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Newsletter for Minnesota's

Noncommunity Public Water Systems

October 2019

The Well Next Door: A Reminder about Well Conversion

Are you thinking of buying a property with an existing well to use for your facility or business? If you want to use that existing well, consider locating the well construction record. There may be unforeseen costs associated with well code requirements when converting a private water supply well to a public water supply well.

The Minnesota Well Code (Minnesota Rules, Chapter 4725) requires that any existing nonpublic water supply well drilled after August 4, 2008 must meet the current Well Code construction standards for a public water supply well before use in a public water supply. After August 4, 2008, all public water supply wells must be constructed with full-length grout to seal the space between the well casing and the borehole. There is a chance the existing well you want to use may not meet the Well Code requirements for a public water supply well.

Once you have located the well information, contact your MDH Drinking Water Sanitarian to determine if the well could be converted to public water supply well. The sanitarians are familiar with the requirements and can guide you through the process. To learn more about this topic see the Spring/Summer 2019 Noncom Notes  Spring/Summer 2019 Noncom Notes

Important Information for Transient

Noncommunity Public Water Systems

Certain transient noncommunity public water systems (PWS) are required to collect a monthly or quarterly total coliform or nitrate sample.  If you are required to collect your own samples, please read the important information below.

The federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) requires that notice is given to water users when there is a water quality problem or when required samples are not collected.  Missing a required sample triggers the public notice requirement since the water quality could not be determined for the time period in which sampling was supposed to have taken place.

Up to the present, when a required sample was not collected by a transient noncommunity PWS, the facility received a Notice of Violation (NOV) letter from MDH for failure to monitor.

Beginning in 2020, failure to monitor NOV letters will include instructions on how to provide required public notice.

Instructions for posting the notice, including where, when, and how long, will be included in the letter, along with a template public notice posting. The good news is that in almost all cases, transient PWSs collect their required samples as scheduled, so there are limited number of instances where failure to monitor violations occur. Some tips to avoid monitoring violations include:

1. Ensuring that a sample is collected during each required monthly or quarterly time period;
2. Sampling early in the compliance period to avoid missing deadlines;
3. Reviewing the sample collection videos on MDH’s website; and
4. Making sure that all required information is entered on the Chain of Custody form.
 
Thanks for all your hard work in maintaining a safe water supply at your facility!

Using Video for Outreach and Education

The Noncommunity video, Safe Drinking Wherever you Go , produced last winter, was selected to participate in a pilot project created by Hamline University's Center for Global Environmental Education (CGEE). CGEE created the core program focused on the Mississippi River. The Mississippi Multimedia program has over six hours of media elements (photo galleries, panoramas, videos, map exploration, quizzes, historic footage, etc) covering areas and topics from Itasca Headwaters to the Delta.

The touchscreen multimedia program is located in the St. Croix Welcome Center located off of Interstate 94 just over the border from Wisconsin, as it is one of the busiest sites in the state. The touchscreen multimedia kiosk was installed June 27 and the plan is to pilot it at least through the end of October. A valuable feature of the program is that it captures user interactions. The user metrics show that the Noncommunity video is the 3rd most viewed!

Retirements and New Faces

Noncommunity Drinking Water program staff has been undergoing some changes recently. Since the last edition of the Noncom Notes, some staff opted for retirement, a few moved into new positions, and new faces are now on the scene!  The retirements include Jerry Smith, an engineer who led the program from the beginning as well as Paul Felling, Field Sanitarian out of the Bemidji District Office. Both were valuable assets to the program for over 30 years. Although we miss them, we wish them well in their next chapter of life.

Some shuffling of positions has occurred, as well as new hires. Kyle Johnsen, formerly a Compliance Officer, has now officially moved into the Delegated Program Coordinator position with a focus on training, overseeing delegated programs and covering Field Sanitarian responsibilities and a territory as well. Cody Bahr recently started as a Compliance Officer. So, for those of you who are used to Kyle as your Compliance Officer, Cody will be taking over those duties and territory.

New Field Sanitarians include Mike Hargiss, based within the Fergus Falls District Office and Tasha Henrikson, working out of the St. Cloud District Office. We  are excited to have both on board.

You may view the full list and map, Staff, Districts and Contact Information

We value the opportunity to help protect, maintain and improve the health of all Minnesotans by providing safe drinking water wherever you go.

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