Welcome to testing private well water to protect children in your care.
Brought to you by Minnesota Department of Health and the Choose Safe Places initiative.
If your drinking water comes from a private well, you are responsible for making sure
that water is safe to drink for everyone in your household, which means regularly testing
it and taking necessary steps to make sure the water is safe for anyone who drinks it.
Only you can make sure your water is safe to drink.
Minnesota Rule requires Family Child Cares to test their well water every year for nitrate
and coliform bacteria.
Minnesota Department of Health also recommends you test for additional contaminants commonly
found in Minnesota groundwater.
In this presentation, we will go over: What to test well water for.
We will explain why we recommend testing for these additional contaminants.
We’ll also walk through how you can get your well water tested.
And finally, we’ll finish with an overview of the next steps you can take once you know
your well test results.
As we’ve talked about Minnesota Rule requires all family child care providers to test for
coliform bacteria and nitrate every year.
To further protect the children in your care, we recommend also testing for arsenic, lead,
and manganese at least once.
However, this additional testing is not required.
Also be sure to have your water tested if you notice a change in how your water smells,
tastes, feels, or looks.
You may be wondering why we recommend testing your well water.
These contaminants are common in Minnesota groundwater and can lead to short- and long-term
health and developmental effects.
Testing your drinking water is really the only way to know if these contaminants are
in your water.
You cannot taste, smell, or see these contaminants, and water quality can change over time.
Some examples of the effects these drinking water contaminants can have include stomach
problems how blood carries oxygen.
Increased risks of lung cancer and other forms of cancer.
Or they can even affect a child’s ability to learn and develop.
Testing for these contaminants is money well spent to protect your family and your customers.
Babies under a year old are especially at risk of being affected by these drinking water
contaminants.
This is because babies drink more water for their size (or per pound of body weight) than
older children or adults.
Their bodies also are less able to get rid of harmful substances.
By protecting infants, you can protect everyone in the house.
Now we’ll shift gears and talk about how you can get your water tested.
This is just a reminder that testing is an easy first step to protecting children’s
health and your household’s health by checking your drinking water quality.The first step
to testing your well water is to find a laboratory.
Minnesota does not have one central laboratory that processes all the samples for private
well users.
So first, we recommend you check with your county public health or environmental services
or human services to see if they have any well testing programs or suggested laboratories.
If your county does not have a recommendation, you can select one of about 30 accredited
water testing laboratories across the state that accept samples from private wells.
There are two ways to find these accredited laboratories, and they are both listed here:
The first webpage will bring you to a PDF map that shows the laboratories across the
state.
And the second webpage will bring you to an online search database, where you can select
what contaminants you would like your water tested for, and it will tell you what laboratories
can test for those contaminants.
When you contact the lab, let them know what you want to test for.
The lab will walk you through the cost, how to get the sample bottles, and will include
instructions on how to collect and return your sample.
Once you have the sample bottles, be sure to collect and return the water sample using
the laboratory’s instructions.
Pay attention to instructions about when to collect the sample and whether the sample
needs to be on ice or refrigerated.
Know that each lab may list results a little differently.
Some labs may describe what your results mean.
Other labs may only tell you the concentration of the contaminant found in the water.
There are a few different resources on the Water Quality/Well Testing webpage (listed
here).
If you need help understanding your results, you can use the webpage, you can contact us
at the Health Department, or contact your laboratory.
We encourage you to compare your results to health standards to determine whether you
should take action to protect your children and household from contaminants in drinking
water.
So how much does this cost?
Really, it all depends on the laboratory you work with and what you want to get your water
tested for.
Generally speaking, labs usually charge between $15-$40 for each contaminant you want your
water tested for.
So, for example, if you wanted to test for the five big contaminants that we recomend
testing for, your total cost would be about $150 for that first time.
After that (if you keep testing for coliform bacteria and nitrate like is required), you
would only spend about $30-$60 per year on water testing.
Now remember that these tests not only protect children in your care, but they also help
assure parents that their child has access to safe drinking water while they are in your
care.
Now let’s talk about these next steps.
You have received your lab report.
Now what?
If you have any questions about your lab report or what the results mean or what you can do,
contact us at the Health Department or your water testing laboratory.
We are prepared to help you understand your test results and recommend steps you can take
to better protect your household.
Let’s walk through a couple scenarios.
Let’s say your test results came back, and you don’t have any unsafe levels of the
contaminants you tested for, that’s great!
Share the news with your customers.
You don’t need to take any immediate action.
Just remember to test your well water again next year for coliform bacteria and nitrate.
On the other hand, what if your test results came back and you find out you have an unsafe
level of a contaminant?
Well don’t panic.
There are actually several things you can do to protect everyone who is drinking the
water.
The action that you take will depend on what contaminant is at an unsafe level.
Let’s walk through a couple scenarios.
Let’s say your test results came back, and you don’t have any unsafe levels of the
contaminants you tested for, that’s great!
Share the news with your customers.
You don’t need to take immediate action.
Remember to test your well water again next year for coliform bacteria and nitrate.
On the other hand, what if your test results come back and you find out you have an unsafe
level of a contaminant?
Good news!
There are several things you can do to protect everyone drinking the water.
What action you take will depend on what contaminant is at an unsafe level.
Rather than go through all the possibilities here for each contaminant we recommend you
go to the Water Quality/Well Testing webpage.
There is information there about the types of actions you can take for each specific
contaminant that is detected at an unsafe level.
Generally speaking, some of the actions could include: Flushing your water 30-60 seconds
before you use it for drinking or cooking.
They could also include using bottled water for babies under 1 year or until the problem
is fixed.
The issue may be resolved by disinfecting your well and water system or by repairing
your well.
You may also consider installing home water treatment.
And really, home water treatment could be anything from a pour-through pitcher (like
you see here), to an attachment for your kitchen sink, or a treatment system for your whole
house.
If you are unsure about what next steps are appropriate for your situation, please contact
us at the Health Department.
Thank you for playing an important role in protecting the health of children in your
care by testing your well water.
If you have any questions about this information or next steps to take, please contact the
Minnesota Department of Health Well Management Program.
Together, we can make sure you have safe drinking water for everyone in your home.
Thank you.