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. . . ~ area-specific data. A network of four weighing bucket rain gages will be the primary source of precipitation data. To suppiement these gages, ten additional sites will be selected for the placement of recording tipping bucket rain gages. Because these gages can only measure rain and not snow, volunteers will maintain snow tables at the sites to provide a continuous record of precipitation. The precipitation data can be correlated to the grol!nd-water and surface-water records to provide an enhanced representation of ground-water supply and movement. Another aspect of a monitoring program is the water-quality monitoring. Because of the nature of individual septic systems, there is a potential for contamination of nearby, downgradient ground-water wells. In addition, the continual return of sewage degradation products along with organic and chemical fertilizers can eventually raise nitrate/nitrite concentrations above the Environmental Protection Agency's Maximum Contamination Levels. These concentrations, however, are linked to the amount of water in the system at the time of sampling. Ground-water samples collected in the spring during runoff are hard to compare to samples collected in the fall or winter when ground-water levels are typically low. A well planned water-quality monitoring program will reveal trends in water-quality, providing important planning information for future decisions. The planned water-quality monitoring program for the Turkey Creek drainage area including a minimum of sampling for physical parameters (temperature, specific conductance, pH, and dissolved oxygen), anions and cations (provides general information about the aquifer), nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous compounds), total organic carbon, alkalinity, and the presence or absence of total and escherichia coliform bacteria. All of the data obtained from the monitoring program will be recorded and maintained in the database and incorporated into the GIS coverage for the study. Short- and long-term trends can be shown with GIS generated images. E.3. Modeling the ground water resource Mathematical modeling of ground-water flow provides a means of simulating how the water resources of an area could be affected by hydrologic stress such as climate change, increased pumping from new developments, or conversion of individual septic systems to municipal sewers. Models simulate the actions of the ground-water system and allow the user to test the hydrologic effects of various projects or developments before they are built. Understanding how the water resources of the County or local area respond to hydrologic changes provides a powerful tool that County planners and commissioners could use in evaluating growth and management _issues. A better understanding of the fracture system will be required in order to produce an accurate model. This may be as basic as an estimate of well yield (available from the State Engineer's Office or performing aquifer tests of selected wells) to a detailed study of the fracture patterns using geophysical techniques. F. Schedule Much of the data needed to define the various components of a water budget for the pilot area must be collected during a period of a least 1 year to account for seasonal variations. During the first year, existing information has been incorporated into a GIS coverage, a network of wells has been selected (additional wells are still needed), the surface-water gage was installed on Turkey Creek, precipitation gages were installed (additional gages will be installed prior to the beginning of the snow season), field data collection (water levels are being collected and water quality samples will be collected), and a summary of the year's effort will be presented to the County Commissioners. During a second year geostatistics will be used to determine a monitoring network, additional 4