In the United States, approximately 15% of the population relies on domestic wells for drinking water. Because testing and treatment are the responsibility of the well owner, this group is vulnerable to the impacts naturally occurring and anthropogenic contaminants have on water quality. Recent reports from the Northeast and Midwest United States indicate that good well stewardship, including testing and treatment practices, among private well owners remains is suboptimal. This study aims to determine well owner’s knowledge, attitudes, and practices with regards to well stewardship and to identify their information needs and resources.
METHODS:
In spring 2013, we conducted six focus groups in Arkansas, Indiana, and Oklahoma with English-speaking adults currently using a private well for their domestic water. We chose these states because they were impacted by the 2012 drought. A pre-focus group questionnaire was developed to gather information on household demographics, water use, and well stewardship; this abstract presents the findings from the pre-focus group survey.
RESULTS:
A total of 40 participants completed the pre-focus group questionnaire. Two-thirds of participants were adult males at least 55 years of age. The majority of participants (88%) used their well water for drinking water. More than half of participants (53%) had ever tested their well water. Participants cited color (73%), taste (70%), and odor (70%) as the three most common reasons to test. Reasons for not testing well water included being unsure how often to test (40%), not knowing where to send water samples (35%), and not seeing a need to test (28%). The majority of participants reported not treating their well water. Additionally, 28% of participants did not seek information on testing and treatment practices, and 28% did not know where to look for this information when asked where they most often received information about well management. Despite 65% of participants wanting more information on testing, only 8% and 5% reported utilizing local and state public health departments as an information resource, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS:
Participants had similar well stewardship practices compared to previously published findings. Reasons to engage in well testing in previous studies were similar to the results in this study. Additionally, in this study and previous studies, a common finding is well owners wanting information on best well practices yet not knowing where to look. Programs aiming to educate private well owners on proper stewardship should focus on providing applicable information to well owners.