Dr. Lesley Sebol, PhD and a senior hydrogeologist at the Colorado School of Mines, reached out to the Forum last week, since she’s overseeing a study of well water in the local area this year — private wells, not municipal wells.
The Colorado Geological Survey (CGS), a department of the Colorado School of Mines, has been funded through a grant from the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (CDPHE) to conduct a five-year study of baseline radionuclides and metals in groundwater, obtained from privately-owned residential water wells throughout Colorado. Right now, the study is in its third year. It’s targeted different areaS of the state the last two years— the Wet Mountains and Gunnsion — and now the Uravan Belt region is up for study.
Sebol told the Forum the study is focused on areas where Thorium and Uranium are present in the bedrock geology.
The State of Colorado funds the work, using grants for which they pay the School of Mines. Each year, the grant funds vary, and available money determines how many samples can be performed.
For this year’s study, 47 water samples will be drawn for select areas of the Uravan Belt — portions of Mesa, West Montrose and San Miguel counties. The area has been divided into a grid, each containing two to four samples. Sebol said if the number of volunteers in a grid space exceeds the quota, the CGS will prioritize selection of participants by spatial distribution combined with geologic considerations.
Sebol said it’s about knowledge and education. She said the state is building a database, and at the same time giving homeowners/landowners information about health and water.
CDPHE has no regulatory authority over private wells.
The grant covers all costs, so the study is free to homeowners. Recommendations, with the top being reverse osmosis, are also distributed as part of the study.
Now, Sebol is seeking volunteers. And, the CSB will ship, via FedEx Ground, a boxed sampling kit with a pre-paid FedEx Ground return shipping label.
“We will need filled water samples returned within about one to two weeks,” she said. “Once we receive a water sample, we will assign a sample number to anonymize it. Thus, the owner’s contact information will stay solely with CGS. We anticipate about a two-month turn-around time before we can email lab results to the individual well owners.”
Anyone who’d like to volunteer to submit a sample from their well is asked to send an email to LSEBOL@mines.edu with name, shipping address, (physical address of property if different) and phone number (FedEx requires phone numbers for shipping).
A reply email will be sent with more detailed sampling information, asking for confirmation. If possible, Sebol would like the volunteer to identify which grid space the well is located within.
Volunteers who have a well treatment in place should bypass filters, or collect their sample before water hits the filter.
“We want to get raw water, not treated water,” Sebol said.
She added homeowners/landowners can decide what they want to do with the information. She said each volunteer gets their own individualized data.
She added FedEx can also pick up the sample, so that volunteers don’t have to drive to mail it off. Pick-up can be arranged.
