New York Rural Water Association

As many of you know, I serve as NYRWA's Source Protection Specialist. In this role, I assist water systems with completing wellhead protection plans for their ground water sources. Wellhead protection is the process of managing a land area around a well to prevent ground water contamination. For five years now I have used many arguments to attempt to convince local officials and operators of the importance of wellhead protection. I have argued that preventing contamination avoids future expenses and increased water rates. I have reasoned that wellhead protection safeguards infrastructure investment and maintains consumer confidence. I have even used the adage "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". However, for many water systems, wellhead protection remains a nice idea, but one that is secondary to building and maintaining a system. One reason for the often-indifferent response to wellhead protection is that many of us have over emphasized identifying and managing potential contaminants that only cause chronic effects. Chronic effects are those that occur from consuming drinking water containing certain contaminants at levels above the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for many years. Contaminants causing chronic health effects include volatile organic chemicals, synthetic organic chemicals, metals, and most inorganic chemicals. The chances of experiencing chronic effects from drinking water today are slim since water systems now regularly test for these so-called "chronic contaminants". In addition, numerous state and federal source control programs have effectively reduced the potential for chronic contamination. Why should local officials be interested in wellhead protection then? In my opinion, the greatest argument for wellhead protection is preventing potential sources of contamination that produce acute health effects. Acute effects are those that occur within hours or days of the time that someone consumes the contaminant. In ground water, the contaminants with the greatest chance of reaching levels that cause acute health effects are microbes (bacteria, protozoa, viruses), nitrate and nitrite. These contaminants are more commonly found in elevated levels in ground water systems compared to the "chronic contaminants" (see Figure 1). Levels of these acute contaminants can be deadly in some instances. The bacterial strain E. coli O157:H7 can cause hemolytic uremic syndrome, a complication that can be deadly to young children or the elderly. This is what occurred recently at the Washington County Fair and in Walkerton, Ontario. Similarly, excessive levels of nitrate in drinking water can cause serious illness or death to infants ("blue baby syndrome"). Most local officials I have met obviously do not want to see people getting sick from drinking their water. Not only do they want to get reelected or reappointed, but also they do not want the liability of someone getting sick or even dying from drinking water.

In order to prevent the acute effects of microbes and/or nitrate/nitrite, efforts should center on around the implementation of a multiple barrier approach involving so-called Best Management Practices (BMPs). Some of these BMPs or barriers involve distribution system design and operations (disinfection, cross-connection control, etc.). However, equally important are barriers to prevent ground water contamination. For new wells, these wellhead protection barriers or BMPs include drilling into a protected aquifer, siting a well away from sources of contamination, and proper well construction (examining hydrogeology to determine the length of the casing and the extent of grouting, etc.). For existing wells, wellhead protection barriers largely involve identifying and controlling contamination sources. For microbes and nitrate/nitrite these contamination sources chiefly involve septic systems, sewage or animal wastes, and other fertilizers. How do you know if your system's ground water source(s) is potentially vulnerable to acute health effects? Answer these questions:

Is your source located in a sand and gravel, karst (e.g. limestone or dolostone), or fractured bedrock aquifer? Are soils in your area relatively well drained?
Is your source located in an area with potential sources of contamination such as septic systems, agricultural fields, etc.?

If you answered yes to these questions (and many, many rural water systems in New York likely would), you should consider contacting me at 1-888-NYRURAL to develop a wellhead protection plan for new or existing supply wells. By doing so, you can demonstrate how you have taken steps to minimize acute health effects, thereby potentially reducing your liability.