AMES, Iowa -- A new grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will support work to engage rural households who depend on private wells to understand drinking water quality and address potential problems.
The $590,000 grant, which provides support for a three-year term, is one of four projects nationwide approved as part of a USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture Environmental and Natural Resource Economics initiative.
Jacqueline Comito, director of Iowa Learning Farms at Iowa State University, and Gabriel Lade, the C. Williams Swank Chair in Rural-Urban Policy at The Ohio State University, are leaders for the grant. Other collaborators are David Keiser, professor of water policy and management at the Yale School of the Environment and Catherine DeLong, water quality program manager with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.
The research and education project builds on an earlier Iowa Rural Drinking Water Initiative led by Comito, Lade and Keiser that resulted in the 2022 report, The Iowa Rural Drinking Water Survey: Water Quality Perceptions and Avoidance Behaviors Among Rural Iowa Households.
For that, two surveys of rural residents were conducted in eight counties in 2018 and 14 counties in 2019. More than 8,000 total households responded. Researchers found that well water users generally believed their wells were safe, though few had tested the well water in the previous year. The study concluded that about three-fourths of the households surveyed were at risk of exposure to potentially unsafe water. It called for further efforts to identify households at the greatest risk of exposure to elevated nitrate levels and to devise outreach strategies to influence their testing and avoidance behavior.
"I am excited to have the opportunity to continue to engage rural Iowans in considering the safety of their drinking water and to explore related behaviors. This is arguably even a more timely issue than it was a decade ago. This time, we will have more resources to help rural residents find solutions if they are dealing with potentially unsafe water," Comito said.
A new round of surveys will be sent to 4,500 of the earlier respondents to see whether their interests in drinking water and related behaviors have changed. In addition, more households in new counties will be contacted, according to Lade. This round will also focus on strengthening the questions to elicit reliable and trustworthy responses. After the surveys, several listening sessions are also planned to gain more in-depth qualitative insights.
Another aspect of the new project will be to systematically explore the effectiveness of sending postcards to encourage homeowners to take advantage of free or low-cost well-testing resources. In the initial project, the researchers experimented with using such postcards. They received anecdotal feedback from local public health offices that inquiries about well testing increased in the counties where postcards were sent.
DeLong will coordinate follow-up aspects of the grant to assist rural Iowans concerned about well-water challenges.
“Surveying private well owners helps us better understand how ISU Extension and Outreach can support their needs. The earlier surveys revealed that relatively few Iowans regularly test their well water. This led to development of the Private Well Stewardship Program, which helps well owners understand the responsibilities and potential risks of private well ownership and connects them with resources to effectively manage and maintain their wells. I'm excited to see what insights will emerge from this study and how they might inform future education and outreach programs,” DeLong said.
“Fixing” Iowa’s nitrate problem is a long-term challenge that many are working on, according to the researchers.
“In the meantime, we can raise awareness and encourage smart interventions if a household’s drinking water quality is not at a level that’s desirable," Comito said. “The bottom line for us is the motivation to help people understand there are things they can do now to improve their drinking water.”
Find ISU Extension and Outreach information on resources currently available to well owners at drinking water quality in Iowa.
Contacts:
Jacqueline Comito, Iowa Learning Farms, 515-296-0081, jcomito@iastate.edu
Catherine DeLong, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, 515-294-5963, crdelong@iastate.edu
Gabriel Lade, The Ohio State University, lade.10@osu.edu