KAI. RIsOIRdS AND THE ENVIRONMENT 



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was based on hearings which the subcommittee had held in the fall of 

 1976, dealing primarily with municipal wastewater treatment R. & D. 

 In transmitting the report, Brown mentioned: 



It is my intention that our subcommittee delve more deeply into environmental 

 research related to water quality, sewage treatment, groundwater, drinking water 

 and related topics. 



GROUNDWATER R. & D. 



Ambro and Watkins were especially interested in groundwater 

 improvements. In June 1977, four of the seven water wells in Glen 

 Cove, N.Y., were closed by the Nassau County Health Department, 

 and the Glen Cove officials turned to their Congressman, Ambro, for 

 both help and clarification. Watkins' interest was enhanced by the 

 fact that EPA's Robert S. Kerr Environmental Research Laboratory, 

 their principal groundwater research laboratory, was located in his 

 hometown of Ada, Okla. 



In February 1978, the subcommittee staff organized an informal 

 interagency task force comprised of Federal and State representatives 

 to identify ongoing groundwater R. & D., to suggest methods for 

 filling the gaps, and to recommend procedures and mechanisms which 

 could be incorporated into legislation to help solve these problems. 

 Yacov Y. Haimes, an American Geophysical Union Fellow working 

 with the subcommittee, helped sparkplug the task force work. 



Ambro presided over field hearings held in Glen Cove as a case 

 study to investigate the groundwater problems facing many commu- 

 nities throughout the Nation. There the subcommittee discovered the 

 catch-22 situation confronting a mayor whose water wells were ordered 

 to be closed when it was discovered they had traces of trichloroethylene 

 and tetrachloroethylene, possible carcinogens. Hon. Vincent A. Suozzi, 

 mayor of Glen Cove, told the subcommittee: 



We're not quite sure how much of these two substances the water in these four 

 wells contains because tests of water samples continually turn up different levels. 

 We're not even quite sure what levels of these two substances might be dangerous or 

 even how dangerous these substances could be because the State, the Federal Govern- 

 ment, and private organizations can't seem to agree on either of these two factors. 



Later in April, the subcommittee solicited agency comments on 

 the need for more groundwater R. & D. at two days of hearings. Along 

 with the hearings, the subcommittee sponsored a workshop which 

 included groundwater experts representing nine Federal and State 

 agencies, a trade association, a consulting firm and the university 

 community. The workshop also zeroed in on possible legislation, 

 which served as a lever to get the various agencies to talk frankly and 

 informally with each other — much as they had with the proposal for 

 the NOAA organic act. It soon developed that a form of coordination 

 began to appear even without legislation, as the principals from the 

 various agencies began to interact personally. 



