UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Should you be concerned about the quality of your groundwater? How can you keep your well or your community's water supply safe from contamination? A new video from Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences can help you answer these questions.
"When groundwater contamination strikes, today's and tomorrow's users both suffer," says Kelli Martin, senior research technologist in the agricultural and biological engineering department. "Communities need to protect groundwater and keep our water supplies safe."
"Groundwater Protection: Blazing a Healthy Trail" is the second educational video in a four-video series about protecting our valuable water resources. Using creative video techniques and a Western-style theme, this video communicates three technical trail markers that protect groundwater. "It covers physiographic regions and their aquifers, identifying land uses and contaminant flow paths that impact aquifers, and how to develop a community groundwater protection action group," says Martin, who wrote the video's script.
This video is aimed at water supply officials, public educators, cooperative extension personnel, municipal planning officials, school children and older students, and community special interest groups.
Technical advisers for the project included Paul Robillard, associate professor of agricultural engineering; William Sharpe, professor of forest hydrology; and Charles Abdalla, associate professor of agricultural economics and co-director of the Pennsylvania Groundwater Policy Education Project.
"The Case of the Mysterious Groundwater," the first video in the series, is a 16-minute Sherlock Holmes spoof. "It explores the mysteries of our hidden groundwater supplies and puts groundwater myths 'in the slammer,'" Martin says.
The third video, "Groundwater Protection Action Groups: A Roadtrip to Success," takes a road trip with the fictional Riley family as they learn four ways to make a groundwater protection action group successful.
The final video in the series, "Private Well Construction in Pennsylvania: Setting the Standard," explores why proper well construction standards are essential to safeguarding private water supplies.
The video series is funded by Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences and the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. Production services were provided by Shelow-Porterfield Productions of Boalsburg.
For an order form or more information about these videos or groundwater, contact the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 246 Agricultural Engineering Building, University Park, PA 16801; phone 814-8657685; FAX 814-8631031. People with Internet access can visit the department's site on the World Wide Web: http://server.age.psu.edu/.
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EDITORS: For more information, contact Kelli Martin at 814-865-7158.
Contacts: William R. Stotler 814-863-2703 office
Eston Martz Eston_Martz@agcs.cas.psu.edu 814-863-3587 814-865-1068 fax