The National Ground Water Assn. (NGWA) will testify in support of the federal Brownfields Program in a hearing of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment on Wednesday, July 29, at 10 a.m. EDT.
The hearing, “Helping Revitalize American Communities Through the Brownfields Program,” can be viewed live at www.transportation.house.gov.
Paul Gruber, P.G., a member of NGWA’s Groundwater Protection and Management Subcommittee, will testify on behalf of NGWA.
Since its inception in 1995, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Brownfields Program has provided a vehicle to investigate and clean up abandoned sites and has had a positive impact in both urban and rural locations. Brownfield grants and cleanup are instrumental in reinvigorating economic activity and increases the ecological value of natural systems, preserving their function.
EPA reports the program generates about $18 in economic growth for each dollar invested. It also reports that residential property values can increase between 5.1% and 12.8% after a nearby brownfield is remediated. The program has made an estimated 44,822 acres available for reuse. There are approximately 400,000 brownfield sites across the country.
On a typical brownfield project, NGWA members, both contractors and engineering and scientific professionals, are engaged in assessing the site, its soil, and surface water and groundwater quality conditions, in order to effectively plan the needed remediation measures to restore it to productive use.
NGWA members work alongside a variety of other technical professionals—engineers, scientists, field technicians and landscape architects, among others, to ensure site restoration to an appropriate standard for functional reuse.
Source: NGWA
