News Associations
OGWA board elects to work with My Water Quality after years with Well Wise program

The Ontario Ground Water Association has noted several highlights from its April 27 board meeting.

Among the highlights:

• approval to hire summer student for eight weeks, paid by federal government
• summary of revenues and expenses for January to March; the report also included revenues and expenses from the AGM
• several committee updates were heard, with committee chairs seeking ideas for the annual convention, bylaws, advocacy for OGWA, golf tournament, etc; any ideas from the membership are welcome, and should be directed to the OGWA office or the committee chairs
• after several years working on the Well Wise Water Testing program, the demand for OGWA assistance is now very low; the board decided to end OGWA’s water testing program, and work with with My Water Quality (mywaterquality.ca) organization and support their efforts; the president will be in contact with that organization and its coordinator, Tecia White, who is also on the board of OGWA
• a competency questionnaire will be sent to all directors; OGWA members have extensive knowledge in many areas, and the board is looking at using that knowledge when asked for representation on outside agencies, planning issues, committee work, etc.; non-director members wishing to sit on committees will be asked to complete the same questions.
• University of Guelph is seeking funding to update the 2003 publication, “Best Management Practices – Water Wells.”  OGWA was asked to be part of this study. OGWA will work with U of G to identify potential members to be on this project.  BMPs can vary somewhat across Ontario, and OGWA will try to get geographic representation on the study. If any member is approached by U of G, let the president or OGWA office know.

For more information on any of these items, queries can be directed to Anne Gammage at anne@ogwa.ca or Dennis O’Grady at dennis@ogwa.ca