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* ------- 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* ------- 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* ------- 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 ------- |