An annual weeklong campaign urging private well-owners to
maintain their systems and to test wells annually for contaminants
will likely carry special meaning this year for many South Valley
residents.
An annual weeklong campaign urging private well-owners to maintain their systems and to test wells annually for contaminants will likely carry special meaning this year for many South Valley residents.
The campaign – known as National Ground Water Awareness Week – advocates annual water well “checkups,” including maintenance inspection and water-testing. The March 16-22 campaign this year comes in the midst of an investigation in the South Valley that has uncovered low-level perchlorate contamination in hundreds of private wells, as well as a couple of municipal wells.
“As we say at the district, if you don’t want to drink it, don’t put it on or in the ground,” said Sig Sanchez, chairman of the Santa Clara Valley Water District board of directors. “Protecting our groundwater basins from contamination is the responsibility of everybody living and working in Santa Clara County.”
Municipalities that operate their own drinking water systems, as well as the county’s retail water companies, regularly test wells for contamination.
In addition, the Santa Clara Valley Water District monitors groundwater quality by sampling water from a number of deep wells located throughout the county.
But, because there is no local, regional or state agency responsible for maintaining and testing private wells, it’s up to the county’s 5,000 private well-owners to watch over their own wells. The district recommends an annual checkup of private well systems.
To maintain water quality, there are dozens of tests that can be performed on drinking water and no one analysis can assure that water from a specific well is “safe to drink.”
For that reason, the water district recommends that well owners have samples tested by a certified laboratory for:
• Total coliform bacteria, the presence of which indicates that the water may be contaminated with other disease-causing organisms.
• Nitrate, a naturally occurring compound that, at high levels, is a health risk for infants younger than 6 months of age, pregnant women and people with certain specific enzyme deficiencies.
• Electrical conductance, or EC, a measure of all the dissolved ions in the water that can be used an indicator of changing conditions that may require further testing.
For more information about groundwater protection and proper well maintenance, read “A Guide for the Private Well Owner” by logging onto www.valleywater.org
