Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2005PA45B

Private Water System Education and Outreach

Institute: Pennsylvania
Year Established: 2005 Start Date: 2005-03-01 End Date: 2006-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $10,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $20,000

Principal Investigators: William Sharpe, Stephanie Clemens, Bryan Swistock

Project Summary: There are over one million private water wells that serve farms and rural homes throughout Pennsylvania. These farmers and homeowners are responsible for all aspects of water system management including routine maintenance, water testing, interpreting test results and solving water quality and quantity problems. Unfortunately, many individual water wells have never been tested and their owners are generally uninformed about proper well management. Research has shown that more than 50% of these private water systems fail to meet at least one drinking water standard. The Master Well Owner Network (MWON) is proposing two events that will provide information to rural homeowners throughout Pennsylvania regarding private water system management. The first event will be a satellite program in May of 2005. The objective of this program is to educate a large number of private water system owners at the same time. The program will be developed and two video clips will be filmed prior to the live satellite broadcast. The program will be a mix of live lectures and video demonstrations. The other proposed event is a statewide conference for trained Master Well Owners. This event will take place in September of 2005. The objective of the statewide conference is to ensure that Master Well Owners have a strong understanding of private water system management and they feel comfortable presenting the information to the public. This conference will be planned and organized between late spring and early fall of 2005.