Private Water Well Statewide Outreach

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is conducting a statewide outreach to provide information on private wells and health.

Private wells in California are regulated neither by the state nor by the federal government. Since 1970, county environmental health departments have required that a permit be issued for building a private well. However, obtaining a permit does not mean that the well will be tested for chemical or bacteriological contamination. Before 1970, private wells could be built by property owners without a permit; many of those wells are still being used today.

Groundwater can become contaminated with a variety of chemicals, which can be naturally occurring (already present in nature) or man-made.  Thus, it is essential that private water wells be maintained, tested, and cleaned on a regular basis. In fact, water from a private well can look clean, be odorless, and taste good, yet be contaminated; therefore, the only way to find out if water from a private well is safe for human consumption is to have it tested by a laboratory.  

While several counties in California have developed educational resources about well water quality and groundwater issues, CDPH’s goal is to ensure that private well owners and organizations serving them, as well as counties and cities across the State of California have access to information and resources that are up-to-date, relevant, and complete.

In the planning phase of this project, CDPH will conduct a needs assessment among the following groups: private well owners, organizations serving private well owners, and county environmental and public health agencies. Specifically, CDPH will:

• establish communication with private well owners, agencies and organizations serving private well owners, and counties;
• assess the information and resources that are available to private well owners, at the county level and via organizations serving private well owners;
• identify additional resources and information needed by counties and agencies and organizations serving private well owners; and
• identify the most efficient ways to distribute resources and information to counties and agencies and organizations serving private well owners.

In the implementation phase of this project, CDPH will:

• develop health education materials, taking into consideration any feedback received from private well owners, counties, and agencies and organizations serving private well owners;
• distribute health education materials to the counties and agencies and organizations serving private well owners;
• make new information available to the public by posting it on CDPH’s website; and
• conduct an evaluation of the effectiveness of the outreach among counties and organizations serving private well owners.