KINGSTON, R.I.\u2014September 19, 2017 \u2013 Many Rhode Islanders visiting farmers markets this year have likely been engaged in conversation by Jordanne Feldman and Nathan Brown. The 溏心vlog免费B站 students have spent the summer traveling to farmers markets and other venues to educate private well owners about how to reduce the chance of their drinking water becoming contaminated.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talk to them about their well water, how they can test it, and how to improve the quality of their drinking water,\u201d said Brown, a senior environmental economics major from Westerly<\/strong>. \u201cIt\u2019s really a quality of life issue. Some people have lived in their house for decades and have never tested their water before.\u201d<\/p>\n While Brown and Feldman say that the quality of Rhode Island well water is generally good, there are numerous factors that could affect it, from a neighbor dumping used motor oil on the ground to over-enthusiastic pesticide use and road salt. And it is the responsibility of the homeowner to monitor and test private wells.<\/p>\n According to Brown, most people don\u2019t know what to test for, how often to test, or what the test results mean. So the reaction to the educational materials they pass out at the farmers markets has been tremendously positive.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people seem very happy that we\u2019re there,\u201d said Feldman, a native of New Hartford, N.Y.,<\/strong> studying geology. \u201cFor most of them, it\u2019s something they never really think about. They\u2019re surprised that they\u2019re supposed to test their water. Those with young kids have been especially happy to hear from us.\u201d<\/p>\n The 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.<\/p>\n At the farmers markets, Brown and Feldman display a model that shows the movement of groundwater that generates a great deal of interest. They also offer a variety of information about how to keep a well safe and how to test the water, all from 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s award-winning Home*A*Syst Program.<\/p>\n The students have also given out water testing kits to interested residents, and they even offer to drive the water samples to the state health lab in Providence.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s been a factor for why some people haven\u2019t tested their water \u2013 it\u2019s a hassle to drive the water samples to Providence,\u201d explained Brown. \u201cIt can be stressful for some people to get to Providence. So now we tell them when we\u2019ll be back to the farmers markets to pick up the kits, and we deliver them to Providence ourselves. It has really increased the number of people who have tested their water this year.\u201d<\/p>\n Both students are participating in 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 21st 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. Funding for the students\u2019 work is supported by 溏心vlog免费B站 Cooperative Extension and the Rhode Island Department of Health.<\/p>\n The students say the experience has been beneficial to their future career plans and tremendously rewarding.<\/p>\n \u201cI have absolutely loved every minute of it,\u201d said Feldman, who plans a career helping improve water quality in developing nations. \u201cIt\u2019s been so much fun and so interesting. It\u2019s been great to see how much people appreciate us being there and the information we\u2019re giving out. We\u2019re making a difference in people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a really cool way to interact with people who I wouldn\u2019t normally interact with,\u201d added Brown. \u201cAnd it\u2019s been nice to talk to people about a subject that\u2019s important to them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KINGSTON, R.I.\u2014September 19, 2017 \u2013 Many Rhode Islanders visiting farmers markets this year have likely been engaged in conversation by Jordanne Feldman and Nathan Brown. The 溏心vlog免费B站 students have spent the summer traveling to farmers markets and other venues to educate private well owners about how to reduce the chance of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73271,"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-73269","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\/73269","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=73269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}