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Hydrologic Data Collection on Guam: FY1998 Report
by: John W. Jenson & John M. U. Jocson, eds.
Contents
Introduction
This is the first annual report from the Guam Hydrologic Survey (GHS) Program at WERI on the status of hydrologic data collection on Guam. It documents what data are being collected, by whom, and how. The purpose of this report is to provide a concise reference to enable people interested in obtaining current hydrologic data on Guam to quickly and easily locate the sources and determine what is available. It is intended to support not only scientists and engineers working on local problems, but policy-makers and planners, regulators, educators, and interested citizens. Besides being published in printed form as a WERI technical report, this report will be maintained in the GHS Water Resources Library at WERI which can be accessed from the Guam Hydrologic Survey web page (http://uog2.uog.edu/weri/ghs/). Comments and suggestions regarding this report should be directed to the Program Manager, Guam Hydrologic Survey, WERI, University of Guam, or via email to GHS(weriguam)uog.edu?subject=Contact - WeriGuam.
The Guam Hydrologic Survey program was initially established in September 1997 as part of Public Law 24-59, which designated it to “collect, organize, and evaluate data being collected by the government of Guam and federal agencies regarding the availability and quality of fresh water on Guam, and maintain a centralized data base of key hydrologic information.” WERI was charged to “provide the Governor of Guam, the Guam Environmental Protection Agency, and the Guam Waterworks Authority, and the Guam Legislature and general public timely evaluation and recommendations regarding trends in overall water use and quality.”
Data consolidation began in October 1997, when graduate research assistants at WERI began to visit each data collection activity on the island, locate archives, and set up links to provide continual flow of data to the GHS. Between January and August 1998, members of the GHS research team assembled the Guam Water Resources Data Library. Chapter authors of this report participated in the search for data collection sources and agency points-of-contact, and in the consolidation of the data into the GHS Water Resources Library. Included among the chapter authors are WERI research assistants (Dumaliang, Quenga, Taboroši, and Vann) and graduate students who participated in the UOG Environmental Science Seminar (EV691) during Spring Semester, 1998 (Moran and Wexel).
In April 1998, Public Law 24-161, Drought Management and Comprehensive Water Conservation Plan, mandated that WERI “administer a Comprehensive Monitoring Program regarding data collection on salt water intrusion, water lens thickness in the northern part of Guam, streamflow data in the southern part of Guam, and related matters.” Funding was provided for “the immediate reinstatement and administration of the Comprehensive Monitoring Program with the United States Geological Survey….” The Comprehensive Monitoring Program mandated by PL 24-161 will be administered as a joint WERI/USGS data collection program, in which USGS field workers and WERI faculty, staff, and students will cooperate and the collection and analysis of data on Guam. To support the joint effort, USGS will re-open its Guam Field Office on the University of Guam campus during FY 1999. Field work began in September 1998 will continue through FY1999 to rehabilitate or install new rain gages and pan evaporation stations across the island, rehabilitate or install stream gages and sediment gages in southern Guam, and maintain the tidal gage at the Agana boat basin. Simultaneous work is ongoing to rehabilitate existing groundwater observation wells on northern Guam to monitor groundwater levels and the vertical distribution of chloride in the fresh water lens at selected locations. Appendix I outlines plans for the rehabilitation of the Comprehensive Monitoring Program during FY1998-FY1999.
In August, 1998, the Guam Hydrologic Survey program was permanently established by Public Law 24-247, which charged it with consolidating and analyzing hydrologic data on Guam, conducting research into selected water problems, and producing regular reports on water use, trends, and key concerns regarding Guam’s water resources.
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