ABSTRACT
CONTENTS The Need for Ground-Water Monitoring: Protection of a Resource at Risk . . . . . . . . . 1 Federal Regulatory Mandates for Ground-Water Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 RCRA Subtitle D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 RCRA Subtitle C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 RCRA Subtitle I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act . . . . . . 8 Toxic Substances Control Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Clean Water Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Safe Drinking Water Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Drinking Water Quality Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Sole-Source Aquifer Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Wellhead Protection Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Underground Injection Control Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Brownfields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Federal Ground-Water Protection Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Ground-Water Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Discussion of Ground-Water Quality Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Mechanisms for a Workable Federal Ground-Water Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Comprehensive State Ground-Water Protection Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Ground Water and Terrorism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Ground Water and Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Ground water has been described as one of the world’s most valuable natural resources. People around the world have long depended on ground water for many uses, but primarily for drinking water. In the United States alone, more than 125 million people — nearly half the population — depend on ground water for their drinking water supply. Approximately 80% of public water supply systems providing drinking water in the United States,
including those of one third of the nation’s largest cities, depend at least partly on ground water (U.S. EPA, 2004a). Additionally, 95% of all domestic water needs in rural areas is served by ground-water resources. Ground water is also used extensively in the western U.S. for irrigation, in the northern U.S. for residential and commercial heating, in the southern U.S. for cooling, and across the nation for various industrial purposes. National reliance on ground water has increased dramatically over the past few decades and will continue to increase as consumption and use of water increases in the future. This reliance will be underscored if surface-water shortages, caused by prolonged droughts, continue to occur and development of arid land continues at its current pace.
