Annual day of action to focus on advocating private well owners test, tend, and treat their water supply.

(WESTERVILLE, OH — August 31, 2020) The National Ground Water Association (NGWA) has announced September 1, 2020 as Protect Your Groundwater Day (PYGWD). PYGWD is a day of action held annually to support activities and education to protect the nation’s groundwater supply.

This year, NGWA and its partners will be focusing their PYGWD advocacy toward promoting annual inspections of private water wells. According to the U.S. Census, private water wells provide clean water to an estimated 45 million Americans, almost 15 percent of the U.S. population. While private water wells offer a safe and clean source of groundwater, experts agree it is important that private wells are inspected annually by a certified contractor.

With growing concerns over PFAS and other emerging contaminants, it has never been more important to properly test and maintain private water well systems. Water testing can identify potentially dangerous contaminants in private water supplies, most of which can be easily treated by a certified water well contractor.

In support of these efforts, NGWA has recently relaunched WellOwner.org, a one-stop-shop for free resources from water well experts on best practices to test, tend, and treat the water supply. Wellowner.org also includes a completely rebuilt “Find A Contractor” tool, which allows private well owners to search the country’s largest database of certified water well contractors in their area.

“Every year on Protect Your Groundwater Day, we encourage organizations and communities across the country to take action to protect the quality of our nation’s groundwater,” said NGWA CEO Terry S. Morse, CAE, CIC. “This year we are encouraging everyone to take steps to ensure their own water supply is safe and help promote the need for annual water well inspections. Even if you do not own a water well, you likely know someone who does, and this is important information to share.”

NGWA will also be encouraging the public to visit its social media pages to learn more about PYGWD and share information with their friends and network — NGWA Facebook and NGWA Twitter.

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The National Ground Water Association is a not-for-profit professional society and trade association for the global groundwater industry. Our members around the world include leading public and private sector groundwater scientists, engineers, water well system professionals, manufacturers, and suppliers of groundwater-related products and services. The Association’s vision is to be the leading groundwater association advocating for responsible development, management, and use of water.