2014 Water Clinic in Prince William- Come Get Your Well Tested

The Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) Office will be holding a drinking water clinic for well owners in Prince William County as part of the Virginia Household Water Quality Program. The Prince William VCE welcomes our well, spring and cistern owners as well as our neighbors in Loudoun, Fairfax, and Fauquier (and anyone else in Virginia willing to drive to the clinic to join us) because it is a statewide grant from USDA Cooperative State Research, Extension and Education Service that allow Virginia to hold and subsidize the analysis cost of the analysis for the water clinics. To sign up for the program please call 703-792-7747 or email master_gardener@pwcgov.org. Please register as soon as possible so that the Prince William VCE can order enough test kits.

The program consists of two meetings- one to get instructions and pick up test kits, and the other a month later to get results and provide interpretation and recommendations. Samples will need to be dropped off at the VCE Prince William Office for analysis a day and a half after the first meeting. The samples will be analyzed for 14 chemical and bacteriological contaminants and cost only $49. Comparable analysis at a private commercial lab would cost $150-$200. Samples will be analyzed for: iron, manganese, nitrate, lead, arsenic, fluoride, sulfate, pH, total dissolved solids, hardness, sodium, copper, total coliform bacteria and E. Coli bacteria.

The Kickoff Meeting will be on March 31, 2014 at 7 - 8:30 pm at the Old Courthouse, 9248 Lee Avenue in Manassas, VA 20110
A brief presentation will be given to discuss common water quality issues in your area and instructions for how to properly collect the water samples from your tap. Water sampling kits will be distributed with written sampling directions and a short survey about your water supply for data gathering purposes. Checks (or money orders) for $49 to cover the cost for the analysis and sampling kits will be collected. A friend or neighbor may drop off your check and pick up your sampling kit.

The samples should be taken early Wednesday morning and then dropped off on Wednesday April 2, 2014, between 6:30am and 10am at the VCE Prince William Office, at 8033 Ashton, Suite 105, Manassas 20109
Results Interpretation Meeting will be held on April , 7-8:30 pm once more at the Old Courthouse 9248 Lee Avenue, Manassas, VA 20110
Participants will receive their confidential water test results. A presentation will be given that explains what the numbers on the test report mean and what possible options participants may consider to deal with water problems. Experts will be on hand to answer any specific questions you may have about your water and water system. I will be one of volunteers present to help with the program. Come join us.

Just because your water appears clear doesn’t necessarily mean it is safe to drink. You cannot taste bacterial contamination from human and animal waste, nor nitrate/ nitrite contamination which can in excessive levels be deadly to newborns and infants. Since bacterial contamination cannot be detected by taste, smell, or sight, all drinking water wells should be tested at least annually for Coliform bacteria and E Coli. Testing is the only way to detect contamination in your water. Testing is not mandatory, but should be done to ensure your family’s safety. The Virginia Private Well Regulations only specify construction requirements. There are no requirements for maintenance or water testing after a well is approved. Maintenance and ensuring that water is safe to drink is the responsibility of the owner.

Under the Safe Drinking Water Act the U.S. EPA requires that all public water supplies be tested for a list of 80 primary contaminants on a regular basis and meet these minimum standards. In addition, EPA has 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. Neither the primary nor secondary safe drinking water standards apply to private wells, but these standards can be used as guidance to determine what levels of water constituents is too much and should be addressed. Contamination from human and animal waste and chemicals can be real health hazards and should be addressed immediately. However, most of the water quality issues with private wells are from naturally occurring contamination or impurities. While many natural contaminants such as iron, sulfate, and manganese are not considered serious health hazards, they can give drinking water an unpleasant taste, odor, or color and be annoying and persistent problems and EPA has established secondary standards that can be used as guidance. Excessive levels of sodium, total dissolved solids, harness, can be an annoyance and impact appliances. Several of the naturally occurring contaminants that commonly appear in well water are primary contaminants under the Safe Drinking Water Act and can be a health hazard- nitrate, lead, arsenic, floride, and copper. The VCE Drinking Water Clinic will test for these.

The goal of the Virginia Household Water Quality Program is to educate well owners, improve the water quality and protect the health of Virginians with private water supplies, such as wells, springs and cisterns. This all begins with testing and understanding your water and properly maintaining your water system. In 60 of Virginia’s 95 counties more than half the households rely on private wells, springs, and cisterns. In total there are more than 1,500,000 households in Virginia with private water supplies. Homeowners relying on private water supplies are responsible for all aspects of their water system’s management, but may lack the knowledge and resources to effectively and properly manage and maintain their wells and water systems. Until a big problem arises, many homeowners ignore their private water systems sometimes accepting sub-optimal treatment or taste. All wells should be routinely tested every 1-3 years. If there is a pregnant woman or infant in the home the water should be tested. If there is any change in the taste, appearance, odor of water or your system is serviced or repaired then water should be tested to confirm that no contaminants were introduced.

In addition running the drinking water clinics VCE has established the Virginia Master Well Owner Network (VAMWON), a group of Virginia Cooperative Extension educator/agents and screened volunteers trained in proper well construction and location, appropriate maintenance and protection of wells and springs, interpretation of water tests, and water treatment options. These educator/agents and volunteers form an excellent resource base for homeowners. If you are a private water system owner, consider contacting a Master Well Owner in your area if you cannot join us for the water clinic.

Bad Water – Test it to Know

Bad water is a term that has popped up several times in community meetings. It is vague, and could mean almost anything. Though neighbors have declared at community meetings that old-timers “all say the water is bad”, they refuse to spend any money to test their drinking water wells, opting, instead, to buy bottled water to drink. The water they are calling “bad” is from the northwestern portion of the Culpeper groundwater basin that provides water to all our wells, and happens in fact to be quite good source water. When I purchased my home, one of my contingencies was water quality. I had the right to exit the purchase if the water quality was unacceptable to me. Though the seller was willing to accept my vague contingency all we could negotiate was a 12 day contingency period and in reality I had less time than that. The power needed to be turned on to operate the water pump, the pressure tank drained and the water run to clear out the well and lines which had been unused for six months.

There are reasonably priced informational oriented analysis package available to the consumer; however, the turn-around time for these products is about 4 weeks and the analytical limits were higher than I wanted for this first analysis. I was interested in obtaining a water supply as pristine as possible, and I would refuse any traces of any industrial compounds. I was specifically looking for solvents, hydrocarbon fuels, heavy metals and pesticide traces that might have resulted from previous land use or difficult taste quality issues. I determined my best option to verify water quality within the transaction time frame appeared to be to use an US EPA certified laboratory to perform a rush compliance analysis of the water sample for every primary and secondary contaminants listed under the Safe Drinking Water Act while simultaneously researching the history of the land.

The good news is the results confirmed that the on-site drinking water well provided water that met the Safe Drinking Water Standards and was free of even trace industrial contaminants only having traces (parts per million) of naturally occurring minerals such as iron, barium, cooper and moderately hard water (the presence of calcium carbonate), but even these secondary criteria were below recommended levels. I concluded the groundwater supplying the house was uncontaminated from its previous use as a dairy/cattle operation and the water quality good. To obtain that analysis within the time frame of the contingency period I spent $1,635.00, not an amount of money I could spend again, but the house was the most expensive purchase of my life and I did not want to purchase a house with that ambiguous “bad” water. The water also tasted good to me. What I missed during the rush analysis and investigation of the site was the risks of the local geology. Coming from California I had not been familiar with the local geological variations.

Groundwater flows under ambient pressure from Bull Run Mountain towards Bull Run, the river. Thus, groundwater flows west to east. The soils in our neighborhood and the surrounding area are described by the USGS as Balls Bluff Siltstone with a gravel, sand and clay type bedding plane. (That is the technical name for the flat plane, edged orange red rocks that are everywhere you put a shovel.) In the siltstone bedding plane, the fractures within the rocks run predominately north south. Thus while ground water flows generally speaking west to east, water or a contaminant that catches a fracture will carry the contaminant to drinking water depth in a north south pattern. Contaminants can enter the groundwater at these fractures and zigzag through the neighborhood. Though the neighborhood is bound by rivers to the east and south which serve as hydraulic breaks within the neighborhood we are an enclosed fracture system with a potential of contamination from the north and west. There is no natural attenuation in a fractured system. Any malfunctioning septic system, improper disposal, mishandling of waste at the nearby horse farm or spill on any property has the potential to impact the drinking water well of other residents to the south, southeast or east. There is no guarantee that the water will remain uncontaminated so I need to monitor it regularly as well as keep an eye out for likely sources of contamination. I have continued to test my water well at least once a year using much more affordable options that are available.

The Prince William County Service Authority, PWSA, provides public drinking water to various communities in Prince William County through several public supply systems one of which is the Bull Run Mountain and Evergreen System supplying those communities, our nearest neighbors. The Bull Run Mountain and Evergreen Water System is supplied from eight deep-drilled rock wells located throughout the water system in the lower part of Bull Run Mountain south of us but also part of the northwest portion of the Culpeper Basin. The PWSA describes the groundwater in this area as rated as high for susceptibility to contamination. “These ground water sources are constructed in an area that tends to promote migration of contaminants with land use activities of concern…within a 1000-ft radius of the well site.” Like all public water supplies the Bull Run Mountain and Evergreen Water System is required under the Safe Drinking Water Act, SDWA, to test their water monthly for compliance. I review their reports to track the northwestern Culpeper Basin water quality.

Under the SDWA, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, sets standards for 91 contaminants in drinking water including bacteria and disinfection by products. For each of these contaminants, EPA sets a legal limit, called a maximum contaminant level. EPA requires that all public water supplies be tested for this list of contaminants on a regular basis and meet these minimum standards. 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. Though 91 contaminants is a lot, there are approximately 80,000 chemicals in use in our society and an uncounted number of pathogens and while monthly testing is required, only bacterial contamination is tested each month the other contaminants are tested over a longer time frame in the Bull Run Mountain and Evergreen System. Nonetheless, the water quality has remained consistently good during the past year.

Though a couple of the public supply wells are filtered for sediment removal, the PWSA states in their annual report of water quality. “We are proud to be one of the few Virginia community water systems that do not require disinfection treatment. The Bull Run Mountain and Evergreen Water System is Virginia’s largest non-chlorinated community water supply. We pride ourselves with having pristine natural source waters. Most wells are dosed with sodium hydroxide to raise the pH and reduce the water’s natural corrosiveness.” The public supply homes and businesses are receiving water directly from the groundwater source with a little sodium hydroxide added to neutralize it. That is a verification of the base water quality. My well draws from under 100 feet below grade and has consistently tested at neutral pH every year. I do not treat my water, when I examine the analysis each year I have seen no need for any treatment.

Routine testing has shown that the natural source waters in the northwest portion of the Culpeper Basin are pristine. The only way to know if your water is good water or bad water is to test it. Contamination from human and animal waste and chemicals can be real health hazards and should be addressed immediately. However, most of the water quality issues with private wells are from naturally occurring contamination or impurities. While many natural contaminants such as iron, sulfate, and manganese are not considered serious health hazards, they can give drinking water an unpleasant taste, odor, or color. Do not rely solely on water treatment salespeople for water analysis. The tests they perform are often crude and sometimes misleading. They are selling water treatment. The Virginia Household Water Quality Program subsidizes the analysis cost for private drinking water well clinics in a few counties each year. In 2012 Prince William, Loudoun, Frederic are among the counties that will have clinics. The analysis offered by the state program now includes: total coliform, E. Coli, sulfate, nitrate, fluoride, copper, lead, arsenic, hardness, total dissolved solids, pH, manganese, iron, sodium and is estimated to cost $55 for each household. Take the time to attend the clinic and test your water. You can save $100-$200 and get free help in interpreting the results. Join us and know the quality of your water.