Climate-driven flooding poses well water contamination risks

FILE - Homes are surrounded by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey in Spring, Texas, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017. Experts say more intense storms driven by climate change are boosting contamination risks for privately-owned drinking water wells. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

Stefanie Johnson's farmhouse in Blandinsville, Illinois, was without safe drinking water for nearly two months after a record-setting Midwestern downpour that devastated thousands of houses and businesses.

 

Floodwaters flooded Johnson's well, turning the water a dirty brown and forcing her, her husband, and their two small children to rely on store-bought supplies. Testing revealed microorganisms, including E. coli, which can cause diarrhea, even after the silt was gone. Water was boiled for drinking and cooking in the family. Showers were a welcome sight at the YMCA.

 

“I was pretty strict with the kids,” said Johnson, who works with a private well protection program at the local health department. “I’d pour bottled water on their toothbrushes.”

 

Though estimates vary, roughly 53 million U.S. residents — about 17% of the population — rely on private wells, according to a study conducted in part by Environmental Protection Agency researchers. Most live in rural areas. But others are in subdivisions near fast-growing metro regions or otherwise beyond the reach of public water pipes.

 

While many private wells supply clean water, investigations have discovered that the lack of oversight and treatment provided by bigger municipal systems may expose some users to health concerns such as bacteria, viruses, toxins, and lead.

 

Risks are elevated after flooding or heavy rainfall, when animal and human feces, dirt, nutrients such as nitrogen and other contaminants can seep into wells. And experts say the threat is growing as the warming climate fuels more intense rainstorms and stronger and wetter hurricanes.

 

“Areas that hadn’t been impacted are now. New areas are getting flooded,” said Kelsey Pieper, a Northeastern University professor of environmental engineering. “We know the environment is shifting and we’re playing catch-up, trying to increase awareness.”

 

Pieper is one of the scientists checking wells and educating people in storm-prone areas. She claimed that when Hurricane Harvey flooded the Texas coast, sampling of more than 8,800 wells in 44 counties revealed average E. coli levels nearly three times higher than normal.

 

Following Hurricane Ida in Mississippi in 2021, a sampling of 108 wells revealed a similar increase in E. coli tests. After Hurricane Florence in 2018, other studies found higher levels in North Carolina.

 

The next year, Nebraska was flooded due to above-average snowfall and a March storm. Dams and levees were breached. When the surrounding Platte and Elkhorn rivers overflowed, Fremont, a community of more than 25,000 people, became an island.

 

The municipal system continued to supply drinking water but some nearby private wells were damaged or contaminated. Julie Hindmarsh’s farm was flooded for three days, and it took months to make the well water drinkable again. At times, the cleanup crew wore protective suits.

 

“They didn’t know what was in that floodwater,” she said.

 

CONTAMINATION RISK

 

Groundwater is often a cleaner source than surface supplies because soil can provide a protective buffer, said Heather Murphy, an epidemiologist at the University of Guelph in Canada. But she said that can give well owners a false sense of security, leading them to forgo testing, maintenance and treatment.

 

“There’s a big misconception that it’s underground, therefore it’s safe,” said Murphy, who estimates 1.3 million cases of acute gastrointestinal illness in the U.S. are caused annually by drinking untreated water from private wells.

 

Old, poorly maintained wells are especially vulnerable to floodwaters entering through openings at the top. “It just runs right in and it’s full of bacteria,” said Steven Wilson, a well expert at the University of Illinois.

 

It doesn’t always take a flood or hurricane to pollute wells. Industrial contamination can reach them by seeping into groundwater.

 

Around 1,000 residential wells in Michigan’s Kent County were tainted for decades with toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in landfill sludge from footwear company Wolverine World Wide. The pollution, discovered in 2017, spurred lawsuits and a $69.5 million settlement with the state that extended city water lines to affected houses.

 

“We thought we were getting this pristine, straight-from-nature water and it would be much better for us,” said Sandy Wynn-Stelt, who has lived across from one of the dump sites since the early 1990s.

 

She claims that tests revealed high levels of PFAS chemicals in her water and blood, making her afraid to drink or even brush her teeth with it. She blamed the contamination for her husband's death from liver cancer in 2016, in a lawsuit that was eventually resolved. Four years later, she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

 

FEW REGULATIONS FOR PROPERTY OWNERS

 

While many well owners are unable to connect to a public water supply, others are content with well water. They may prefer the flavor or want to avoid paying monthly payments and complying with government regulations.

 

Jesse Campbell, private well coordinator for the Midwest Assistance Program Inc., which addresses rural water problems, stated, "What I hear from folks is freedom."

 

They are the responsibility of private well owners.

 

State and local standards usually involve only construction and design, although some states set tougher rules.

 

New Jersey requires water quality testing before sales of property with private wells. Rhode Island requires testing when new wells are built and when property with a well is sold.

 

To protect private well users, several states rely on public outreach and voluntary action.

 

Campbell stated, "There is a general lack of education." He travels from Montana to Missouri to meet with well owners and provide free inspections and advise.

 

Many problems can be avoided if the well's top is kept clear of debris and the pump is switched off before a storm to keep floodwaters out. Experts advise testing after a flood and chlorinating wells if a problem is discovered.

 

"People aren't testing on a regular basis," Riley Mulhern, an environmental engineer with RTI International, said.