CLASS 5 INJECTION WELLS ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION SOFTWARE

CLASS 5 INJECTION WELLS
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION SOFTWARE.

 B.A. Engel          M.J. Sears           D.D. Jones    R.M. Strickland
Member, ASAE    Student Member, ASAE     Member, ASAE     Member, ASAE

ABSTRACT

Due to the increase in attention to Class 5 wells as a potentially serious groundwater threat, much confusion has developed in the regulated community as well as the general public. The Class 5 well problem affects a large and diverse group of operators. The education of this group to Class 5 definitions, regulations, guidances, and policies is essential to promote compliance. Because of the large number of operators, a highly efficient and cost effective method of educating this group is needed. A hypertext-based educational software program was funded by U.S. EPA and developed by undergraduate students at Purdue University to describe current regulations, policies, and guidances in a step-wise and easily understandable format. The potential dangers of Class 5 wells, the importance of compliance, and the Best Management Practices concept with methods for voluntary compliance, is presented at a level that will reach most audiences. This program is available on floppy disk to inexpensively educate federal, State, and local governments, the large universe of Class 5 operators and interested public. It is available for $15.00 (1993 price) from the Farm Building Plan Service at Purdue University and from several public domain bulletin boards.

Keywords: Groundwater, Computer, Multimedia

INTRODUCTION

The injection of fluids into the earth by means of injection wells is essential to many industries. These industries include petroleum, chemical, food and product manufacture, geothermal energy development, and small specialty plants and retail businesses. Public concern for groundwater quality protection has lead to numerous State and Federal programs. One such program is the Federal Underground Injection Control (UIC) program that was established under the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 (SDWA). The UIC program established minimum state requirements for protection of groundwater from the operation of injection wells. In an effort to provide convenient and readily accessible information about the UIC program and in particular Class V injection wells, a hypermedia computer program was developed in cooperation with U.S. EPA Region 5. The program’s audience includes EPA personnel, federal, state, and local government employees responsible for injection wells, those operating or considering an injection well, and others interested in injection wells. The program uses a hypertext approach (Engel et al., 1990; Gurganus et al., 1992; Rhykerd et al., 1992) to present text and graphics concerning injection wells. This approach for information delivery has proven to be an effective means for delivery of technical information to diverse audiences.

SOFTWARE DESIGN

The program was developed in a manner similar to other hypermedia environmental programs developed at Purdue University (Engel et al., 1990; Adams et al., 1992; Dux et al., 1992; Rhykerd et al, 1992; Engel et al., 1994a; Engel et al., 1994b; Jones et al. 1994a; Jones et al., 1994b). Michael Sears, an undergraduate student in Agricultural Engineering, led program design and programming efforts. In cooperation with EPA, a program outline was developed. Injection well materials were obtained from EPA and other sources. These materials were used to refine the outline and provide source materials for the development of the software. Paper-based graphics and slides provided by EPA were digitized and other graphics were developed using a PC paintbrush package. The Knowledge Pro™ development software (Thompson and Thompson, 1988) was used to construct the Class 5 Injection Well program. Knowledge Pro provides a development environment for constructing hypermedia and expert system applications. Two of its desirable features for this project were its ease of use and no cost runtime distribution policy. The Class 5 Injection Well software was developed on 386 and 486 PC’s.

CLASS 5 INJECTION WELLS PROGRAM CONTENT

Following several introductory screens, the user is presented with a menu from which choices concerning the material to be viewed can be selected. The user interacts with the program through menus and hypertext links. The menu choices are: 
 1. Study a Hypertext Tutorial
 2. An Overview of Injection Wells
 3. The Importance of Groundwater
 4. The Five (5) Classes of Injection Wells
 5. Class V Injection Well Subclasses
 6. Best Management Practices (BMPs)
 7. EPA Policies for Class V Operators
 8. List of References
 9. Suggested Reading List
10. View all Graphics Used in this Program
11. More Sources of Information
12. Exit the Program
Once a section in the above list is completed, the user is returned to the main menu. Extensive use of hypertext in made within each of the sections to provide additional detail as the user requests it.

An Overview of Injection Wells

This section provides an overview of the classifications of injection wells and their importance. In addition, a series of maps can be viewed showing the states that have direct regulatory authority for each type of injection well.

The Importance of Ground Water

This section provides a brief tutorial on the importance of groundwater including graphics showing how aquifer systems work and the role of the hydrologic cycle. Materials used in this section were adapted from the Groundwater Education System (Engel et al., 1990).

The Five (5) Classes of Injection Wells

The U.S. EPA has grouped underground injection wells into 5 classes. Classes are based upon the type and source of the injected fluid, and the placement of the fluid relative to the lowermost underground source of drinking water. Brief descriptions of each type of injection well (Class I through Class V) are provided.

Class V Injection Well Subclasses

The focus of this program is on Class V injection wells, and thus the greatest level of information is supplied for these wells. Class V injection wells are those not included in Classes I through IV that generally inject non-hazardous fluid into or above a USDW (U.S. EPA, no date). This section provides additional information about Class V injection wells and the subclasses of Class V wells. The subclasses of Class V injection wells are: 
1. Drainage Wells (Dry Wells)
2. Geothermal Injection Wells
3. Domestic Wastewater Disposal Wells
4. Mineral and Fossil Fuel Recovery Related Wells
5. Oil Field Production Waste Disposal Wells
6. Industrial/Commercial/Utility Disposal Wells
7. Recharge Wells
8. Miscellaneous Wells
Additional details about the subclasses of Class V injection wells are provided. For example, drainage wells or dry wells are further subdivided into 5 sub-classes: 
1. Agricultural drainage wells
2. Storm water drainage wells
3. Improved sinkholes
4. Industrial drainage wells
5. Special drainage wells
Additional descriptions, including graphics, of these drainage well types are provided in the program. The other categories of Class V wells are also subdivided with descriptions (text and/or graphics) providing the additional details.

Best Management Practices (BMPs)

The Class V injection well BMP section is the most extensive portion of the program. In this section, textual and graphical descriptions of BMPs to minimize potential effects of Class V injection wells on groundwater are provided. The BMPs are grouped by the types of Class V injection wells or the type of business. BMPs are provided for the following: 
 1. Automotive Service Stations
 2. Shallow Industrial Wells
 3. Photographic Processing
 4. Electroplating Establishments
 5. Furniture Striping
 6. Printed Circuit Board Production
 7. Printing Shops
 8. Fabricated Metal Industries
 9. Medical Facilities
10. Lawn Care Firms
11. Storm Water Drainage Wells
12. Agricultural Drainage Wells
13. Car Washes
14. Special Drainage Wells
15. Waste Storage
16. Dry Cleaning Establishments
Information is also provided on alternatives to injection wells and the proper techniques for closure of injection wells. An example program screen and graphic from this section are shown in Figures 1 and 2, respectively. In Figure 1, “well closure” and “waste minimization” are hypertext links to additional details.


[Figure 1 GIF]

Figure 1. Example Screen from BMP Section.



[Figure 2 GIF]

Figure 2. Example Graphic from the BMP Section.



EPA Polices for Class V Operators

This section provides additional details on EPA policy concerning injection wells. In addition, sections of EPA regulations regarding injection wells can be examined. Hypertext is used to provide definitions of terms within regulations and to link related sections of regulations.

List of References and Suggested Reading List

The reference materials used in development of the program are provided as well as a list of materials that provide additional information on various aspects of injection wells. The suggested reading list is grouped by topics, providing convenient access to items of potential interest.

More Sources of Information

This section provides the regional EPA contacts (including addresses and phone numbers) responsible for injection wells. Additional contact information for the U.S. EPA Office of Drinking Water and Groundwater Protection Council is also provided.

PROGRAM AVAILABILITY

The Class 5 Injection Well program requires a PC-compatible (386 or 486 recommended) computer running DOS with VGA graphics, 550 Kbytes of available RAM and 3.5 Mbytes of available hard disk space. The program is available from several public domain software distributors and bulletin boards. It can also be obtained at cost from: Farm Building Plan Service Purdue University 1146 Agricultural Engineering Bldg. West Lafayette, IN 47907-1146 (317) 494-1172; FAX: (317) 496-1115 Approximately 25 other environmental education and design programs are also available from the above address.

SUMMARY

An interactive PC-based hypermedia program was developed in cooperation with U.S. EPA Region 5 to provide information about injection wells with emphasis on Class V injection wells. The program makes extensive use of hypertext and graphics to provide a program useful to a broad audience. Class V injection wells are used to dispose of wastes from a variety of small businesses and industries including agriculture and agribusiness. The program provides extensive information on best management practices (BMPs) to minimize the potential effects of Class V injection wells on groundwater. The program is currently being used by EPA, EPA clients, and at numerous locations.

REFERENCES

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Development of the water efficient landscape planner knowledge-base.  4th 
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	[2] Dux, D.L., D.D. Jones, and A.E. Krause.  1992.  Interactive 
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	[3] Engel, B.A., J. Gurganus, and J.D. Eigel. 1990.  Groundwater 
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	[4] Engel, B.A., J.Gurganus, M. Pearson, and D. Leucht.  1994a.  
Environmental assessment resource guide hypersystem.  5th International 
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	[5] Engel, B.A., S. Delay, D.D. Jones, and R.M. Strickland. 1994b.  
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	[6] Gurganus, J.P., D. Johannesen, B.A. Engel, and D. Eihorn.  
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	[7] Jones, D.D., B.A. Engel, D. Kim, K. Brewer, and P.J. DuBowy.  
1994a.  Electronic wetland herbarium.  5th International Conference on 
Computers in Extension. 

	[8] Jones, D.D., S.M. Allen, S. Powell, L. Field, K.M. Embleton, 
B.A. Engel, A.L. Sutton, A.E. Krause. 1994b.  Farmstead assessment 
hypermedia development.  5th International Conference on Computers in 
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	[9] Rhykerd, L.M., B.A. Engel, C. Urban, and J. Dalessandro.  
1992.  A knowledge-base for the detection of lead contamination in 
drinking water.  4th International Conference on Computers in Extension.  
pp. 740-745.

	[10] Thompson, B. and B. Thompson. 1988.  KnowledgePro.  
Knowledge Garden Incorporated.  Nassau, NY.

	[11] US EPA.  No date.  Injection Wells, An Introduction to Their 
Use Operation and Regulation.”  Underground Injection Practices Council.
Michael J. Sears (sears@evansville.net)