The National Groundwater Monitoring Network - A Progress Report and an Invitation to Participate

The National Ground Water Association (NGWA), along with partner organizations, continues its strong support of the U.S. National Groundwater Monitoring Network (NGWMN), a wonderful example of cooperation between the Federal government, states, other governmental entities, the private sector, and academia. Each year, the NGWA Groundwater Summit provides an opportunity to update the membership on progress being made toward full implementation of the NGWMN, and to encourage participation in the ongoing effort. Therefore, this presentation will include a status report, while also serving as an introduction for other related presentations that will demonstrate the value of the NGWMN. The progress report will address the following topics: a description of the group that spearheaded the formulation of the NGWMN; the purposes and objectives built into the design framework for the NGWMN; a short outline of the approach taken by the NGWMN; a summary of the funding history for the NGWMN; some statistics demonstrating the growth from pilot phase to today; and, a statement of the value-added as the NGWMN begins to grow enough to meet its design purposes/objectives. This progress report will be capped off by an invitation to participate in the NGWMN process, with identification of specific roles and the ways to get involved. These will include roles not only within the U.S. effort, but also interactions with other countries’ similar efforts.