1990s WERI - Heitz, Jenson, Khosrowpanah, and Denton
20 Years Ago Today -1998
In 1998, Senators Joanne Salas Brown, Tom Ada, and the late Tony C. Blaz of the 24th Guam Legislature, in accord with Water and Environmental Research Institute, University of Guam, determined that our island’s sustainable management of water resources and future development must include interagency cooperation and access to the most accurate and useful hydrologic information through the Guam Hydrologic Survey Program (GHS) and Comprehensive Water Monitoring Program (CWMP) – Guam P.L. 24-247 and P.L. 24-161. The People of Guam, 24th Guam Legislature, the late Speaker Tony Unpingco, Governor Carl Gutierrez, Committee on Natural Resources, made Guam water information available to everyone. Senate votes: Joanne Brown, Tony Lamorena, Tom Ada, C. Leon Guerrero, Mark Charfauros, Tony Blaz, Antonio Unpingco.
Public Hearing:
Senators: Joanne Brown, Tom Ada, Frank Camacho, and Frank Aguon.
Testimony: Mauryn Quenga, John Jenson, John Jocson, Danko Taborosi, Peter Dumaliang, David Vann, David Dawn, Julianne Duwel, Jesus Salas, and Herbert Johnston.
Memorandums and Statements: Mark Cramer, Galt Siegrist, John Jenson, Julianne Duwel, and John Jocson
34th Guam Legislature
Yearly since, Senator Tom Ada continues to support the island’s hydrologic research, attending WERI’s annual Guam Advisory Council Meeting on water resources and environmental research. In 2015, WERI and Today, the GHS program continues to serve the island as the main source of valuable hydrologic information, most vital for determining protection, sustainability, and best development strategies for our most valuable renewable water resource, the Northern Guam Lens Aquifer. The Northern Guam Lens Aquifer is the most productive source, providing up to 90% of the 45 MGD of utility water. The program has allowed researchers to refine scientific knowledge and develop tools for determining aquifer development. It has paved way for improved scientific investigations covering various fields of study such as groundwater modeling, hydrogeology, toxicology, wastewater, climatology, sustainable management, hydrologic database, and outreach services. The program allowed data collection, screening, organization, availability and access. Interagency cooperation opened information exchange, which means the best analysis, interpretation, and recommendations. 2018, the 34th Guam Legislature continues to make available your access to the Guam Hydrologic Survey. The GHS Program organizes outreach through workshops and executive aquifer tours.
University of Guam's Good to Great (G2G)
GHS is stationed in the University of Guam, managed at the Water and Environmental Research Institute of the Western Pacific. UOG’s President and Senior Vice President, Drs Robert A. Underwood and Anita B. Enriquez, led the university’s Good to Great (G2G) program, which commands excellence for the University of Guam to serve as the island’s forefront and center of knowledge access and database. The GHS program for the G2G initiative is a “silo buster” through its outreach activities and interagency cooperation services. In 2016 fiber optic internet connection, a robust and very fast information transfer network, were made available throughout the campus. GHS program management takes advantage of this technology to develop this website to provide Guam hydro-informatics “big data” to the world.
Outreach Efforts
The GHS outreach program includes the NGLA tour to teach in the field the components of the aquifer. 2017, WERI, the Guam Water Kids, and Department of Education stop at the DPW quarry to see Barrigada Limestone, which is the rock core that bears much of the NGLA’s freshwater lens. The Guam Water Kids is an outreach program of WERI, managed by Ann and Phil Card, that was funded by Triple J Enterprises and Ford Motor Company Conservation & Environmental Grants.
Interagency Cooperation
This section is under construction.