Private water supplies in nine Pennsylvania counties underserved by water-quality educational programs and water testing will be the focus of two new Penn State Extension projects aimed at helping well owners detect and remediate lead and other common contaminants.
Despite the highly publicized lead contamination in the municipal water supply serving Flint, Michigan, the vast majority of public water systems meet federal safe drinking water standards. However, the same cannot be said for private supplies — such as wells, springs and cisterns — in Pennsylvania, according to Bryan Swistock, water resources extension specialist in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.
“More than 3 million Pennsylvanians rely on about 1 million private wells for their drinking water, yet the state is one of only a few that does not mandate minimum well-construction and maintenance standards,” he said. “In addition, our research has shown that more than 40 percent of these wells fail to meet at least one health-based drinking-water standard.”
Swistock noted that private water supply owners are solely responsible for the quality of their drinking water. “The absence of statewide regulations — along with significant contamination rates and low awareness among private water supply owners — creates a critical need for education, technical assistance and testing services for these residents.”
The two projects combined, funded by grants from the Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center based at Penn State and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will provide free water testing for 380 homes and farms in nine counties: Elk, Erie, Fayette, Forest, Greene, Jefferson, Montour, Northampton and Venango.
The test results will add to a Penn State Extension database that helps Swistock and colleagues track the extent of contamination in private water supplies across the state.