What’s in your water?

The good news? The Penn State Cooperative Extension study shows that levels of lead and nitrates in wells have fallen.

The bad news? Forty percent of all wells “failed to meet the state’s safe-drinking-water standards for at least one contaminant.”

Pennsylvania “has three million people relying on more than one million private wells for drinking water.” In addition to nitrates and lead, the 700 wells were tested for coliform bacteria, E. coli bacteria, arsenic, triazine and pesticides. The report found that most homeowners are not aware of the problems with their wells and attributes that to the fact that most health-related pollutants in water are symptomless. The Commonwealth is one of only two states that does not mandate construction standards for wells. About 20,000 new wells are drilled every year in Pennsylvania.

How do we fix it?

The study recommends additional education for well owners to help them understand some of potential dangers and the steps they can take to minimize those dangers. It also suggested a requirement to test well water when a real estate transaction takes place or when a well is drilled, or both.

What would you prefer?

Do you think it is best to do a test at the point of sale? Would it be better to test when the well is drilled?  Are you supportive of testing at both the point of sale and at the time of drilling? Or do you think neither option is ideal?

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Tags: report, water, wells

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at 2:55 pm and is filed under Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.