The Northern Guam Lens Aquifer Tour 2024
Register for the tour
This tour offers continuing education units (CEU’s) for educators and professionals. Please note that capacity for this tour is limited to 50 people on a first come, first served basis.
The Northern Guam Lens Aquifer Tour takes you to four sites, each of which is an example of the four basic components of the Northern Guam Lens Aquifer. Before embarking on the fieldtrip to these sites, the tour begins with a virtual tour of the NGLA, which is a computer graphics 3D model of the hydrology of Guam. During the field trip experience, we observe and discuss the geological features that form the aquifer components and the hydrological properties that allow water to flow through.
For more information, please contact the Ms. Amanda Blas from UOG’s Global Learning & Engagement office at blasa7111@triton.uog.edu or by calling (671) 735-2600/1. Visit GLE’s website: https://www.uog.edu/gle/. Visit WERI’s website: https://weri.uog.edu/.
What To Expect
What To Wear
What Is Provided
Tour Itinerary
Downloadables: Brochures, Infographics & Maps
Bottled water will be available. No restrooms will be available except at Stops 3 (Agana Shopping Center) and 5 (Mataguac Hill).
There will be no hiking, but participants are advised to wear appropriate casual field clothes, headgear, and footwear. Be prepared for intense sunlight. Hats and sunscreen are advised.
In compliance to MSHA (Mine Safety & Health Administration), participants are required to wear hard hats, safety vests, and closed-toe shoes (e.g., sneakers) at the quarry. Hard hats and safety vests will be provided on site. Sunglasses are also advised at the quarry.
For the visit at Mataguac Hill, bugs spray/repellent is advised.
Required Attire
- Closed-toe shoes (e.g., sneakers)
- Pants
Optional Items
- Sunglasses
- Hats
- Sunscreen
- Bugs spray/repellent
- Umbrellas
- Hard hats
- Safety vests
- Water
Start – Participants meet at UOG Room 131 at the School of Business and Public Administration building for NGLA Virtual Tour and departure
Stop 1 – Channel 10, Mt. Alutom (The Floor of the Aquifer)
Stop 2 – Agana Shopping Center (Break for lunch, restrooms)
Stop 3 – DPW Quarry, Dededo (The Core of the Aquifer)
Stop 4 – Mataguac Hill Peace Memorial Park, Yigo (The Plumbing of the Aquifer)
Stop 5 – Mt. Santa Rosa (The Roof of the Aquifer)
End – Participants return to the point of departure, UOG SBPA
What To Expect
An MSHA (Mine Safety & Health Administration) form is required and must be completed prior to visiting the quarry. Download the form here.
Bottled water will be available. No restrooms will be available except at Stops 3 (Agana Shopping Center) and 5 (Mataguac Hill).
There will be no hiking, but participants are advised to wear appropriate casual field clothes, headgear, and footwear. Be prepared for intense sunlight. Sunglasses are advisable for the visit to the DPW Quarry.
What To Wear
Required Attire
- Closed-toe shoes
- Pants
Optional Items
- Sunglasses
- Hats
- Sunscreen
- Bug spray/repellent
What Is Provided
- Hard hats
- Safety vests
- Umbrellas
- Water
Tour Itinerary
Start – Participants meet at UOG Room 131 at the School of Business and Public Administration building for NGLA Virtual Tour and departure
Stop 1 – Channel 10, Mt. Alutom (The Floor of the Aquifer)
Stop 2 – Agana Shopping Center (Break for lunch, restrooms)
Stop 3 – DPW Quarry, Dededo (The Core of the Aquifer)
Stop 4 – Mataguac Hill Peace Memorial Park, Yigo (The Plumbing of the Aquifer)
Stop 5 – Mt. Santa Rosa (The Roof of the Aquifer)
End – Participants return to the point of departure, UOG SBPA
Downloadables: Brochures, Infographics & Maps
2023 Guam WERI Advisory Council Meeting
November 30, 2023 ·Doors open 8:30 AM · Starts 9:00AM to 2:00PM · Unnai Ballroom 3rd Floor,
The Westin Resort Guam, Tumon
The 2023 Guam WERI Water Advisory Council meeting agenda will include general introduction of participants, remarks by our new WERI Director, progress reports on ongoing projects by principal investigators and students, discussion of research, education, and training needs, open discussion, and feedback. Refreshments and lunch buffet will be provided.
Presentations are now available on the GHS website.
In 2020, Guam Waterworks Authority’s (GWA) General Manager Miguel Bordallo and NAVFAC Marianas (NAVFACMAR) Navy Commanding Officer Captain Daniel Turner signed a One-Guam Water memorandum of understanding (MOU) that establishes, “a stronger partnership and collaborative commitment to the improvement of its utility system”
(PNC 2020). The MOU lays out an organizational structure, which includes scientifically informed advisement from the Island’s technical experts on water resources, including the Water and Environmental Research Institute of the Western Pacific (WERI), University of Guam (UOG). In 2022, GWA, NAVFACMAR, UOG, and USGS signed memorandums of agreement (MOA-GWA, MOA-DOD), bolstering One-Guam Water with OGWRIP, which funds water science research operations to be conducted and managed by WERI and USGS’ (Hawaii) Pacific Islands Water Science Center (PIWSC).
The Guam Hydrologic Survey and Comprehensive Water Monitoring Program (GHS and CWMP), Guam Public Laws 24-247 and 24-161, respectively, were established to develop an inter-agency cooperation for gathering and publicly providing water and environmental information. The ultimate goal is to support our quest of determining sustainable development and management of our island’s most valuable renewable resource, water. The mandate intent is to form a network that will help us improve our understanding of our water resources through data collection, analysis, interpretation, recommendations, reports, and presentation in all efforts to determine its optimum development for sustainable utility. GHS and CWMP contains the island’s collection of water resource and related hydrologic and environmental information by way of an organized online database system. Read more >>
Get the PDF files:
Guam Hydrologic Survey – Guam Public Law 24-247
Comprehensive Water Monitoring Program – Guam Public Law 24-161
Sustainable Development and Management of Guam’s Groundwater: A Recommended Program – Executive Summary
Water and Environmental Research Institute of the Western Pacific (WERI), University of Guam (UOG), is charged with administering the GHS and CWMP. Annual reports are prepared for the years:
FY1998 Jenson and Jocson (1998) Hydrologic Data Collection on Guam: FY1998 Report, Technical Report No. 83
FY2019 · FY2018 · FY2017 · FY2016 · FY2015 · FY2014 · FY2013 · FY2012 · FY2011 · FY2010 · FY2009 · FY2008 · FY2007 · FY2006 · FY2005
WERI Publications, Conferences, Products, Presentations, and GHS sponsored research products – annual listing, 2020-1998.
WERI is also a member of the local water resource interagency organization called the Technical Experts Group (TEG) and the Groundwater Resource Development Group (GWRDG) establish by the 16 July 2010 Memorandum of Understanding between the US Navy and Guam Waterworks Authority (Appendix I). The MOU provides an additional venue for meeting the GHS and CWMP mandates to “establish a direct working relationship with each organization collecting hydrologic data important to Guam, and maintain a permanent flow of new data from each organization to keep the data library up to date.” Local and federal agencies that are party to or affected by the MOU include Guam Waterworks Authority, Guam Environmental Protection Agency, CUC, US Navy (NAVFACMAR), USAF (36 CES), and USGS. Interagency groups also include private consultants: Duenas Camacho and Associates, Allied Pacific Environmental Consultant (APEC), EA Engineering, Brown and Caldwell, and AECOM. Meetings are organized and held quarterly at Guam Waterworks Authority (Gloria B. Nelson Public Service Building), Fadian. Current discussion is the expansion of monitoring (observation) wells, see details in CWMP Research Projects section. The interagency group organization, formed of three groups: executive, working, working group, and the technical team (See the GHS and GWRDG organization chart>>).
The inter-agency group meets quarterly to discuss concerns, pool resources, share ideas, provide update, consult, and gain professional acquaintance and partnerships. Here is a list of agencies in attendance:
Government of Guam:
GWA – Guam Waterworks Authority
GEPA – Guam Environmental Protection Agency
GCUC – Guam Consolidated Commission on Utilities
GBSP – Guam Bureau of Statistics and Plans
GDPW – Guam Department of Public Works
GPUC – Guam Public Utilities Commission
NGSWCD – Northern Guam Soil Water Conservation District
UOG – University of Guam
WERI – Water and Environmental Research Institute of the Western Pacific
US Federal:
USGS PIWSC – US Geologic Survey, Pacific Islands Water Science Center
NAVFAC Marianas – Naval Facilility Command Marianas, US Navy, Guam
36th CE – Environmental Flight, 36 CE SQ, USAF, Andersen AFB, Guam
Private Sector:
AECOM – Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Operations, and Management: Guam Expansion Project
APDI – Allied Pacific Drilling Inc.
APEC – Allied Pacific Environmental Consulting, Inc.
B & C – Brown and Caldwell: Essential Ingredients®
DCA – Duenas, Camacho and Associates, Inc.
GHD – Gutteridge Haskins & Davey
GWK – Guam Water Kids
IREI – Island Research and Educational Initiative
PCR – PCR Environmental, Inc.
Guam Water Resources Technical Experts Operating Charter (near Final Draft)
The Guam Water Resources Technical Experts plan and cooperate towards the best technical solutions and advice in support of sustainable development and management (See Draft of the GWRTE Operating Charter >>).
The operating charter includes the following agencies:
- Guam Waterworks Authority
- Guam Environmental Protection Agency
- Guam Department of Public Works
- Water and Environmental Research Institute of the Western Pacific
- Department of Navy, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Marianas
- United States Geological Survey
GWA and WERI
GWA and WERI have a great interagency partnership for more than several decades now. We continue to work together and have formed an agreement to expand the Northern Guam Lens Aquifer (NGLA).
See GWA-WERI Memorandum of Agreement >>
See GWA-WERI Memorandum of Understanding >>
GEPA and WERI
WERI and GEPA also have a long history of cooperative partnership through research projects (e.g. GWUDI determination, septic tank survey…), data contribution, water quality lab, scientific advise and recommendations, and field surveys. A memorandum of understanding has been discussed and a document similar to GWA-WERI MOA is in the works and will be done soon.
Mission Statement
The Guam Hydrologic Survey (GHS) and the Comprehensive Water Monitoring Program (CWMP) were created in 1998 by the 24th Guam Legislature under Public Laws No. 24-247 and 24-161, respectively. The Water and Environmental Research Institute (WERI) was charged with administering the annual legislative appropriations to drive these two programs and facilitate, direct, and implement their objectives. Both programs are now an integral component of water resources research, information dissemination, education and training on Guam.
Goals
The Guam Hydrologic Survey consolidates and archives new and historical hydrological data collected by local and federal government agencies and private consultants, and conducts research on water-related issues of local importance. GHS also funds a variety of water resource educational programs, including guest lectures and seminars at UOG and in the community, informational and training workshops for teachers and other professionals, field trips and talks for schoolchildren, and the publication and distribution of educational posters, maps, and fact sheets.
The CWMP was created to collect data on saltwater intrusion and water lens thickness in Guam’s northern aquifer, and stream flow for surface waters in the south. The program builds on studies previously undertaken by the US Geological Survey (USGS) that had been abandoned in the 1990s because of a discontinuance of matching funds from the Government of Guam. The CWMP annual appropriations from the Guam legislature restored the program in 1998 and since then have facilitated the collaborative reinstatement of these studies with USGS under their 50-50 Federal/State-Territory cost-sharing program for water resource monitoring.
The foresight of the Guam Legislature in creating these two very important programs deserves special mention here. With the continued support of the Legislature, we now maintain several vital water resources databases for Guam and collect essential water resource data in collaboration with the USGS. Our understanding of the complex physical, chemical and biological processes that influence Guam’s water resources has broadened considerably and the increase in graduate student research opportunities has substantially added to the number of highly trained water resources professionals in the island’s technical work force.