Domestic Well Database

START DATE: 20-MAY-2004 

END DATE: 30-SEP-2006 

PROJECT NUMBER: 2454BII 

STUDY OBJECTIVES:  

The overall objective of this project is to provide advice to the DEP on improving the private well data system. 

1. Provide assistance in defining the current requirements for the data system. 
2. Review the existing database design and supporting applications. 
3. Provide advice and assistance during the upgrade of the data system. 
4. Provide an evaluation of the existing data system and guidance on the most effective and efficient ways the existing system can be used until the upgraded system is operational. 

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM:  

The DEP receives the PWTA testing data electronically from certified New Jersey laboratories that are given special access to submit these testing results. This is one of the first programs within the DEP to receive analytical data from laboratories through an electronic portal. However, this data enters the PWTA database with minimal quality control or quality assurance reviews. As a result, errors are introduced into the database and relationships between various bits of information are not properly formed, thus limiting the types of analyses and evaluations that can be performed on the data. 

The data collected under the PWTA Program represents the most extensive body of analytical results collected from private wells in New Jersey. Increasing demands for the analysis of this data, from both a public health perspective and as a tool for evaluating the groundwater quality of sources supplying small domestic wells, require the DEP to restructure the existing data system. Because USGS has expertise in environmental data management and an interest in well data, the DEP has requested that the USGS participate as a technical advisor in the process of upgrading the existing data system. 

STRATEGY AND APPROACH:  

The work will consist of meetings, computing time during evaluations, assistance on the efficient use of the current data system and tools, and producing written communications of evaluations and recommendations. 

The work will be done primarily onsite at DEP. The USGS will work directly with DEP staff responsible for the design and operation of the PWTA data system, and with those DEP staff responsible for the retrieval and analysis of the private-well water-quality data. 

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