Moving from Assessment to Protection

摘要

The availability of source water assessments will mean that communities all across the country will have fundamental information about their drinking water that they have not previously had. What they will do with this information is anyone’s guess. Ideally communities will use this information to actively protect their drinking water source. The Groundwater Foundation has a variety of tools that help communities move beyond assessment to protection. The Foundation’s tools are simple, yet effective, and take advantage of lessons learned by communities implementing wellhead protection programs. By using these tools, communities just now getting involved in groundwater and surface water protection will get a jump start in the process. These tools include: · “Applying Community Technologies Today” – a primer on how small communities can use information technology to field-verify and update the contaminant source inventories provided by their state; · “An Introduction to Drinking Water Source Assessment and Protection” - a workshop guide designed for anyone interested in drinking water to use to educate themselves and their fellow citizens about source water protection; and · Groundwater Guardian – a framework for local action. Groundwater Foundation staff will provide examples of how each tool may be used to promote source water protection on the local level.