Dubuque County Health Department staff are seeing a significant increase in residents using a state-funded program for free private well testing after years of low participation.
For the fiscal year that ends June 30, department staff were able to test more than double the wells they did in the previous fiscal year and spent all the money they received from the State of Iowa through its Grants to Counties program.
Just a year ago, staff said they were not able to use all the money they received through the program and were not testing as many residents’ wells as they could.
Staff attributed their success to a motivated marketing campaign using direct contacts and local newspapers.
The state gave the county Health Department $40,400 for the program in the current fiscal year. Health Department Environmental Specialist Bailey Avenarius said the department spent all of that with a month to spare.
“We’ve spent the whole $40,400 with a total of 244 water tests, one plugging of a well, one well closure and one reconstruction,” she told the Dubuque County Board of Health at a recent meeting.
Through the program, the county tests private wells for coliform bacteria, E. coli, nitrates, arsenic and manganese and provides some funding for shocking water, well closures and reconstructions to mitigate any issues.
The 244 tests were far above the 114 conducted through the program in fiscal year 2021. Just five tests were conducted in fiscal year 2020, four in fiscal year 2019 and none in fiscal year 2018 when the program first was offered.
One concern landowners previously shared with department staff was a misconception that their participation in the program would require them to address their well water contamination.
That is not a requirement of the program. Instead, staff share testing results with landowners and offer guidance on options moving forward.
Health Department interim Executive Director Samantha Kloft said a July 2021 story in the Telegraph Herald explaining that aspect of the program led to the department receiving many calls for testing.
“The story that (the TH) did last year really jump-started things,” she said.
Avenarius then put recurring ads in local newspapers, and more calls came in. She also sent letters to landowners the department knew had private wells and those who previously had their wells tested.
From there, information about the program spread by word of mouth.
Recommended for you
“We’ve had a lot of neighbors calling in saying that their neighbors had their well tested, so they wanted to know if they could,” Avenarius said.
The tests found contamination in many of the wells. Of the 244 tests, 50 came back positive for coliform bacteria, Kloft said. The tests also found 21 instances of high nitrate levels, 10 with E. coli present and one with high arsenic levels.
Tests were performed in most communities within the county, something staff intend to track further in the future.
“We did not test in Luxemburg or Cascade, but going forward we will make sure we do in those two cities,” Avenarius said.
The department has set up tracking systems to look at types of contaminants found in wells and the ZIP codes in which wells are tested.
“Those are things that weren’t set up before,” Kloft said. “That’s going to help us a lot testing in the future and help us plan for what type of Dubuque County residents we want to provide this free testing to.”
As of June 15, Avenarius said the program had a waiting list of 37 wells after using all of the grant’s resources.
Because the department spent its allotted sum of money, it will receive more from the state next year.
“We will be getting $50,505 this coming year,” Avenarius said. “We have started that application, which is due June 30.”
With that increased amount, Kloft said the department should be able to test 300 private wells in the next fiscal year, depending on how many closures or reconstructions are requested.
Kloft said the next step would be finding funding for more mitigation of wells when staff members find contamination.
Dubuque County Supervisor Ann McDonough, who is her board’s liaison to the Board of Health, voiced tentative support for that idea during the Board of Health’s meeting.
“If this is a need and there are citizens requesting, I’d like to see you consider as a board next steps,” she said. “Perhaps there should be additional funding from the county. Completing the grant, to me, is the baseline.”
