Water Well Trust seeks low income households for water well projects in New York

WASHINGTON, DC — The Water Well Trust, the only national nonprofit helping Americans get access to a clean, safe water supply, is seeking low income households from three counties in New York to receive new water wells or rehabilitate existing wells.
In October 2016, the USDA awarded a $52,081 grant to the Water Well Trust through its Household Water Well Systems Grant program for a project to increase potable water availability to rural households in three New York counties — Delaware, Rensselaer, and Columbia.
Funds are still available for low-interest loans to eligible individual households for a new water well or rehabilitation of an existing water well.
To be eligible to receive a WWT loan, applicants must be the owner and occupant of the home as their primary residence.
In addition, the applicant’s household income must not exceed 100 percent of the median non-metropolitan household income for the state in which the applicant resides.
The 2017 median non-metropolitan household income for New York is $62,500.
The income criteria apply to both the applicant and all other occupants of the home.
The Water Well Trust (WWT) is a 501(c)3 organization created by the Water Systems Council to provide a clean water supply to American families living without access to a precious resource most of us take for granted.
For more information, visit waterwelltrust.org.
Contact: Margaret Martens, Program Director Water Well Trust, mmartens@watersystemscouncil.org or 202-625-4383.

Think road salt won’t reach your drinking water? Ask Madison

When we toss down the road salt that’s ubiquitous with icy, snowy winters in the North, the salt doesn’t just disappear after it clears up the roads and sidewalks. In fact, it’s starting to get into drinking water in places across the Midwest and New England — posing an emerging threat to water supplies and a health risk for people on sodium-restricted diets or with high blood pressure. “The salt doesn’t just evaporate, it doesn’t break down. Once it’s applied in the environment, it’s got nowhere to go. It goes into the soil, or it goes into the lakes. It doesn’t just disappear,” said Joe Grande, the water-quality manager in Madison, Wis. • Road salt is polluting our water: Here’s what we can do to fix it Madison is one of the more notable cases of drinking water contamination by sodium chloride. Other instances have been reported in places like Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and parts of New Jersey — including one extreme case in the city of Brick, chlorides damaged lead water pipes, causing the toxic metal to leach into drinking water. Most people start tasting salt in water once it reaches concentrations of 250 milligrams per liter. Even before that point, though, water can start to taste off. Off-tasting water, and no good way off salt Faith Fitzpatrick lives in Madison’s Spring Harbor neighborhood. Her well has been among the hardest hit by road salt pollution. Some of her neighbors with low-salt diets have installed filtering systems in their homes….