A JOB "WELL" DONE?

A couple of recent stories concerning privately-owned water wells caught my attention. Probably millions of homes and commercial entities receive their water from individual wells of various depths and water qualities.

In May, 2012, the National Ground Water Association (NGWA) issued a caution that owners of private water wells should have their water tested annually for bacteria, nitrates and other contaminants of "local concern". NGWA cited as an example where some bedrock wells in Massachusetts contain naturally-occuring arsenic and uranium.

Also in May of this year, it was reported that the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has conducted a study of public, private and monitoring wells for presence of trace elements ("Trace-Elements and Radon in Groundwater Across the United States, 1992-2003"). The USGS research found that approximately 20% of the raw water from the wells contained at least one trace element, such as arsenic, uranium and manganese, at levels considered to be a potential health concern. The study also found that radon exceeded the proposed EPA MCL in 65% of the wells tested. In about 10% of the wells, two or more trace elements were found which exceeded health benchmarks and, in combination, could enhance the toxicity of the water.

Private well testing should be performed by a certified drinking water testing laboratory. Experience teaches that testing for some trace elements and contaminants may be expensive due to the procedures and equipment required, and not all laboratories may be willing to test residential samples. Laboratories will have appropriate procedures for the gathering of samples. Filling a washed mayo or jelly jar will not do it.

It would seem that potential types of contaminants can be locality-based, such as the example referenced in Massachusetts, or iron, manganese and radium found in parts of Illinois, or nitrates found in farming areas.

What if undesired contamination is found in a test and verified by follow-up tests? Generally, some form of treatment of the raw water may be available, such as disinfection for bacteria and reverse osmosis or anion or cation exchange for trace elements.

Well testing, and doing something about adverse results, generally is a personal choice. Not every well owner will be able to boast of a "job well done."