For Immediate Release

July 10, 1999

Contact Grace O. Garces
at 475-1658/9

GUAM EPA TO CONDUCT SPECIAL GROUNDWATER STUDIES 

	Guam Environmental Protection Agency water resource 
specialists will be conducting several special studies in the next 
several months.  News reporters and photojournalists will have an 
opportunity to go out in the field with the Agency's environmental 
scientists and engineers. Call 475-1623 for more information.

Salinity Profile:

	Guam EPA has made several attempts in the past to get funding 
to perform salinity profiling of the island's water wells.  This study 
will be performed to determine the impact of salt water contamination 
or "intrusion" on the fresh water lens as a result of rain and over 
pumping of groundwater from specific portions of the aquifer. U.S. EPA 
Region 9 has been approached to fund the project.

	  The salinity profiling system uses sophisticated measuring 
and data collection instruments to gather information on aquifer 
salinity, rainfall and groundwater production.  The system is designed 
to operate on a real-time basis where data from the field can be sent 
electronically, via modem, to computers in Guam EPA.  Groundwater and 
water-supply experts would interpret the data and make decisions on 
whether or not to adjust pumping rates to protect the water quality of 
our aquifer.  

Harmon Sink Dye Trace Study:	

	Guam EPA's Territorial Hydrogeologist Victor Wuerch and 
environmental engineers in the Agency's water resource management 
program will co-lead a project with U.S. EPA in the Harmon Sink dye 
trace special study that will start in October. Dr. Malcolm Field of 
U.S. EPA in Washington, D.C. and Dr. John Jenson of the Water and 
Environment Research Institute will provide technical support on the 
project. The project goal is to determine whether water recharging 
Harmon Sink reaches Tumon Bay, and/or East Hagåtña Bay.

	"This information is valuable for management of the 
groundwater system and to determine sources of contamination," said 
Jesus T. Salas, Guam EPA Administrator.

	Dye-trace tests are used to identify connections between 
points of groundwater recharge, where water flows into an aquifer; and 
discharge points, areas where water flows out of a system through 
springs and wells. It is also used to find the direction and rate at 
which water flows. 

CB Landfill Dye Trace Study:

	Dye will be injected in several monitoring wells near the 
former Construction Battalion (CB) Landfill in Finegayan to determine 
whether monitoring wells around the landfill are adequately monitoring 
the aquifer in the vicinity of the landfill. Also, springs along the 
coast near Lost Pond and Sharks Hole will be monitored to determine 
whether potential leachate from the landfill is reaching the marine 
environment. The CB Landfill was capped (closed) several years ago as 
part of the Navy Installation Restoration Program in an attempt to 
isolate buried waste from surface exposure and from the aquifer 
through potential leaching by infiltrating rainfall.



END OF RELEASE