Improving the quality of well water

$547,000 to be spent analyzing water systems and educating the public

By Adam Broderick

During a recent regional health assessment, local public health agencies within the West Central Public Health Partnership, a six-county collaboration that includes Gunnison, Delta, Hinsdale, Montrose, Ouray and San Miguel counties, identified private well water safety as a high priority.

To help address these concerns, as well as help educate the public about risks that threaten well water safety, the partnership applied for a five-year, $547,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The partnership won the grant in October and will now have the funding necessary to gather data, document potential problems, and conduct a new public education campaign.

According to an October press release from the partnership, the five-year investment will enable local environmental health personnel to assist residents in learning more about the risks that threaten the safety of drinking water from area private wells and will provide well water testing for local property owners.

Delta County director of environmental health Ken Nordstrom said in the release, “Private well water is unregulated. We needed funding to gather data, documenting potential problems that may be affecting drinking water in private wells. This will help us address issues and make good recommendations to the public.”

There are approximately 10,000 private wells in the six-county region, with 3,787 of those in Gunnison County. Nordstrom told the Crested Butte News that the plan is to offer complimentary well water samples on a first-come first-serve basis and that informational postcards will be distributed to well owners by mail.

As of now, 50 samples are budgeted per county. However, since each county has a different number of wells—for example, Ouray County with only 529—more samples could be proportioned out in the near future.

More than half of the $547,000 would be spent analyzing the private drinking water systems and identifying potential problems. Most of the money would go toward testing and collecting data, and the rest would be spent administering programs and educating the public. Approximately $100,000 of the $547,000 will be spent each year for the next five years, and more than half of that would be spent on drinking water analysis.

The partnership is still negotiating with laboratories to determine which analyses to run, but once some data has been collected there should be a better understanding of how to finish putting the program together.

“We’re still in the planning phases at this point, but I’m hoping by the first of the year we’ll be able to start advertising and getting the word out about testing,” Nordstrom said.

For more information contact Margaret Wacker of Gunnison County Health and Human Services at (970) 641-7913, or Ken Nordstrom at (970) 874-2169.