Investigating Connections Between Socioeconomic Data and Populations Susceptible to Private Well-Water Concerns in New Hampshire
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) New England Water Science Center, in cooperation with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, is investigating the presence of statistical associations between socioeconomic data (or proxy data) and the susceptibility of private wells to water quality or quantity concerns in New Hampshire.
In New Hampshire, estimates indicate that between 37 and nearly 50% of the population used private wells in 2015. Most of the people who receive their water supply from private wells live in the southern counties of Hillsborough, Merrimack, and Rockingham. These counties contain the State’s most populated cities, Manchester, Nashua, Concord, and Derry, and are where arsenic-contaminated groundwater is most prevalent. A common understanding is that private wells predominate in rural areas, but many well users are also in urban or suburban areas – outside city boundaries where water lines have not been extended. All of these settings, rural, urban, and suburban, have seen increases in poverty between 2000 and 2015 in the U.S., with the largest increase in suburbs.
This study can guide resources dedicated to addressing drinking water concerns to communities and individuals that are most susceptible to water quality or quantity issues by looking for statistical associations between geography or readily-available socioeconomic status (SES) indicators for income and race and how susceptible the private wells are to water quality or quantity problems.
Vulnerabilities associated with private well water use will be assessed using SES indicators from: Census data (data on race for Census blocks), State data (tax-related data for parcels used as proxies for income), and a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) web tool that provides environmental, demographic, and socioeconomic indicators for Census block groups.
This project is investigating whether potential well-water concerns related to private well construction characteristics (well depth, casing length, water level, depth to bedrock, and yield) and/or chemistry (arsenic, iron, lead, manganese, uranium, and nitrate) are associated with SES indicators. Other factors that might have a bearing on well characteristics or chemistry, such as aquifer type and geology and elevation, also are examined.
High concentrations of the chemical constituents listed above are often found in groundwater in New Hampshire and may have deleterious health effects. Also, water availability can be an issue for homeowners with private wells during increasingly intense droughts projected for New Hampshire. Homeowners with dug or shallow bedrock wells can also be more susceptible to lack of water from drought conditions than homeowners with deeper wells. If they can afford it, some may attempt to deepen or drill replacement wells into bedrock; however, deeper wells have greater potential for water-quality issues from arsenic and uranium.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) New England Water Science Center, in cooperation with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, is investigating the presence of statistical associations between socioeconomic data (or proxy data) and the susceptibility of private wells to water quality or quantity concerns in New Hampshire.
In New Hampshire, estimates indicate that between 37 and nearly 50% of the population used private wells in 2015. Most of the people who receive their water supply from private wells live in the southern counties of Hillsborough, Merrimack, and Rockingham. These counties contain the State’s most populated cities, Manchester, Nashua, Concord, and Derry, and are where arsenic-contaminated groundwater is most prevalent. A common understanding is that private wells predominate in rural areas, but many well users are also in urban or suburban areas – outside city boundaries where water lines have not been extended. All of these settings, rural, urban, and suburban, have seen increases in poverty between 2000 and 2015 in the U.S., with the largest increase in suburbs.
This study can guide resources dedicated to addressing drinking water concerns to communities and individuals that are most susceptible to water quality or quantity issues by looking for statistical associations between geography or readily-available socioeconomic status (SES) indicators for income and race and how susceptible the private wells are to water quality or quantity problems.
Vulnerabilities associated with private well water use will be assessed using SES indicators from: Census data (data on race for Census blocks), State data (tax-related data for parcels used as proxies for income), and a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) web tool that provides environmental, demographic, and socioeconomic indicators for Census block groups.
This project is investigating whether potential well-water concerns related to private well construction characteristics (well depth, casing length, water level, depth to bedrock, and yield) and/or chemistry (arsenic, iron, lead, manganese, uranium, and nitrate) are associated with SES indicators. Other factors that might have a bearing on well characteristics or chemistry, such as aquifer type and geology and elevation, also are examined.
High concentrations of the chemical constituents listed above are often found in groundwater in New Hampshire and may have deleterious health effects. Also, water availability can be an issue for homeowners with private wells during increasingly intense droughts projected for New Hampshire. Homeowners with dug or shallow bedrock wells can also be more susceptible to lack of water from drought conditions than homeowners with deeper wells. If they can afford it, some may attempt to deepen or drill replacement wells into bedrock; however, deeper wells have greater potential for water-quality issues from arsenic and uranium.