Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences recently hosted the 2013 PA Groundwater Symposium on May 8 held during National Drinking Water Week in recognition of the importance of groundwater to both public and private drinking water supplies across Pennsylvania.

The Symposium theme: Emerging Issues in a Changing Landscape provided a forum for 150 researchers, students, professionals and educators working in the groundwater field to exchange information and promote protection of groundwater resources throughout the state.

Morning and afternoon keynote speakers addressed important groundwater issues such as emerging contaminants and shale gas drilling. Dozens of concurrent and poster presentations were also provided on a variety of groundwater topics.

The daylong event featured several keynote speakers including opening remarks from Lisa Daniels, Director of the Bureau of Safe Drinking Water of the Department of Environmental Protection.

Daniels reported there are one million private water wells in Pennsylvania and 16 percent of the state’s population or two million people are served by private water wells. She thanked the many Penn State Extension Master Well Owner Volunteers for their efforts to educate private water supply owners in the state.

Andrew Peterson, Dean of the Mayes College of Healthcare and Business and Policy spoke on Medications in the Environment. Andrews reported that pharmaceuticals may present a problem in the environment, but the amount is very small and there is no data yet related to impacts on human health. Health concerns over emerging contaminants are a concern for the public and he shared the ways currently available to reduce environmental contamination.

Susan Brantley, a Distinguished Professor of Geosciences in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State University, gave the final talk entitled, Using the Shale Network Database to Investigate Water Quality and Quantity in Areas of the Marcellus Energy Resource.

Brantley explained and encouraged the participants to contribute to the shale network database and concluded that there are outstanding research questions that require more sampling and chemical analysis to formulate answers on issues created by the Marcellus resource.

The groundwater symposium was sponsored by Penn State Extension, the Master Well Owner Network, the Department of Environmental Protection, the USDA Mid-Atlantic Water Program, the PA Water Resources Research Center and the PA Ground Water Association.

More details on this year’s symposium including PDF copies of many of the presentations can be found online.

Plans are already underway for the 2014 Pennsylvania Groundwater Symposium to be held on May 7, 2014 at Penn State University.

(Written By: James A. Clark, Extension Educator, Cameron/Elk/Jefferson/McKean/Potter District and Bryan Swistock,Senior Extension Associate, Penn State University, and reprinted from Penn State Extension's Watershed Winds newsletter.)

5/27/2013