Full Description

Wellhead Protection (WHP) Programs are required by the 1986 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act. The goal of a WHP program is the protection of the quality of groundwater contributing to public water supplies. WHP programs delineate a wellhead protection area around a well or wellfield and manage the potential sources of contamination within that zone. The incentives include both public health and economics, due to the high costs of cleaning up contaminated groundwater or developing new sources. This paper is a case study of a WHP Program in Vineland, New Jersey. The community is solely dependent on a shallow unconfined aquifer for its public water supplies. Contamination from unknown sources was discovered in two supply wells and several nearby residential wells. The city spent nearly half a million dollars to install treatment equipment at the supply wells and another half a million dollars hooking up the impacted residential areas to its water system. Costs for developing a permanent alternative supply well in Vineland can exceed one million dollars. In contrast, implementation of Vineland's Wellhead Protection Program will cost about five thousand dollars per well, a fraction of the costs of cleaning up a contaminated well.

Product Details

Published: 01/01/1994 ISBN(s): 0898767734 Number of Pages: 14File Size: 1 file , 870 KB