Finding, Defining, and Funding Future Federal Advisory Committee Efforts in the Face of Financial Difficulties

The Subcommittee on Ground Water (SOGW) of the federal Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI) has had the sole purpose of implementing the National Groundwater Monitoring Network (NGWMN). In addition to leading the development and implementation of the NGWMN, the SOGW has started to consider other challenges in groundwater data collection to assist the ACWI in providing guidance and advice to the federal government. Several challenges could be taken on by the SOGW, and thus feedback from Summit participants is needed, including listing and definition of the challenges, ranking them and setting priorities, facilitating coordination and collaboration, and identifying “next steps”. Topics already suggested include the use of remote sensing data, such as gravity and GPR; adding groundwater flow data to the NGWMN, including water supply extraction, spring flow, and stream base flow; incorporating real-time data for complementing “snapshot” data, for water levels as well as groundwater quality, from in-line sensors; and, inclusion of data from various regulatory programs, such as SDWA/UIC, CERCLA, RCRA, etc. Feedback will be compiled and reported to the SOGW for consideration, and an update will be provided through appropriate NGWA channels-of-communication.