Friday, April 29, 2011

Had lots of rain lately? Drink well water? Test it!

If you drink water from a well and your weather has been unusually wet lately, it's a good time to get your water tested, because saturated soil “loses its ability, or its ability is reduced, to remove pollutants,” says Karen Mancl, a professor in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering at The Ohio State University.

“The soil is one of the really important tools that we use in rural areas to protect our ground water from contamination,” Mancl says. “You should test your water for bacteria, for pH, for nitrate and for total dissolved solids, those are the four things I recommend people test their well for annually.”

Mancl has more information, including publications at her Soil Environment Technology Learning website. For a five-minute interview with Mancl, from Brownfield Network, click here. As luck would have it, May 1-7 is Drinking Water Week.

No comments: