Texas Well Owner Network Screening Event – Orange
The Texas Well Owner Network, or TWON, is hosting a water well screening Oct. 15 in Orange to give area residents whose water wells flooded from the recent rains the opportunity to have their well water screened.
Diane Boellstorff, Ph.D. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service water resource specialist, College Station, said private water well owners whose wells flooded should assume their well water is contaminated until screened.
“You should not use water from a flooded well for drinking, cooking, making ice, or brushing your teeth until you are satisfied it is not contaminated,” Boellstorff said.
Boellstorff, who is in Texas A&M’s Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, said floodwater may contain substances from upstream, such as manure, sewage from flooded septic systems or wastewater treatment plants or other contaminants. A septic system near a well also can cause contamination when the soil is flooded.
The screening will be from 8:30–10 a.m. at the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service office for Orange County, 11475A Farm-to-Market Road 1442.
A meeting explaining the screening results will be at 5 p.m. Oct. 16 at the same location.
Joel Pigg, AgriLife Extension program specialist and TWON coordinator, College Station, said area residents wanting to have their well water screened should pick up a sample bag, bottle and instructions from the AgriLife Extension office in Orange County.
“It is very important that only sampling bags and bottles from the AgriLife Extension office be used and all instructions for proper sampling are followed to ensure accurate results,” Pigg said.
The samples must be turned in by 10 a.m. on the day of the screening and there will be no charge for the analyses.
Samples will be screened for contaminants including total coliform bacteria, E. coli, nitrate-nitrogen and salinity.
For more information, please contact the AgriLife Extension office in Orange County at 409-882-7010.
To learn more about the programs offered through the network or to find additional publications and resources, please visit http://twon.tamu.edu.
Funding for the Texas Well Owner Network is through a Clean Water Act nonpoint source grant provided by the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The project is managed by the Texas Water Resources Institute, part of Texas A&M AgriLife Research, AgriLife Extension and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University.