Koochiching County’s Health Department has a very busy state-certified water testing laboratory, according to health officials.
Deb Polkinghorne, public health nurse, reported this week that the department tests about 350 water samples from area residents each year.
Water sources, such as cisterns, wells and lake systems, should be tested each year, or more often if changes in the sources, such as cracks or construction, occur.
The Health Department suggests that water be tested after construction, repair or routine maintenance, after season start-up, if a well casing is deteriorated or damaged, if the well has been flooded or if there is a change in taste or odor.
Polkinghorne said it’s important for residents who take their drinking water from wells, cisterns and lakes to have their water tested for a group of indicator bacteria called total coliform bacteria.
Coliform bacteria is common to ground water surfaces but generally doesn’t occur deeper than a few feet into the soil. If the bacteria is present in a water sample, it indicates that surface contamination has entered the water system and disease causing organisms may also be present.
If the water sample tests positive for total coliform, it is tested for e-coli, which poses a more serious health risk. Water contaminated with e-coli should not be used for drinking, cooking or human contact.
Should a water source sample test positive for coliform bacteria, it should be treated by disinfection, said Polkinghorne. When a well is successfully disinfected with chlorine bleach and coliform bacteria are no longer found, most disease causing organisms have also been destroyed.
Water that tests positive for bacteria should only be used if it is brought to a rolling boil and then boiled for one minute, even with the presence of bleach. Boiling should continue for human use until further tests prove that all the bacteria have been killed.
The Health Department’s lab is certified by the Minnesota Department of Health. Water from International Falls and Ranier, as well as facilities within Voyageurs National Park, are tested at the county’s lab.
Polkinghorne said water testing is scheduled every Tuesday at the Health Department. Collection bottles and directions should be obtained from the department, located on the second floor of Forestland Annex, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Water samples must be returned by noon on Tuesdays.
The cost for the test is $20 and Polkinghorne said the department breaks even most years.
County commissioners credited Polkinghorne and the department staff for helping to raise awareness of the need for testing and availability of local water testing.
Polkinghorne said that the test results have been “quite an eye opener” for some residents, who have been in the process of selling their home and were required to have their water tested.
Some have discovered that they have been using water containing bacteria and did not know it, she said.
