AUDIENCE: Governmental officials/managers of hazardous waste facilities/managers of manufacturing facilities

BACKGROUND: "The adequacy of an owner/operator's ground water monitoring program hinges, in large part, on the quality and quantity of the hydrogeologic data the owner/operator used in designing the program." so states the first sentence of U.S. EPA's RCRA Ground-Water Monitoring Technical Enforcement Guidance Document.

The Office of Technology Assessment in the 1984 report, Protecting the Nation's Groundwater from Contamination listed the following as factors that tended to increase the uncertainty in investigations of ground water contamination:

• Complex hydrogeologic environments
• Lack of historic information about sources of contamination
• Substances that do not move with ground water
• Changing patterns of ground water use
• Inexperienced or untrained individuals designing investigations and collecting and analyzing hydrogeologic information.

ISSUE: Are current efforts adequate to assure a minimum level of knowledge and expertise for those performing hydrogeologic investigations?

POSITION: The National Ground Water Association supports recognition, through certification or some other means, of the unique qualifications necessary to perform hydrogeologic investigations

Some of the licensing and certification programs mentioned in the background section are simply not designed to be selective enough to sort out those professionals qualified to conduct ground water investigations from those who are not. Reliance on professional engineers or individuals certified in an allied field without a determination as to their knowledge of ground water science is not a justified position.

Our ability to generate adequate ground water data has a direct correlation to our ability to make sound decisions regarding ground water protection and remediation. Therefore, measures that can be taken to assure that groundwater data is of the best quality should be promoted.

CONTACT Chris Reimer, NGWA, (614) 551-7379

REFERENCES: Nielsen, David, "Ground Water Professionals: The Time is Now," Ground Water Monitoring Review, 7:4, 1987

Office of Technology Assessment Protecting the Nation's Groundwater from Contamination, p. 136, 1984

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, RCRA Ground-Water Monitoring Technical Enforcement Guidance Document p. 1 1986.

DATE: Adopted by the National Ground Water Association Board of Directors April 22,1988. NGWA issue briefs are updated as needed to reflect changes in information. Technical amendments August 7, 1991. Technical amendments February 1992. Reformatted February 1996.