DRINKING WATER
ACADEMY BULLETIN
DRINKING
WATER
ACADEMY
DWA
Summer 2004
INSIDE THIS
ISSUE:
NEW UIC COURSE AND
GUIDANCE DOCUMENT
LINKS ON THE DWA
WEB SITE
ESS PROJECT PROCEEDS
ON SEVERAL FRONTS
DWA SOLICITS
INTEREST IN
INTERNATIONAL WORK
GROUP
DRINKING WATER
ACADEMY CONTACTS
TRAINING COURSE
SCHEDULE
NATIONAL CONFERENCE: USING PDAS AND
TABLET PCS TO ENHANCE WATER SECURITY
AND SAFE DRINKING WATER ACT
IMPLEMENTATION
On May 26 and 27, 2004, the
Association of State Drinking
Water Administrators (ASDWA)
and EPA's Drinking Water
Academy (DWA) sponsored a
national conference in Austin,
Texas, on using personal
digital assistants (PDAs) and
Tablet PCs to enhance water
security and Safe Drinking
Water Act (SDWA) implemen-
tation.
Approximately 75 state staff,
federal agency staff, and
contractors attended. They
represented three areas of
interest:
j* The Public Water System
Supervision (PWSS)
Program.
i* The Underground Injection
Control (UIC) Program.
f& Water security.
Conference speakers provided
insights on the development
and implementation of
software programs to enhance
SDWA implementation. The
Electronic Sanitary Survey
(ESS) tool provides field
inspectors with
a PDA —or
Tablet PC-
based—tool to
record their
findings in the
field, upload
the data to an
intermediate
database,
generate
inspection
reports, and
provide analytical data.
The UIC program has devel-
oped two tools for primacy
and direct implementation
states to use in conducting
Class V inventory and other
inspections. These tools
increase consistency and
efficiency in conducting
inspections, reduce the
likelihood of errors, and
provide flexibility to the users.
Speakers also raised the
audience's awareness of how
these tools can be used to
support water security
activities, and they discussed
issues related to the security
of the hardware and of the
data collected by users.
Speakers representing the
U.S. Forest Service and
Florida's Volusia County gave
presentations that expanded
the horizons of technology use
to support water programs.
Participants were also given
an opportunity to brainstorm
about how technology could
be used to support their
programs, to network during
an evening reception and
breaks, and to participate in
working sessions on the ESS
and UIC software.
Door prizes-PDAs-were
awarded to two lucky
attendees, i*
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Summer 2004
NEW UIC COURSE AND GUIDANCE DOCUMENT
LINKS ON THE DWA WEB SITE
A second technical Under-
ground Injection Control (UIC)
training course, Underground
Injection Control Pressure
Fall-off Testing, was recently
added to the DWA Web site.
(The address is www.epa.gov/
safewater/dwa/electronic/
ematerials.htmlfUIC.)
In addition to the training
slides for this latest UIC
course, the site has links to
two related guidance docu-
ments: The Nuts and Bolts of
Fall-off Testing and Pressure
Fall-off Testing Guideline.
UIC pressure fall-off tests
provide information on the
response of the injection zone
when injection is temporarily
stopped in a well. The test is
important in determining the
efficacy of UIC regulations
when applied to deep injection
wells.
Like the first technical UIC
course made available on
DWA's Web site, Underground
Injection Control Pressure Fall-
off Testing is the result of a
collaboration between the
DWA and the UIC Technical
Work Group. That first effort,
Introduction to UIC Permitting,
is also available at the DWA
Web site. The UIC Technical
Work Group intends to add to
the site other technically
sophisticated courses as well.
ExxonMobil has agreed to
provide the UIC Technical
Work Group with training
materials related to remote
sensing technology. This
technology is used to charac-
terize the geology of the
underground environment
surrounding injection wells
and to determine the wells'
integrity. Oil and gas
companies originally
developed this technology to
improve their production
efficiency, however, it also
applies to underground
injection.
The DWA will be one of the
repositories for these ™
training materials (three PDF
files of approximately 40 MB
each).
The Academy also will make
the files available on a CD.
Anyone who is interested in
obtaining the training
materials should contact
Mario Salazar at (202) 564-
3894 or by e-mail at
salazar.mario@epa.gov.
ESS PROJECT PROCEEDS ON SEVERAL FRONTS
The DWA continues to
enhance the Electronic
Sanitary Survey (ESS)
software and improve its
accessibility.
Tablet PC Version
A version for Tablet PCs is
now available. The Tablet ESS
software is similar to the
desktop ESS software,
without the PDA references
and the ability to create a new
survey. One new feature of
the Tablet ESS software is the
ability to add a survey
component (e.g., source,
treatment) while in the field.
Massachusetts ESS
After working with the ESS
software in the field, staff at
the Massachusetts Depart-
ment of Environmental
Protection identified a number
of changes to tailor the
software to their needs. State
staff developed a revised and
reduced question set. They
are now mapping the ques-
tions to the state database.
The DWA is assisting the state
in its customization efforts.
SDWIS/STATE Bridge
The DWA is also supporting
the building of a "bridge" from
the ESS software to the Safe
Drinking Water Information
System (SDWIS). This bridge
will allow data to be trans-
ferred in both directions: from
SDWIS to the ESS and from
the ESS to SDWIS. Work on
this project is expected to be
complete by late summer, i*
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Summer 2004
DWA SOLICITS INTEREST IN
INTERNATIONAL WORK GROUP
Working to revitalize the
DWA's efforts to bring
training to non-English-
speaking audiences at home
and abroad, Mario Salazar is
seeking participants to join
representatives of the DWA
Advisory Board from EPA
Regions 2, 4, 6, and 9 and
from the Border States on the
Advisory Board's international
work group.
The DWA Advisory Board
formed the workgroup to
advise on training issues
related to speakers of
languages other than English
in the United States and
abroad. The group initially
worked to have the DWA
translate two courses into
Spanish and present them in
Puerto Rico.
Recent DWA activity in this
area includes completing the
Spanish translation of two
DRINKING WATER ACADEMY CONTACTS
Contact
Jackie LeClair
Norma Ortega
Rick Rogers
Janine Morris
Bill Spaulding
Bill Davis
Stephanie Lindberg
Dan Jackson
Barry Pollock
Bill Chamberlain
Mark Anderson
James Weddell
Stew Thornley
Murlene Lash
Mario Salazar
James Bourne
Location Telephone E-mail
EPA Region 1 (617)918-1549 leclair.jackie@epa.gov
EPA Region 2 (212)637-4234 ortega.norma@epa.gov
EPA Region 3 (215)814-5711 rogers.rick@epa.gov
EPA Region 4 (404) 562-9480 morris.janine@epa.gov
EPA Region 5 (312)886-9262 spaulding.william@epa.gov
EPA Region 6 (214)665-7536 davis.williamh@epa.gov
EPA Region 7 (913)551-7423 lindberg.stephanie@epa.gov
EPA Region 8 (303)312-6155 jackson.dan@epa.gov
EPA Region 9 (415)972-3563 pollock.barry@epa.gov
EPA Region 10 (206)553-8515 chamberlain.william@epa.gov
Virginia (804) 786-5569 manderson@vdh.state.va.us
Texas (512)239-4798 jweddell@tnrcc.state.tx.us
Minnesota (651)215-0771 stew.thornley@health.state.mn.us
EPA HQ (202)564-3818 lash.murlene@epa.gov
EPA HQ (202) 564-3894 salazar.mario@epa.gov
EPA HQ (202) 564-4095 bourne.james@epa.gov
courses, Introduction to the
Public Water System Supervi-
sion Program and Introduction
to EPA's Source Water
Protection Programs. When
complete, they will be put on
the DWA Web site. In
addition, Puerto Rico has
requested a presentation of
the UIC Inspector Training
course, which will require
updating the Spanish language
Anyone interested in partici-
pating is asked to contact
Mario at (202) 564-3894 or
salazar.mario@epa.gov. i*
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Summer 2004
TRAINING COURSE SCHEDULE
Course Title
Radionuclides Rule
Audience Schedule
State personnel, Aug. 4, 2004
technical assistance
providers, and
system operators
Location Contact
Web Conference State coordinator
Arsenic Rule
State personnel,
technical assistance
providers, and
system operators
Sept. 15, 2004
Web Conference State coordinator
Introduction to EPA's
Drinking Water Source
Protection Programs
State source water Sept. 15, 2004
protection staff
Web Conference dwaweb.conference@epa.gov
Introduction to the Safe
Drinking Water Act
EPA and state Sept. 29, 2004 Web Conference dwaweb.conference@epa.gov
drinking water staff
Arsenic Rule
State personnel, Oct. 20, 2004
technical assistance
providers, and
system operators
Web Conference State coordinator
Introduction to the
Underground Injection
Control (UIC) Program
American Government
Roles
Security Considerations
When Conducting a
Sanitary Survey
Overview of the Clean
Water Act and the Safe
Drinking Water Act
EPA and state UIC
staff
New federal
employees
State sanitary
survey inspectors
New federal
employees
Oct. 20 - 27, 2004 Web Conference dwaweb.conference@epa,
Nov. 2 & 3, 2004 Washington, DC Jamie Bourne
(202) 564-4095
bourne.james@epa.gov
Nov. 10, 2004 Web Conference dwaweb.conference@epa,
Dec. 7-9, 2004 Washington, DC Jamie Bourne
(202) 564-4095
bourne.james@epa.gov
gov
gov
DWA courses may be presented as requested. See the course catalog on the DWA Web site for more information (www.epa.gov/
safewater/dwa/course.html).
Office of Water (4606)
EPA 816-N-03-005
www.epa.gov
Summer 2004
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