Ensuring a Healthful Residential Ground-water Environment in Bucks County, PA


Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

3363.0: Monday, December 12, 2005 - 5:24 PM

Abstract #114069

Ensuring a Healthful Residential Ground-water Environment in Bucks County, PA

Amleto A. Pucci, PhD PE, Chief, Environmental Engineering Division, Bucks County Department of Health, 1282 Almshouse Rd., Doylestown, PA, PA 18901, 215-345-3324, aapucci@co.bucks.pa.us

The Bucks County Department of Health began a well inspection program in 2005 with support from the CDC. Bucks County has a population of about 600,000 and area of 608 sq-mi, and is located along the Delaware River northeast of Philadelphia. For most of the county area, individual wells are the water source.

Public health concern is that increasing landuse intensity will increase contamination risk pathways by pathogens and chemicals in individual wells. Scientific studies and anecdotal evidence also suggest that local factors, including well construction method, can enable contamination pathways in residential wells.

With the approval of the Board of Health, a select Community Task Force representing municipal officials, utilities, professionals, drillers, and county agencies was formed to address the issue. The Task Force forwarded recommendations for well regulations and construction standards to the County Commissioners who promulgated them, thereby creating the well inspection and certification program.

The regulations apply to the construction of all new wells and major modifications of old ones, and proscribe well abandonment procedures. The program includes: 1) two-step application and well-completion report procedure, 2) health department inspection of well grouting, a critical sanitation step, 3) issuance of well certification upon review of a) well properties, b) review of diagnostic water quality tests, and c) reporting of any necessary water quality treatment, 4) third party-knowledge based certification of water-well drillers. Certification is a value-added result for the well owner. Well construction and water data is assembled in a GIS database, and uploaded to state agencies.

Learning Objectives:

Achieving a new environmental health program must construct a sound scientific basis and recognize the major challenge can be articulating to the public a health perception which may be adverse to additional regulation. This issue was recognized in Bucks County where a new countywide inspection and certification health program had to complement existing well permitting programs in 18 of 54 municipalities, none of which actually were field based. Persistent communication with the BOH and enlisting a select task force was needed to begin the program. The presention will appraise this experience.

While evaluating the scientific basis for the new program, the presentation will discuss the context in which a select task force considered the existing rules in Pennsyvania and how it devised a program for the purposes of the County.

The talk objectives are

1)review statistical scientific evidence of local influence on residential well contamination,
2)define the critical elements of sanitary residential well construction,and the benefits of them,
3)explain why an inspection of the grouting can be done by a technician,and what resources are needed,
4)describe progress to date on the program, which will have begun field work on March 31, 2005

Keywords: Environment, Water Quality

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation

Community Health Assessment: Methods And Applications

The 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition (December 10-14, 2005) of APHA