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Summit County Health Department Director Phil Bondurant [Bon-du-rant] says this winter’s low snowpack could create unique water quality concerns. He recommends residents who rely on private wells for drinking water have their systems tested.
“There's lots of different things that can influence our water quality,” Bondurant said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour,” April 13. “But mainly the message I want listeners to hear is that if you have a private well and you're concerned about spring runoff influencing your drinking water inside of your home, the health department has a sampling and testing possibility. We have a program for that at our lab in Coalville where you can have your drinking water tested.”
Public water systems are regulated by the Utah Department of Environmental Quality. Summit County approves and monitors smaller water systems, while the state oversees larger ones. The county’s Environmental Health Division also monitors surface water quality in local rivers, streams and lakes.
Water can be tainted by surface contaminants as snow melts.
“A quick warm up, pushes a lot of water down the mountain in a very short amount of time and potentially bring soil contaminants, road contaminants, some of those diseases and bacteria that we see from warm-bodied mammals that are presented through their fecal matter. All of that is potential contaminant for a drinking water system.
Summit County operates an in-house laboratory that tests drinking water for bacteria. The service is available to individuals and community water systems. While municipal water systems are tested frequently, Bondurant says private systems often are not.
“The health department would be happy to speak with those homeowners, talk about what may or may not be influencing their drinking water systems,” Bondurant said. “And then, if they're interested, we can come out, send out an environmental health scientist to talk through it, look over their system, and then take a drinking water sample, just so they can have that peace of mind going into spring and summer that they have not been influenced by spring runoff.”
Drinking water safety tests start at $27. Click here for more information on water testing.
