A COMMUNITY-BASED SAMPLING PROGRAM FOR EVALUATING 
LONG-TERM FLOOD IMPACTS ON RURAL WELL-WATER QUALITY

Steven D. Wilson and Joseph R. Karny

Illinois State Water Survey
 

Abstract 

The first year of a two-year educational and cost-effective program for assessing the long-term effects of the 1993 and other more recent flooding events on nitrate and coliform bacteria contamination in rural domestic wells has been completed. Following the methodology used by Karny (1996), the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) is cooperating with five Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapters along the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers to provide free, confidential well-water testing for nitrate and coliform bacteria to rural well owners in their school districts. Three schools, Valmeyer, Unity-Mendon, and Payson-Seymour, have participated in two sampling events in their school districts that resulted in 107, 151, and 193 samples being submitted for analysis, respectively. Two additional schools, North Greene and Calhoun Community, participated in their first sampling event in December 1998, and they will be participating in a second event in the spring of 1999. Early analysis of the sampling results indicate that shallow wells were more contaminated than deeper wells, and that dug, bored, and driven wells were more contaminated than drilled wells. At Valmeyer, only 5 of 107 samples had nitrate levels above the maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 10 mg/l and only 5 samples were found to contain E. coli bacteria. At Mendon, only 7 of 151 samples had nitrate levels above the MCL and only 4 samples were found to contain E. coli bacteria. At Payson, 24 of 193 samples had nitrate levels above the MCL (all 24 were collected in the springtime) and only 8 samples were found to contain E. coli bacteria (7 were collected in the springtime). After completion of the second round of sampling in the North Greene and Calhoun school districts, a more complete evaluation and analysis of the sampling results will be conducted.