Household well owners in Texas are responsible for ensuring that their well water is safe to drin... more Household well owners in Texas are responsible for ensuring that their well water is safe to drink. People who drink polluted water can become sick and, in some cases, die. Health problems caused by contaminated well water include illnesses from bacteria such as E. coli, “blue baby syndrome,” and arsenic poisoning. Unsafe drinking water from wells is often caused by high concentrations of minerals—such as arsenic and uranium—that occur naturally across Texas. Well water can also be polluted by seepage from failed septic tanks and by synthetic compounds such as fertilizers, gasoline, and pesticides. In Texas, as across the United States, the government does not routinely test household well water to make sure it is safe to drink. The well driller must test it for bacteria when the well is first installed; thereafter, it is the well owner who is responsible for making sure the water is safe. Our water’s quality and quantity are greatly affected by the way we live. If we learn about our water resources and understand how our activities affect them, we can help keep our water safe to drink as well as preserve, protect, and enhance this vital resource.
This publication was created to help Texans keep their well water safe to drink and use. It was w... more This publication was created to help Texans keep their well water safe to drink and use. It was written for the participants in the Texas Well Owner Network (TWON) and Texas residents who depend on household wells for their drinking water. It provides information about Texas groundwater sources, water quality, water treatment, and well maintenance issues.
Spatial data sets to assess the nature of stream groundwater interactions and the resulting power... more Spatial data sets to assess the nature of stream groundwater interactions and the resulting power law/fractal structure of travel time distributions are rare. Spatial data sets can be collected using high technology or by use of a large number of field assistants. The labor intensive way is expensive unless the public can be enlisted as citizen scientists to gather large, robust, spatial data sets robustly and cheaply. Such an effort requires public interest and the ability of a few to organize such an effort at a basin if not regional scale. The San Pedro basin offers such an opportunity for citizen science due to the water resource restrictions of the basins semi-arid climate. Since 1999 The Nature Conservancy, in cooperation with the Upper San Pedro Partnership, the public at large and various university and federal science agency participants, has been mapping where the San Pedro River has water present versus where it is dry. This mapping has used an army of volunteers armed wi...
Revisions to the Safe Drinking Water Act by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 exempted key aspects of... more Revisions to the Safe Drinking Water Act by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 exempted key aspects of hydraulic fracturing from rules that had previously regulated the injection of fluids underground. Texas is the first state in the United States to require public disclosure of the chemicals used in the process, but private domestic well owners will remain responsible for the monitoring of their own wells to ensure safe drinking water.
Changes to the Rules and Regulations and the Rules of Practice and Procedure of the Colorado Oil ... more Changes to the Rules and Regulations and the Rules of Practice and Procedure of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) have become necessary to comply with the 1990 Memorandum of Agreement between the Water Quality Control Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment and the COGCC. New language is necessary as a result of the need for groundwater protection in sensitive areas where the construction of unlined pits are thought to contribute to the degradation of water quality. This paper introduces an aquifer vulnerability indexing approach to mapping geologic susceptibility to groundwater contamination which will reduce the subjective error inherent to environmental assessments, and economically increase the accuracy of individual well site characterization.
Two relatively simple and inexpensive investigative techniques have been successfully implemented... more Two relatively simple and inexpensive investigative techniques have been successfully implemented to assess the degree of hydraulic communication between a shallow aquifer and an adjacent surface water drainage feature. In the two research locations, the extent of the dynamic mixing and interrelationship between surface and groundwater had not been anticipated by the site investigators.
The Southwest is a rapidly growing region and because of this numerous environmental problems rel... more The Southwest is a rapidly growing region and because of this numerous environmental problems relating to degraded water quality. Watershed groups, land managers, and private citizens are often faced with the burden of finding solutions to combat these pollution problems. Currently, the literature for arid/semi-arid climate does not reflect the amount of problems/solutions that groups from this region encounter. There
Mapped extent of stream flow in Arizona dependent on discharge of treated municipal waste water f... more Mapped extent of stream flow in Arizona dependent on discharge of treated municipal waste water from permitted AzPDES locations, companion publication to: 1Rock, Channah, Kristine Uhlman, Susanna Eden, Shawn Newell, Erin Westfall, and Margaret White, 2009, Survey of Public Perceptions Regarding Water Reuse in Arizona: Challenges and Opportunities.
Arizona NEMO has developed a mapping protocol and GIS data management and processing methodology ... more Arizona NEMO has developed a mapping protocol and GIS data management and processing methodology to record the changing perennial reaches of Arizona Rivers. Built on a local community volunteer monitoring program that has gathered on the third Saturday of June since 1999 to record where water flows in the SanPedroRiver, NEMO Wet/Dry has formalized the volunteer monitoring program and expanded the activity across Arizona. The NEMO research / outreach educational program is directed toward land-use decision-makers, watershed partnerships, environmental and community organizations, and the interested public. NEMO’s goal is to train watershed partnerships to initiate – and sustain – yearly Wet/Dry mapping so as to monitor the health of Arizona rivers. The goal of yearly monitoring is to create a long-term record of changes in river flow - while the record of any single year is interesting it is a record for multiple years that may tell what is really happening to the flow in the river. ...
Increasing demands on limited water resources have made wastewater reclamation for municipal irri... more Increasing demands on limited water resources have made wastewater reclamation for municipal irrigation an attractive option for extending water supplies in the semiarid Southwest. However, public concerns remain about the potential risks of human contact with reclaimed water used for irrigating public and recreational areas. This study focused on identifying public perceptions regarding wastewater reuse and how these may affect current and future utilization of the resource. The objectives were achieved by using survey techniques to assess the publics perception and opinion relating to reclaimed water and water reuse. The project team, funded by the Arizona Water Institute, commissioned the Social Research Laboratory at Northern Arizona University to conduct a telephone survey of Arizona residents. The survey was conducted between September 27 and October 2, 2008, with 400 randomly-selected Arizona residents. In general, survey results indicated Arizona residents feel that it is im...
Nitrate is a common contaminant in ground water in Arizona, exceeding maximum contaminant levels ... more Nitrate is a common contaminant in ground water in Arizona, exceeding maximum contaminant levels (MCL) in many regions the state. Recently, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) bolstered the Aquifer Protection Permit (APP) rules with provisions intended to reduce or eliminate sources of nitrogen pollution to ground water. To support implementation of this important regulatory approach and other management strategies, the University of Arizona developed a multivariate logistic regression model to predict the probability of nitrate contamination in ground water. Drinking water and other ground water quality data was joined directly with well location data, with a final data set of 6,802 wells across the state with unique locations, IDs, and associated nitrate data. Working within a GIS platform, well location data was used to map and attribute a table of hydrogeologic and anthropogenic characteristics from existing data sources for each location. Multivariate logisti...
Household well owners in Texas are responsible for ensuring that their well water is safe to drin... more Household well owners in Texas are responsible for ensuring that their well water is safe to drink. People who drink polluted water can become sick and, in some cases, die. Health problems caused by contaminated well water include illnesses from bacteria such as E. coli, “blue baby syndrome,” and arsenic poisoning. Unsafe drinking water from wells is often caused by high concentrations of minerals—such as arsenic and uranium—that occur naturally across Texas. Well water can also be polluted by seepage from failed septic tanks and by synthetic compounds such as fertilizers, gasoline, and pesticides. In Texas, as across the United States, the government does not routinely test household well water to make sure it is safe to drink. The well driller must test it for bacteria when the well is first installed; thereafter, it is the well owner who is responsible for making sure the water is safe. Our water’s quality and quantity are greatly affected by the way we live. If we learn about our water resources and understand how our activities affect them, we can help keep our water safe to drink as well as preserve, protect, and enhance this vital resource.
This publication was created to help Texans keep their well water safe to drink and use. It was w... more This publication was created to help Texans keep their well water safe to drink and use. It was written for the participants in the Texas Well Owner Network (TWON) and Texas residents who depend on household wells for their drinking water. It provides information about Texas groundwater sources, water quality, water treatment, and well maintenance issues.
Spatial data sets to assess the nature of stream groundwater interactions and the resulting power... more Spatial data sets to assess the nature of stream groundwater interactions and the resulting power law/fractal structure of travel time distributions are rare. Spatial data sets can be collected using high technology or by use of a large number of field assistants. The labor intensive way is expensive unless the public can be enlisted as citizen scientists to gather large, robust, spatial data sets robustly and cheaply. Such an effort requires public interest and the ability of a few to organize such an effort at a basin if not regional scale. The San Pedro basin offers such an opportunity for citizen science due to the water resource restrictions of the basins semi-arid climate. Since 1999 The Nature Conservancy, in cooperation with the Upper San Pedro Partnership, the public at large and various university and federal science agency participants, has been mapping where the San Pedro River has water present versus where it is dry. This mapping has used an army of volunteers armed wi...
Revisions to the Safe Drinking Water Act by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 exempted key aspects of... more Revisions to the Safe Drinking Water Act by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 exempted key aspects of hydraulic fracturing from rules that had previously regulated the injection of fluids underground. Texas is the first state in the United States to require public disclosure of the chemicals used in the process, but private domestic well owners will remain responsible for the monitoring of their own wells to ensure safe drinking water.
Changes to the Rules and Regulations and the Rules of Practice and Procedure of the Colorado Oil ... more Changes to the Rules and Regulations and the Rules of Practice and Procedure of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) have become necessary to comply with the 1990 Memorandum of Agreement between the Water Quality Control Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment and the COGCC. New language is necessary as a result of the need for groundwater protection in sensitive areas where the construction of unlined pits are thought to contribute to the degradation of water quality. This paper introduces an aquifer vulnerability indexing approach to mapping geologic susceptibility to groundwater contamination which will reduce the subjective error inherent to environmental assessments, and economically increase the accuracy of individual well site characterization.
Two relatively simple and inexpensive investigative techniques have been successfully implemented... more Two relatively simple and inexpensive investigative techniques have been successfully implemented to assess the degree of hydraulic communication between a shallow aquifer and an adjacent surface water drainage feature. In the two research locations, the extent of the dynamic mixing and interrelationship between surface and groundwater had not been anticipated by the site investigators.
The Southwest is a rapidly growing region and because of this numerous environmental problems rel... more The Southwest is a rapidly growing region and because of this numerous environmental problems relating to degraded water quality. Watershed groups, land managers, and private citizens are often faced with the burden of finding solutions to combat these pollution problems. Currently, the literature for arid/semi-arid climate does not reflect the amount of problems/solutions that groups from this region encounter. There
Mapped extent of stream flow in Arizona dependent on discharge of treated municipal waste water f... more Mapped extent of stream flow in Arizona dependent on discharge of treated municipal waste water from permitted AzPDES locations, companion publication to: 1Rock, Channah, Kristine Uhlman, Susanna Eden, Shawn Newell, Erin Westfall, and Margaret White, 2009, Survey of Public Perceptions Regarding Water Reuse in Arizona: Challenges and Opportunities.
Arizona NEMO has developed a mapping protocol and GIS data management and processing methodology ... more Arizona NEMO has developed a mapping protocol and GIS data management and processing methodology to record the changing perennial reaches of Arizona Rivers. Built on a local community volunteer monitoring program that has gathered on the third Saturday of June since 1999 to record where water flows in the SanPedroRiver, NEMO Wet/Dry has formalized the volunteer monitoring program and expanded the activity across Arizona. The NEMO research / outreach educational program is directed toward land-use decision-makers, watershed partnerships, environmental and community organizations, and the interested public. NEMO’s goal is to train watershed partnerships to initiate – and sustain – yearly Wet/Dry mapping so as to monitor the health of Arizona rivers. The goal of yearly monitoring is to create a long-term record of changes in river flow - while the record of any single year is interesting it is a record for multiple years that may tell what is really happening to the flow in the river. ...
Increasing demands on limited water resources have made wastewater reclamation for municipal irri... more Increasing demands on limited water resources have made wastewater reclamation for municipal irrigation an attractive option for extending water supplies in the semiarid Southwest. However, public concerns remain about the potential risks of human contact with reclaimed water used for irrigating public and recreational areas. This study focused on identifying public perceptions regarding wastewater reuse and how these may affect current and future utilization of the resource. The objectives were achieved by using survey techniques to assess the publics perception and opinion relating to reclaimed water and water reuse. The project team, funded by the Arizona Water Institute, commissioned the Social Research Laboratory at Northern Arizona University to conduct a telephone survey of Arizona residents. The survey was conducted between September 27 and October 2, 2008, with 400 randomly-selected Arizona residents. In general, survey results indicated Arizona residents feel that it is im...
Nitrate is a common contaminant in ground water in Arizona, exceeding maximum contaminant levels ... more Nitrate is a common contaminant in ground water in Arizona, exceeding maximum contaminant levels (MCL) in many regions the state. Recently, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) bolstered the Aquifer Protection Permit (APP) rules with provisions intended to reduce or eliminate sources of nitrogen pollution to ground water. To support implementation of this important regulatory approach and other management strategies, the University of Arizona developed a multivariate logistic regression model to predict the probability of nitrate contamination in ground water. Drinking water and other ground water quality data was joined directly with well location data, with a final data set of 6,802 wells across the state with unique locations, IDs, and associated nitrate data. Working within a GIS platform, well location data was used to map and attribute a table of hydrogeologic and anthropogenic characteristics from existing data sources for each location. Multivariate logisti...
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Papers by Kristine Uhlman
polluted water can become sick and, in some cases, die. Health problems caused by contaminated well water include illnesses from bacteria such as E. coli, “blue baby syndrome,” and arsenic poisoning. Unsafe drinking water from wells is often caused by high concentrations of minerals—such as
arsenic and uranium—that occur naturally across Texas. Well water can also be polluted by seepage from failed septic tanks and by synthetic compounds such as fertilizers, gasoline, and pesticides. In Texas, as across the United States, the government does not routinely test household well water
to make sure it is safe to drink. The well driller
must test it for bacteria when the well is first installed; thereafter, it is the well owner who is responsible for making sure the water is safe. Our water’s quality and quantity are greatly affected by the way we live. If we learn about our
water resources and understand how our activities affect them, we can help keep our water safe to drink as well as preserve, protect, and enhance this vital resource.
who depend on household wells for their drinking water. It provides information about Texas groundwater sources, water quality, water treatment, and well maintenance issues.
polluted water can become sick and, in some cases, die. Health problems caused by contaminated well water include illnesses from bacteria such as E. coli, “blue baby syndrome,” and arsenic poisoning. Unsafe drinking water from wells is often caused by high concentrations of minerals—such as
arsenic and uranium—that occur naturally across Texas. Well water can also be polluted by seepage from failed septic tanks and by synthetic compounds such as fertilizers, gasoline, and pesticides. In Texas, as across the United States, the government does not routinely test household well water
to make sure it is safe to drink. The well driller
must test it for bacteria when the well is first installed; thereafter, it is the well owner who is responsible for making sure the water is safe. Our water’s quality and quantity are greatly affected by the way we live. If we learn about our
water resources and understand how our activities affect them, we can help keep our water safe to drink as well as preserve, protect, and enhance this vital resource.
who depend on household wells for their drinking water. It provides information about Texas groundwater sources, water quality, water treatment, and well maintenance issues.