The royal health voice, sew 120. Water quality. Welcome to the rule Hook voice. I am about the connor, your host, We discuss rural health the issues at the grassroots level and how state and federal policies play out in our local communities. Is water is pure and pristine as bottled water advertisements would have us believe, Aaron Ling, water quality extension specialist join me to discuss the Virginia household water quality program. So hello, Aaron? Hi. How are you? Doing good, so glad to have you here. So I don't know a lot of kids who would say water quality extension specialist when asked what they wanted to be when they grew up. How did you decide water quality was the right path for you? Well, like many people, it was a winding road, but I'm very happy where I ended up. I would say I've always been passionate about the outdoors I've always, you know, enjoyed being out in the woods and out in nature, always appreciated going to the beach, but certainly never thought it would be my my calling or my career. I guess when I really got interested in water was in graduate school at Penn State and kind of, again, winding road. I ended up working with, the New York City waters shit. And so that's a very complicated network of reservoirs that is quite far from New York City. Most New York City residents don't know that much about their drinking water, and so I actually worked with farmers that were in those waters sheds. That kind of fed the New York City reservoirs. And so I got really interested just in people's connection with water, people's awareness, some relationship with water or lack of awareness and relationship with water. So that was my first exposure to drinking water. That was mostly focused on surface water, but the job that I'm in now is focused on groundwater more than surface water. And so that's where I ended up, and it just keeps evolving. I keep learning. I keep working with new people, and it's it's just been a great great ride so far. And what do you do as a water quality extension specialist. So I work with Virginia Tech and Virginia Cooperative extension. So cooperative extension is the outreach, the service arm of the land grant system. So in Virginia, that's Virginia tech and Virginia State Universities. So there are a bunch of us around the states. There are agents that are located in counties and cities across Virginia. And there are people like me who coordinate statewide programs to do different types of outreach. So extension is way bigger than this program. But what I actually do is coordinate a statewide program to offer water testing and education to people with private water supplies. So in the Us, we have people who are municipal water supplies and those can range in size from very small to very large. Those are regulated under the Environmental Protection agency and the Safe Drinking water act. But they're are about 15000000 Americans and about 1.6 and Virginia that have private water supplies, which means that they are responsible for maintaining those systems, understanding how they work fixing problems that they arise and testing and understanding the test results and addressing any problems. So that's a lot for an average person too, you know, to be able to do. When you say private water supplies, do you mean people like me Who corona well? Yes. So it mostly wells from what we see coming through our program. It's right about 95 percent of the people that come through are on wells of some some shape or form. And then about 4 or 5 percent of people say they have a spring or they use water from a spring or something else, rain catch, you can imagine is getting more popular, especially as we see more changes in precipitation, you know, increasing drought. We're we're pretty lucky in Virginia in terms of our consistency in rainfall, but people are interested in catching rain water and using that too. But the vast majority of these are wells, which as we know is a hole in the ground, so we're basically drilling a hole in order to access water that's deeper underground. Humans figured out to start doing that a long time ago to try to base keep ourselves from getting various illnesses alissa from the water. So in a lot of cases, water that's deep underground because the earth is a great filter is relatively micro safe compared to water that's close to the surface. So that's really the function of wells. What are some concerns with private water sources? Yeah. So the primary thing that we see are bacteria. So if a well is cited and constructed properly, and all of those regulations are oversee in Virginia by the Virginia Department of Health, So if you have a well that is younger than or was constructed after 19 90, it at some point met those. So, you know, requirements for having a casing, you know, which is that pipe that we see and that kind of sticks up out of the ground. A sealed cap on the well, a g seal around the outside of the casing. All of these components in place basically chew. Protect that deep groundwater from what's going on on the surface. So we see bacteria as a bit of an indicator that water that's been on the surface may be getting down into our deeper, well water. Other things that we see fall in a couple of different categories So 1 is contaminants that come from the geology. So if you live around where we do in Blacks, a lot of people have hardness, which is calcium and magnesium. A lot of people have iron or manganese, so that's a metal that's found underground. So those types of contaminants can be in our water, Some of them like ars can cause health concerns, and some of them like iron to hardness are just a nuisance, so they might stain or cause other problems with the water, but they're not a health concern. And then the last category that we see broadly is metals that can come from plumbing. Components. So things like lead, copper, zinc, nickel may get into our water as our water moves through our home through treatment devices through plumbing devices. So that's broadly what we see our program that we offer in 70 counties, give or take every year to provide this water testing includes testing for all of those contaminants. We also are able to do some research on top of the outreach program that we have, the Virginia household water quality program. So 1 of the research projects we are working on is actually looking for P fast. So those are those forever chemicals that we're hearing a lot about in the news. So sometimes we're able to add on additional contaminants, you know that may be a concern and and learn more about them in the process, so we can better advise people on, you know, what's going on with these systems and what to do if there's a problem. I find that a common mindset urban people have about water in rural areas especially in mountainous areas is that the water is lean. Yeah. Ads for bottled water, always show rural areas, and the water is viewed as pure and pristine yes. How does that line up with reality? So that's very perceptive. That is a common. I would say marketing approach that is used in bottled water. Words like spring water are used a lot of times and a lot of people just don't actually know what that means. So in reality, there is, you know, well water out there that is in very good shape. You know, that doesn't have many contaminants that is micro safe. That is absolutely the case in a lot of situations. We also see, you know, if you were to go out and and hike up a mountain and see a spring a natural spring coming out the side of the mountain. That would just be where the water table is intersecting the surface. And so we know whatever's is going on in that area, even if it's not human induced, there are wildlife. There may be livestock. There can be other sources of just contaminants to be aware of. So things like bacteria we find in most springs that we analyze and we find in some wells that we analyze. So I think it's a it's a little bit of a of a disservice. There's nothing wrong with those water supplies. You know, humans. We've always had this kind of dance between, you know, the safety of our water, and then what steps we might take to address that safety if it's a concern. It's So I do think that's a common kind of mis perception. The other thing that's interesting about private water supplies is there are a lot of them in more urban and suburban. Areas. So a lot of times people assume that we only find wells, you know, in places that are quite remote and quite spa populated in And for example, there are upwards of 50000 wells in Fairfax County. So that's a pretty densely populated area that still has a lot of private whilst. So if someone like me who has a well wants to know if their well water is safe, what steps should I take So you can always contact us, we can share our schedule of drinking water clinics that we offer around this state. So those are through extension offices with trained extension agents, so that would allow you to sign up, pick up a testing kit locally, and drop off your water locally. So you wouldn't have to deal with shipping or anything like that. If you come through our program, the Virginia household water quality program we will return your results to you, and then we're available to answer any questions about what the results mean and what steps you might take if there are any problems. If that didn't work out for you if there wasn't a program planned in your area or the timing wasn't right for you, we can help you find a private lab to test through. And we can also help you understand those test results. So if you get test results back from a private lab, we're happy to help answer those questions too. Increasingly, there are some, you know, mail in options. They can be pretty pricey. You know, water testing is actually pretty expensive when it's done properly through you know, what through a lab that's that's following standard methods and protocols. So if you see that there's free water testing provided through an entity through You know, you can take advantage of that, but I would also recommend, you know, going through a lab or a program like ours just to make sure you're getting accurate information. So is there a fee involved in your drinking water clinics? Yes. We work through the labs here at Virginia tech, and So we we do need to pay them just in terms of operating that equipment and paying the people that work in those labs. But it is a relatively low cost. Compared to a private lab. So we're constantly sending people to private labs, you know, when they need testing a little bit more quickly or for a real estate transact or if they have a certified kitchen or something like that, The cost of testing, so we provide analysis for 28 contaminants The cost of testing in 20 24 is 70 dollars per sample kit. We have funding from Southeast, rural community assistance project, which is sir cap. They provide funding for us every year to help us decrease the price of testing for families that need that assistance. So almost always we're able to knock that down to, you know, 10 dollars per household if needed. So that's a great partner ship, and Ci cap I'll mention also has access to loans and grants. So if people find out they do have a serious issue with their well, or they need some assistance of water treatment. They are a source of funding and support there too, which then begs a question. I participate the clinic. I send in my water, the results are bad, now what. So you're a better informed consumer, and as it goes, you know, when we find out something is is going on as a private water supply owner, it is your choice, you know, whether or not you would like to do something about what you've learn. But So that's something we get a lot of questions from people, you know, is there some state or local entity that is going to come, tell me I have to do something. And in fact, the nature of private water supplies is that once they are constructed and approved for use they are your responsibility. So it is up to you. You know, if you wanna take action, we do provide, you know, a lot of educational information about what you can do. You know, things like shocking a well or installing treatments, repairing a well, working with a well contractor. Those are all regular recommendations that we have. A lot of times, we are able to give people relative peace of mind. You know, there's a fair number of samples that come through our program or people come back and test str, which is what we recommend. And we can say, hey, It looks pretty good. We didn't find any bacteria. Didn't find any lead. Everything else you know, based on what we can test for, looks pretty good. So you never know you might get some good information from us that way too. I also also saw information on your website about the Virginia well owner network. What is that? We had a grant when I first started working at Virginia tech. Right now is our mechanism for training extension agents to work with our program. So for a little while, we did have a volunteer network. We had volunteer well owners who went out and did some education for us. We've decided it's actually more beneficial to focus our training efforts on. Extension agents and then deliver the water testing programs to more Virginia. So that's what the well network looks like now, It's changed a little bit over the years. We do still have semester natural and master gardeners to assist with our programs through the extension offices. What else should we know about the work that you do? 1 thing I'm really passionate about is being able to ask, very relevant research questions based on the data that we're collecting. So, you know, first and foremost, if people come through our program, We are going to process their water samples and return those results directly to them. You know with some information to help them address any problems. But we are also able to take a step back and ask what is going on with these systems that we might not understand so that we can improve our recommendations. So some examples are... We've worked with doctor Edwards, Virginia tech, doctor Kelsey Piper, doctor Lia Cr. To do some lead research. So 1 thing that was a big unknown with private water supplies was what was going on with the water chemistry stray from these systems, interacting with lead that was in the plumbing. So we actually found that lead levels were much higher than anyone had anticipated We were able to understand a bit more about the nature of that lead and where it was coming from in the system and really improve, you know, awareness about that being an issue, You know, especially for people with small children, those those little exposures to lead or significant exposures to lead can be a big problem. We've also done some interesting geologic analysis, looking at things like ars and str. Right now, we're working on a study looking at manganese, and where it's found throughout the state. So those opportunity is happen because we are able to, you know, better understand these systems through the program and then link that to research. I love working with students. I find that we have grad students involved with a lot of the research studies, and they benefit so much from being able to practice communicating their research findings to the real people who can benefit from what we're learning. You know, to just say, oh, we learned, you know, this kind of abstract fact about something versus saying, you know, this is actually about, your water supply. This is important to you and here's why it matters. So I really like that connection. And then we've been able to do some kind of what I would call emerging search. So I mentioned P. We're doing some targeted analysis for P fast compounds, which are those forever chemicals that are found in things like stain resistant and water resistant products, cosmetics, firefight fighting foam, things like that. Just seeing where they are in what concentrations and starting to kind of figure out, you know, what's going on with those in our our private water supplies in Virginia. And you mentioned students, what advice would you give to a high school or college student who is interested in studying water quality? Well, there are lots of ways to study water quality. I'm always excited by all that Virginia tech has going on in a variety of colleges and departments. In terms of different met, you know, different majors and different ways to study water. I will say, lean into your quest, our challenges with water are are not going to get any simpler anytime soon. You know, as our our population continues to grow, challenges with climate change. Water is going to continue to be just a a problem that we'll need to focus on. Since we can only survive about 3 days without water, and the quality of that water really does matter. It's, you know, kind of a a never ending adventure in terms of what you can what you can learn and study. You know, I think finding ways to connect the the kind of seemingly abstract science to solving real life problems. I think is a great way to you know, find your passion and really have a of a good reason to get up in and work hard every day. There's never a day that goes by that I don't feel like I've helped at least a few people in a very direct way. So I love that about working with the land ingredient, like Virginia tech. I love that about cooperative extension that we're really focused on, you know, service and and helping make people's lives better. And last question, if you could do anything to improve health and health care in rural America, what would you do? I think I don't know what it would look like, but I would just want everyone's voice to be heard. That's really the thing that I see. I'm also very passionate about Lgbtq, Ia, issues, and so I just feel like there are some voices that that just don't get elevated as as much as they need to be. So I think that finding a a mega phone for those folks would be the most important thing we could do, which gives me a great opportunity to plug Vr chase pride of and then if I encourage people to go to our website and click the pride flag in the bottom. Love it. I'll do that right after this interview. Well thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you. Take care. That's Erin Ling and her desire for diverse representation. If you want to be part of the conversation about Rural health, join Vi j at the Rural Health Voice Conference in Abi, November 19 and 20. Visit VRHA dot org for more information. The rural health voice is the podcast to the Virginia Rural Health Association. It is sponsored by the Virginia state Office of Rural Health and under written by the National Health Association.