The Wellhead Protection Program

 

The Wellhead Protection Program (WHP) originated from the 1986 Amendments to the Safe Water Drinking Act. Congress directed each state to enact a program to prevent the contamination of ground water used by public water supply wells. The United States Environment Protection Agency received Nebraska's proposed program in 1989 and approved the program in June 1991.

 

By definition, a public water supply system regularly serves 25 or more people, or has 15 or more service connections. In Nebraska public water supply systems are broken into the following groups. Public water supply systems are either publicly or privately owned. Both types of systems serve either community (cities, mobile home parks, Rural Water Districts) or non-community (rural schools, recreation areas) populations. Non-community systems are either transient (rest areas, restaurants) or non-transient (factories, rural schools).

 

Features of the Wellhead Protection Program

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                

 

 

1. Delineation

The NDEQ uses the computer program WHPA 2.2 for delineation. This USEPA program utilizes well pumping history information from the water supply operator, geologic logs from the wells and local hydrogeology to produce a Wellhead Protection Area (WHPA) map.

 

2.       Contaminant Source Inventory

Potential contaminant sources or activities within a WHPA are located and described.

 

3. Contaminant Source Management

When the potential contaminant sources in the WHPA are known, processes and facilities that could harm the groundwater are managed, eliminated, or otherwise addressed.

 

4. Contingency Planning

What happens when a community's water supply falls permanently short of demand due to mechanical problems or contaminated water? Safe, affordable and permanent water sources are found and readied in case of such an event.

 

5. New Well Planning

A well's useful lifetime is generally established as twenty years. When planning the locations for new wells (to meet the demands of population growth) or replacement wells, a provisional WHPA is calculated. The new wells are drilled at a location that has the fewest possible potential contaminant sources within the provisional WHPA. If a new replacement well is drilled a few feet from an old well, no provisional WHPA is needed.

 

6. Public Participation and Education

Throughout the entire process of wellhead protection, the public is the key component for success. The public's understanding, support and comments make conducting the local WHP Program easier.

 

 

A picture of the CRP surrounding our wells