Testing Well Water To Help Owners Manage Water Quality
Kyla Drewry, a PhD civil and environmental engineering student, under the guidance of CEE Assistant Professor Kelsey Pieper, led a team of PhD students on a research trip to North Carolina where they tested private well water. One in four residents using private wells in that region is faced with contamination issues.
This article originally appeared on Northeastern Global News. It was published by Erin Kayata. Main photo: Kyla Drewry, Northeastern environmental engineering doctoral student, tests water samples in her Snell Engineering lab. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University
Northeastern researchers test well water in North Carolina, empowering communities with critical data
Over 43 million Americans get their drinking water from private wells, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. However, there are no federal regulations in place to ensure the quality and safety of this water.
A research team from Northeastern University is using science to change that. Kyla Drewry, a third-year PhD civil and environmental engineering student working under assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering Kelsey Pieper, recently flew to North Carolina and led a team of other PhD students on a research trip where they tested people’s private well water.
“It’s the responsibility of the well owner to test and maintain their water quality,” Drewry said. “The problem is a lot of people don’t know they have that responsibility or they don’t know how to manage their water quality. It’s an issue of access, knowledge and resources. One of the things we’re trying to do is make … people more aware of the risks and how to manage their water quality.”
Drewery, along with a team of six other scientists—including other Northeastern PhD students and a co-op student, Cassidy King — tested well water samples from Pender, Brunswick, Beaufort, Pamlico and Craven counties in North Carolina, where Pieper said one in four residents is on a private well and deals with contamination issues.
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Northeastern environmental engineering student Kyla Drewry flew down to North Carolina with a research team to collect well water samples. The team is now testing them for bacteria and metals. Photos by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University
Getting people to come and collect sampling kits, do the sampling and then bring them back was going to be a challenge, Drewry says. She and her team worked with the local health departments to communicate their study on social media and in the newspapers. They ended up sending out 400 sampling kits and had about 250 returned to them.
Drewry and her team used these samples to collect baseline data on the well water, something that’s been difficult to establish due to lack of testing. They tested the water for bacteria like E.coli and for organic components like lead, arsenic, fluoride and nitrates. Participants were then informed of their results and how they could recover their system. The testing was free, which Drewry said helped draw in participants.
However, their trip coincided with Hurricane Debby. Storms like this can cause flooding and contaminate well water with fecal matter, whether it be from sewage overflows or North Carolina’s pig farms, Drewry says. According to Pieper, fecal contamination in water can be eight times higher after a storm.
But Drewry’s team was still able to collect samples to establish baseline data for what well water looks like without a storm, as well as some information on the people in each household who was drinking the well water.
Read Full Story at Northeastern Global News