NEW JERSEY RESIDENT

WELL TESTING PROGRAM

By Daniel Correa

FEBRUARY 24, 2017

STOCKTON UNIVERSITY
ENVL-4300-001 - ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES Dr. Tait Chirenje
Abstract.
When it comes to urbanized issues in New Jersey; water quality is an important subject
that every homeowner and resident is concerned about. Urban centers have policies and laws that
regulate the quality of water being provided to the residents of the area. They are often done by
state agencies such as health department and environmental department. However, this is not true
about private water wells, these sources of water are not regulated or tested. The lack of
monitoring can cause both health and environmental issues to the homeowners and the
environment around it. This is the reason behind the new program that should be instated in the
state of New Jersey. The new program would tackle the issue of unregulated private water wells
and would set up guidelines to accomplish this. The different policies and laws would come from
the state government and would be overseen by the municipalities. The end goal would be to
reduce and eliminate bacterial and metal contamination from private wells and to form a
database on the quality of New Jerseys private wells.

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 CHAPTER PAGE

ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................ 1

Introduction..........................................................................................................................3

Aim and Objectives..............................................................................................................3

Results and Discussion....................................................................................................... 4

Summary, Conclusion, Recommendation ......................................................................... 7

Bibliogrpahy....................................................................................................................... 8

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Introduction
Residents in New Jersey get their drinking water from many sources. Urbanized and
some suburban residents get their water from city waterways such as water treatment plants and
government own water wells. While the rest of the population that lives farther away from any
urban center or doesnt want to connect to the municipality, have a private water well install in
their property. While these two systems deliver water to the resident, there are a few significant
difference that can impact the quality of the water and impact the health of the residents. The
first and most important is that water that comes from water treatment plants have been treated
with chemicals to kill all sorts of bacteria, eliminate metals and Volatile organic compounds.
These waters have also been tested by employees from government agencies such as the New
Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and New Jersey Environmental Protection
Agency. Each test and sample is brought and tested in a government lab that can detect the
smallest of particles in the water. While this kind of testing can reduce the amount of
contamination there is still a change of particles following in from the pipes themselves.
Residents depend on the municipality for the best water quality but might not be fully inform
about it
As for the people who rely on private wells, their advantage is that that the well is theirs
and they can do anything with it. Its their property and nobody can interfere or manipulate it,
not even the municipality can do that. The only downside to these private wells is that they arent
regularly being monitor and are susceptible to bacterial contamination, metal contamination, and
sceptic tank contamination and even drying up. If the quality of a well is compromised, then this
can in cause the residents to fall sick and even contaminate other wells if its not contained.
However a private well needs to be tested when the house and property is being sold or leased to
somebody else, this is mandatory in the sales contract.
For these reasons new water regulations and policies need to be implemented to private
well owners. These policies are intended to prevent contaminations and to maintain a healthy
community. While there are obstacles that can deter private owners from conducting regular well
tests, the new guidelines and aid will help each homeowner to overcome those obstacles and
make sure that they understand the reasons and the effects of regular water testing.

Aim and objective.

The objective was to create new policies and regulations that focused on testing private
water wells in the state of New Jersey. This new policies had to be able to tackle the issue
directly, while at the same time the programs would help the public understand the need for
testing and how to do it.

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 Results and Discussion
New Jersey is a state that has been urbanized through the last few decades and has built
an infrastructure that provides for its residents. In the state of New Jersey it is estimated that over
85 % of the total population get their water from a public water system. However, not everybody
within the municipality gets their water through a public system. Instead, many residents get
their water from private wells that are located closer to their homes. This solution can be
beneficial to the homeowners and the town, as the municipality doesnt have to build
infrastructure for the house and the homeowner has its own source of water. However, as many
positive as this solution may have, there is also a negative aspect that are often overlooked. The
main negative aspect is that private home wells are not continuously monitor or checked; which
can result in contamination issues which can affect homeowner and the community; this is in
accordance with the guidelines of The National Ground Water Association (NGWA).
There is evidence that support the alarming thoughts of private well contamination. There
was study conducted in Randolph Township, New Jersey by the. Fifty random wells were picked
from a list of 1488 private wells. It was found that 13 samples had VOC, 7 wells had coliform
bacteria and multiple contaminants were found in 19 out of the 50 wells. While this may seem
like a small study, these shows that not all private wells are save from contaminants and that
given time with no monitoring then the risk of contamination can increase.
In New Jersey there is a law that requires a homeowner to test their water wells, but only
for the exchange of ownership or leasing proposes; this law is called The New Jersey Private
Well Testing Act PWTA (DEP) of 2002. While this act may present a good framework of rules,
guidelines and policy; this still doesnt apply to any well that doesnt exchange owners.
However, a new program could be developed from the guidelines that are already put in place by
the PWTA, but it would be written under a different program name and the main goal of the
program would be to reduce the risk of contamination in private wells.
The program would work in the following way, it would first start by registering every
homeowner that moves into the municipality. Then a priority list would be formed that shows
who is closest to a pollution source and whose well is at most risk of being contaminated. These
priority lists will give the homeowner and the municipality the ability to measure how much the
test could cost, the aid that could be provided and give the homeowner information about the
program.
Well monitoring for homeowners should occur at least twice a year; once in February and
once in August. The reason for this is that the change in seasons may affect the quality of the
water and the potential dangers that the water supply may face. In February when the weather is
colder the water table may be lower, so its good to take a reading and check at what level of the
water table is at. The biggest threat during this time is road salt infiltrating into the well and
mixing with the water from the well. The reason to test in Mid-September is because by this time
summer is over and the well has gone through the harsh hot days. It is during the summer time
that wells are at their most vulnerable for drought periods, so monitoring the will be important.
Not only has that but it also important to see how much the quality of the well changed since
February. The data of these tests could also be imputed into a data base so it can be combined
with other testing sites, and possibly make a map with all the results on it.
The test themselves would vary under the program, there would actually be two types of
test that would be done to residential wells. For the two basic annual tests that would be required,
these test would only precautionary tests, so they wouldnt be rigorous or costly. These tests
should only test for bacteria and five of the top pollutants that are found in the municipality and

pg. 4
county. However, every two years, one of the two tests that are to be done, should be a full end-
to-end test that examines bacterial and water-borne diseases, metals in the water, pesticides and
the pH level of the water and other contaminants. There should also be; but not required; some
soil analyses from around the well and the top of the well. The various types of test would also
target the 10 most common groundwater pollutants in NJ (Table 1).
When it comes to the price of conducting the test and analyzing, it is estimated by the NJ-
DEP that water tests that are performed by the state and private companies can go from $450-
$650. These prices will deter any homeowner from doing any kinds of tests, and can simply give
a reason for homeowners not to do this kind of well test. However, if there could be a subsidizing
program that can help with these cost then it surely can help promote the idea of well testing.
These subsidies would cover up to 40% of the total cost. The amount of subsidizing of the test
would range on the income of the person, priority of the wells location and the type of test that
is being done. There can also be a pay plan that could be offered to homeowners that cant pay
everything at once and may not qualify for the subsidies. A 2 or 3 month plan could be set up
and the homeowner.

Pollutant Number/Name of Counties Primary Emissions

Above Health Benchmarks Source
Acetaldehyde 21 Background/Secondary
Acrolein 21 Background, Nonpoint
Arsenic Compounds 19 Background/Secondary
Benzene 21 Background, Mobile
1,3-Butadiene 21 Background, Mobile
Cadmium Compounds 1 (Warren) Nonpoint, Background
Carbon Tetrachloride 21 Background
Chloroform 21 Nonpoint, Background
Chromium VI 20 Background, Point
Cobalt Compounds 7 Point

Table 1. Top 10 most common groundwater pollutants in NJ and their

locations (NJ-DEP)
Collecting and analyzing the various samples from different homeowners is going to be a
challenge that the municipality is going to have to answer. The people that would be collecting,
performing and analyzing these test would have to follow strict rules and be certified. As
previously mentioned, this program would mirror some of the regulations of the PTWA,
meaning that when it comes to employees who do the testing, they would have to follow the
definition and guidelines of Chapter 9E of the PTWA. While the idea would be to have
government employees as the people who do the assessment in the private wells, there might not
be enough of these employees available to do all of the scheduled testing. In the case that there is
not enough available employees, then people from the private sector would also be called in.
These field employees would come from labs and companies that have the certification and
experience to do these tests. However, their service doesnt stop there, the private sector would
also help with the analyses of the water samples. The government would only partner up with
companies that have good standards, the right kind of analyzing equipment and has passed all the
qualification and checks that the state would have. One thing to consider when deciding whether

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a water sample will be treated by government labs or private labs, would fall in the location of
the well. Depending on the distance of the facilities and other resources, then then the
municipality would have to decide whether to send a government worker or a private company
employee.
The funding for this program will have to come from different sources, as this is a state wide
program with different areas that will need to be financed. The subsiding funds would come from
the property taxes that the municipality collects and possibly government funding, such state
funding could come from The New Jersey Safe Drinking Fund. Other forms of state funding
could be based on the size of the population and the economic statues of the municipality.
Another source of funding could come from a fee from when applying for subsiding; which
could be a $15 dollar fee when the homeowner has been approved; and a payment plan which
would be a $30 fee when the homeowner applies. Both the $15 and $30 dollar fee would go back
into the water testing program. Lastly, a different approach to encouraging homeowners to
embrace the new program, would be to make these test into tax credit. The way for the
homeowner get the tax credit would be to have proof of both well tests in the property in that
particular year. According to the Department of Energys website, there isnt any kind of tax
credit program for environmental water quality work. However, if the state of New Jersey can
successfully implement this program, there is chance that the federal government could take
notice and start adopting this program as part of their national tax credit and tax exemption
program.
Public support will be key in running and maintaining this program. In order to have an
effective program that will promote the idea of regular water testing, the public needs to be on
board with the idea and be comfortable with it. If this program were to be passed then there will
have to be a public relations committee that would handle the public and public concerns. Not
only that, but there would also have to be a Public Relations team that can distribute information
to all local residents. These would include, reasons for the testing, information about the
contaminants that threaten wells and information about the tests themselves and the companies
and labs that performed these tests. This information would be distributed in the form of easy to
read pamphlets and would be published in the municipalitys website.
Another possible way that towns can inform the public to the necessity of regular well testing
is by appointment different water watch groups such as NJ Clean Water Action and New Jersey
Friends of Clearwater, ask local college clubs within the area and use public agencies such as
ACUA. All of these groups could give presentations, do door-to-door presentations and
demonstrations. These would be great approaches in informing the public and is the best way to
connect with the residents, as these volunteers live within the community and know the issues
that are happening. They will also make a better connection with the homeowners.
The public should also have a choice of whether they want to release their results to a
homeowners database. This would only be a choice because not everybody would like to post
their results, the municipality can potentially suggest reasons for homeowners to publically post
the data online, so other people can see it, but this is not mandatory. It would be great to have all
of the results online cause then scientist, planners, hydrologist and other state related workers can
track and compile data files on the condition and quality of the water tables and the soil around
the municipality.
Campaigning for this will also need to be tactic that the municipality and the state will have
to do. A program of this magnitude is not only a great opportunity to keep wells and the
community healthy but it also a way to raise awareness on the importance of the wellbeing of

pg. 6
water wells. If the program is successful, then it should be demonstrated and exemplify so other
states can take an interest in it and may implement similar programs.

Summary, Conclusion, Recommendation

In conclusion, the need for the implementation of a program that targets privately own
wells is very important. As of right now there are hundreds of untested water wells in the state of
New Jersey alone. These untested wells pose a health risk to the homeowners, the environment
and the community. It is with great priority that this new program be instated in the public and be
supported by the various environmental and health organizations in New Jersey. The program in
itself would tackle all the different areas such as policy and planning, types of testing, collection
and analyzes, public outreach, resources and funding. All of this areas will have their challenges,
but in the end the protection of the community is what comes first. As for recommendations, this
plan should be look thoroughly and be changed with experts in the field of environmental
sciences, engineers and political science. There also needs to be public studies in order to gain an
understanding of the support from the public, and make changes to the program according to new
research and new policies.

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 Bibliography

1) Atherholt, Thomas B. (April 2009). The New Jersey Private Well Testing Act: An
Overview. Retrieved from http://www.state.nj.us/dep/dsr/research/pwta-overview.pdf.
Retrieved on (February 20, 2017).

2) The National Ground Water Association (2017). Water Testing. Retrieved from
http://wellowner.org/water-quality/water-testing/ . Retrieved on (February 22, 2017).

3) Tabbot, Peter N and Robson, Mark G.(September 1, 2006). The New Jersey Residential
Well-Testing Program-A Case Study: Randolph Township. Retrieved from
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4) The Department of Environmental Protection (February 22, 2008). Tittle 7. Department

of Environmental Protection Chapter 9E. Private Well Testing Act Rules. Retrieved from
http://www.nj.gov/dep/pwta/pwtafinal.pdf Retrieved on (February 21, 2017).

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