Drinking Water Educational Booklet Private Water Wells and Tapwater Know Your H20

Drinking Water Educational Booklet Know Your H20 (Water) – Part of the Healthy Home and Healthy Water Outreach Effort.  The Booklet is a resource for private water well owners and customers of community and non-community water supply sources

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

Contact: Rick Grant, 570-497-5850

B.F. Environmental Updates Popular Drinking Water Guide

The 2024 KnowYourH2O guide includes updated and expanded content.

WILKES-BARRE, PA—August 12, 2024—B.F. Environmental Consultants, an environmental consulting firm providing a range of services throughout the Northeast, announced today that company consultants working with the Keystone Clean Water Team, a Pennsylvania-based non-profit, have released an updated version of their popular KnowYourH2O Drinking Water Guide. The new version covers both Private Water systems and Public Water supplies. It includes updated content, new graphics related to water well systems and lead service lines, and information about forever chemicals and PFAS.

“When we wrote the first version of this guide, people needed to know how to determine the quality of the water their families were drinking,” said Brian Oram, a professional geologist, soil scientist, and founder of B.F. Environmental Consultants. “A lot has changed since then, including new testing methodologies and new risks to our groundwater and drinkable water. What hasn’t changed is the vital importance of clean water. The 5th edition booklet provides a readily available fact-based source of information related to drinking water quality, contaminants, water treatment, and a means to easily understand your drinking water quality and identify problems.”

The new drinking water educational booklet is for private well owners, city water users, water professionals, and educators. It provides general information explaining certified water testing, chain-of-custody, and drinking water regulations and standards. It provides information related to the health (primary standards) or aesthetic (secondary standards) concerns for each parameter and provides information on water quality parameters that do not specifically have a drinking water limit.

Oram and the team at B.F. Environmental are key contributors to the Know Your H2O website, which includes basic water testing and water quality information, as well as educational resources designed to help better understand the complexities of water quality through a review of the basics of physics, chemistry, and biology that impact our water.

Oram was also instrumental in the development of a free Surface Water Quality Index Calculator, which is available to the public through the “Know Your H20” his company supports. The new online WQI Calculator provides a user-friendly website interface, allowing users to add a GPS location to the database or locate the unique sampling site, using an online mapping tool.

Using the tool, users input basic information about the surface water test site as well as other field data they have collected. The calculator then completes the necessary interpretations and generates the customized report. The online calculator provides the individual ranking or score for each parameter, calculates the weighted average ranking for the test site, and allows the user to generate a customized report for each sampling site.

For more information about any of these programs or to preorder your copy of the new booklet, visit the website. Get a copy of the booklet signed by Brian Oram here. If you are looking to order 1 copy of this booklet, please use the form below.  If you are looking to order multiple copies, please contact Mr. Brian Oram at brian.oram@knowyourh2o.com or use this link.

About B.F. Environmental Consultants, Inc.

B.F. Environmental Consultants, based in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Poconos, has been providing professional geological, soils, hydrogeological, and environmental consulting services and professional, professional and environmental training courses, and environmental outreach and education, since 1985.

For more information about B.F. Environmental Consultants, visit www.bfenvironmental.com and https://www.knowyourh2o.com

Schaumburg area Illinois Get Your Private Well Tested Trichloroethylene (TCE)

“Water in some private wells near Schaumburg might be contaminated and should be tested, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.   Related Smoking around oxygen tank eyed as cause of fatal fire SCHAUMBURG AREA Smoking around oxygen tank eyed as cause of fatal fire.  During routine testing of Schaumburg’s water supply, the department officials discovered trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene might be present in private wells.  The wells that could be affected are in an area south of Algonquin Road, west of Salt Creek, north of Gold Road and east of Meacham Road. A second area located south of Briarwood Lane, north of Algonquin, east of Meacham and south of Westwood Lane could also be affected, according to the health department.

There were no violations of state or federal standards in Schaumburg’s community water supply, according to the public health department.

People in the areas potentially affected, and who get their water from private wells, are encouraged to have their well water tested for volatile organic compounds by a private laboratory.   Tetrachloroethylene (PERC) is a liquid often used in the textile industry and in aerosol dry-cleaning products, while trichloroethylene (TCE) is often used to remove grease from fabricated metal and to make some textiles, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.”  (article source)

More on Trichloroethylene

We recommend Test Kit

Take Action !
ATSDR on Tetrachloroethylene

Sullivan County Pennsylvania Understanding Your Well Water

UNDERSTANDING YOUR WELL WATER

An evening with Brian Oram, professional geologist and soil & water scientist from B F ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANTS INC
along with Mr. Ray Martrano lab director from SEEWALD LABORATORIES
Thursday, May 8th, 2014,   6:30 pm for approximately 90 minutes
Lecture and Q&A session to follow
PSU AG CENTER, 9219 Route 487, Dushore Pa

Any homeowner, farmer or industry who has a private water well and wishes to  learn more about the characterisEcs of well water in NE Pa. and how to alleviate  contaminates whether naturally occurring or man influenced. Mr. Oram has  experience in high profile water well issues.  Session is free to the public

Refreshments will be provided
(Please bring your cell phone for the Keystone Clean Water Team – Recycling Program – You may bring along your old cell phones for recycling)

Sullivan County Presentation Groundwater (May 21, 2014)

Volunteer

We seek new people at all skill levels for a variety of programs. One thing that everyone can do is attend meetings to share ideas on improving the Program, enabling us to better understand and address the concerns of well owners.  We look for people that can forward solid articles, help coordinate local education efforts, and more.  Become part of the Keystone Clean Water Team!

Everything we do began with an idea.

We realize your time is precious and the world is hectic. CCGG’s volunteers do only what they’re comfortable with. It can be a little or a lot.  Get YOUR WATER Tested – Discounted Screening Tests !

For more information, please go to CCGG’s About Page or contact us.

Keystone Clean Water Team is a 501(c)(3) IRS approved nonprofit, volunteer organization and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.    Unsolicited donations are appreciated (Helps us complete our mission).

Help the Organization and Get Your Water Tested or Order the Private Well Owner Guide (proceeds benefit This Organization).

Citizen Science and the Citizen Groundwater/ Surfacewater Database The Concept- The Need- The Purpose The Private Well Owner Outreach Program in Pennsylvania by Mr. Brian Oram, PG

The Carbon County Groundwater Guardians – Support the Citizen Groundwater and Surfacewater Database.  Here is a quick summary.

We are working with Mr. Brian Oram, Dr. Brian Redmond and Dr. Sid Halsor on the development, formation, and creation of this community tool.  This regional  water quality database is an unbiased warehouse of water quality data that is supported by fellow “Citizens” of this Commonwealth.  The database will provide information about the current state of groundwater and surface water quality and serve as a basis for monitoring impacts related to Marcellus gas drilling and other activity in our region. The database initiative is the first of its kind in northeast Pennsylvania and the initial database targeted private wells in Luzerne and Columbia Counties, but we are reaching out to build partnerships throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania so the database can include other counties in the area, i.e., Bradford, Carbon, Columbia, Luzerne, Lackawanna, Monroe,  Pike, Schuylkill, Susquehanna, Sullivan, Wayne, and Wyoming.

The purpose of our database is twofold.

1) We will use it to help us better understand the current and future groundwater and surface water quality for the region. The database will also be used to generate educational materials relating to regional water quality.

2) The database is for research and education purposes, and will not be sold or used for any commercial purpose. The database is managed by Mr. Brian Oram,  Dr. Brian Redmond and Dr. Sid Halsor.

To protect your privacy, the research database file will only include the testing results, zip code, general information on well or water source, and the latitude and longitude of the sampling site. Your name, address, or other contact information will NOT be included within the database.

After reviewing this information, we would hope you will take action and support the PA Citizens Groundwater and Surfacewater Database.

To Contribute – Send NO MONEY – JUST Certified Data !

In order to participate in this process, please do the following:

1. Information Document about the Program (Download a copy – fill it out -Please Keep for Your Reference).
2. Download a copy of the Consent Form to release to the Database and Sign and Return.
3. Send a copy of your certified laboratory testing results with Chain-of-Custody Documents.
4. Mail this information to:

Mr. Brian Oram, PG
Citizen Outreach Program
15 Hillcrest Drive
Dallas, PA 18612
Questions  – call (570) 335-1947
or send a pdf version by email to bfenviro@ptd.net.

We are attempting to schedule Educational Outreach Programs about the database and private well owner training/monitoring programs. To schedule a training event, please use our contact us form.

Other Programs

1. PA Private Well Owner Survey
2. Private Well Owner Survey – US (All other states)

Volunteer
We seek new people at all skill levels for a variety of programs. One thing that everyone can do is attend meetings to share ideas on improving CCGG, enabling us to better understand and address the concerns of well owners.

Everything we do began with an idea.

We realize your time is precious and the world is hectic. CCGG’s volunteers do only what they’re comfortable with. It can be a little or a lot.

For more information, please go to CCGG’s About Page or contact us.

Carbon County Groundwater Guardians is a 501(c)(3) IRS approved nonprofit, volunteer organization and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law..  Unsolicited donations are appreciated.

Help the Organization and Get Your Water Tested or Order the Private Well Owner Guide (proceeds benefit This Organization).

High Arsenic Levels Well Water Testing Found in 8 Percent of Groundwater Wells Studied in Pennsylvania

The Need for Well Water Testing In Pennsylvania and other states

NEW CUMBERLAND, Pa. – Eight percent of more than 5,000 wells tested across Pennsylvania contain groundwater with levels of arsenic at or above federal standards set for public drinking water, while an additional 12 percent – though not exceeding standards – show elevated levels of arsenic. 

These findings, along with maps depicting areas in the state most likely to have elevated levels of arsenic in groundwater, are part of a recently released U.S. Geological Survey study done in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Departments of Health and Environmental Protection.

The results highlight the importance of private well owners testing and potentially treating their water.  While public water supplies are treated to ensure that water reaching the tap of households meets federal drinking water standards, private wells are unregulated in Pennsylvania, and owners are responsible for testing and treating their own water.

For this study, USGS scientists compiled data collected between 1969 and 2007 from industrial, public, and private wells. Arsenic levels, along with other groundwater quality and environmental factors, were used to generate statewide and regional maps that predict the probability of elevated arsenic.   The study examined groundwater from carbonate, crystalline, and shale/sandstone bedrock aquifers, and from shallow glacial sediment aquifers. Similar maps have been produced for other states.

“This research is not intended to predict arsenic levels for individual wells; its purpose is to predict the probability of elevated levels of arsenic in groundwater to help public health efforts in Pennsylvania,” said USGS scientist Eliza Gross, who led the study.  “The study results and associated probability maps provide water-resource managers and health officials with useful data as they consider management actions in areas where groundwater is most likely to contain elevated levels of arsenic.”

For more details go here (Some mapping available)

The Pennsylvania Department of Health plans to use the maps as an educational tool to inform health professionals and citizens of the Commonwealth about the possibility of elevated arsenic in drinking water wells and to help improve the health of residents, particularly in rural communities.  Please consider forward you certified testing data to the Citizens Groundwater Database.

Private well owners can find testing and other information on Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Arsenic in Drinking Water website.

or Check out the Arsenic Outreach Program here – Has links to treatment options and low cost informational water testing.

 

Website Provided for Educational Purpose.

Carbon County Groundwater Guardians is a 501(c)(3) IRS approved nonprofit, volunteer organization and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

 Carbon County Groundwater Guardians on Facebook