Protecting Local Ground-Water Supplies
Through Wellhead Protection
The following is a detailed description describing the five step plan for protecting
a wellhead protection area. It takes an in-depth look at the five step process
of forming a community team to safeguard against contamination of the ground
water that feeds into the community's well. It is the full text of a document
produced by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water
in May 1991 titled Protecting Local Ground-Water Supplies Through Wellhead
Protection (EPA 570/9-91-007).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Protecting Local Ground-Water Supplies
Through Wellhead Protection
INTRODUCTION
If you are the mayor or water supply manager or other
official of a small town, county, or parish, or an interested citizen, and
if your community relies on ground water for its public water supply, this
booklet can help you prevent that groundwater supply from becoming contaminated.
Protecting you ground-water supply before it becomes
contaminated, instead of waiting until contamination occurs, is both smart
and cost effective. Communities all over the country have learned that it
can be very expensive to clean up ground water once contaminated. They learned
the hard way that a little bit of prevention would have been worth many pounds
of cure.
This guide outlines an easy to follow, five-step process
that your community can take to protect your public water supply wells.
In addition, this guide presents an approach to protecting
your ground water supply that can be coordinated with existing state and federal
ground water supply protection programs such as EPA's Wellhead Protection,
Underground Injection Control (UIC) and Public Water Supply System programs.
Check with your state environmental protection agency and your regional EPA
office to determine what assistance and information is available to you. (West
Virginia's Wellhead Protection Program is a part of the Bureau for Public
Health).
FIVE
STEPS TO PROTECTING YOUR PUBLIC GROUND-WATER SUPPLY
Protecting your ground water supply wells from contamination
can be accomplished by completing five basic steps:
- Form a community planning team
- Define the land area to be protected
- Identify and locate potential contaminants
- Manage the protection area
- Plan for the future
Step 1 -- Form
a Community Planning Team
Although the size and membership of a community planning
team may differ from one community to the next, it is important that the planning
team represents all interests in you town. If there are existing groups in
your community who have worked together successfully in the past, it may be
useful to build a planning team around them.
Consider including representatives from the following
groups on your planning team: water suppliers; elected officials; local government
agencies such as health, planning, and natural resources; businesses; land
developers; community service organizations such as the League of Women Voters,
Rotary Club, Lions club; environmental groups; public interest groups; farmers;
local fire department; and interested citizens.
Perhaps most important is the selection of a leader who
can keep the planning team organized and on track. A local official or community
leader who has already gained community support may be helpful in pushing
management options through the proper channels.
Your team will also benefit tremendously from the advice
of a hydrogeologist, engineer, and land planner who may teach others in the
group or act as the group's technical advisor. The local extension service,
soil conservation service, or state ground water agency may be able to lend
you support in this area.
Once you have formed the planning team, the next order
of business will be to define a clear goal and objectives. The goal will remind
the planning team what it is trying to do, while clearly defined objectives
will give the team benchmarks for measuring progress.
Step 2 -- Define
the Land Area to be Protected
The first step for the planning team is to identify the
land area that will need to be managed to protect your community's ground
water supply. The water pumped from a well passes through the surface and
subsurface land surrounding the well and may extend up to thousands of feet
from the well. This area is called a "wellhead protection area" (WHPA).
There are two good reasons for mapping wellhead protection
areas. First, maps of WHPAs identify the ground water area that is contributing
directly to you well. Second, you can focus your management efforts on where
they are most needed by identifying these areas of greatest concern.
EPA has published guidance documents to help define wellhead
protection areas. In addition, many states have developed wellhead protection
programs and are recommending methods for mapping WHPAs. Information about
the guidance documents or the status of your state's wellhead protection program
is available from the EPA Regional Offices. If your state has a wellhead protection
program, you may be able to get assistance in mapping the protection area
around your town's public ground water supply well(s).
There are several different methods of mapping WHPAs.
They range from drawing a circle with a specified radius around the well to
more detailed calculations and the use of computer models.
If your state does not have a wellhead protection program,
an initial area having a radius of one-half to one mile around the public
water supply well would be considered a good starting point. This initial
wellhead protection area could then be refined at a later date.
When site specific information on well construction,
soils, geology, and ground-water flow is available, detailed methods can be
used to calculate accurate WHPAs. Ground water computer models, for example,
can predict which land areas contribute water to the well under varying conditions.
EPA has developed a simplified computer model that is available to help define
WHPAs.
Your community also may be able to obtain the information
and expertise necessary for mapping a wellhead protection area from other
sources, including:
- Citizens of the community having professional expertise
in these areas
- Local universities or community colleges with departments
in geology, water resources, civil or environmental engineering, environmental
planning, or agriculture
- Consulting firms specializing in hydrogeology and
land-use planning
- Federal, State, or county agencies such as the United
States Geological Survey, Soil Conservation Service, County Extension Service,
State Health or Environmental Departments.
Once the wellhead protection area has been identified,
its boundaries should be drawn on a map so everyone in the community will
be able to identify the area that needs to be protected. United States Geological
Survey (USGS) topographic maps provide an inexpensive yet informative base
map on which you can clearly show your WHPAs. They are available from sporting
goods or outdoor recreational stores, book stores, or from the USGS. You also
might use or draw relevant information from town parcel (tax assessor's plat)
maps; natural resources maps; soils maps (available from the U.S. Department
of Agriculture and Soil Conservation Service), or water resources maps from
your local library or regional planning agency.
Step 3 -- Identify and Locate Potential Contaminants
Once you know what areas in your community need to be
protected, you can begin to identify and locate the potential threats to the
quality of you ground water supply. Any pollutants that are released within
your WHPA have the potential to reach your well and contaminate the water.
For example, less than one gallon of gasoline can contaminate one million
gallons of ground water to the point that the well water is unusable for drinking
purposes.
It can be helpful to divide your WHPA into smaller areas
based on how the land is used (e.g. residential, commercial, agricultural,
etc.) because different types of contaminants can be expected from different
types of land uses. Table 1 shows some examples
of potential contamination sources in different land-use categories.
Sources of information on existing land uses and potential
contamination problems include the local phone book, the Chamber of Commerce's
membership rosters, information maintained by your police and/or fire department
and Federal, state, or county agency files. For example, the local agricultural
extension agent may have records on chemical and manure storage and application
areas in agricultural locations.
Conducting a Search
After your team has completed an initial review of potential
contamination sources, it is important to search for specific activities that
present contamination risks. This does not have to be an expensive effort
involving consultants. Local volunteers, particularly senior citizens, have
proven very effective in identifying potential contamination risks. Groups
such as boy or girl scouts, 4-H, and volunteer fire departments also generally
are willing to participate in local public service projects.
Perhaps the easiest way to conduct the field search is
to make copies of your wellhead protection area map, divide the protection
area into sections, and have volunteers mark on the map the contaminant sources
they find within their sections.
The information collected should include a description
of the activity, its location, the volume of material stored and handled,
and any permit references. The final product should be a master wellhead protection
area map. This map will identify all of the contaminant sources of concern
within the protection area and present some indication of the nature and potential
threat posed by those sources.
Once the existing sources have been identified and assessed,
the next step is to determine if any threats could be sited within the wellhead
protection area in the future. A close look at the current zoning map or master
plan prepared by your community or your county may reveal that industrial
or commercial activities could be developed within the WHPA. If your community
has not adopted a zoning ordinance, this might be the time to consider doing
so to protect your water supply.
Step 4 -- Manage the Protection Area
The management of activities (subdividing land, building
roads, construction and using buildings) within the WHPA usually is the responsibility
of your local government. This responsibility can be an opportunity -- a chance
to preserve a resource critical to future growth and development. There are
many ways to manage your WHPAs; some may be more appropriate for your community
than others. These WHPA management methods or tools can be divided into two
broad categories: regulatory and non-regulatory controls.
Regulatory Controls
Small cities and towns have relied on zoning to guide
their growth and protect water resources since the early 1900's. Zoning approaches
can be used to separate different activities within the community and keep
conflicting land uses from being sited next to each other. For example, a
zoning regulation can be adopted to prevent new underground storage tanks
of petroleum from being installed within wellhead protection areas. In addition,
zoning regulations could include the adoption of new districts to link the
mapping of WHPAs with future management strategies.
Subdivision control rules and regulations
also can be used to protect ground water quality. When parcels of land are
divided, subdivision regulations can be used to ensure that drainage from
new roads is either treated or directed away from WHPAs.
Health regulations can be very effective
in protecting ground water quality. These controls are usually contaminant
source specific (e.g., for septic systems, underground storage tanks, toxic
and hazardous materials control).
Regional approaches are options to consider
when your local government does not have the power to regulate a certain activity
or when a multi-community approach is necessary. It may be that the WHPA for
your community's well extends into another town or state. Because the management
techniques described above are difficult or impossible to apply outside you
town, you may need to approach the neighboring community or your state legislature
to create a special district for the joint management of the resource. Through
a special ground water protection district, you can establish consistent local
controls across the entire WHPA and avoid piecemeal protection efforts.
Non-Regulatory Controls
Non-regulatory controls are those that do not involve
the regulation of an individual's property and, when combined with an appropriate
regulatory program, allow for the strongest possible management of your ground
water resource. Some non-regulatory approaches to consider include:
- Conduct education programs and workshops to inform
your fellow city and town residents about the importance of protection the
community's ground water
- Prepare brochures or pamphlets on the importance of
disposing of pesticides, used oil, and other contaminants properly
- Monitor your community's water quality, especially
between existing water quality threats and your public wells
- Acquire land within your WHPAs, either by purchase
or by techniques such as easements, conservation restrictions, or "bargain
sales".
Finally, regardless of what management steps are taken,
remember to stay focused on the goal: the protection of your community's drinking
water supply.
Step 5 -- Plan
for the Future
Perhaps the most important step to take in protecting
your town's groundwater supply is to sustain your protection efforts into
the future. One year of intense ground water protection measures is not likely
to be adequate to establish long-term ground water protection. Even modest
ground water protection efforts will be more effective if they are sustained.
The planning team should review the protection program
each year to see where your community can improve its efforts. The planning
team should think about future water supply needs and the type of program
it would like to have in place five or ten years from now. It's important
to try and identify potential future problems and figure out ways to head
them off before they occur.
Even the most comprehensive wellhead protection program
may fail to protect your community's wells. For this reason, it's important
for your community to be prepared in case its water supply becomes contaminate.
The planning team should begin to develop a contingency plan for response
procedures and alternative water supplies in case the water supply is disrupted
by contamination or other events.
Overcoming Obstacles
The greatest obstacle that most small communities face
in trying to implement a wellhead protection program is insufficient funds.
Using a little creativity, it is possible to stretch the resources you do
have and make a protection program work in your community. Using volunteers
whenever possible can help control overall program costs. Local schools and
universities may provide help as well. It also may be worthwhile to cosponsor
a program with another organization interested in maintaining a clean water
supply (e.g., local water supplier, environmental interest group, League of
Women Voters, local industry, and farmers) and willing to share the cost of
the program.
Pulling Together
Your Program
Now that you have had a chance to review the five-step
approach to ground water protection, it is time to evaluate how this process
can work for you. The approach provided her, along with other information
available from EPA and your county and state offices, is meant to serve as
a general guide to developing a ground water protection program that will
best serve the unique needs of your community. Talk with the people in your
town. Find out who is interested in wellhead protection and get them involved.
Contact local, state, and EPA officials for assistance; they would rather
help you protect what you have now, than try to help you clean it up or replace
it later.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This document was prepared for the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of
Ground water and Drinking Water. Stan Austin served as Project Manager for this
document, with assistance from Janette Hansen, Tom Belk, and Dr. Norbert Dee.
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maintained by the West Virginia Source Water Assessment and Wellhead Protection
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