State urges tests for private wells

CONCORD — With concerns about the safety of drinking water in the news, New Hampshire officials are marking Drinking Water Week with an update on initiatives to ensure safe public water systems, advice on how private well users can take charge of drinking water safety, and a day of fun and learning for fourth-graders.

The drinking water program in the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services oversees the state’s 2,500 public water systems, ensuring that they conform to federal and state safe drinking water standards; employ certified operators, test their water using accredited laboratories; and report results to NHDES. “Among our top concerns right now are testing for new contaminants including PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), setting limits for those contaminants to protect health, tightening up the arsenic standard to make it more protective of health, preventing contamination, ensuring compliance with existing standards, and helping water systems get the funding they need to upgrade, maintain and expand their facilities,” according to Sarah Pillsbury, administrator of NHDES’ drinking water program. Water systems got a boost in recent years with loans and grants from the New Hampshire Drinking Water and Groundwater Trust Fund.