Outreach private well owners

This program was developed by the University of Illinoisfor RCAP and is Sponsored, Funded, & Supported By

Best Practices for Outreach and Education to Private Well

Owners

• A national outreach and well owner education program.

• Being implemented through the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) and it’s 6 regional affiliates to support private well owners.

• RCAP Partners include www.PrivateWellClass.org at the University of Illinois, NEHA, NGWA, and the WSC.

About The Private Well Class Program

About 5500 participants in 3+ years

22 webinarsAbout 2500 participants so far

Livestock Near My Well• Q: My well is too close to a livestock pen. There aren’t

animals there anymore, but my water still tests positive for bacteria and e Coli. What can I do?

• A: There are a number of things we need to know to assess this. How deep is the well? What type of well is it? How long since there have been livestock? Without the source, e Coli don’t survive in the environment, according to experts, so it could be that it’s a completely different source like your septic system. It could also be that there is a surface breach of your well. Regardless, once you have bacteria, proper disinfection should take care of it. If repeated disinfection doesn’t work, there is a source and path into your well. Continuous disinfection or UV are probably necessary.

• The U of I put together a national workgroup of experts from extension and public health; also groundwater hydrologists and drillers, to develop a tool to assess risk of an individual well.

• Goal was to create a tool that can be used by an qualified health, groundwater or extension person to help a well owner understand their potential risks and vulnerabilities

• Site assessment• Well assessment• Geologic assessment• Recommendations

• Plus opportunity to raise awareness about testing, BMP’s understanding vulnerable geologies or well construction

Site Assessments

• RCAP Regions beta tested the tool earlier this year, each completed 20 assessments during the testing.

• The 6 regions plan to complete an additional 100 assessments each before the end of the year.

• Each region will also be hosting four ½ day workshops on best practices for outreach to well owners and assessment training.

• We will also have two online workshops, likely in December and January, covering those materials.

Site Assessment Program

• Give well owners direct targeted information and advice:

1. why their well is important,

2. why they should understand how it works,

3. how to help protect themselves from risk.

Goal

Challenges• Lack of funding for private well programs.

• Differences in Construction Codes/ Rules:– What is a private well.– Permitting and well log submittal.– New Jersey vs Pennsylvania.– Especially in enforcing what rules they have.

• Not a lot of training available for those working with private well owners and on private well issues.

• Has led to mostly local approaches to support well owners in many parts of the country. Extension being the exception.

Why Best Practices Are Important

• Well owners are hard to reach.

• Most don’t understand the basics of well ownership.

• There aren’t a lot of large scale efforts to reach out to well owners except in a few states.

• We continue to see the same basic issues all over the country – poor construction, lack of well owner knowledge, abandoned wells

• Raise national awareness of private well issues with consistent messaging.

Approach Survey and Literature Review

• Workshop presentation is based on efforts related to a CDC funded project:

– CDC survey of programs from around the country.

– Review of public health communication literature.

– Site visits to 3 state well owner programs.

• And our own experiences.

• And the experiences of others.

Basic Steps for Effective Outreach

The Key is Breaking Down Barriers

Partners = Success Because They:

• Share Costs.

• Share Effort.

• Spread The Word.

• Provide Local Buy-In.

Questions?