Workshop to train private well owners
Residents of Tioga and surrounding counties will be offered a training workshop on how to properly manage their home wells, springs, or cisterns.
Residents who rely on private water systems for home drinking water can be at risk of drinking contaminated water.
Resource professionals such as Penn State Cooperative Extension, the Pennsylvania Ground Water Association, the state Department of Environmental Protection, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency will offer this training from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 14, at the Tokishi Training Center, 124 Nypum Drive, Wellsboro.
Private water systems are unregulated, so landowners need to take the proper measures to ensure that their drinking water is safe for consumption.
This workshop is offered as part of the “Master Well Owner Network,” a program intended to teach volunteers from across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania about proper management of their own private water system.
In return, the volunteers must go out into their local community to educate others about the importance of proper management of private drinking water supplies.
To become part of this network or for more information, please contact Stephanie Clemens at 814-865-2250 or by email at mwon@psu.edu.
Information and a volunteer application can be found at extension.psu.edu/water/mwon. Space is limited and applications will be received by April 23
Williamsport Sun-Gazette
April 3, 2011
http://www.sungazette.com/page/content.detail/id/562324/Workshop-to-train-private-well-owners.html?nav=5014
Well water users will get financial aid
Seminars will provide low interest loan information to rural households.
Rural household owners using well water – pull out your calendars and red pens. Four seminars are planned to introduce a Household Water Well Assistance Program.
Brian Oram, Wilkes University professor and Director of the Center for Environmental Quality, said the goal of the seminars is to educate the public.
The Pocono Northeast Resource Conservation and Development Council, a nonprofit organization, has acquired $130,000 in grant money and will lend it out as low interest loans to low- and moderate-income households to repair and improve their quality of well water.
A seminar is scheduled from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on March 21 at the Lake Township Municipal building. Other seminars are scheduled for today at the Monroe County Conservation District, Stroudsburg; March 22 at the Columbia County AG Center, Bloomsburg; and March 23 at the Wayne County Park Street Complex, Honesdale.
Anyone unable to attend any of the meetings can obtain information by contacting the Pocono Northeast Resource Conservation and Development Council, Mayfield, by calling 570-282-8732, extension 4, e-mailing to sue@pnercd.org, or visiting the RC & D website www.pnesolutions.org.
RC & D chairman Brian Oram said the goal of the seminars is to educate the public on what minerals and their amounts are normally found in well water, private well and drinking water issues, and the specifics of the RC & D Household Well Water Program.
The terms of the loan are simple. Well water home owners must live in a rural area with an average of fewer than 274 people per square mile, proof of ownership and full-time residence, must qualify as low-to-moderate income, well water must already be tested to show existing problems, and applicants must prove ability to repay the loan.
According to the guidelines of the RC & D, low income in Luzerne County starts at $31,700 for one person to $52,550 for six people in one household. A chart is available at the RC & D website.
Oram, a geology professor and laboratory manager for the Center of Environmental Quality at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, said loans will not exceed $11,000, will have 1 percent interest, and recipients will have a maximum of 20 years to repay.
Applications will be accepted starting March 1. Oram said beginning April 25, applications will be reviewed every two weeks.
Some of the uses of the loan would include drilling a new well for an existing home, and closing off an old well. Oram said the loan would not cover drilling a well for new construction, water testing, to pay for home plumbing systems, or for a home sewer or septic systems.
In his 20 years of experience in studying area water supplies, Oram found the biggest well water problems involve bacteria and solids. He said unlike reservoir water which is tested daily, well water users do not test their water frequently.
“The Environmental Protection Agency advises well water should be tested annually,” he said.
Lately, rural homeowners have been testing their well water, due to the invading Marcellus Shale natural gas industry. Hidden pre-existing quality problems are being found. The loan could help them increase the quality of their water, Oram said.
“Almost everybody uses well water,” Oram said. “Thirty percent of reservoir water comes from ground water. We all have a vested interest in maintaining quality ground water.”
EILEEN GODIN Times Leader Correspondent
March 14, 2011
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Well_water_users_will_get_financial_aid_03-14-2011.html
EOH Research Seminar: “Polycythemia Vera”
Research S
eminar Series of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health
“Lessons learned from studying a cluster of Polycythemia Vera in Northeast Pennsylvania”
Paul I. Roda, MD, FACP
Geisinger/Hazleton Cancer Center
Location: New College Building, 8th Floor, Hem/Onc Conference Room, 245 N. 15th Street (Joint presentation with Drexel University College of Medicine)
Date: Tuesday, April 5
Noon — 1 PM
http://publichealth.drexel.edu/Home/Home/693/vobId__3363/