County will test soil, water for free
Officials say about 1,600 residential wells are used in Greene County.
If you’re wondering what’s in your well water or whether you should fertilize your lawn, Greene County residents can get answers for free at an upcoming event.
The county’s 12th annual “Test Your Well Water & Soil” event is set for 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Greene County Fairgrounds.
Residents can take in samples that will be tested on-site for nitrates, nitrites and iron. The first 70 households will receive free testing for arsenic and lead, and bacteria test kits will be available for $20 each, according to a release from Greene County Public Health.
There will be a limited supply of free soil test kits for each household.
There are about 1,600 residential wells in use in Greene County, and hundreds of people are expected to bring in samples, according to Lee Eltzroth, education specialist with Greene County Soil & Water Conservation.
“Your well may be awesome, but the only way to find out if it’s good is to have it tested,” Eltzroth said.
Across the state, about 2 million people rely on household water wells, according to Greene’s public health district.
where they test about 200 samples from Dayton area communities every month.
Davis said the groundwaEltzroth said through ter supply in the area is of his travels he has learned good quality, but they find to appreciate the 1.5 bil- elevated levels of arsenic in lion-gallon aquifer that flows some wells in Greene County. beneath the Dayton area. “It’s naturally occurring
“The aquifer we have in and is found in about 10 to Dayton, it’s hard to com20 percent of the residen- pare it to anywhere else,” tial wells in Greene County,” he said. “We almost take it Davis said. for granted. Each day indiIf a sample is found to viduals use about 100 gal- have contaminants, the lons of water ... some places well in question may need won’t have that much for a to be chlorinated to remove week for a family.” bacteria, or residents may
The Montgomery County want to install a water fil- Soil and Water Conservation tering system, which can District will be on-hand to cost anywhere from hunassist in testing the water. Jim dreds to thousands of dol- Davis is the lab services manlars, Davis said. ager for Montgomery County, Brianna Wooten, spokes- woman for Montgomery’s soil and water district, said they will be hosting a water and soil sampling event in the coming weeks. She said health officials suggest testing your water at least once a year.
“It is more of a due diligence so we can try to educate the public and offer them this service so they are more inclined to take advantage of it and get it done,” Wooten said.
For more information, call Greene County Soil & Water Conservation at 937372-4478, ext. 8123.
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