The Wise Report, July 8, 2023

The Wise Report
Henry M. Wise, P.G.
July 8, 2023 
 

The Texas Groundwater Protection Committee (TGPC) is conducting a survey which focuses on groundwater quality monitoring programs in Texas and their associated datasets.  The purpose of this survey is to gain a better understanding of the various groundwater quality data collection efforts taking place across the state in order to identify potential data gaps, monitoring needs, and opportunities for collaboration.  For this survey: 

 

·       A monitoring program is defined as routine (proactive or reactive) sampling that follows an approved protocol; and,

·       A dataset is defined as related information that is grouped together and organized into a shareable format.  This can be for an individual sampling event or a series of sampling events. 

 

The TGPC plans to invite a number of entities to participate in this survey (e.g., federal and state agencies, Groundwater Conservation Districts (GCDs), academic institutions, etc.), and it would welcome responses from all interested parties.  Please feel free to scroll through the survey first in order to review the questions.  If you have ready access to the requested information about your groundwater quality monitoring program and its dataset, it should take less than 15 minutes to complete this survey.  Please do not hesitate to contact Kathy McCormack (512-239-3975, kathy.mccormack@tceq.texas.gov) or Rebecca Storms (512-475-3302, rebecca.storms@twdb.texas.gov) if you have any questions.  This survey will close at 5:00 PM CDT on Friday, July 28, 2023 and can be found at:  (https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=pIMah86hekuBVjvNk6CPumcrlKDljXpNrsyDhghhbDZUREs4RFdDWUUwWlhER1pBUjZINjEwV1NINi4u)
 

The TGPC has also issued their annual report on the quality of groundwater in Texas.  This report lists all active and inactive groundwater contamination cases in the state and their enforcement status.  It also includes information about how to use the report and a link and instructions for using the online, map-based Groundwater Contamination Viewer.

 

The report: 

  • Describes each case of groundwater contamination and associated cleanup activities documented during the previous calendar year.
  • Indicates the status of enforcement action for each case.

 

The report can be found at:  https://www.tceq.texas.gov/downloads/groundwater/publications/joint-groundwater-monitoring-and-contamination-report-2022-sfr-56-22.pdf. 

 

The map-based Groundwater Contamination Viewer can be found at:  https://tceq.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=5a36690f56bc4f128588b19b092cbf91.
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The Texas Legislature 2023 first additional session is over.  None of the bills I was following passed.
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The Texas Legislature is back in session for a second additional session.  I’m currently checking for bills of general interest to geologists in Texas and will be updating this list as things change.   New information is in bold.  
 

HB 28, by Reynolds, Relating to the establishment of the Texas Environmental Justice Advisory Council.  6/27/2023 Filed.  For more information go to:  https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/history.aspx?LegSess=882&Bill=HB28. 

HB 29, by Reynolds, Relating to the establishment of the Climate Change Impact Assessment Council.  6/27/2023 Filed.  For more information go to:  https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/history.aspx?LegSess=882&Bill=HB29. 

 
Henry M. Wise, P.G.
The Wise Report
7/8/2023
source: 
Henry M. Wise, PG
releasedate: 
Saturday, July 8, 2023
subcategory: 
Government Update