{"id":57410,"date":"2015-07-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-07-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-students-travel-the-state-to-educate-well-owners-about-how-to-protect-drinking-water\/"},"modified":"2015-07-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-07-30T00:00:00","slug":"uri-students-travel-the-state-to-educate-well-owners-about-how-to-protect-drinking-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2015\/07\/uri-students-travel-the-state-to-educate-well-owners-about-how-to-protect-drinking-water\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 students travel the state to educate well owners about how to protect drinking water"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 July 30, 2015 \u2013 Jessica Janiec and Mahrukh Shaikh are spending the summer visiting farmers\u2019 markets and other venues around Rhode Island to educate private well owners about how to reduce the chance of their drinking water becoming contaminated. Every week they visit three or four different sites, and their important message is always met by a receptive audience.<\/p>\n


\n\tAccording to Janiec and Shaikh, it is the responsibility of the well owner to test and regulate the quality of their wells. Unfortunately, commercial enterprises sometimes offer free water tests in unsuspecting neighborhoods as a means of selling unnecessary water treatment systems. <\/p>\n


\n\tSo the students, working with 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s award-winning residential pollution prevention program Home*A*Syst and with funding from the Rhode Island Department of Health, are spreading the word about proper well water testing wherever they can.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cMost people don\u2019t know what to test for, when to test, and what the test results mean,\u201d said Janiec, an environmental science major from Hillsborough, N.J. \u201cWe want to help well owners feel secure about their water and not spend money on treatment systems they don\u2019t need.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cIt can be confusing if you just look for information on Google because you should test for different things in different places,\u201d added Shaikh, a geology major from Pakistan who now lives in East Greenwich. \u201cWe have a simplified brochure and tip sheets that tell people exactly what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tThe students tell homeowners that they should test their well water every year for coliform bacteria, nitrate, nitrite, chloride and turbidity, while it should also be tested for fluoride, pH, iron, lead, manganese and sulfite every 3 to 5 years. Well water should be tested every 5 to 10 years for volatile organic compounds and MtBE, a compound found in gasoline. If a test has not been conducted in more than a decade, a complete test is recommended.<\/p>\n


\n\tJaniec and Shaikh also educate well owners about easy steps they can take to protect their well from contamination, like checking for cracks in the well casing and keeping the area around their well free of fertilizers, animal wastes and other pollutants. And they discuss the proper disposal of unwanted medications and paint.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe students have been pleased with the overwhelmingly positive reaction to their message.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI love the response we get from the people,\u201d Shaikh said. \u201cWhen they come talk to us, they\u2019re usually clueless about what they should be doing. And when they leave they\u2019re so relieved that they now know what to do and where to go.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cIf we can help people make a simple change that will improve their health and their water quality, that\u2019s awesome,\u201d said Janiec.<\/p>\n


\n\tTheir project is being conducted as part of the 溏心vlog免费B站 Coastal Fellows Program, a unique initiative designed to involve undergraduate students in addressing current environmental problems. Now in its 19th year, it is based at 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s College of the Environment and Life Sciences. Students are paired with a mentor and research staff to help them gain skills relevant to their academic major and future occupations. <\/p>\n


\n\tThe students hope to continue the project after their fellowship is over this fall, and both say the project has been beneficial in planning their future careers.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cWater is vital to everyone, and it\u2019s a limited resource, so it is becoming a serious issue,\u201d Janiec said. \u201cI want to work in developing countries that are suffering from severe water problems. I\u2019m interested in water issues all the way.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nPictured above: 溏心vlog免费B站 students Jessica Janiec (second from left) and Mahrukh Shaikh (right) discuss well water testing at a local farmers\u2019 market.

\nPhoto courtesy of Alyson McCann.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 July 30, 2015 \u2013 Jessica Janiec and Mahrukh Shaikh are spending the summer visiting farmers\u2019 markets and other venues around Rhode Island to educate private well owners about how to reduce the chance of their drinking water becoming contaminated. Every week they visit three or four different sites, and their important message […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}