Testimony
Before the House Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Subcommittee
April 24, 2013
By
Christine Reimer, Government Affairs Director
National Ground Water Association
601 Dempsey Rd
Westerville, OH 43081
800.551.7379, ext. 560
creimer@ngwa.org
The National Ground Water Association (NGWA) requests that $2.5-million be included in the
U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Groundwater Resources Program account to begin
implementation of a national groundwater monitoring network. NGWA is the world’s largest
association of groundwater professionals, representing public and private sector engineers,
scientists, water well contractors, manufacturers, and suppliers of groundwater-related products
and services.
Water is one of the most critical natural resources to human, ecosystem and economic survival.
In the United States, 78 percent of community water systems, nearly all of rural America’s
private household wells; and 42 percent of agricultural irrigation water are supplied by
groundwater. While the nation’s people, food supply, economy and ecosystems depend on
groundwater, no systematic nationwide monitoring network is in place to measure what is
currently available and how groundwater levels and quality may be changing over time. As with
any valuable natural resource, our groundwater reserves must be monitored to assist in planning
and minimizing potential impacts from shortages or supply disruptions. Just as one cannot
effectively oversee the nation’s economy without key data; one cannot adequately address the
nation’s food, energy, economic, and drinking water security without understanding the extent,
availability and sustainability of the critical commodity – groundwater.
In the face of current and anticipated water supply shortages, public and private sector water
professionals have put out the call over the years for increased groundwater monitoring and the
dissemination of the resulting data to the nation.i And the need to take action continues to this
day.iiiii
Congress listened and responded to these requests for enhanced groundwater monitoring by
authorizing a national groundwater monitoring network with passage of Public Law 111-11
(Omnibus Public Land Management Act) in 2009. Six statesiv voluntarily pilot tested concepts
for a national groundwater monitoring network as developed by the federal Advisory Committee
on Water Information’s (ACWI) Subcommittee on Ground Water (SOGW). If this effort moves
forward, consistent, comparable nationwide data would become accessible through a web portal
for federal, state, local government and private sector users. In these tight fiscal times, the
proposed network would build on existing state and federal investments, maximizing their
usefulness and leveraging current dollars to build toward systematic nationwide monitoring of
the groundwater resource.
The Administration's FY2014 USGS budget request of approximately $600,000 split between
the National Ground Water Monitoring Network, and a groundwater climate response network is
woefully inadequate to support regional, state and tribal partners and move a national
groundwater monitoring network forward. We ask the Subcommittee to allocate $2.5 million
exclusively for the National Ground Water Monitoring Network to do the following:
1. Provide grants to regional, state, and tribal governments to cost share increased expenses
to upgrade monitoring networks to meet the standards necessary to understand the
nation’s groundwater resources. The shared funding arrangements should be modeled
after highly successful cooperative programs (e.g. STATEMAP) that already exist
between the U.S. Geological Survey and states; and
2. Support the additional work necessary for USGS to manage a national groundwater
monitoring network and provide national data access through an internet web portal.
The redirection of an appropriation of $2.5 million for groundwater monitoring requested here is
small in comparison to the entirety of the Department of Interior’s appropriations. But the $2.5
million appropriation is vital when we understand that for a small investment we can begin
finally to put in place adequate monitoring of the hidden resource that provides nearly 40% of
the nation’s drinking water supply. Thank you for your consideration of this request.
The National Ground Water Association is a not-for-profit professional society and trade
association for the groundwater industry. NGWA is the largest organization of groundwater
professionals in the world. Our members from all 50 states and 72 countries include some of the
leading public and private sector groundwater scientists, engineers, water well contractors,
manufacturers, and suppliers of groundwater related products and services. The Association’s
vision is to be the leading community of groundwater professionals that promotes the responsible
development, use and management of groundwater resources.
i
U.S. Government Accountability Office. Freshwater Supply: States’ Views of How Federal Agencies Could Help
Them Meet the Challenges of Expected Shortages. (GAO-03-514). July 2003. Page 1.
ii
White House Council on Environmental Quality. Progress Report of the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation
Task Force: Recommended Actions in Support of a National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy. October 5, 2010.
Page 11.
iii
U.S. Government Accountability Office. Energy-Water Nexus: A Better and Coordinated Understanding of Water
Resources Could Help Mitigate the Impacts of Potential Oil Shale Development. (GAO-11-35). October 2010. Page
39.
iv
The six pilot states were Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, and Texas. Additionally, Idaho,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington and Wyoming volunteered as pilots but were not included given
limited oversight resources.