Residents Sought for Water Testing
By Karen McCowan, The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore.
Jun. 12–The Oregon State University Extension Service is looking for rural residents of Lane, Linn and Benton counties interested in searching for potential pollutants in their groundwater.
Volunteers will receive free training and supplies to collect water samples and perform simple nitrate tests on water from their own and a few nearby wells. The OSU research project is focusing on drinking wells around Coburg, Harrisburg, Junction City, Monroe and portions of Corvallis along the Willamette River. But residents of other areas also will be considered.
The Community Well Water Testing Program is an opportunity for homeowners with wells to learn more about their drinking water while contributing to research that will aid in understanding local groundwater resources, program coordinator Gail Andrews said.
“There is a lot we want to know about groundwater and wells in this area,” Andrews said. “The research we conduct with the help of citizen participants can help us all ensure that the drinking water in the area is safe.”
Shallow groundwater in the southern Willamette Valley contains elevated levels of nitrate, and the state Department of Environmental Quality declared the region a Groundwater Management Area in 2004. Exposure to concentrated nitrate levels in drinking water may be a danger to human health, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
To volunteer or to offer a well as a sample site, contact Laura Moscowitz by June 20 at moscowil@ onid.orst.edu or (541) 207-7472. Information is available at www.ground water.oregonstate.edu/willamette/.
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