As we prepare for our Annual Forum next month, I am reminded

that this will be our 27th annual technical meeting. Over the years

we have covered topics ranging from groundwater and nutrients, to

water management planning. From green infrastructure and

climate change to water-reuse and waste management. Advances

in technology coupled with a more complete understanding of

groundwater has resulted in better, more efficient and more

effective ways to protect this valuable resource. One of the greatest

challenges we still face is an under appreciation of the role

groundwater plays in our everyday lives. In our 2007 Groundwater

Report to the Nation, we covered many areas we felt were in need

of action. Our update to that report, due out by January, 2013 will

focus on areas such as Water/ Energy, Alternate Water Resources,

Nutrients and Groundwater an d an Updated Call to Action,. As we move into our

30th year of operation we continue our commitment to protect groundwater. Working

together we can protect this critical resource for ourselves and future generations.

August 20, 2012

As reported by Todd G. Dickson in the

August 3rd edition of the Las Cruces

Bulletin, a lawsuit that some lawmakers

claimed would give the federal

government unprecedented control over

groundwater was thrown out by a district

judge in Las Cruces Wednesday, Aug. 1.

Judge James Wechsler ruled the federal

government’s water rights along the

lower Rio Grande were limited to the

surface water.

The ruling came after a daylong hearing

in which a slew of local government and

water management entities gave

positions on the possible effect of the

federal claim. The lawsuit became a topic

of public interest after regional and state

officials told a legislative committee

meeting in Las Cruces Monday, July 30,

that it could have sweeping

consequences if the federal government

won. In the lawsuit, the federal

government was claiming it had

“superior” groundwater rights, said state

Rep. Joseph Cervantes, who chaired the

Legislature’s Water and Natural

Resources Committee meeting in Las

Cruces. Some legislators vented their

frustrations with federal government.

State lawmakers – both Democrats and

Republicans – are accusing the federal

government of overreaching its

authority.

From the Desk of Mike Paque

Judge rejects federal groundwater

suit

Groundwater communiqué– August, 2012, 2012

Inside this issue:

Judge rejects federal control of groundwater

1

EPA report confirms PADEP findings

3

Landowner water testing brochure available

5

DOE Release Carbon Storage Best Practices

5

Summary of Stray Gas Forum

7

Special points of

interest:

Updates on hydraulic fracturing legislation and regulation

What’s Happening at the GWPC

Upcoming GWPC meetings

Becoming a supporter of the Research & Education Foundation

The map shown at right details the

status of states with respect to

chemical disclosure and the use of

FracFocus. As further details about

chemical disclosure legislation and

rule making become available they

will be conveyed in this space.

Some recent legislative activity

includes the following states:

Illinois (Legislation pending SB 2058, HB 3897, SB 3280 & HB

5853)

Indiana (Emergency rule

promulgated LSA Document #12-

292(E))

Kansas (Enrolled Law HB 2526)

Ohio (Pending legislation SB 212)

P A G E 2

Hydraulic Fracturing Chemical Disclosure by State

fracturing, aquifer

exemption, CO2

geosequestration

and much more.

In addition we also

plan to hold a separate

workshop on well mechanical

integrity demonstration, hold

the only Class I UIC operators

training available in 2013 and

conduct an operator training

session for FracFocus 2.0.

For more information about the 2013 UIC Conference go to

http://www.gwpc.org

The GWPC

will hold its

annual UIC

Conference

this coming

January in ,

Florida. The

main focus

of the

conference

this year

will be on Class I municipal

wells and Class V wells used

for groundwater recharge,

saltwater intrusion prevention

and aquifer storage and

recovery. We will also cover

issues related to hydraulic

G R O U N D W A T E R C O M M U N I Q U É – A U G U S T , 2 0 1 2 ,

Save the Date

January 24-26 , 2013

States taking the lead on hydraulic

fracturing chemical disclosure

Generalized Class V ASR System

FracFocus system has obtained

over 24,000 disclosure records

from 208 Companies.. The website

has been visited by more than

248,,000 people from over 134

countries. An updated version of

FracFocus is scheduled for release

this fall.

Source Water and Stormwater

Management webinars are

available online. Both can be seen

at http://www.gwpc.org/

resources/webinars

GWPC staff are working with state

members to prepare comments on

the USEPA hydraulic fracturing

diesel fuel guidance.

GWPC participates in the Advisory

Committee on Water Information

and on the ACWI’s Subcommittee

on Ground Water. At the ACWI

meeting in July, a new Water

Resources Adaptation to Climate

Change Workgroup (hereafter the

The GWPC

continues to

work on updates

to the 2007

Ground Water

Report to the

Nation. New

chapters may

include Water/

Energy,

Groundwater and Alternative

Water Supplies, Aquifer Storage

and Recovery, and Nutrient

Impact to Groundwater. For

more information contact Dan

Yates at dyates@gwpc.org.

A joint GWPC/ NGWA brochure

on what landowners need to

know about water sampling and

analysis near oil and gas

production is now available.

Contact Mike Nickolaus at

mnickolaus@gwpc.org for further

details..

Since going live in April, 2011 the

“Workgroup”) was formed to

promote, support, and provide

information for effective

management and protection of

water resources in the United

States as the climate changes

and to advise the Department

of the Interior and other

Federal agencies on water

policy as it relates to climate

change adaptation. GWPC

participated in the creation of

the terms of reference for the

workgroup and will be

participating in its activities.

There was an extensive report

back from the Subcommittee on

Ground Water of which the

GWPC is an active member.

Look for the article on the

National Ground Water

Monitoring Network Portal in

this issue of the Communiqué.

For more information Contact

Mary Musick at

musick_ambrose2@msn.com

P A G E 3

What’s going on at the gwpc !

that “The EPA has provided the

residents with all of their sampling

results and has no further plans to

conduct additional drinking water

sampling in Dimock.”

The report released by EPA states

that ”during the sampling in

Dimock, EPA found hazardous

substances, specifically arsenic,

barium or manganese but that none

can conclusively be tied to gas

drilling. Instead, all the chemicals

found in these few samples of

Dimock drinking water are present

naturally.” It is unclear as to

whether or not this will put the

issue of human induced

contamination in Dimock to rest.

Regardless of the report findings,

some residents of Dimock such as

Ray Kemble say “I don’t care what

EPA says. The water is still

polluted”.

The EPA report supports the

findings of a prior investigation

conducted by the Pennsylvania

Department of Environmental

Protection.

The EPA has

released a

report saying

contamination of

groundwater in

the rural

Pennsylvania

community of Dimock can be

explained by natural causes. A

press release from EPA states that

“Based on the outcome of [its]

sampling, EPA has determined that

there are not levels of contaminants

present that would require

additional action by the Agency”

The press release goes on to say

G R O U N D W A T E R C O M M U N I Q U E – A U G U S T , 2 0 1 2

New epa report on groundwater contamination in

dimock vindicates PA Department of Environmental

Protection

The Enabling Source Water Protection team, led by The Trust for Public Land and the Smart Growth Leadership

Institute, with support from the River Network and the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators, worked

with eight state partners over a three-year period on projects to improve drinking water source protection. The

projects aimed to help states work across political and programmatic boundaries to better align planning, economic

development, regulation, and conservation to protect drinking water sources at the local and watershed levels. Now

that work with the eight states is nearing completion, the team and state partners will report on the most

innovative, replicable state agency approaches to protect drinking water in a series of five webinars during the fall of

2012.

Wednesday, September 5: GIS tools to assist state drinking water and clean water programs and non-government

partners.

Wednesday, September 19: Models for improving collaboration between state source water and clean water

programs.

Thursday, October 11: Non-traditional sources of funding for source water protection.

Tuesday, October 30: Successful state agency efforts to support and coordinate with local planning activities.

Thursday, November 15: Incorporate source water protection in state economic strategies.

For more information on these webinars or to register to attend go to http://www.asdwa.org/index.cfm?

fuseaction=Page.ViewPage&PageID=797

P A G E 4

the site covers environmental news

related to oil and gas development.

This site grew from a market need

to have access to independent,

timely and relevant energy news

and updates affecting policy-making

and public perception. The site

works like many news aggregators,

but it is energy specific. You can

search the site for key terms, view

current articles by topics and see

the most recent, most important

articles. AmericaPowered.com is

another tool for providing

information to the public,

government agencies and anyone

interested in energy news. You can

visit AmericaPowered.com at

http://www.americapowered.com/

A new website called

AmericaPowered.com provides a

clearinghouse of energy news for

America’s policy makers. The

mission of Americapowered.com is

to provide the most recent and

important oil and natural gas new

in one place., quickly efficiently and

without commentary. The goal is

to make the site the industry

standard of energy news

aggregation. For GWPC members

G R O U N D W A T E R C O M M U N I Q U É – A U G U S T , 2 0 1 2 ,

New webs ite covers news on energy including

environmental i ssues

ASDWA to hold Source water webinars

The GWPC continues to participate in the Source Water Collaborative as a

founding member. Additionally, GWPC has served as a Co-Chair for the SWC Steering Committee for the past 2-years. The Collaborative recently held a face-to-face meeting in Washington, DC. Some of the highlights included:

Updates on the Draft Toolkit – the Collaborative has been developing a toolkit for states and other user

groups to aid in communication and collaboration with USDA programs such as the NRCW and the Farm Ser-

vice Agency. The toolkit is in beta testing now and will be released on the SWC website in the coming months.

CWA/SDWA Integration – The Collaborative is working on identifying projects to address coordination between

the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act both on the state and national levels. A key priority un-der this topic is addressing nitrogen and phosphorous pollution.

For more information, visit www.sourcewatercollaborative.org

practices that protect public health and ensure sustainable decentralized wastewater management. This information will apply to public

health officials, academia, product manufacturers, service and maintenance companies, installers. This webinar is the fifth in the series

begin presented by EPA’s MOU

Partnership for Decentralized

Wastewater Management.

The webinar, to be held on August

23rd, will cover:

“Enhanced Perspective on

Onsite Wastewater Systems: A

Public Health Contribution to

the Wellbeing of Communities”

Decentralized wastewater treatment systems can protect the

environment, public health, and water quality in homes

and communities by: providing reliable wastewater treatment; providing a highly-effective wastewater treatment method which reduces conventional pollutants, nutrients, and emerging contaminants; and, mitigating contamination and health risks associated with wastewater. The webinar will address state government and community

by Dr. Max Zarate-Bermudez;

and

“Design and Operation of

Onsite System to Promote

Environmental & Public Health”

by A. Robert Rubin; and

“Virginia’s Approach to Address

Health and Environmental

Concerns from Decentralized

Systems” by Robert W. Hicks.

Space for this webinar is limited so

reserve your seat now at https://

www2.gotomeeting.com/

register/957149114

P A G E 5

decentralized wastewater webcast series

Two versions of the brochure were produced. One version does not contain any state-specific information and can be used as general guidance anywhere. A second version contains space for appropriate state agencies to insert

state-specific information, such as contact information specific to a state. State agencies interested in obtaining the

customizable version of the brochure should contact either Mike Nickolaus, GWPC special projects director, at either 405-516-4972 or mnickolaus@gwpc.org; or Cliff Treyens, NGWA public awareness director, at 614-898-7791, ext. 554, or ctreyens@ngwa.org. NGWA, a nonprofit organization composed of U.S. and international groundwater professionals — contractors, equipment manufacturers, suppliers, scientists, and engineers — is dedicated to advancing groundwater knowledge. NGWA’s vision is to be the leading groundwater association that advocates the responsible development, management, and use of water. GWPC is a nonprofit organization whose members consist of state ground water regulatory agencies which come together within the GWPC

organization to mutually work toward the protection of the nation’s ground water supplies..

The National Ground Water Association (NGWA) and the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) are making available a water-testing brochure for household water well

owners living near oil or gas development and completion activities, including hydraulic fracturing. The brochure walks water well owners through how to go about getting their water tested prior to oil and gas activities to establish baseline water quality. It then provides guidelines for retesting the water after oil and gas development and completion activities. Addressed in the brochure are issues such as “chain-of-custody” testing to ensure unbiased, accurate sampling and test results, what constituents to test, what to do if one’s water quality changes, and where to get more

information.

G R O U N D W A T E R C O M M U N I Q U E – A U G U S T , 2 0 1 2

Brochure provides information to landowners

about water testing needs near oil and gas

operations

According to the National Energy Technology Laboratory: “The purpose of this report is to share lessons learned regarding site-specific management activities for carbon storage well systems. This manual builds on the experiences of the [RCSPs] and acquired knowledge from the petroleum industry and other private

industries that have been actively drilling wells for more than 100 years. Specifically, this manual focuses on management activities related to the planning, permitting, design, drilling, implementation, and

decommissioning of wells for geologic storage projects. A key lesson and common theme reiterated throughout the seven DOE [BPMs] is that each project site is unique. This means that each CCS project needs to be designed to address specific site characteristics, and should involve an integrated team of

experts from multiple technical (e.g., scientific and engineering) and nontechnical (e.g., legal, economic, communications) disciplines. Additionally, works during the characterization, siting, and implementation

phases of projects are iterative; the results from previously completed tasks are analyzed and used to make decisions going forward. This means that as data comes in, the conceptual model of the site is revised and updated to allow better future decisions.” The BPM is available for download at: http://

www.fossil.energy.gov/news/techlines/2012/12025-NETL_Issues_Best_Practices_Manual.html.

P A G E 6

Development is designing the Community-Focused Exposure and Risk Screening Tool http://www.epa.gov/heasd/c-ferst/(C-FERST) and related research

to address these challenges. C-FERST is being developed to increase the availability and accessibility of science and data for evaluating impacts of pollutants and local conditions, ranking risks, and understanding the environmental health consequences of your community.

By putting this environmental

information in the context of community assessment roadmaps, C-FERST will assist communities with the challenge of identifying and prioritizing environmental health

issues and promoting actions to enhance health and well-being. The tool provides easy access to maps, information, and location-specific environmental data for decision-making and problem solving. C-FERST can be used by stakeholders to make informed, cost-effective decisions to improve public health.

Communities and individuals are faced with exposure to many different kinds of pollution, like lead, air pollution, water pollution, and toxics in fish. People want to

understand their health risks and how to prevent them. As communities move to protect their neighborhoods, the issues can seem too numerous, with too few experts and limited access to information that can limit meaningful involvement.

In EPA’s Office of Research and

G R O U N D W A T E R C O M M U N I Q U É – A U G U S T , 2 0 1 2 ,

Epa developing new tool to address community

environmental issues

Department of Energy Releases Best Practices

Manual on Carbon Storage and Well

Management Activities

Call for Abstracts available at http://www.gwpc.org/sites/default/files/events/AF12_CFA_0516.pdf

Room block registration cutoff date set for August 21st. Reserve your room today!

About 1.7 billion people rely on aquifers that are rapidly being depleted and would take thousands of years to refill,

according to a new study in Nature.

The report, "Water balance of global aquifers revealed by groundwater footprint," identifies aquifers in the

U.S., Mexico, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, India and China as crisis zones where groundwater resources and/or

groundwater-dependent ecosystems are under threat because the use of water vastly exceeds the rate at which

aquifers are being refilled by rain.

Read this report at http://www.businessinsider.com/places-world-running-out-water-2012-8

lowest explosive level (LEL) for

methane is 5% by volume.

3. Large numbers of water well

samples have been collected

throughout the Marcellus region.

Approximately ¼ of the sampled wells

show some detectable methane

concentration.

4. There are multiple potential sources

of stray gas. Although the extensive

gas well drilling programs in the

Marcellus region have been suggested

as a cause of the methane found in

groundwater, detailed geochemical

investigations using chemical data and

isotopic analysis show strong evidence

that much of the methane observed in

water wells has origins in shallower

geological formations.

5. A few focused data collection efforts over time on the same set of wells show a wide range of variability

in dissolved methane over time (seasonal, monthly, and even daily).

The GWPC held a Stray Gas

Incidence & Response Forum (the

Forum) from July 24-26, 2012 in

Cleveland, Ohio. The Forum, which

attracted nearly 200 participants,

focused on stray gas in areas where

shale gas or other unconventional

natural gas is being developed. The

presentations included three short

courses that allowed for a detailed

review of specific topics and about

30 other technical talks over more

than two and a half days. Some of

the key issues and findings from the

Forum are listed below:

1. Stray gas in the form of methane

is prevalent in many shallow

formations around the country. It is

particularly prevalent in Pennsylvania

where Marcellus Shale gas well

drilling has focused attention on

water quality.

2. Methane poses little risk from

ingestion, but can cause serious risks

through fires or explosion. The

This suggests that attempts to characterize the pre-drill baseline methane concentrations using only

a single sample may not be as useful as previously thought. 6. When elevated methane is

observed in a water well or in a

building, a prompt investigation of

the health and safety risks is

warranted. Depending on the

concentration of the methane,

various venting, plugging, and

treatment methods can be used to

mitigate the risk.

7. State laws and regulations

continue to evolve to include more

protective well construction

standards and other requirements

relating to water supplies.

Most of the presentations from the Forum can be viewed and downloaded from GWPC’s website

at http://www.gwpc.org/events/gwpc-proceedings/2012-stray-gas-

P A G E 7

GWPC Holds Successful Stray Gas Forum

G R O U N D W A T E R C O M M U N I Q U E – A U G U S T , 2 0 1 2

Report says aquifers being

depleted

report on hydraulic fracturing practices available

All Consulting of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in conjunction with Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada and the Science

Community and Environment Knowledge Fund has prepared a report entitled “The Modern Practices of Hydraulic

Fracturing: A Focus on Canadian Resources”. Go to http://www.ptac.org/ to see the report.

GWPC Mission

“ The Ground Water Protection Council is a

national association of state groundwater and

underground injection control agencies whose

mission is to promote the protection and

conservation of groundwater resources for all

beneficial uses, recognizing groundwater as a

critical component of the ecosystem.”

“The Ground Water Protection Council provides a

forum for stakeholder communication and

research in order to improve governments’ role in

the protection and conservation of groundwater.”

13308 N. MacArthur Blvd. Oklahoma City, OK 73142

Phone: 405-516-4972 Fax: 405-516-4973 Web: http://www.gwpc.org

The national association of state groundwater agencies

A PUBLICATION OF THE GROUND WATER PROTECTION COUNCIL

governmental agencies and private entities alike. The GWREF is a 501 (c)3 corporation that works closely with the Ground Water Protection Council to bring the best available

science to the areas of groundwater

protection and education.

Financial supporters of the foundation are recognized as the leaders in their respective industries. We would welcome

your support of the GWREF.

To become a Supporter contact Len Erikson at 405-516-4972 or lerikson@gwpc.org. Thank you.

The Ground Water Research & Education Foundation would like to welcome all of the oil and gas companies that have become a part of the FracFocus hydraulic

fracturing chemical disclosure registry. Your participation in the registry is an important step towards providing transparency and allaying public concerns about the process of hydraulic fracturing. Continuing this critical work requires support from

Ground Water Research and Education

Foundation