- Welcome, everyone, to Wednesday Nite @ the Lab.
I'm Tom Zinnen, I work here
at UW-Madison Biotechnology Center.
I also work for the Division of Extension here
at UW-Madison, formerly the Cooperative Extension folks.
On behalf of those folks and our co-organizers,
Wisconsin Public Television, Wisconsin Alumni Association,
and UW-Madison Science Alliance,
thanks again for coming to Wednesday Nite @ the Lab.
We do this every Wednesday night 50 times a year.
Tonight, it's my pleasure to welcome back
to Wednesday Nite @ the Lab Kevin Masarik.
He's at UW-Stevens Point
in the Center for Watershed Science and Education
in the College of Natural Resources at Point.
He's also a colleague of mine in the Extension here
with the Division of Extension at UW-Madison.
He was born in Milwaukee
and went to Thomas More High School there.
And then he went to UW-Stevens Point
for his undergraduate degree and studied water resources.
Then he came UW-Madison to get master's in soil science.
Tonight, he's going to be talking about something
very appropriate since this is the year
of clean drinking water, private wells in Wisconsin.
There is very few things having lived on a farmstead,
I should say, for a few years,
it's good to know what's coming up out of the ground
and out of your faucet.
I'm looking forward to hearing what Kevin has to say tonight
as he talks with us about private wells in Wisconsin.
Please join me in welcoming Kevin Masarik
back to Wednesday Nite @ the Lab.
(audience clapping)
- I appreciate the opportunity to be here tonight.
A lot of the presentation today will focus on my experiences
traveling the state, talking to well owners about water quality.
Extension has this great program where we help communities
organize group testing opportunities.
For those on private wells, they submit samples to us.
We run those samples, I travel back to that community,
and I give a presentation very similar to tonight,
helping them understand what their test results mean
and helping them understand a little bit
about water quality where they live.
I've never got the opportunity to do this
at kind of a statewide level
or provide a statewide perspective on this issue.
So, this is a great opportunity for me to do that,
especially given that it's the year of clean drinking water.
If I highlight what I'm going to cover briefly,
the things I want to cover is helping people understand
if you have a well, or maybe you don't have a well,
but you rely on a municipal well
where that well water comes from.
There's a lot of misunderstandings about ground water
and where people's water comes from.
I hope to clarify some of those things today.
I'll highlight the role of well construction
in helping understand where people's water comes from.
We'll highlight some common water quality problems,
some of which might be important from a health standpoint.
A lot of the complaints that I hear from people
might actually not be a health concern,
but might be related to the taste, the color,
or the odor of the water.
So, we'll talk about some of those issue.
Where these problems occur and why they occur
is something else we'll also try to touch upon.
And then scattered throughout the presentation,
if there are issues, one of the other things
we like to do is help people understand
if there is a problem that oftentimes
there are very simple solutions.
So, what are those solutions that people have
at their disposal to improve their water quality?
Just getting back to the basics here,
where does well water come from?
Well water is simply ground water.
When it rains or the snow melts,
some of that water is going to soak down into the ground
eventually reaching a point where all the empty spaces
in the rocks or all the cracks in the rock
or the space in-between the soil are filled with water.
The top of our ground water is basically that water table.
Everything below the water table means
that all the empty spaces in the soil or rock
are filled with water.
That ground water is always moving slowly,
oftentimes through the empty spaces in the soil or rock
to a nearby lake, river, stream, or wetland.
We use wells as that access point
to that groundwater resource.
Those wells provide an opportunity for us
to bring that water, bring that groundwater
up out of the ground into our homes.
Wells also provide a convenient opportunity
for us to understand and measure that water quality.
Really, it's these wells that are the window into our water.
People's private wells,
because there are so many in Wisconsin, really help us
paint the picture of groundwater quality
throughout the state.
You'll hear groundwater scientists talk a lot about aquifers
or we talk a lot about geology.
In geology, it's absolutely critical
for understanding things like how quickly groundwater moves
or how quickly groundwater becomes contaminated.
So, the different aquifers, we see a nice picture
from the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey
showing that Wisconsin's geology is like a layered cake.
The lowermost layer that we'd find
if we dug a hole deep enough
anywhere in the state of Wisconsin,
we'd eventually hit a bedrock unit,
which we call crystalline bedrock.
Think of your granite countertop at home.
If you spill water on that granite countertop,
it's not really going to go anywhere.
It's not sinking into that material.
So, we know granite doesn't hold or store a lot of water.
That's not a very prolific aquifer in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin's groundwater sits in those geologic layers
that occur on top of that crystalline bedrock.
So, it might be in southern Wisconsin here.
It might be alternating layers of sandstones and dolomites.
In eastern Wisconsin, it might be coming
from what we call the Silurian dolomite aquifer.
In most of Wisconsin, with the exception
of the southwest region, that groundwater could sit
in sand and gravels that were deposited
when the glaciers receded.
So, where you are in the state is really going to determine
what aquifers are at your disposal for accessing groundwater
or having water for your private well.
If we look at those diagrams of the different rock types,
what I'd mentioned is that water moving through sand
or small space in-between sand grains
is going to move much more slowly
than water moving through large cracks or fissures
in various rocks.
If the water can move to those materials easily,
that means contaminants also are typically going to move
through those materials rather rapidly as well,
because those cracks or those fissures
don't offer a lot of ability for that water to be filtered
as it moves to that material.
So, the geology is really critical
for helping us understand things
like groundwater susceptibility.
The different rock materials are also going to impart
different chemical characteristics to that water,
which we'll talk about or highlight as well.
When we talk about wells,
typical groundwater accessed by private wells
is on the order of probably years or maybe decades old.
Most private wells are not accessing water
that recharged when the glaciers melted.
Groundwater, the well water that we access
is probably a lot younger than people realize.
The closer you are to the top of that aquifer
or near the water table,
typically the younger that water is going to be.
As you drill deeper, you're typically going to be accessing
water that's older.
That might be originating from further away
from that well location.
I like this diagram because it highlights
that anything we do on the land surface
does have the potential to impact that water quality below.
I want to highlight the difference between public
and private water supplies.
Tom highlighted I grew up in Milwaukee.
I grew up on a municipal water supply.
Those water supplies, I pay a water utility bill
that goes to pay a staff
that is in charge of managing that water system.
Those water utilities are required
to regularly test that water.
If there's anything wrong with that water supply,
if it exceeds some sort of drinking water standard,
they're required to bring that water
up to drinking water standards to make sure that it's safe
to drink for those people that that water is distributed to.
That amounts to about 4.1 million people in Wisconsin.
The other 1.7 million people rely on private wells.
Those are rural wells that people out in the country
use to bring water into their homes.
There's about 800,000.
That's the estimate of how many wells exist
in the state of Wisconsin.
Things to point out about these wells
is they're not required to be regularly tested.
There are some testing requirements
at the time the well is drilled.
They are required to be tested for bacteria.
As of 2014, they're also required to be tested for nitrate.
Any time there's well or pump work done
or a well inspection,
those wells are required to be tested for bacteria,
and as of 2014, nitrate and arsenic.
Those are the only times where private wells
are required to be tested.
Those are the only parameters
that they're required to be tested for.
There's a whole host of other problems
that we might experience in our wells
that unless you're taking it upon yourself
to do those tests,
we might not have a great understanding of.
If people do find something wrong with their well water,
I think a lot of times the people I talk to
are surprised that they're not required
to take any sort of corrective action.
That's one of the reasons why I hear people say
they don't want to test their water
'cause if they find something wrong,
they're scared that they're going to have to do something to fix it.
If we find something wrong with well water
through these testing programs,
our information is purely educational.
We want to give people the tools
to take those corrective measures
that will help give them safe water,
but they're not required to do that.
So, the message I often give people
is that if you have a private well,
you really are your own water utility manager.
It's up to you to decide what, how often you're going to test,
and if there is anything wrong, what those next steps might be.
When we look at a private well,
typically all we might realize about our private wells,
all we might think about is that top 12 to 14 inches
that sticks out of the ground.
That's what most people probably think of
when they think of their well.
It's important to realize though
that there's a lot happening below that ground surface
that we can't see.
We might like to, but it'd be very difficult to understand
things like what is that rock or what is that material
that that well is drilled into.
Without some sort of cam or visual inspection of that area
below our feet, a lot of times, we're using our best guess.
Those best guesses, a lot of times, are based on reports
that are filed when that well is constructed
by the well driller them self.
Every well that's drilled in the state of Wisconsin
is required to have a well construction report filled out
at the time of drilling.
As of 1988, all new wells also have
a Wisconsin unique well number.
That's a unique code that is specific to an individual well.
That creates great opportunities for us
to do kind of data mining exercises
that help us learn and understand Wisconsin's groundwater.
For the people in this room, if you're curious about things
like how deep is my well, how deep did they have to drill
before they hit the water table.
That metal pipe that sticks out of the ground,
how far does it extend below our feet.
Those are all really critical pieces of information to know
that will help us better understand
that private water supply.
So, if you're on a private well,
that information is often readily accessible.
I've created or put the link on here
with some information about where people can go
if they're looking to obtain some information
about their private well at home.
Just know that there's a lot happening below the ground.
Again there's the casing, there's submersible pumps,
there might be well screens, and then there's connections
that connect up to that well to bring the water
into our homes and into our pressure tanks.
So, transitioning into the quality
or the private well, water-quality concerns,
most people in this room are familiar
with the term universal solvent.
Water is a polar molecule,
which means it's very good at dissolving things.
As much as we all want pure drinking water or pure water,
we have to realize that in the natural environment,
we never find pure H2O.
That groundwater is always going to have impurities
depending on the types of rocks or minerals
that that groundwater is moving through.
It depends on the types of land use
where that water infiltrates and soaks down into the ground.
It might even depend on the types of plumbing or packaging
that that water is stored or transported in.
Flint, Michigan really highlighted how plumbing,
how the water system itself can impact
various water supplies where the source of that lead
was not the groundwater, it wasn't the lake or river
where that water was coming from.
The source of that lead was the plumbing system.
When they changed water supplies,
a water supply that was more corrosive or aggressive,
it started to peel away or expose a lot of that lead
that ended up in people's homes.
If there are impurities that eventually reach a point
where they're concerned for health, a lot of times,
we want to do something about it.
I think it's important to point out
that if we do contaminants in our water,
there are a lot of variety of ways,
treatments being one of 'em, that we can make that water
a little bit safer to drink.
When we talk about health concerns associated with water,
I do think it's important to point out
that there's two different categories of health concerns
associated with water.
Some of these are acute effects.
Acute effects are those that are seen
within a short time of exposure
to a particular contaminant or substance.
Examples here would be pathogenic organisms,
things like E coli,
which are associated with foodborne illnesses.
We can also see those types of organisms in well water.
Those are examples where shortly after being exposed
to those organisms, people are going to develop
some sort of health complication,
usually some sort of gastrointestinal illness,
some of which can be quite serious
especially for amino-compromised individuals.
There's this other category of health effects
which we'd call chronic health effects,
which result from exposure to these substances
over a long or extended period of time.
Things like arsenic or pesticides
that we might find in well water, these are things we know
that increase the risk of developing things like cancer.
If these things are in somebody's water,
drinking the water once or twice isn't likely to develop
or result in those sort of health consequences.
But if we find those things in water,
especially if they're above certain levels,
and people are using this water supply for years or decades
while they're in the home,
then those people are at an increased risk
for health complications later in life.
Is it a guarantee that people are going to suffer
from those health consequences? Certainly not, but it does mean
or is associated with an increased risk.
So, if we put that into perspective,
I've listed a variety of different environmental factors
related to various chronic health concerns.
I'd point out that there's a whole host of risk factors
for various types of cancers,
drinking water, environmental factors being one.
But there's other things like the use of tobacco products,
our diet that also have large impacts
on whether or not somebody is likely to suffer
from these illnesses.
But if we put these things into context,
we look at something like indoor radon
combined with smoking, if there's 1,000 people
that fit that category or that population,
we would expect 32 out of 1,000 people
to develop lung cancer
from those environmental factors and conditions.
If we look at water specifically, arsenic is a contaminant
with a health standard associated with it.
It used to be .050 milligrams per liter
or 50 parts per billion.
1,000 people, if they were using a water supply
with that level for years or decades,
we would anticipate that 13 of those 1,000
would likely develop cancer from that water.
So, it's not a guarantee,
but it does come with an increased risk.
We can take simple steps a lot of times
to reduce those risks.
If 13 out of 1,000 is not acceptable,
there are simple things that people can do
to reduce those risks even further.
When we talk about different categories
of well water constituents, there's a variety.
There's literally hundreds of different tests
that people could do on their water supply.
I try to limit the amount of tests that people do
to those that we know are going to be important
either from a health standpoint,
so there's a category that says important to health,
those tests that are important because it contributes
to taste, color, or odor problems
that people often complain about regarding their water.
And then there's other tests that we might do
because they're indicators of overall water quality.
They might help us understand things like how corrosive
or aggressive is that water going to be.
There's other useful information that we can learn
that might not be directly related to health
or aesthetic issues associated with well water.
In transitioning to some of the common issues
or problems that people have,
I'm going to start with coliform bacteria.
This is probably the most important test
for people on private wells
to do on a routine or regular basis.
The well code, which the DNR administers,
is based on this idea that a properly constructed well
should be able to provide bacteria-free water
continuously without treatment.
That is the one thing that DNR regulates
is well construction.
They're trying to get people the best possible chance
at getting a bacteriologically free
or a sanitary water supply.
Coliform bacteria is an indicator test.
It's an indicator of the sanitary condition of that well.
Coliform bacteria on their own generally don't cause illness,
but the concern is that if coliform bacteria
are getting into that well, it indicates a potential pathway
for other harmful organisms to enter that water supply also.
Sources of coliform bacteria are soils.
They can live in soils or on vegetation.
But we can also expect to find them
in human or animal waste.
That's why we feel it's a good indicator
of the sanitary integrity of that water system.
If coliform bacteria is detected,
if you submit a sample to a lab for bacteria,
they're going to first check for coliform bacteria.
If it's positive for coliform bacteria,
they will then check that sample
to see if it's also positive for E. coli.
E. coli, if a well ever comes back positive for E coli,
that's confirmation the source of that bacteria
is some sort of human or animal waste source.
Obviously that's a much more serious situation
because if human or animal waste is getting into that well,
there's a whole host of other pathogens besides E. coli
that we might concerned about, things like salmonella,
Campylobacter, Cryptosporidia, or Giardia,
would mean if E. coli was present,
it would mean that those other pathogens
are much more likely to be found in that water supply.
Those are things, coliform bacteria again on its own
doesn't necessarily mean
that people are going to get sick from that water,
but having evidence of these other pathogens
would give us some indication that that water supply
is probably unsuitable as a drinking water source.
We would be concerned about people being able to fend off
those bacteria if this was their primary water supply.
As a rule of thumb, if a well ever comes back positive
for E. coli, we generally encourage, strongly encourage
those people to stop using the water
for drinking and cooking until the problem can be corrected
and safe bacteria test is obtained.
So, the question I often get
when somebody gets a positive bacteria sample
is where is that bacteria coming from.
These are pictures that I've collected over the years
from some colleagues.
This is the only interactive part of the presentation here.
These are all bacteriologically positive wells
with the exception of one.
Does anybody want to guess what the good well,
which the good well is?
I see and I've heard some people pointing to the left.
This is not a trick question.
There's obvious defects with a lot of those pictures.
In the case of the one on the far right,
the casing is cracked.
Any time it rains, water is falling directly into that well.
There's insects that might be able to crawl into that well.
That bottom picture actually shows,
it's a little bit difficult to see, but if you look,
there's actually earwigs crawling
around the inside of that casing.
If they fall, if they drop into that well,
those insects can carry and harbor bacteria
in their intestinal tract that would cause
or result in positive bacteria samples.
There's a picture in the middle where the dog is kind of chained
within a close proximity to that well.
If it's hanging out there all day,
it's probably doing other things there
that we shudder to think about
if that's where we're getting our drinking water from.
The types of connections we have:
There's a yard hydrant in that one picture
that's affixed to the top of that well.
We also see that there's a host affixed to it.
If that hole doesn't have proper backflow prevention,
any time you shut that yard hydrant off,
all the water in that hole potentially will be siphoned
back into that well.
We know hoses are kind of breeding grounds for bacteria.
We need to make sure that we have proper backflow prevention
to ensure that we're not contaminating
our drinking water source.
There's that other picture,
which is showing kind of larger tall grass,
and there are some white specks on that grass.
That's an area next to the well.
This is a person that had a positive E coli sample,
but also had a bird feeder directly above their well head.
These are not pictures that I use to make fun of people,
they're pictures that I use to highlight
that we don't always think about where our water comes from.
There are very simple things that every well owner can do
to make sure that they get the best possible opportunity
at getting a sanitary water supply.
As unsightly as that metal pipe looks
sticking out of the ground,
we generally encourage people
to leave that area free and clear.
Anything that conceals that well is also going to provide
concealment for things like small animals or insects.
Keeping that free and clear also means
that if a well driller or pump installer has to come
and service that well that they're not having to move
a lot of material, they're not having to disrupt flowers
or shrubs that may have been planted to conceal that well.
The grass around that well is probably a little bit green
for my liking.
Probably more fertilizer applied on that lawn
than I would recommend.
But keeping that area pretty well-manicured
is probably the best thing that you could do
to ensure that you're giving it the best chance
at getting sanitary water.
Other things to look for on your property,
there's a picture of an old dug well.
That old dug well, the diagram below, it kind of shows
if we keep those holes open,
those holes represent direct conduits into the aquifer.
So, if it floods or it rains,
that water has a direct conduit
down into the aquifer where your new well
might be pulling its water from.
So, if we don't properly fill and seal those old holes,
we might be continuing to contaminate the aquifer
that you or your neighbor might be getting their water from.
And then I have a picture on the right
showing a livestock water.
Without proper backflow prevention,
it's another opportunity for those systems
to contaminate wells.
Those are things that are related to well construction.
Other reasons why wells might be susceptible
to bacterial contamination might be the soils or the geology.
I really like this diagram 'cause it shows
in areas with very thin soils,
those areas might also be more prone
to having things like sinkholes.
That water, that surface water is getting into the aquifer
rather quickly without adequate filtration.
So, in this diagram, we see that empty space
or we see that the well.
Basically we have the well depth and then we have the casing.
So, those black lines represent the depth of the casing,
which in this diagram just extend to the top
of that aquifer, which means that that whole bottom section
of the well is open to the aquifer.
The picture highlights really nicely
that water from that sinkhole
basically has a direct pathway into that well.
If we extend that casing deeper into the aquifer,
that means that we've sealed off that upper part of the aquifer
and now that water is being pulled from much deeper.
It doesn't mean that that water can't be contaminated,
but we've sealed off some of those direct pathways,
which means that what happens at the surface,
it's going to be much more difficult for that water
from that surface to get down deep into the aquifer
where that well is now pulling its water from.
So, this diagram I think is important to highlight
that while well depth is important,
a lot of people talk about how deep their well is,
that's only one component.
Well casing is equally as important
for determining where within an aquifer
somebody is getting their private well water from.
If we look at bacteria occurrence in Wisconsin wells,
what we see if we tested all roughly 800,000 private wells
in the state of Wisconsin,
we'd estimate that at any given time,
about 15 to 20% would come back positive.
Some of that's due to well construction.
Some of it might be due to geology.
Less than 2% of those samples are coming back positive
for E. coli.
So, having coliform bacteria doesn't necessarily indicate
human or animal waste.
However, this would say or show
that right around 2% likely do show some evidence
that human or animal waste are impacting people's wells.
What we might also notice about the map
is that the darker areas are higher likelihoods
of having bacteria, the lighter areas are lower risks.
Areas where we have very sandy soils like central Wisconsin
typically have a lower risk of bacteria in their wells.
Sand is typically a great filter,
which I think means that there's maybe less potential
for bacteria to get down into the aquifer
where people in the central part of the state
are pulling their water from.
Anywhere where the positives or the percent exceedance
is greater than about 20%,
to me, that speaks to some sort of geologic concern,
which makes those areas more prone to having bacteria
in their wells.
If we look at one of those main geologic considerations,
it would be areas where we have fractured bedrock,
shallow soils overlying
that carbonate, cracked, fractured bedrock
are areas that we would suspect have a greater potential
for this geologic susceptibility
or this consideration for bacteria to get into the aquifer
without adequate filtration.
So, if people have positive coliforms,
what's the procedure?
First, we'd recommend people re-test.
If two tests in a row are positive,
then the next step is to identify
where that positive sample might have resulted from.
Correct any sanitary defect, disinfect the well,
and then re-test to ensure that
that water supply is bacteria-free.
For those people that have reoccurring bacteria problems,
the best long-term solution might be looking at,
can that well be constructed in a better way
that would give it a greater likelihood
of providing sanitary water.
It would be great if wells lasted forever,
but the older the well is, chances are,
it wasn't constructed with the same types of materials
that we use today.
So, as a well ages, typically we might expect more potential
for well construction to impact that result as well.
Transitioning into some of the other common complaints
that we get are going to be things that are impacted
by the rocks or the soils that that water is stored
or transported in.
Hard water is one of the common complaints that people have.
Water hardness results from calcium and magnesium
in the different rocks that that groundwater is stored in.
Limestone or, in the case of Wisconsin, dolomite rocks
contain calcium and magnesium.
Water flowing through those rocks
is going to dissolve small amounts of calcium and magnesium.
We consider water to be hard
when it's greater than about 200 milligrams
per liter hardness and that anything less than 150
is considered to be soft water.
So, while hard water, some of the issues are going to have
are going to be scale depositing on fixtures,
maybe in the pipes, on the water heaters.
People with hard water tend to go through
a lot more detergent or soap because hard water
makes it more difficult for that water to form a lather.
Those are the typical problems people have
that they associate with hard water.
When we look at water hardness in Wisconsin,
we know that Wisconsin has in general very hard water.
If you're in eastern Wisconsin, chances are,
you have very hard water.
Southern Wisconsin, the same thing.
As we get into northern Wisconsin,
the water, the types of rocks or minerals
that that water is stored in
don't contain as much of those elements.
So, as we progress into northern Wisconsin,
we know that the water tends to be lower in hardness
and in some cases even what we would consider
to be soft water.
It really follows the geology.
Those areas where we have carbonate rocks,
eastern Wisconsin, southern Wisconsin,
and parts of western Wisconsin, correlate really well
with those areas where people with wells
are dealing with hard water.
If you have hard water,
fortunately there's relatively tried and true technology
that helps deal with water hardness.
That's going to be a water softener.
There's a lot of people in Wisconsin
that have water softeners on their wells.
These are fairly easy-to-use technologies
that remove calcium and magnesium.
But what some people might not realize
is that in the process of removing those elements,
it has to replace it with something else.
That something else is typically going to be sodium,
'cause we use sodium fluoride
to regenerate the resin bed of water softeners.
With this method, it's an exchange method.
It's removing the unwanted calcium and magnesium,
but it's adding back in a little bit of sodium.
That sodium for most people
is not going to be a major concern.
But if somebody tells them or somebody's doctor tells them
that I want you to limit your sodium intake,
that additional sodium that's coming
from that water softener could be a health consideration
that people want to think about.
With water softening, most people will actually bypass
their primary drinking water faucet for that reason
that they don't want the additional sodium.
But also because a lot of people think that water
with calcium and magnesium taste a little bit better.
If you ever have drinken reverse osmosis water,
a lot of bottled water might be reverse osmosis water,
some people complain about the taste.
They could taste flat or it doesn't like anything.
That's because we've removed some of those elements
like calcium and magnesium.
For that reason, sometimes people will bypass
their primary drinking water faucet.
There's really no reason to soften the water
that you're using to water the lawn or water your garden.
So, bypassing the outer faucet
could also save you a lot of money in terms of softener salt.
Transitioning into something else that rock or soil impacts,
arsenic is another element of concern in Wisconsin.
This is naturally occurring
coming from the soils or other geologic materials.
We know that areas on the western side
of Lake Winnebago can have
some of the highest arsenic concentrations
anywhere in the world.
It's due to a specific geologic formation.
That geologic formation has resulted in special casing areas
in that part of the state.
Those special casing areas are designed to help people avoid
having their well in contact
with that really arsenic-rich layer.
By adjusting the casing or adjusting the depth of the well,
people are able to easily avoid that layer
with the high arsenic.
The health standard for arsenic if we look,
.010 milligrams per liter or 10 parts per billion
is associated with various types of cancer.
So, there is incentive for us to reduce exposure
to arsenic in our drinking water.
Unfortunately there is a couple different treatment options
out there for people if they do have elevated levels
of arsenic in their water.
This map, it's important to point out that those areas
that are blank are just areas where we don't have
sufficient data to be able to say with a lot of confidence
what typical levels would be.
Because arsenic is more recent
in terms of our recommendations for testing,
we just haven't amassed the same amount of data
for some of these constituents.
But hopefully through time, we'll be able to fill in
this picture and give people a better indication
of the likelihood of encountering arsenic where they live.
Iron is another common complaint.
It might be the most common complaint
I hear people talk about in regards to their well water.
It's naturally occurring coming from the soils and the rock.
Areas where the groundwater is low in oxygen,
areas near wetlands or maybe lakes,
areas where the soil has a lot of carbon or organic matter
tend to have really low oxygen levels.
Water that's low in oxygen has a greater ability
to dissolve iron that might occur
in the soils or the bedrock.
That's why it's probably more common
for people that live near lakes or in low-lying areas
to be experiencing issues with high iron.
While there's no health concerns associated with iron,
it does cause some aesthetic issues.
That redder, that orange staining
might look pretty familiar for people.
If you have a well at home or you have lake property,
that's going to be a common sight.
Elevated levels of iron also are going to give water
that irony or characteristic well water taste.
When I hear people talk about not liking the taste
of well water, a lot of times I think they're talking about
levels of iron in the water that are giving it
kind of a metallic taste.
Iron, elevated levels of iron also increase the potential
for what we call iron bacteria.
That's a bacteria that if you spend a lot of time
in the woods, near lakes or wetlands,
you might see kind of an oily sheen on the top of water.
I think a lot of people assume that that's gasoline or oil
that might have run off a parking lot.
But a lot of times,
that might be naturally occurring iron bacteria.
That same bacteria can occur in people's private wells.
It gives water kind of an off-putting taste
or an off-putting smell.
It might tend to clog people's plumbing system a little bit.
So, if people do have high iron, there are treatment options
available that would help alleviate some of those concerns,
water softeners being one of them.
Although if your levels of iron are extremely high,
greater than three milligrams per liter,
a water softener is probably not going to be adequate
to reduce all the iron in that well.
There might be more appropriate technology available
if people have really high concentrations
of iron in their water.
Manganese is another concern.
It's very similar in terms of where
and why it occurs to iron.
There's an aesthetic level where over that standard
or over that level, people are likely to notice
kind of black or brown specks in their water.
So, there's a picture of a toilet tank
where there's a fine black sediment in the bottom
of that toilet tank.
That's precipitated manganese that's coming out of solution.
So, black or brown staining might be associated
with this element.
Too much manganese, levels above .300 milligrams per liter
also is a concern for health.
Long-term exposure to manganese is associated
with various nervous system disorders.
Parkinson-like symptoms might result
from exposure to elevated manganese
in people's well water.
Just like iron, there are various types
of treatment available that would help alleviate
these issues or concerns.
pH is another constituent.
pH is a measure of water acidity.
Most of us are probably familiar, have heard of pH.
We know that things that are less than seven are acidic,
things that are greater than seven are basic.
The map shows the variety of pH levels in Wisconsin.
Most groundwater pH is going to be in the range
of probably 5 1/2 to nine on that pH scale.
With harder or more basic water
occurring in eastern and southern Wisconsin.
And as we move north, there's a greater potential
for that water to be lower in pH.
With areas around Necedah, there's geology there.
Because that geology is so void of carbonate minerals,
that water there tends to be low in pH
and as a result is highly corrosive or aggressive.
Those areas, people that have metal plumbing
are going to have challenges maintaining metal plumbing systems
because that corrosive water may tend to eat away
or corrode things like copper, copper plumbing.
When we talk about copper and drinking water,
this is also a common concern.
Copper is not coming from the groundwater itself.
Reasons why elevated levels of copper might occur
in drinking water is that plumbing system.
So, water traveling through those pipes,
especially if it's corrosive, has a potential
to dissolve unsafe levels of copper.
There are health effects associated with that.
That's why testing can be useful.
But there is also another telltale sign of copper corrosion.
That would be kind of blue green staining
that might occur on people's faucets
or their sinks.
If you notice blue green staining,
that's probably an indication that copper dissolution
is occurring and precipitating on that fixture.
Lead is very similar to copper
in that the source of that lead is not the plumbing system,
or it's not the groundwater, it's going to be the plumbing system.
Prior to 1985, lead solder was used
to join together copper plumbing.
Various brass fixtures will also still contain
concentrations or portions of lead.
So, water coming in contact with those fixtures
or that plumbing has the potential to dissolve
some of that lead.
Notice that the health standard for lead is extremely small.
There is no known benefits to lead in the human body.
So, although levels less than .015
are considered acceptable,
we want to reduce that exposure as much as possible.
Ideally the health standard for lead should be none.
If we're looking at solutions to lead and copper,
if these things are in the plumbing system,
fortunately with private wells,
there's relatively easy ways to minimize
our exposure to lead and copper.
That's simply to let the water run for a minute or two
before using it for drinking or cooking.
A lot of times, the problem is going to be from water sitting
or standing in contact with that plumbing system
for a long or extended period of time.
So, by letting that water run,
we're really allowing that water
to flush that lead and copper out of those lines.
And then next, I want to highlight some of the things
that we do on the land surface that can potentially impact
the groundwater below.
Anything we do, whether it's agricultural activity,
lawn care, septic system drain fields,
all those things have the potential to pollute
or contaminate our water supply.
Oftentimes it might not be what we're doing on our property,
it might be what somebody else is doing
upgradient of our well
that's responsible for our water quality.
This is my plug that we all try to be good neighbors.
Do unto others as you would have done do unto you.
We want to make sure that
we're maintaining our yard or our groundwater
so that we can protect somebody else downstream.
If we look at influences on a well,
what I say is kind of a good rule of thumb
if you're trying to understand what the major influences are,
is pull up Google Maps and draw 1/2 mile circle
around the well.
Chance are pretty good with private wells
that what's influencing that well is happening
within 1/2 mile or so of the well.
If we know the groundwater flow direction,
we can narrow that down even further
by assuming that water is coming from upgradient of that well.
If we know things about how deep that well is
or how deep that well is cased, we often can make inferences
about how far away that water might be originating.
Shallower wells that recharge area for that well
is going to be much closer.
Deeper wells, that water is likely coming from further away.
I think those diagrams on the left do a nice job
of highlighting what we consider capture zones
for various well constructions.
With regards to land use impacts,
nitrate is one of the common things that we look for.
Levels less than two, we consider to be kind of
natural or background levels.
Greater than two, there's some human impact
that is being had on that water.
And then when it's greater than 10,
that water is considered unacceptable for drinking,
especially for women who are pregnant
or trying to become pregnant
or infants less than six months of age.
Sources of that nitrate include various fertilizers,
maybe manure or other biosolids that we're applying
to the landscape.
Septic system drain fields are also going to release
some nitrate as well as decomposing organic matter.
But in general, natural levels of nitrate
in Wisconsin's groundwater,
we would expect to be less than two milligrams per liter.
Various health impacts associated with nitrate,
which is a reason why it's tested for so often,
noticing that infants and pregnant women
are the target population for that standard.
Although adults, there's possible correlations
to health impacts in adults as well.
The other thing about nitrate
is that if nitrate is getting through,
also an indicator that other possible contaminants
might be getting through as well.
If the nitrate is associated with agricultural chemicals,
greater likelihood of finding things like pesticides.
If that nitrate is coming from septic system drain fields,
greater likelihood of finding things like pharmaceuticals
or maybe human viruses in that water supply.
When we look at nitrate in Wisconsin's groundwater,
there's good and bad news.
The good news is that about 57% of all private wells
that we have data for are less than two milligrams per liter
in that natural or background level.
We do have about 10% of wells however
that exceed that 10 milligram per liter standard.
There's about 2.2% that exceed 20 milligrams per liter.
If we go above 40, there's even some wells
that would exceed four times that drinking water standard.
So, while the majority of wells in Wisconsin
are actually pretty low with respect to nitrate,
we do have work to do and we do have to put a priority
on encouraging people in those areas
where we know nitrate exists,
put a priority on helping them understand
how to test their water.
Nitrate is often associated with agricultural landscapes.
That's the reason northern Wisconsin,
there's a lower chance of finding elevated levels
of nitrate in northern Wisconsin
than in some of the agricultural areas of the state.
Geology also contributes to where we find nitrate
knowing that areas with coarse-textured sandy soils
are going to be more susceptible to that nitrate
from the surface getting into the groundwater
than areas where we have heavy clay-textured soils.
And then areas with karst or shallow soils
overlying carbonate rocks such as might find
in the Door County or Kewaunee County area,
we know that that type of geology
is also associated with a greater risk
of having nitrate in people's well water.
So, land use is the source of that nitrate,
but geology and soils can also contribute
to areas being more susceptible.
For those that have elevated nitrate,
ideally we'd like to eliminate that contamination source,
but that could take years or decades
to notice measurable improvement.
That's why in the short term,
people are oftentimes looking at, will drilling a new well
get me water that's lower in nitrate.
Maybe they choose bottled water,
maybe they choose some sort of water treatment.
Water treatment, if you're designing it
or using it to remove nitrate,
you're really talking about treatment methods
called reverse osmosis, distillation, or anion-exchange.
A lot of people ask me, "Does my water softener remove nitrate?"
The answer is no.
"Does that pure pitcher filter that I bought at Target
"or Walmart, does that remove nitrate?"
The answer is no.
If we're treating for health-related contaminants,
it's really important to know what contaminants
of concern is, what level we're trying to treat,
and then designing or purchasing a system
that we know will be effective for that particular element.
This side is nice because it makes the point
that treatment does come at a cost.
These things aren't free.
Oftentimes there's maintenance that goes along with it
that people have to consider as well.
Chloride is another thing that is associated
with land use impacts.
Natural levels of chloride are going to be
typically less than 10 milligrams per liter.
Sources are oftentimes very similar to nitrate
in that we can get elevated chloride
from agricultural activity or fertilizer use,
mainly potash that's applied to fields.
Some of that is going to be potassium chloride.
So, the plant needs the potassium,
but the chloride is very soluble and can leech into water.
Septic system drain fields, especially for those households
that have water softeners, are going to be discharging
a lot of salt or chloride to that drain field
and that can also be a potential source
as can road salt.
So, on days like today or during the winter
where we're de-icing roads,
we're applying a lot of times sodium chloride.
That does a nice job of de-icing
or melting the snow off the road.
But that's got to go somewhere.
Oftentimes it's going to go into the ditch and then spring.
That infiltrating water is going to carry that salt
down into the groundwater with it.
Some of the highest concentrations that we find for chloride
tend to occur near major highways or roadways,
or just outside urban centers,
because of all the de-icing activity
that we have to do in the state.
While chloride doesn't have a health standard
associated with it, levels greater than 250 milligrams
per liter may give water a salty taste.
Really high levels of chloride might actually corrode
some metal plumbing, particularly stainless steel
is pretty susceptible to high levels of salt or chloride.
The last thing I want to mention
in terms of water quality problems is pesticide.
This is another common question that we get.
Pesticides are oftentimes associated with health effects.
Pesticides could include insecticides, herbicides,
fungicides, other substances that we use
to control for pests.
Some of these things are water-soluble
and can infiltrate and soak down into groundwater.
The thing about pesticides is that we don't have
health standards for all the chemicals or compounds
that are used in Wisconsin.
Oftentimes when we do have the research,
they're related to the parent compound
or the parent product.
We know those products can break down
into various metabolites.
There's not a lot of research into what health complications
might result from the various metabolites
that we find in groundwater,
let alone research into the combination
or the synergistic effects of all those chemicals
that might occur in somebody's well water.
So, while most wells that test for pesticides,
most wells don't detect levels above health standards,
it's not to say that we wouldn't benefit
from reducing the level of pesticides in our groundwater
because we know that roughly 42% of all private wells
in Wisconsin contain one or more detectable pesticides.
That's a fairly large number of wells
for which we're having some evidence
that pesticides are showing up in people's well water.
We know from research that the Department of Ag, Trade,
and Consumer Protection does,
we know the most frequently detected pesticides
in Wisconsin's groundwater are going to be alachlor,
metolachlor, atrazine, or breakdown components
of those compounds.
So, we have some data that if people have a private well
and they want to test for pesticides,
we can oftentimes give recommendations on what chemicals
they want to test for.
'Cause pesticides are very expensive to test for,
we want to minimize the amount of money that people are spending.
We want to help them target the most likely compounds
that they would expect to find.
Fortunately, again the research shows
that we can help people narrow down
what tests they might want to consider.
When we talk about wells, we talked about water treatment.
I just like to mention that water treatment
is often a great option for people
to improve their well water quality.
It reduces levels of contaminants and other impurities.
It improves taste, color, and odor.
But there are other things that we have to consider
before choosing water treatment.
That's that those devices, once they're purchased,
it's great, but unless we're properly maintaining
that device, it might effectiveness over time.
So, we have to take into consideration
routine maintenance of that device.
Treatment also might increase energy use.
Things like reverse osmosis or distillation
can be quite energy-intensive.
So, that water treatment device might actually increase
energy costs that you're paying at your home.
And then if we're using treatment
to treat for a health-related contaminant,
sometimes the only way to know if that device
is working properly is to test the treated water as well.
That comes at an additional expense.
If you're treating for a health-related contaminant,
we really want to understand how effective is that device
for improving water quality
with respect to those contaminants.
Other things to keep in mind
is that treatment methods are selective.
Know what you're trying to remove
and then purchase the device that you know will work
for that concern.
Sometimes multiple treatment units might be necessary.
So, reverse osmosis is great,
but it really operates much more effectively or efficiently
if that water that's being sent to that device
is treated through a water softener.
That water softener reduces the amount of scale formation
that might plug up that RO membrane.
So, some of these devices are going to benefit
from having multiple treatment devices,
which would also add to the cost.
Getting to the end here, I've tried to summarize.
If you own a private well,
again you are your own private water utility manager.
What are the things to keep in mind with that?
I'd say it comes to periodically inspect and maintain
the area around your well.
Make sure that you're looking for the obvious things
that might be contributing to water quality problems.
Test your water regularly
to evaluate common water quality concerns.
If that testing reveals issues or problems,
take corrective actions.
A lot of times, people find out
that there's wrong with their water,
that it's actually quite good.
That might come as a surprise to people
especially with how much water quality,
well water quality has been in the news.
But oftentimes testing alleviates some anxiety
that people might have about the quality
of their well water, 'cause a lot of that testing
reveals that again water quality, well water quality
in Wisconsin is quite good.
So, while testing might indicate problems,
a lot of times it might not.
In those cases, no corrective action would be necessary.
If you're looking to understand, if I have a private well,
what should I be testing for, we would recommend
every well be tested once a year for bacteria
or any time you notice a sudden change
in taste, color, or smell.
Particularly after or around flooding events,
testing for bacteria would be really important to do.
If you know the well's been inundated,
you really want to stop using it.
But if you suspect it's been inundated,
you could have a water test done to confirm that suspicion.
So, any time there's flooding, it is a good idea,
if you're in a flood-prone area, it might be a good idea
to have a water test kit on hand to check that,
to check that well.
Nitrate is another constituent that we would recommend
every well be tested for annually or once a year
or any time there might be somebody in the home
who's pregnant or may become pregnant
is another important time to test for nitrate.
And then third, arsenic is the other thing
that we'd recommend every well test for at least once.
If levels of arsenic are elevated,
maybe consider testing on a more frequent basis
'cause all these things with respect to bacteria,
nitrate, or arsenic, these are all things
that might change over time.
So, testing more than once can often give us
some indication of whether or not the well is stable
or whether those constituents are changing.
And then based on the other things that we talked about,
there might be other contaminants
that you consider testing for
based on the rock or soil that occur in your area
or aesthetic concerns that you might be experiencing
with your water.
If you're considering testing, the first step,
and this is oftentimes a barrier,
is people just don't know where to send a water sample.
There's information here on how to locate
a certified testing lab.
The Wisconsin DNR has a website
that lists testing labs or opportunities.
Find one that's convenient for you.
It doesn't really matter where you send a sample.
Pick a lab that's convenient for you.
There's labs all over the state of Wisconsin
that hopefully make it easy for you to request a sample kit
and get that kit back to the lab in a respectable amount of time.
I highlighted the Water and Environmental Analysis Lab.
That's the lab that I work with at UW-Stevens Point
that has a partnership with Extension.
That's where we've customized a lot of the test packages
to highlight a lot of the common problems
that people might experience with their wells.
So, if you're considering testing, locate the lab,
contact that lab ahead of time
'cause they're going to have specialized bottles
that they want you to use.
And they're going to have specialized instructions
to help walk you through how to collect that sample.
Collecting a sample is easier
than a lot of people probably think.
Sampling instructions, the vast majority of people
are going to be able to follow.
I think it's much more difficult than oftentimes we let on
to collect or to screw up a water sample.
With a little bit of training,
I truly feel that anybody can collect a water sample.
Don't let the instructions scare you
because it's probably easier than most people realize.
And then lastly, I just want to put up some useful websites.
These are websites which I used to put together
a lot of this information.
Instead of putting web links,
I just wrote down what I would use to search for.
If I were searching on some sort of search engine,
what are the key terms I would put in
to access those websites.
That's what that language there is meant to represent.
If I'm looking for information on water treatment,
we'd type in approved water treatment devices,
Department of Safety and Professional Services.
Following those online search terms
should be able to provide you with links
with the information that we've talked about here.
With that, I hope that provides an overview
of the important responsibility that private well owners have.
I hope it provides some perspective
on the common water quality complaints or issues
people are experiencing, why they occur,
where they occur, and then maybe a little bit of information
about what people can do
if they're experiencing those problems.
So, I'm going to end it there.
My contact info is listed.
Feel free to reach out via email or phone.
I'm happy to take questions.
It's one of the more enjoyable things I get to do
is talk with citizens about their well water or groundwater.
So, don't hesitate to contact me
if there is concerns or questions that you have.
Thank you.
(audience clapping)