County sanitarian urges residents to get water tests on wells

Henry County residents need to get their wells tested, said Henry County sanitarian and RUSS director Bruce Hudson during a board of health meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 14.

After conducting no water tests in the county in October, Hudson said he and the residents need to do better, especially since well water tests are done with tax dollars paid to the state that is funneled back into the county.

'It's a free thing to call us, and we come out and take (the sample.) It's almost too easy,” Hudson said.

Grant dollars that are not used by Henry County residents are reallocated to other counties, Hudson explained. Last year, the county went from $30,000 in grant funding for well testing to $17,000, Hudson said.

'I can't stress the importance for people in this county to get their wells tested,” Hudson said, adding that wells should be tested once a year.

One resident's well that was tested recently came back positive for coliform bacteria, an environmental contamination that is an indicator of drinking water quality, Hudson said. The resident told Hudson before he even tested it that it always comes back positive for coliform bacteria.

'It's important to figure out why it's there,” Hudson said in frustration. 'Something's going on that's allowing it to get into your well.”

Hudson said that while residents may be used to their drinking water and build up a tolerance to whatever bacteria is present, it could make someone else who comes along and drinks it very sick.

'It's not the population living there now, it's the population to come. If you have grandchildren over for the weekend, they're drinking the same water. We want to have a good idea of what's going on with the well,” Hudson said.

Hudson said he thinks a lot of people don't test because they don't want to have to pay to fix it; however, Hudson said there are grant dollars there to help residents with that process too.

When a house is on the market, Hudson said well testing and septic inspections are done then, but houses aren't sold every day and wells should still be tested yearly.

Hudson, who also works in Louisa County, said he conducts at least 30 well tests a month there.