Cooperative Development of Groundwater Monitoring Guidance in Oregon, 1997 Environmental Conference Proceedings

The Oregon groundwater committee of the National Council of the Paper Industry for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI) developed a groundwater monitoring guidance document in cooperation with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The goal of the guidance is to streamline and simplify the preparation of groundwater monitoring plans. The document contains general guidance on how a groundwater monitoring plan is prepared. It identifies elements that are site-specific and those that are common to most plans. The focus is on sample-collection protocols that are fairly standardized and required in most plans. The protocols were designed to suggest acceptable procedures that yield representative, systematic, and consistent data on groundwater quality, but that allow flexibility for site-specific conditions and improvements in sampling methods and equipment. The involvement of the DEQ from the beginning had several advantages. First, it provided a mechanism to reach agreement on standard procedures. Second, it provided the pulp and paper industry with a document that had already been through agency review. Third it provided a constructive forum where the DEQ could hear the paper industry’s concerns. The time required for preparing sampling and analysis plans has already shortened, as has agency review time. Some companies have used the standard protocols in work with other DEQ departments and other states.