ABSTRACT
Groundwater management involves the coordination of data, policy, and informed persons. There are many components to groundwater data, including groundwater flow direction, water quantity, water quality, lithology of bedrock, and lithology of glacial drift. Groundwater data should be computerized so that information is accessible to a variety of users and communicated across agencies and programs at the federal, state, and local levels. When a groundwater database is used for planning and decision making, it becomes a geographic information system (GIS). The ideal database unit or GIS has the following characteristics. Local participants were added to the decision maker component since local agencies have increased their involvement, and in some cases is the lead agency for investigating groundwater problem sites. In March 1983, several agencies in Oklahoma recognized the need for an effective groundwater management program to address the increasing problems of pollution, quantity, land subsidence, and saltwater intrusion.
