoir.

You can also look for ways to conserve water whenever possible. As many North American regions continue to face drought conditions, it’s essential to avoid waste through conservation practices to protect precious source water. Water consumers can practice conservation by using water wisely at home:

• Repair leaky faucets, indoors and out.
• Fill your sink or basin when washing and rinsing dishes.
• Only run the dishwasher and washing machine when they are full.
• Take short showers instead of baths. 
• Turn off the water to brush teeth, shave and soap up in the shower. Fill the sink to shave. 
• Repair leaky toilets. Add 12 drops of food coloring into the tank, and if color appears in the bowl one hour later, the toilet is leaking. 
• Install a toilet dam, faucet aerators and low-flow showerheads. 
• Apply mulch around shrubs and flower beds to reduce evaporation, promote plant growth and control weeds. 
• Collect rainfall for irrigation in a screened container (to prevent mosquito larvae growth). 
• Always use a broom to clean walkways, driveways, decks and porches, rather than hosing off these areas. 

Using water wisely is everyone’s responsibility. Conserving water at home means we’re saving our precious water supplies and, in the long run, protecting our source water, too.

Find more ways to take action at www.groundwater.org/action.

BLOG: Giving Unites A City

by Jennifer Wemhoff, The Groundwater Foundation

The Groundwater Foundation was born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska. Founder Susan Seacret started The Groundwater Foundation out of her home in 1985, and 30 years later, we still call Lincoln home.

Lincoln is a great city. It's big enough to offer jobs, great schools, entertainment, recreation, and more, but still feels like a big small town. Lincoln is also home to a number of amazing nonprofit organizations that do great things for our city.

Groundwater is the water Lincoln drinks, and something every Lincolnite should know about as their drinking water source. The Groundwater Foundation may be a national organization, but we work locally in our city, with educators, youth, and community members to help everyone understand groundwater and their role in protecting it.

The Groundwater Foundation is once again participating in Give to Lincoln Day. Starting May 1 and through the day itself on May 31, every donation given to The Groundwater Foundation and other local nonprofits is made bigger by matching funds. It is one special day where everyone in Lincoln is asked to support the organizations that contribute so much to our city.

Gifts given as part of Give to Lincoln Day help The Groundwater Foundation earn a proportional share of a $400,000 challenge match fund from the Lincoln Community Foundation and their sponsors. 

Even if you don't live in Lincoln, you can help support The Groundwater Foundation's work by making a donation as part of Give to Lincoln Day - you can be an honorary Lincolnite for the month of May. 

So make your gift do more and be part of uniting a city through giving and Give to Lincoln Day!

BLOG: 6 Ways to Protect Groundwater on Earth Day

by Jennifer Wemhoff, The Groundwater Foundation

Earth Day is once again nearly upon us. If you're looking for ways to take action to protect the earth, look no further than protecting your groundwater.

Groundwater is an important part of the water cycle. Nearly half of the U.S. uses it as drinking water, and it's an important component of agriculture and helping feed the world. Groundwater is the environmental bottom line - everything that happens on the surface of the earth can end up in groundwater.

So this Earth Day, think about changes you can make in your every day life to help protect and conserve groundwater. Here are some ideas:

1. Learn more. Find out more about your drinking water source. See if it's groundwater, surface water, or a combination of the two. If you have a private well, find out the last time the well water was tested.

2. Check out current protection efforts. See what might already be happening in your community. Find out if there's a wellhead protection plan in place or a Groundwater Guardian team. (If there's no team in your community, now's a great time to get one together)

3. Conserve water throughout your home. Limit showers to 5 minutes, only run full loads of dishes and laundry, check for leaky water fixtures and repair them, don't let the water run while brushing your teeth or shaving.

4. Conserve water in your yard. Only water plants when necessary, and use drought-tolerant plants. Add mulch to flower beds and around trees to retain water. When watering your lawn, water deeply, but infrequently. If you have a sprinkler system, add a rain sensor.

5. Manage chemicals responsibly. Be sure to follow label instructions when applying fertilizer and pesticides to your yard. Always dispose of leftover paints, oils, and other chemicals properly and NEVER dump them onto the ground.

6. Tell others. Get your neighbors on board with making changes to their watering practices, talk with your office mates about ways to reduce water use in the office, recruit Green Sites in your community, and get things started in your community.

Groundwater is important. So on Earth Day, and every day, let's keep it clean!

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {World Water Day 2018}

World Water Day is celebrated annually on March 22nd.  Water is essential to life and our society.  It quenches our thirst, grows our food, and even provides social and economic opportunities.

According to the United Nations, there are over 662 million people in the world today who live with little to no access to clean, safe water. By 2050, it’s predicted that 1 in 5 developing nations will face water shortage.  That’s why it’s so important to take this day to learn about water in the world. The theme of this year’s World Water Day is “Nature for Water”, specifically how we can use nature to address 21st century water challenges.

Environmental damage and strain on ecosystems can make water quality and quantity problems worse.  Nature-based treatment techniques have the potential to provide long-term, sustainable solutions to water quality and quantity problems while also reducing the environment’s strain or damage.

Frannie talked with her family and friends about why it is important to talk about freshwater and nature - because we all are a part of the water cycle!  Freshwater is the water we use to grow our food, that both humans and wild animals drink, that runs in the rivers and rains, and the list goes on and on.  Most of the world's usable freshwater is stored under our feet as groundwater:

Check out The Groundwater Foundation and Frannie's previous posts for fun ideas of ways you can protect and conserve groundwater!

World Water Day emphasizes the importance of water to us all.  Water is one shared resource.  We must all do our part to ensure the world's freshwater is taken care, used wisely, and is available to all of us!  Share how you will help protect water resources and be sure to tell your family and friends about protecting and conserving water every day!

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Wellhead Protection: Annual Drinking Water Quality Report}

This is Part 4 in Frannie's exploration of Wellhead Protection.   Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 and look for more blogs to learn more about what it is, who protects the wellheads, and why it's important.
----

What is the Annual Drinking Water Quality Report?
The Annual Drinking Water Quality Report, also called the Annual Consumer Confidence Report, prepared by your local water system, is designed to provide consumers with information about the quality of the water delivered by their public water system.  The report includes information about the system itself, but also information on the source of the drinking water, contaminants in the raw and finished water, and any violations or exemptions that the water system is operating under. 
If you live in a community of greater than 100,000 people, you might be able to find your Annual Water Quality Report online, otherwise you can pick up a copy from your local health department or public water supplier.

Why is the Annual Drinking Water Quality Report Important?
Consumer awareness and education is the first line of defense in protecting wellfields and the groundwater below them.  The Annual Water Quality Report explains the process that delivers clean, safe water to our bathtubs, sinks, and garden hoses and alerts customers when they might need to take steps to prevent pollution and overuse of their water source.  

What Can You Do with the Information in the Annual Drinking Water Quality Report?
Beyond taking the preventative steps listed in the report to keep your water clean, you can also share the information with decision makers in your state and local governments, schools and school districts, and your friends and family. It’s important for you to take action and even more important for you to share with others how they can do the same. 

BLOG: 2017 Groundwater Guardians Make a Difference

by Sara Brock, Groundwater Foundation Program Manager

The Groundwater Foundation's Groundwater Guardian program has been around since 1994, but this was my first year working with the teams and learning about the various activities that communities across the country do to keep their groundwater safe. Communities earn their Groundwater Guardian designation by implementing Results-Oriented Activities (ROAs) that help educate their community about the their groundwater. These ROAs can take many shapes and forms, so here are my top 5 favorite ROAs that communities have completed in 2017.

5. In North Carolina, Orange County’s team is contributing data for the Orange Well Net (OWN), a national groundwater observation well network. This network is a drought monitoring tool that is equipped with an early warning system for declining groundwater levels.  By detecting drought conditions earlier, water suppliers can enact the necessary steps to prevent a serious water crisis. 

4. Many of our teams are based in water districts and utilities or have roles in some other governing role in regulating their city’s water supplies.  It’s common, and in some cases legally required, that these agencies provide an annual water quality report. While steps like these are routine, they are a crucial and concise way of getting all relevant information out to the public.

3. In Elkhart, Indiana, a high school student aquatic biology program collaborated with community volunteers to remove a whopping 2,280 pounds of trash from their river! This number includes the 17 tires they pulled out, along with more commonly littered items. 

2.  Shrewsbury Borough’s Groundwater Guardian team in Pennsylvania is really friendly with its community, working within businesses and even hospitals to make sure that wellhead protection requirements are met. Developers are provided with GIS maps of Wellhead Protection Areas to ensure that no future contamination threatens the community’s water supply.

1. My favorite ROA is slightly biased in that, in May, I personally got to run an activity at the Grand Island Children’s Groundwater Festival. Over 700 5th grade students participated in a staple event of the area for almost 30 years. The most amazing thing about this festival is that it is replicated in almost every state that has a Groundwater Guardian team!  Besides the Children’s Groundwater Festival in Nebraska that I attended, similar festivals have taken place in Alabama, California, Illinois, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, and Texas.

Being the manager of the Groundwater Guardian program has been a great learning experience.  It’s sometimes easy to look at the gargantuan issues of depletion and pollution and think there’s no way to save our water.  The Groundwater Guardian’s network of talented and passionate individuals is an inspiring force that educates and supports communities to always do better by protecting and conserving of our most precious resource, water. 

BLOG: Protect Your Groundwater Day is September 5

If you are a private water well owner, there are many ways to protect your water quality. Two of the most important are:

1. To make sure your well is properly capped, and 
2. To properly plug any abandoned wells on your property. 

That’s why the 2017 theme for Protect Your Groundwater Day, on Tuesday, September 5, is “Cap It, Plug It!” 

Why is this so important? A water well provides a direct connection between the what’s above the ground and groundwater in the subsurface. 

If an active water well is not properly capped—or if an abandoned well is not properly plugged—it can create a direct pathway for contamination in the same groundwater you and others use for their drinking water supply. 

If you own a household well, you are responsible for making sure that your well is properly capped and any abandoned wells on your property are properly plugged. 

What makes a properly capped water well? First, not just any covering will do on top of the well casing, that vertical pipe that extends above the ground in your well. A proper well cap should: 
• Be bolted or locked, so that it cannot be easily removed, 
• Have a rubber seal to prevent anything from infiltrating the well where the cap is joined to the well casing, 
• Be in good condition. 

A tight-fitting well cap that is not bolted or locked can be jarred loose or removed by someone other than the well owner. Also, a well cap that lacks a rubber seal or is cracked or otherwise broken can allow bugs, vermin, bacteria or other types of contaminants above the ground surface into the well.

 Well caps should be installed by a water well system professional, and any well cap maintenance or replacement should be done by a professional. Also, a well system should be disinfected when a well cap is installed, repaired, or replaced. 

How do I properly plug an abandoned well? First, the challenge is to find abandoned wells on your property. Some abandoned wells are obvious while others are not. Survey your property for: 
• Pipes sticking out of the ground. 
• Small buildings that may have been a well house. 
• Depressions in the ground. 
• The presence of concrete vaults or pits. 
• Out-of-use windmills. 

Other tips for finding old, abandoned wells can be found in: 
• Old maps, property plans or property title documents. 
• Neighbors. 
• Additions to an old home that might cover up an abandoned well. 

A water well system professional may do additional checking—including a records check—for more information about abandoned wells. 

A water well system professional should always plug an abandoned well using proper techniques, equipment, and materials. The professional should: • Remove all material from the well that may hinder proper plugging. 
• Disinfect the well. 
• Then plug the well using a specialized grout that (1) keeps surface water from working its way into the borehole, and (2) prevents water from different subsurface levels from mixing. 

The cost to plug a well depends on factors including: 
• The depth and diameter of the well 
• The geology of the area 
• Accessibility to the well, and 
• The condition of the well. 

For more information, please visit www.ngwa.org.

It’s Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Food Waste Part 2: Save and Reuse}

This is the second part of Frannie’s dive into reducing food waste at home.  To read the first part, click here.

---

Do you like to cook? Frannie does!

There are ways to reduce food waste and save water even when you’re preparing food and cooking food.

To make sure our food is clean, we should wash our fruits and vegetables even if they come in a bag.  Before turning on the tap, put a bowl in sink to catch the dirty water.  When you are done washing your food, you can use the water on your houseplants or garden instead of letting it run down the sink.  You can also do this with the water you have used to boil fruits, vegetables, and eggs after, of course, you let it cool.

As pointed out last week, you can easily use vegetable peelings to start your own compost pile, but did you know you can also some vegetable food waste to make soup?  Save your carrot and celery ends and freeze them for up to six months and boil them in water to make a delicious vegetable broth.  You can also do this with vegetables that are beginning to get old by simply cutting away any bad parts and chopping them into large chunks.

Want a meat broth instead? Save bones and scraps leftover from your pork chops or chicken and add them to boiling water or the veggie broth.

When your bread goes stale, you can break it into pieces and make homemade croutons or breadcrumbs using recipes like this one.  If you want to try something a bit different, try these cornbread croutons!

Even cheese can be reused.  After cutting away the Parmesan rind, turn it into a nice cheesy broth for a Wisconsin Cheese soup or a creamy pasta sauce for your next Italian night.

Share with us some of your ways to reduce food and water waste while cooking on our Facebook, Twitter, or E-mail.  Bon appetite!

It’s Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Awesome Aquifer Kit: Improperly Abandoned Well}

This week in Frannie’s exploration of the Awesome Aquifer Kit is all about why you should properly seal abandoned and unused wells.

Did you know that 42 million people in the United States use a private, or individual well to provide water for their families?  But as cities grow and develop, more and more people are turning to municipal systems to get clean, treated water directly to their faucets.  An unused well is basically a direct line for contaminants to enter the groundwater, so it is very important that, if a well is going to be decommissioned, then a well contractor should be called to seal it properly.

But what actually happens if a well is not sealed properly?

In rural areas, such as homes on or near farms, an open well can be contaminated with animal waste, fertilizers, and pesticides.  After a rain, runoff may simply pick up these dangerous chemicals and flow right over the open will, depositing them into the groundwater supply.   If a well is dug deep enough and is connected to other water supply sources in the area, it could contaminate large sections of the aquifers and prevent many other people in the area from being able to access clean water.

Forgotten wells are a big problem too.  Well casings may rust or break down and, even without the help of any outside contaminants, pollute the groundwater.

Wells that are dug, instead of drilled, are typically shallow enough not to majorly affect groundwater quality.  However, if these wells are not sealed properly, their wide shape may cause unsuspecting people and animals to fall into them and injure themselves.

To learn more about wells and to find out where you can go to test and protect yours, visit The Groundwater Foundation's Wells and Wellhead Protection webpages. 

BLOG: How Much Do You Know?

by Jane Griffin, The Groundwater Foundation

Next week (May 7-13) is Drinking Water Week. About half of us in the United States drink groundwater, but how much do you know about it? Take this short quiz to test your knowledge (answer key at the end of post):

1. Groundwater is:

        a. The water on the earth’s surface

        b. The water in the ground

        c. The deepest part of the water in the ocean

        d. The water contained in clouds

2. An aquifer:

        a. Is a geological formation that contains water

        b. Can be confined

        c. Is below the earth’s surface

        d. All of the above

3. When an aquifer is replenished it is called:

        a. Recharge

        b. Discharge

        c. Water table

        d. Saturated zone

4. The Ogallala is part of the:

        a. Edwards Aquifer

        b. Hawaiian Aquifer

        c. High Plains Aquifer

        d. Central Valley aquifer system

5. Groundwater is used for:

        a. Drinking water

        b. Irrigation

        c. Industrial use

        d. All of the above

How’d you do? 

There's a lot to learn about groundwater. Why not have some fun learning with our hands-on activities? Check out our Activities Library to find something that's right for you.

Do you want more quizzes about groundwater? Download our free Water1der mobile app and get your fill of groundwater trivia. See how much water you use in a day with our free water tracking app, 30by30, and find ways to use less water.

Get involved in local groundwater protection and education with a local Groundwater Guardian team. Is there one near you? Find out. If there's no team in your area, be a sparkplug and get one started - here's how.

Groundwater - it's the water many of us drink. Think about it during Drinking Water Week, and get yourself started on knowing more about this magical resource and involved in protecting it for future generations!

ANSWER KEY: 1. B, 2. D, 3. A, 4. C, 5. D

BLOG: Reflecting and Resolving

by Jennifer Wemhoff, The Groundwater Foundation

I received a note from a colleague via LinkedIn earlier this week congratulating me on a work anniversary - 17 years at The Groundwater Foundation.

I had to stop and stare at that number a bit - 17 years??? How on Earth did that happen?

Truthfully, I remember vividly the day I stopped into the career counselor's office at Doane College during my junior year to inquire about internship opportunities. "This one could be a good fit," the counselor said to me, handing me contact information for The Groundwater Foundation. "There's even a Doane grad working there. How much do you know about groundwater?"

At that point, not much. Growing up on a farm, we had a well, so I knew in general that water came from the ground, but that was about it.

Obviously, a lot has changed in the last 17 years. My life has made many transitions during my time with The Groundwater Foundation. My understanding of and connection to the amazing, magical resource of groundwater has deepened, along with a commitment to being part of the solution to clean, sustainable groundwater.

As 2017 is still in its infancy, it's a good time to reflect on what I can make happen in the year ahead. So here are my water resolutions for 2017:

My rain barrel probably won't
look this cool.

1. Install a rain barrel at my home. This has been on my wish list for a while, but I will make it happen in 2017!

2. Continue to instill a respect for water in my daughters, who are 5 and 2.

3. Drink more water! 

4. Find ways in my every day life to share with others how they can protect water - interactions with friends, neighbors, and family.

How will you help protect water in 2017?