Water woes

North Carolinians are badly served by weak laws and nearly nonexistent regulation of wells and small water systems

Access to clean water is a basic health need. So it's not surprising that, as one person told The News & Observer's Pat Stith during his reporting on government oversight of wells and small water systems, most people think the state or their county government is checking to make sure their drinking water isn't a health hazard.

For those who draw their water from these small-scale sources, as opposed to larger municipal water systems, that's a bad assumption to make in most of North Carolina's counties. Stith's articles on Sunday and yesterday made that clear (the final installment in a series appears today).

The state's unconscionable failure to ensure healthy well water could be leading to sickness and even deaths, from cancer and other long-term illnesses. Unfortunately, there's no way to know. Haphazard enforcement of existing laws and a shortage of inspectors leave the state in the dark about water tainted by fecal matter, arsenic, gasoline, radioactive elements or a host of other pollutants.

More than 2 million North Carolinians draw their drinking, cooking and bathing water from wells. Yet state law doesn't require private wells to be tested. Just 14 counties require well water testing, and only four of those hunt for pollutants other than bacteria.

The danger extends beyond remote, rural areas: 650 to 700 wells are dug in fast-growing Wake County each year. The county now requires testing of new wells, but many older ones go untested. If contamination problems are found, in Wake or elsewhere, no state law requires neighbors to be informed. A state law regulates well construction, but just eight inspectors enforce the law statewide.

Meanwhile, the state's Public Water Supply Section employs just 98 workers to monitor safety tests from nearly 7,000 small, public water systems. The systems often are installed in housing developments outside of cities, out of reach of municipal water plants. But one might serve -- and could sicken -- hundreds or even thousands of people.

Operators of these systems are supposed to test their water, but they know the state doesn't have the personnel to properly enforce the rules. Nor does the Public Water Supply Section make suitable use of its authority to levy fines.

The section told federal officials last year that it collected about 28 percent of what it assessed, which is a maddeningly small share. The thinking is that bigger fines might close down some water system operators. That logic puts vulnerable people -- children, expectant moms, the sick or elderly -- in a horrible position. The section last year did ask the General Assembly to increase fees the agency charges (the first increase since fees were imposed in 1992) so that it could hire more workers. But the request was denied as not high enough of a priority.

Governor Easley's office, to its credit, took note of several problems with the state's water regulation as Stith proceeded with his investigative reporting. Some reforms have been put in place, as with eliminating a backlog of water samples to be tested. But many problems remain, and Easley should make addressing them a top priority, now. That would mean, for example, pushing hard for enough staff and funds for testing.

For their part, lawmakers need to reconsider a bill, proposed last year by Wake County Rep. Bernard Allen, requiring a well test when a house is sold or rented and requiring that neighbors be notified if contamination is found.

Special interests more concerned about losing money than safeguarding public health have blocked other common-sense legislation. A bill was introduced in the last three sessions to push an operator into connecting with a public water system if his small plant was deemed unsafe. Local governments don't want the added water demand; operators reject paying to make the connection. Ordinary North Carolinians look to the state to ensure that they're not left dangerously in the middle.