What's in the Wells of Prince William County

Earlier this month the well owners who participated in the 2025Prince William County Well Water Clinic received their results by email. Below you can see the summary of what was found in the 131-water analyses performed. VA Tech tested for the naturally occurring contaminants and common sources of contamination: a poorly sealed well or a nearby leaking septic system, or indications of plumbing system corrosion. These are the most common contaminants that affect our drinking water wells. Also, this year they expanded their analysis to additional metal contaminants from plumbing sources and additional contaminants with health concerns.

To determine if treatment is necessary, water test results should be compared to a standard-usually the U.S.EPA Safe Drinking Water Act (SDW) limits. Though private wells are not regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the Safe Drinking Water Act, the SDW act has primary and secondary drinking water standards that we use for comparison. Primary standards are ones that can impact health and from the tested substances include coliform bacteria, E. coli bacteria, nitrate, lead, and arsenic. Secondary standards impact taste or the perceived quality of the water. Then there are the substances with a health reference level (HAL) below which health impacts are not anticipated and LHA a level of contamination that if consumed over a lifetime may have health impacts.

Just because your water appears clear does not mean it is safe to drink. The 2025 Prince William County water clinic found that 30.5% of the wells tested PRESENT for coliform bacteria. This is higher than last year. Coliform bacteria are not a health threat itself; it is used to indicate other bacteria that may be present and identify that a well is not properly sealed from surface bacteria. The federal standard for coliform bacteria is zero, but the federal standard allows that up to 5% of samples can test positive for coliform during a month.

One of the bacteria contaminated wells tested positive for E coli. Fecal coliform and E. coli are bacteria whose presence indicates that the water is contaminated with human or animal wastes. Disease-causing microbes (pathogens) in these wastes can cause diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches, or other symptoms. These pathogens may pose a special health risk for infants, young children, and those with compromised immune systems. However, people can drink water contaminated with fecal bacteria and not notice.

If your well is contaminated with coliform but not fecal coliform or E. coli, then you have a nuisance bacteria problem, and the source may be infiltration from the surface from rain or snow melt. Typical causes are improperly sealed well cap, well repairs performed without disinfecting or adequately disinfecting the well, failed grouting or surface drainage to the well. Very low levels of coliform (1-5 MPN) may appear in an older well during extremely wet springs.

If your well was found to have coliform bacteria present you should shock chlorinate the well (according to the procedure from VA Tech), repack the soil around the well pipe to flow away from the well and replace the well cap. Then after at least two weeks and the next big rainstorm retest the well for coliform. If coliform bacteria is still present then a long-term treatment should be implemented: using UV light, ozonation, or chlorine for continuous disinfection. These systems can cost up to $2,000 installed (maybe more with recent price increases).

If you have fecal coliform in the well or E. coli, your well is being impacted by human or animal waste and you are drinking dilute sewage. This year 3.8% of the wells tested were found to have E. coli present. If there is not a nearby animal waste composting facility, then you are probably drinking water from a failed septic system- yours or your nearest neighbors or in some areas a leaking sewer line. To solve this problem you need to fix or replace the septic system that is causing the contamination, replace the well or install a disinfection and micro filtration or reverse osmosis system. Giardia or Cryptosporidium are two microscopic parasites that can be found in groundwater that has been impacted by surface water or sewage. Both parasites produce cysts that cause illness and sometimes death. Chlorine can work against Giardia but not Cryptosporidium. Ultraviolet (UV) light works against both Giardia and Cryptosporidium so it is the preferred method of treating this problem.

The failing septic systems can often be identified by using tracer dyes. While continuous disinfection will work to protect you from fecal bacteria and E. coli, be aware that if your well is being impacted by a septic system, then the well water might also have present traces of all the chemicals and substances that get poured down the drain. Long term treatment for disinfection, and micro-filtration should be implemented: using UV light, ozonation, or chlorine for continuous disinfection, carbon filtration, and anything that is used for drinking should be further treated with a reverse osmosis systems or micro membrane system both work by using pressure to force water through a semi-permeable membrane. Large quantities of wastewater are produced by reverse osmosis systems and need to bypass the septic system or they will overwhelm that system creating more groundwater problems. Reverse osmosis systems produce water very slowly, a pressurized storage tank and special faucet needs to be installed so that water is available to meet the demand for drinking and cooking.

Nitrate can contaminate well water from fertilizer use; leaking from septic tanks, sewage and erosion of natural deposits. One of the wells in our group of 131samples had nitrate levels above the MCL. The regulatory limit for nitrate in public drinking water supplies, 10 mg/L,  was set to protect against infant methemoglobinemia, but other health effects were not considered and are emerging as problems. Nitrate in a well tends to climb slowly over the years if the septic systems do not have at least 3 acres between them. Based on a study done years ago in Dutchess County NY at least 3 acres are necessary to naturally treat the nitrate.

Dr. Mary Ward of the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute has lead several important studies comparing all the research on the health impacts from exposure to nitrate in water. The first review was of studies published before 2005. In 2018 Dr. Ward was lead author on a review of more than 30 epidemiologic studies on drinking water nitrate and health outcomes. If your nitrate-N levels are climbing, you might want to read Dr. Ward’s work. There are AOSS systems designed to remove nitrate. These are very expensive (think new car expensive.)

This year they found 7.6% of homes had first draw lead levels above the SDWA maximum contaminant level of 0.01 Mg/L. After flushing the tap for at least one minute none of the homes had lead levels above the 0.1 mg/L level; however, many scientists do not believe that any level of lead is safe to drink over an extended period of time. Often homes that have elevated lead in the first draw, have lower pH values. Corrosive water is the primary risk for lead in well water. However, over time water with a neutral pH could dissolve the coating on galvanized iron, in brass well components and plumbing fixtures.

Houses built before 1988 when the ban on lead went into effect and have low pH water typically have higher lead concentrations. Lead leaches into water primarily as a result of corrosion of plumbing and components in the well itself but can also result from flaking of scale from brass fittings and well components. Corrosion control techniques such as adjusting pH or alkalinity that are commonly used to neutralize aggressive water will not work in to reduce lead being leached from well components. For most instances, though, a neutralizing filter and lead removing activated carbon filters can be used to remove lead leaching from plumbing pipes, solder and fixtures. Recently, some home water treatment companies are offering home treatment systems that neutralize the water and add orthophosphate other phosphate solution to coat the piping to prevent further corrosion of metal pipes. It should work if maintained. This type of solution is used in public water supplies. I have no experience with this type of home system and am not aware of any testing.

Iron and manganese are naturally occurring elements commonly found in groundwater in this part of the country. 5.3% of the wells tested exceed the iron standard and 1.5% exceeded the manganese standard. At naturally occurring levels iron and manganese do not present a health hazard. However, their presence in well water can cause unpleasant taste, staining and accumulation of mineral solids that can clog water treatment equipment and plumbing and discolored water. The standard Secondary Maximum Contaminant Level (SMCL) for iron is 0.3 milligrams per liter (mg/L or ppm) and 0.05 mg/L for manganese. This level of iron and manganese can be detected by taste, smell, or appearance. In addition, some types of bacteria react with soluble forms of iron and manganese and form persistent bacterial contamination in a well, water system and any treatment systems. These organisms change the iron and manganese from a soluble form into a less black or reddish brown gelatinous material (slime). Masses of mucous, iron, and/or manganese can clog plumbing and water treatment equipment even in extreme circumstances clog up a well pump.

All systems of removing iron and manganese essentially involve oxidation of the soluble form or killing and removal of the iron bacteria. When the total combined iron and manganese concentration is less than 15 mg/l, an oxidizing filter is the recommended solution. (Iron bacteria, hydrogen sulfide and tannins can also be removed with pre-chlorination.) An oxidizing filter supplies oxygen to convert ferrous iron into a solid form which can be filtered out of the water. Higher concentrations of iron and manganese can be treated with an aeration and filtration system. This system is not effective on water with iron/ manganese bacteria but is very effective on soluble iron and manganese, so you need to do further testing to determine what type of iron/manganese you have before you install a treatment system. Newer iron filters have an option to add an ozone generator to kill reducing bacteria.  Water softeners can remove low levels of iron and manganese and are widely sold for this purpose because they are very profitable but are now being banned in some locations due to rising sodium and chloride levels, what is known as inland salinization. Increasing salinization of our water resources is a growing problem in our region. Also, water softeners are easily clogged by iron bacteria.

Chemical oxidation can be used to remove high levels of dissolved or oxidized iron and manganese as well as treat the presence of iron/manganese (or even sulfur which was found in one well exceeding the EPA MCL) bacteria. The system consists of a small pump that puts an oxidizing agent into the water before the pressure tank. The water will need about 20 minutes for oxidation to take place so treating before a holding tank or pressure tank is a must. After the solid particles have formed the water is filtered. The best oxidizing agents are chlorine or hydrogen peroxide. If chlorine is used, an activated carbon filter is often used to finish the water and remove the chlorine taste. The holding tank or pressure tank will have to be cleaned regularly to remove any settled particles.

The pH of water is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity. The pH is a logarithmic scale from 0 – 14 with 1 being very acidic and 14 very alkaline. Drinking water should be between 6.5 and 8.5. For reference and to put this into perspective, coffee has a pH of around 5 and salt water has a pH of around 9. Corrosive water, sometimes also called aggressive water is typically water with a low pH. (Alkaline water can also be corrosive.) Low pH water can corrode metal plumbing fixtures causing lead and copper to leach into the water and causing pitting and leaks in the plumbing system. The presence of lead or copper in water is most commonly leaching from the plumbing system or well rather than the groundwater. Acidic water is easily treated using an acid neutralizing filter. Typically, these neutralizing filters use a granular marble, calcium carbonate or lime. If the water is very acidic a mixing tank using soda ash, sodium carbonate or sodium hydroxide can be used. The acid neutralizing filters will increase the hardness of the water because of the addition of calcium carbonate. 14.5% of the wells tested were found to have acidic water or a high pH (probably from too much salt in the water softener) this year. A too high a pH is usually from over treating with a water softener, but can be an expression of other pollution.

Water that contains high levels of dissolved minerals is commonly referred to as hard. Groundwater very slowly wears away at the rocks and minerals picking up small amounts of calcium and magnesium ions. Water containing approximately 120 mg/L can begin to have a noticeable impact and is considered hard. Concentrations above 180 mg/L are considered very hard. Hard water can be just a minor annoyance with spotting and the buildup of lime scale, but once water reaches the very hard level 180 mg/L or 10.5 grains per gallon, it can become problematic. Overall, 15.3% of homes tested had very hard water. (It is to be noted more than half of homes reported having a water softener.)

Two methods are commercially available (and certified) to treat hard water. A water softener and a water system that work through a process called template assisted crystallization (TAC), have been certified by DVGW-W512 and are available in whole house units. In template assisted crystallization, water flows through a tank of TAC media. When the hard water comes into contact with the media, the magnesium and calcium ions are caught by the nucleation sites. As more calcium and magnesium ions build up within the sites, small micro-crystals form and flow through your plumbing. They do not attach themselves to your water pipes as scale.

The ubiquitous water softening system is an ion exchange system consisting of a mineral tank and a brine tank. The mineral tank holds small beads of resin that have a negative electrical charge. The calcium and magnesium ions (along with small amounts of other minerals) are positively charged and are attracted to the negatively charged beads. This attraction makes the minerals stick to the beads as the hard water passes through the mineral tank. Sodium from salt is used to charge the resin beads. The brine tank is flushed out when the resin beads are recharged carrying the salty solution to the environment. Inland salinization of surface waters and groundwater is an emerging environmental concern. Research has shown that salinization has affected over a third of the drainage area of the contiguous United States even in areas without road salt. At the present time the EPA guidance level for sodium in drinking water is 20 mg/L. Given the number of homes with elevated sodium and our local geology, it is probably a reflection of the number of homes with water softeners-52.7% of the wells tested had elevated sodium.

One of wells was found that had arsenic exceeding the EPA MCL for drinking water of 10 ppm. While arsenic is a naturally occurring element found in soil and groundwater it is not typically found at significantly elevated levels in this geology. Arsenic is best removed by water treatment methods such as reverse osmosis, ultra-filtration, distillation, or as a last choice ion exchange (water softeners). Typically, these methods are used to treat water at only one faucet. Though anionic exchange systems (water softeners) are whole house systems, they may not be the best choice.

Elevated chloride was found in three samples and can be removed using either reverse osmosis or ion exchange filters.

Elevated uranium was found in one sample. Because uranium gets into your body primarily through ingestion (and not through the skin or through inhalation), it is not usually necessary to treat all the water in your home, but only the water you drink. Reverse osmosis (RO) treatment systems are the most common type of treatment used for uranium removal and are very effective.

Traces of other metals were found in a small handful of samples. Activated carbon filters are used to address these problems. When the activated carbon is fully contacted with water, the heavy metal ions will be adsorbed into the developed voids of the activated carbon to remove the contaminant. 

 

My Water Test Results 2025

While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates public water systems, the responsibility for ensuring the safety and consistent supply of water from a private well belongs to the well owner-in this case me. I test my well water annually. An easy way to do this is to participate in the Virginia Tech Extension Virginia Household Water Quality Program (VHWQP). This year the program expanded the number of  contaminants tested for. Not all of the substances tested for had established health standards.

Under the authority of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), EPA  established regulatory limits (standards) on over 100 chemical and microbial contaminants in drinking water.   These contaminants include bacteria from human waste, industrial discharge streams (of great concern back in 1974 when the SDWA was first created) and water disinfection by-products and distribution system contaminants. They also regulate naturally occurring contaminants. For each of these contaminants, EPA sets a legal limit, called a maximum contaminant level (MCL). In addition, EPA sets secondary standards for less hazardous substances based on aesthetic characteristics of taste, smell and appearance, which public water systems and states can choose to adopt or not. Then there are the health reference level (HAL) below which health impacts are not anticipated and LHA a level of contamination that if consumed over a lifetime may have health impacts.

What is typically done is to compare the test results to the regulatory or health advisory levels to see if there is an exposure to be concerned about.

It turns out that over a week ago the VHWQP emailed me my water analysis from the sample taken as part of their well water clinic. The email ended up in my junk folder. This is what I saw when I opened my attachment. (I’ve organized the results in the same sections that VHWQP did): 

 

None of the chemicals or bacteriological indicators that they tested for were found to be in excess of the U.S. EPA safe drinking water recommended limits. All good. In addition to the 15 contaminants typically found in well water, their instrument that analyzes metals and elements returns data for 14 additional contaminants, many of which are rarely found in well water, that Virginia Tech screens for. None of those contaminants were found to be elevated in my water samples.

In addition, VHWQP also screened for 8 substance for which there is no established health limit so no comparison could be made.

This year, though below the regulatory limit they found trace levels of lead in the first and second draw sample from the powder room sink. This gave me pause since the last time I used this sink for sampling the flush was ND. While this was all within the EPA safe drinking water limits, I do not believe that there is a safe level of lead.

The presence of lead in water that sits for several hours or overnight generally comes the pipes and fixtures and becomes a bigger problem the older the pipes and fixture become. Over time older pipes and fixtures corrode or simply wear away and the lead and other corrosion material (like rust) is carried to the drinking water. Time and water do cause corrosion, but this can be aggravated by the pH of the water or other changes in water chemistry. The amount of lead corroded from metal plumbing generally increases with water corrosiveness.

My water is neutral, I have plastic pipes in the house. It is possible to see traces of lead because there is lead and copper in the well equipment, pressure tank fittings and faucets. Until 2014 when the 2011 Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act went into effect, almost all drinking water fixtures were made from brass containing up to 8% lead, even if they were sold as "lead free." Homes built with PVC piping in the 2000's may have some lead in most of the faucets.

Also, before 2014 Prime Western grade “lead free” galvanized steel zinc coating was required to contain between 0.5%-1.4% lead. After 2014, “lead free” galvanized steel must have less than 0.25% lead in the surface coatings. My galvanized steel well casing was installed in 2004. Over time, even under neutral condition, any lead used in coatings can be released to the water and pumped to the household tap or accumulate in scale layers on the pipe surface or well bottom where scale can accumulate and be released or picked up and pumped with the water.

In 2018 I began replacing the faucets in the house, starting with the ones we use for cooking or drinking. There is little I can do about the galvanized steel casing in the well at this point.  The brass fittings on pressure tanks and pitless adaptors are now available with less then 0.25% lead and were replaced in 2020. A few years ago, at a different sink the results suggested to me that the faucet might be the source- so it got replaced and the following year we did not detect lead. Problem solved there. Now I think it is time to replace the faucet set in the powder room, the sink I used for testing this year.

I test my drinking water every year to make sure it is safe to drink.  When we bought our home I tested the well for all the primary and secondary contaminants in the Safe Drinking Water Act as well as a suite of metals and pesticides using a certified laboratory. I wanted a comprehensive baseline. Still, I did not test for everything, nobody could afford to (I think there are 80,000 or more known chemicals). At the time I did not test for PFAS it was not part of the Safe Drinking Water Act and the tests available at the time were much less sensitive than is available today, but the test is still very expensive.

I tested the well  extensively before purchasing my home to make sure that the well was drawing from a groundwater aquifer that was not contaminated. While you can treat, you cannot really "fix" groundwater.  In addition, I wanted a well that was fine without any need for water treatment to address naturally occurring contaminants- my prejudice. Initially, I tested for Bacteria (Total Coliform and E-Coli), 19 heavy metals and minerals including lead, iron, arsenic and copper (many which are naturally occurring, but can impact health); 6 other inorganic compounds including nitrates and nitrites (can indicate fertilizer residue or animal waste this was once a cattle operation); 5 physical factors including pH, hardness, TDS, alkalinity; 4 Trihalomethanes (THMs) and 47 Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs) including Benzene, Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) and Trichloroethene (TCE). Organochlorine pesticides, herbicides and PCBs. Finally, I tasted the water. It tested below the MCL, SMCL and health advisory limits and liked the taste of the water.

I do not have any treatment equipment in the house, so I was able to do only one set of water tests. When you test a well at a purchase, always test the raw water so that you know what you are buying, and test the water after any treatment to make sure the treatment equipment is working properly. What you can live with in terms of water treatment equipment is really a personal decision. I preferred to have water that did not need of any treatment and was a little hard because I like the taste of hard water. I am picky about my coffee and tea. When the test is more widely available (and cheaper), I will be testing for PFAS. For now, though, a good sign is that Prince William Service Authority did not find any PFAS in their Evergreen water system which like my home draws from groundwater wells in the Culpeper basin. Actually, most of the wells for that system are about 2.25 miles as the crow flies so it is not a guarantee given the distance to their well heads from my house, but its all I’ve got right now. There is always something new to look for.

Testing the Stabilized Yield in a Well

I have recommended that when buying a home with a well you have at least a 6 gallon a minute stabilized yield. The reason you want to make sure you have at least a 6 gallon a minute stabilized well yield/flow is to be sure that the water supply is adequate to do laundry and have everyone shower in the morning. The rule of thumb is 6 gallons/minute is an adequate yield to supply on-demand water for a typical household (some places they use 5). It really depends on how many people and bathrooms and how deep the well is.

So let’s talk about this. First you begin by taking a look at the well completion report on file with the county health department. It shows how deep the well was drilled, where water was found and the stabilized yield. The minimum you should look for are:

1. The well stabilized yield should be greater than or equal to 6 gallons/minute
2. The well should be drilled and more than 100 feet below grade (deep)

Over time the yield of most wells falls and what was an adequate well 20 years ago may not be now. In some geologies the well yield can fall by 50% or more in 20 years, and a low yielding well may be drying out after 20 years. It is also possible that over the years the groundwater level has fallen below the level of water zones in your well because of overuse of the groundwater aquifer or reduced recharge to the aquifer. Nationally, groundwater levels are falling.

In order to actually measure the stabilized yield on a well, you need a licensed well driller with the right equipment test the yield of the well for you and here is why. First, any sane person would not let some random Stanger open their well. Especially one with a YouTube video as research. Anytime you open a well you must thoroughly disinfect it. To properly disinfect a well is major pain in the butt and in my case, it can take up to a week before the rust color and chlorine are thoroughly out of the well water. I would no sooner let you open my well than cut a piece of the drywall out to look at the insulation.

As a review, you disinfect a well by circulating a concentrated chlorine solution throughout the system. The level of chlorine to use is between 50 ppm and 200 ppm (parts per million) depending on which University extension office is asked. Once the chlorine solution is well mixed (this can take a few hours), you seal up the well and system for 12-16 hours then you flush the well.  

If you have not recently chlorinated the well a bunch of orange and brown gunk will come out of the well during the flush. Because I chlorinate my well every few years, I only get orange/ brown tinged water.  To flush my well, I run the hoses to a non-sensitive area for at least an additional 24 hours till it runs clear and the chlorine level drops towards non-detect. It can take an additional week for my well to clear of every trace of chlorine and discolored water. 

Second, you need to pull the pump and use a specialized pump and an appropriate power source to perform an actual pump test. Otherwise you can only test a yield less than your pump rate.  Read the Virginia guide here. In addition, in an established neighborhood it is possible that you will impact neighbors. The low tech method is probably better for these purposes.

Using the hoses is one way to make sure the well yield is adequate. The rate at which a hose runs is impacted by the length of the hose, but it is typically about 3 gallons a minute at normal garden length (you can easily check that with a stop watch and a 1-gallon bucket- 60/seconds to fill bucket= rate). If you are running two hose you are running off about 6 gallons a minute. To make sure that your well is recharging at least at that rate you need to account for the water in the well itself.

The well column holds water. If the well was drilled to 150 feet below grade and the static water level is 43 feet below grade, there is about 156 gallons of water stored in your well. [you calculate the gallons of water in a well by is:

volume = 𝜋×𝑟2×ℎ×7.48

• where 𝜋 equals 3.14159
• radius is one half the diameter of the well in feet
• height is the depth of the well minus the static water level and
• 7.48 is the number of gallons per cubic foot.

Using my well as an example, it is 150 feet deep and when measured 5 years ago had a static water level of 43 feet below grade so that mean there is about 156 gallons of storage in my well. If I ran my hoses for 5 hours I would have used 1,800 gallons of water. This is enough for our purposes. You need to check the hoses every 20 minutes to make sure they are still running and that the rate of flow remains constant (bucket and stop watch).  If my well did not run dry in all that time it is a safe bet that there is plenty of water to run a household.  

Back in 2020 I replaced my pump and pressure tank. I wanted to make sure I had adequate recharge to size up my pump. The only way I could do it was to measure off the pump itself. These days you can measure the static water level using a sonar gun to bounce the signal off the water. The well guy had one. My static water level in early March of 2020 was 43 feet below grade. This is 13 feet lower than when the well was first finished.

If you pull your pipe out of well bringing the pitless adaptor to the surface (using the correct tools your could actually pump the water out of the well at the rate the pump runs. Most residential wells use 10 to 15 gallons a minute. After putting the new pump in the well, the well guy ran the pump for about two hours. I measured the flow off the pump at about 4 seconds to fill the gallon bucket. At that flow rate it would only take two hours to run 1,800 gallons. Which it did. Before he sealed up the well, he once more measured the static water level- still at 30 feet below grade. That proved that my well recharge rate exceeded the pump rate. Good to go with my new pump after letting the well settle and chlorine shocking the well to disinfect it. No one but me or a licensed and vetted well contractor ever messes with my well.

The water is flowing out of the pitless adaptor

I ran all that water on the down slope side of the well.

make sure you use a quick clamp to secure the pipe

COP 30

Next month, Brazil will welcome global leaders and representatives to the 30th session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 30). The 30th UN climate conference will take place from 6-21 November 6^th -21^st   2025 in Belém, Brazil. It will bring together world leaders, scientists, non-governmental organizations, and civil society to discuss priority actions to tackle climate change. For 2 weeks, delegates from nations across the globe will convene to discuss the next steps in the ongoing fight against climate change and pretend that it is still possible to keep global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius. It’s not.

COP30 will focus once again on the efforts needed to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5°C, the presentation of new national action plans (NDCs) and the progress on the finance pledges made at the last meeting  COP29. In the runup to the annual meeting the U.N., Climate NGO’s , activists and others have been releasing information, essays and pleas.

Last week, the U.N. announced that “Developing countries” are receiving less than 10%  of the money they need to adapt to increasing extreme weather. The U.N. states that this is “putting lives, livelihoods and entire economies at risk.”  While Brazil is pitching COP30 as the COP of adaptation, focusing on social dimensions, systems transformation and implementation.

However, Bill Gates has just released an essay on climate change, “Three tough truths about climate- What I want everyone at COP30 to know.”  I urge you read the entirety of his thoughts on the topic, but if you do not have time here are some highlights excerpted from his essay.

• Climate change is serious, but we’ve made great progress. We need to keep backing the breakthroughs that will help the world reach zero emissions.
• But to do it we can’t cut funding for health and development—programs that help people stay resilient in the face of climate change.
• It’s time to put human welfare at the center of our climate strategies, which includes improving agriculture and health in poor countries and reducing the premium paid for less CO2 intensive products.

Although climate change will have serious consequences—particularly for people in the poorest countries—it will not lead to humanity’s demise. Unfortunately, the constantly calling climate change an existential threat  is causing much of the climate community to focus too much on near-term emissions goals, and it’s diverting resources from the most effective things we should be doing to improve life in a warming world.

Our chief goal should be to prevent suffering, particularly for those in the toughest conditions who live in the world’s poorest countries. Climate change will hurt poor people wherever they are more than anyone else. The biggest problems for humanity are poverty and disease, just as they always have been. Understanding this will let us focus our limited resources on interventions that will have the greatest impact for the most vulnerable people.

COP30 is taking place at a time when it’s especially important to get the most value out of every dollar spent on helping the poorest. The pool of money available to help them is shrinking as rich countries cut their aid budgets and low-income countries are burdened by debt. 

We have to think rigorously and numerically about how to put the time and money we do have to the best use. In short, climate change, disease, and poverty are all major problems. We should deal with them in proportion to the suffering they cause. And we should use data to maximize the impact of every action we take.

The forecast for global warming has ameliorated 

Mr. Gates argued that we should measure success by our impact on human welfare more than our impact on the global temperature, and that our success relies on putting energy, health, and agriculture at the center of our strategies. He went on to urge that at COP30 and beyond, to make a strategic pivot: prioritize the things that have the greatest impact on human welfare. It’s the best way to ensure that everyone gets a chance to live a healthy and productive life no matter where they’re born, and no matter what kind of climate they’re born into. 

 

Mr. Gates argues that we have indeed "bent the curve" 

On a local level I have realized that with the proliferation of data centers we have no pathway to achieving the climate goals laid out by the Board of County Supervisors. Furthermore, even if we did achieve the stated climate goals, it would  not prevent the climate from changing. We must focus on adaptation, communication and the hardening of all our infrastructure, power, water, roads, buildings and services against the weather. We must protect the most vulnerable in our communities.

One Goal

 The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon announced 14,000 workers would be laid off on Tuesday. This is just a first move in layoffs that are expected to affect as many as 30,000 corporate jobs. An “Observant Economist” noted:

“Apparently the most important thing in the whole world right now is creating as many data centers as possible with the primary goal of AI for throwing average people out of work. It is more important than housing or the deficit, more important than climate change, endangered water supplies or a hijacked and plundered electric grid, more important than quality of life or stopping genocide. Only data centers can create our future and nothing else counts.”

Northern Virginia is the largest data center market in the world, constituting 13% of all reported data center operational capacity globally and 25% of capacity in the Americas. The data center industry is growing rapidly in both in established markets and newer ones.

Just to give you a snapshot of Prince William County data center growth, currently there are 33 data centers in operation in Prince William County with an estimated square footage of around 10,000,000 square feet of space.  Currently under construction or development is an additional 59,000,000 square feet of data centers. This excludes the digital gateway project whose rezoning was voided, but is under appeal.

The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) issued their report on the impacts of the data center industry in Virginia. Below are excerpts from the Commission’s report .

JLARC found that a substantial amount of new power generation and transmission infrastructure will be needed in Virginia to meet this energy demand or even half of this unconstrained demand. Building enough infrastructure to meet energy demand will be very difficult to achieve and cannot be accomplished while meeting the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) requirements. We either must slow or limit the construction of data centers in Virginia or repeal the VCEA. You can’t do both.

Water is our most important or critical resource (no water, no people) and how we manage its use or allow its abuse may determine the fate of our region. On earth all the water that ever was or will be is here right now and has been here for over 4 billion years. There is no mechanism on earth for making or destroying water. Mankind has interrupted the flow of streams and rivers by diverting water for irrigation, withdrawing drinking water,  industrial water and building reservoirs. We have also interrupted the recharge of groundwater by changing land use, covering former open land and woodlands  with buildings, driveways, roads, walkways and other impervious surfaces which reduce groundwater recharge in the surrounding area. 

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments projects that the population in our region will reach nearly 6.8 million people by 2050 an increase of 1.1 million people, while our available water resources will not increase. Though only recently noticed by our communities, data centers use lots of water. Not at the magnitude of power use, but nonetheless they are estimated to use about 0.5 gallons of water for each kilowatt-hour consumed- millions of gallons a day and growing. Unfortunately, power usage and water usage at specific sites are guarded as trade secrets so we cannot adequately plan for the power nor the water demand as the region’s data centers continue to be built out. The approval process has given a blank check to put unlimited demand on limited resources.

Once the temperature nears 95 degrees Fahrenheit (summer), water cooling is uniformly used in data centers. In a water-cooled system, water-cooled chillers and cooling towers located on top of the data center roofs produce chilled water, which is delivered to computer room air conditioners for cooling the entire building. These systems include the cooling towers, chillers, pumps, piping, heat exchangers / condensers, and air conditioner units in the computer rooms. Additionally, data centers need water for their humidification systems (to avoid static discharges) and facility maintenance.

 Changing climate and population growth are only exacerbating an already existing problem. Our region is already experiencing water stress in the summers. 

The House has a Well-what you should know

Virginia is a "buyer beware" state. Any well or groundwater problems not detected by the buyer during the sale process become the buyer's problem upon closing the sale. There is no legal recourse back to the seller. If you are buying a home you need to make sure that the well is constructed properly and that the groundwater that is drawn into the home is safe to drink, and there is adequate water to supply the home for the foreseeable future. A mistake could impact your health, the value of your home or require you to spend thousands of dollars to solve the problem.

If you are contemplating buying a home with a well, you need to make sure that the well is constructed properly and that the groundwater that is drawn into the home is safe to drink. Though there are many treatment options to fix contaminated water, you might not want to buy problematic water and some water problems can create a cascade of issues, so I have eliminated them. If you are buying a house, you need to make sure that you will have an adequate and safe water supply. This is not the same thing as strategies to live with diminished well yield or fixing your existing water quality problems. Those strategies are how you survive a mistake or a failing well or groundwater system. This is your one chance to make sure the water supply to the home is acceptable before you buy the home, there is no recourse after you buy the home.

The list below is a quick and dirty guide to try and keep you out of trouble. Do not call me a give me story about how the well at the house you love should be okay and ask me to agree with you. These are the most basic items to ensure a safe and lasting water supply, and you will love that house a whole lot less if does not have adequate water to do laundry and take a shower in the summer.

1. The house must have 2-3 acres of land.
2. There must be a well completion report on file with the county health department that shows:
1. The well stabilized yield should be greater than or equal to 6 gallons/minute
2. The well should be drilled and more than 100 feet below grade (deep)
3. The well should be a 6 inch diameter pipe with a bolted cap sticking at least a foot out of the ground. The well cap should be a sanitary sealed cap.
4. Do not buy a home with a shared well
5. The well was drilled after April 1, 1992 (under the current regulations).
6. The well head must be at least 100 feet from the nearest edge of the septic drainfield and at least 50 feet from the nearest corner of the house.
7. Health Department records show regular septic pump outs at least every 5 years. Annual inspections for alternative septic systems should be on file.
8. Don’t buy a house with a well in Karst terrain. The geology is likely to undermine the well eventually.
9. Test the well water for all the primary and secondary contaminants regulated under the safe drinking water act as well as pesticides. At the very least test the well water for Total coliform, E. coli, nitrate, lead, iron, pH, hardness, and residual chlorine. Test the water before any water treatment in the house.
1. Don’t buy a house with a well that found E. Coli is present in the water or nitrate at more than three times background levels (of 2mg/L).
2. Don’t buy a house that found lead present in a flushed sample.
3. The well water must have a pH > 6.0
10. Draw a glass of water from the cold tap in a bathroom sink and taste it. Don't buy a house with water you don't like. 
11. Check the dates on the labels for any well equipment in the basement.

Virginia Tech Extension recommends that buyers should engage a licensed well contractor to assess the well and any treatment. As part of the assessment, the home buyer should obtain a copy and review with the licensed well professional the "Water Well Completion Report" and the septic system (or AOSS) repair/permit history and the history of septic tank pump-outs. This information is on file at the local health department. Usually, they will just email it to you if you ask.

If you see more equipment than a blue pressure tank in the basement you need to know what water treatment equipment is being used, why it was installed, and if it is working properly. It is not always obvious what a particular piece of equipment is just by looking at it because manufacturers tend to use the same casing style for all their products. You will need to test the water before the treatment equipment and after the equipment and determine if you can or want to live with the findings. There is a limit to the life cycle of any equipment and wells themselves. How old the equipment is can determine how effective it is and how long it will continue working. Filters need to be replaced regularly (and that is not free).

For purchase I would recommend a broad stroke water test that looks at all the primary and secondary contaminants regulated under the safe drinking water act as well as pesticides. These kinds of tests exist. An example is the WaterCheck Deluxe plus pesticides test kit from National Testing Laboratories which is an EPA certified laboratory. There are others, but that is the one I always use. Buying a package reduces the cost though the drawback is these packages are performed at a lower sensitivity level. All the packages compare their results to the  US EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Act limits for the primary and secondary contaminants. Since there are no regulation for private well water, that is a reasonable standard to compare the water test results to. Be alert to anything that should not be in groundwater. The presence of low levels of manmade contaminants may be an indication of a bigger problem. If you find traces of hydrocarbons or solvents do not take it on, walk away.

There are no national standards for construction of private water wells, thought in recent decades more and more states have developed standards at least for construction. Wells are typically managed and regulated by the State or Local Health Districts, state departments of the environment or ecology. You need to know what the regulations are in your local area and when they were implemented. In Virginia the regulations went into effect in 1992. You want a well that was built to the current standards, and many wells do not last more than 30-40 years. Geology matters in how a well ages. Check water level and yield in an old well. Yield tends to diminish over time in drilled bedrock and fractured rock wells. Groundwater aquifers are also being widely overdrawn and recharge is being diminished by land use change. It is entirely possible that the aquifer feeding the well is failing. This has occurred in Waterford, Virginia and areas of King George’s county to name just two.

Most states require a permit to drill a well and well drillers to be licensed. Make sure you know what that means in your location. In Virginia that is a decent standard, but in Pennsylvania anyone with $60 can get a well driller license, there are no minimum training or knowledge required there. There are still a few locations where a shallow dug well does not require a permit or license. Know these things when you go looking for a house with a well. Never buy a house with a dug well they are too shallow and are too easily contaminated in our modern world.

In Virginia the well completion report tells you how old the well is, how deep the well was drilled, where water was found and what the well yield was at completion. The well should have a stabilized yield greater than 6 gallons a minute to serve a modern home over time, because well yield typically falls over time. If you are buying a bedrock well older than 20 years, but still built after 1992 hire a well driller to check the water level and yield. Make sure they test the well yield not the pump rate. (Filling a bucket using your pump without accounting for the drawdown of the static column of water only measures the pump rate. The well driller’s rule of thumb is to run the water 4 hours testing flow every 15 minutes using an appropriate sized pump.) It is worth the time and expense to know that the well is still producing enough water.

There are a number of things that should be true in construction of all wells. The well cap should fit tightly on the top of the well casing, be vented, and have a screen to prevent insects from getting in the well. A sanitary well cap is the best option for protecting your well. The well cap should be at least 12 inches above grade, or higher if in an area that is prone to flooding, to ensure that the well cap is never covered by flood water. The area between the casing and the borehole, called the annulus, should be grouted (filled with bentonite and/or concrete) that will not allow any surface water around the well to go down the well bore or along the casing carrying surface contamination into the groundwater. 

Fairfax Water Proposes their annual Rate Increase

Water bills in our region continue to increase. There is no true “cost” of water, the price charged for water, often does not reflect its value or true cost.  Not only inflation is the cause. Recent demand changes, trace amounts of PFAS and rising levels of salt in the source water, and the need to expand and maintain the physical infrastructure of the water treatment and distribution systems and pushed up the costs.

Fairfax Water announced its intention to raise their water rates next spring as they do almost every winter. There will be, as usual, a public hearing on Thursday, December 11, 2025, on the proposed rate increase held at Fairfax Water’s main office at 8570 Executive Park Avenue in Fairfax. This rate increase is part of their ongoing program to ensure that the water infrastructure in Fairfax County is maintained. The proposed rate increase will go into effect April 1, 2026. Visit Fairfaxwater.org/rates for a complete list of rate and fee increases, but the bottom line is that the average customer bill will increase by about 7.5%.

The need for infrastructure replacement is an issue that has caused significant service problems and rate increases in other parts of the Washington Metropolitan region. Fairfax Water Board of Directors have dedicated funding to infrastructure maintenance and replacement for many years and has forecast future capital needs for replacing water mains in the system. The Town of Leesburg did not have a capital program in place. 

This time around Fairfax Water is facing the need to build the treatment to address the PFAS levels in the Reservoir as well as the increasing inland salinization.  In April 2024, the EPA announced the final national primary drinking water standards for six poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Public water systems have until 2031 (as revised by the current administration) to implement solutions that reduce these PFAS. Sampling has found that the Occoquan Reservoir exceeds the  maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for PFOA. Compliance for PFOS is only marginally below the MCL. Additional treatment processes will be required to comply with regulations and Fairfax Water has stated that they will ensure their water meets these standards by the regulatory date.

Fairfax Water hopes to use a new law, the Occoquan Reservoir PFAS Reduction Program, signed by the Governor this past summer  to identify and remove enough of the sources of PFAS in the water that arrives at the Occoquan Reservoir to meet the EPA MCL without requiring Fairfax Water and their rate payers to foot the bill for compliance which at this point is estimated to be about $400,000,000 in capital investment and $24,000,000 per year in operating costs. None of the treatment cost are in the current rate increase, but the expenses of the proactive planning process are. 

In January of this year, Fairfax Water filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Fairfax County against several manufacturers of aqueous film-forming foam chemicals. The lawsuit seeks to hold companies responsible for PFAS contamination in the Occoquan Reservoir and recover costs associated with water treatment and environmental remediation. (There have been several spills of aqueous film-forming foam chemicals at Manassas airport alone.) 

Every time they propose to raise water rates, Fairfax Water performs a comparison of the water costs throughout the Washington Metropolitan region. I have tracked this information over the years, and was shocked to see rates decrease this year, until I read the footnote. The comparison of rates as of July 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023 was based on a quarterly use of 18,000 gallons of residential water. In 2024 Fairfax Water choose to change the quantity of water used for the comparison to 15,000. This not only appeared to reduce rates in 2024,  but also changed some other aspects of the pricing. Last year I adjusted up the rates by 120% to make them more or less comparable to previous years, but this year I did not. Fairfax Water’s rate has returned to the lowest in the Washington metropolitan region, but they choose the comparison rules.  Fairfax Water sells water to Prince William Service Authority, American Water, Manassas Park and others.

from Fairfax Water data