Groundwater Protection Plan

Groundwater is used for agricultural irrigation, to meet industrial water needs, and is a source of drinking water for a large percentage of Americans. Once thought to be naturally filtered, it is now known that some contaminants can pass through the soil and contaminate ground water. To protect this important resource the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has passed laws, such as the Safe Drinking Water Act, The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, The Toxic Substances Control Act, and the Clean Water Act that focus on controlling groundwater contamination. The responsibility of implementing groundwater protection programs is handed down to states and local governments. To protect groundwater, Kentucky has developed legislation (401 KAR 5:037) that requires entities conducting the following activities to prepare and implement a groundwater protection plan:

If one conducting any of the above activities can demonstrate with substantial evidence that the activity has no reasonable potential to impact groundwater, then a groundwater protection plan is not required.

The following activities are excluded from Groundwater Protection Plan requirements:

Groundwater Protection Plans must contain the following information:

1. Facility information, including the names of those responsible for plan implementation
2. The identification of all regulated activities occurring onsite that can impact groundwater
3. All practices chosen for the plan to protect groundwater from pollution
4. An implementation schedule for protection practices
5. A description and schedule of employee training necessary to ensure implementation of the plan
6. An inspection schedule for regular inspections to ensure all practices established are in place and functioning properly
7. Certification that the plan complies with regulatory requirements, has been reviewed, and will be implemented.

Once a plan is developed it must be retained onsite, amended prior to conducting any new or modified activity, reviewed and recertified every three years, and all records associated with the plan must be maintained for six years.

The University’s Groundwater Protection Plan is developed and maintained by the Environmental Quality Management Department. Rewritten in 2019, the plan addresses the following campus activities that may impact groundwater:

Managers and supervisors for the facilities and/or activities covered under the plan are responsible for conducting routine inspections and  properly instructing and training personnel to satisfy the plan’s requirements. Environmental Management also conducts annual compliance inspections of each facility/activity.