At a glance
Use this practice to increase awareness about testing private drinking water for hazards. Vermont used groundwater quality data, community partnerships, and local outreach to increase interest and demand for private well testing.
Background
About 40% of Vermont residents rely on private systems for their drinking water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does not regulate these systems under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Particularly in rural communities, many people depend on private wells for their drinking water. However, naturally occurring contaminants such as arsenic, uranium, manganese, and radon are common in Vermont groundwater and are associated with chronic health effects.
Despite these risks, private well testing is optional. Cost and access to testing can be barriers, and well owners usually do not test their wells. With only three full-time health department staff serving residents statewide, Vermont hoped to create a risk-based approach to prioritize outreach to private well users in communities at highest risk.
Key actions
The Vermont Department of Health integrated groundwater chemistry data, U.S. Census data from 2020 to 2023, well completion records, and community resilience indicators. To identify communities based on greatest need, they ranked municipalities by water quality risk, private water reliance, and testing gaps. Their practice involved the following activities:
- Partnering with local health departments, town officials, and trusted community messengersto connect with private well users
- Educating well owners throughfact sheets customized to highlight local contaminants, their potential health impacts, and clear steps for testing
- Providing free test kits and well water testing to reduce financial barriers for low-income households
Using this practice
We selected this practice as an example of environmental public health successfully applied in the field. We based our selection on the following four domains:
- Effectiveness: Did it solve or help solve the environmental health problem?
- Feasibility: What conditions and resources are needed to use it?
- Sustainability: Is it realistically able to continue going forward?
- Transferability: Could other health departments use it with little to no changes?
Effectiveness
The practice achieved the following results:
- Increased web traffic to online testing resources
- Higher test kit orders
- Improved engagement from local partners (measured through number of phone calls and test kits ordered)
Initial results show new test kit orders from communities after outreach exceeded the five-year average by up to 350%.
Feasibility
Other health departments interested in this practice may need the following capacity:
- Support from and coordination with local health and town officials to reach communities
- Data on private well water quality
- Access to software or services for geospatial data analysis, graphic design, and website and engagement data
- Technical expertise in communications (risk communication, graphic design, and project promotion)
- Technical expertise in drinking water, data analysis, and geospatial mapping
During the first year, health department staff dedicated 362 hours to the following activities:
- Identifying areas at high risk for groundwater contamination
- Setting town-level outreach criteria using a ranking system and mapped results
- Working with selected partners and identifying the best outreach methods
- Creating fact sheets and other educational materials and sharing them with communities
- Tracking key metrics, such as orders for new test kits and phone calls
- Responding to partner feedback and community calls
Sustainability
The state health department first piloted the program in one town. They learned that finding multiple modes of communication in each community helps reach more people. Working with each local health office also helped them to form multiple points of contact in each community. They identified the top 10 highest-risk communities using their ranking. The health department has been able to sustain the practice and extend it to additional communities. Refined workflows and staff experience make it less resource-intensive to add new communities.
The practice relies on existing data systems, staff expertise, and partnerships.
Transferability
Programs can apply this practice in their jurisdiction to prioritize communities, tailor messages, and find trusted messengers for private well testing. Vermont law requires all state-certified laboratories to send private well testing results to the state health department. The health department then incorporates the results into a groundwater chemistry database. The database currently contains 12 years of data.
Having a large dataset like Vermont's is ideal. However, programs with smaller datasets or qualitative local knowledge can still use this practice and reach new audiences and improve testing rates. Most jurisdictions have requirements to document the location and geology of drilled wells, and many require some water quality testing.
In addition, programs interested in this practice can consider the following data sources:
- Recent national public water system surveys, which can help identify areas where people are likely to rely on a private water supply
- U.S. Geological Survey reports, which provide broad overviews of contaminant risks, such as arsenic, at the state level
- Local health department data, which can inform where more intervention would be beneficial
Successes and challenges
- Vermont used two ranking indices for this practice: water quality index and private water index.
- Vermont found it important to use messaging that balanced raising awareness without creating alarm or panic in communities.
- Identifying reliable community contacts was difficult for some communities.
- Several program elements were time intensive, including finding trusted sources of information in each community, developing customized fact sheets, and identifying key stakeholders.
Connections to Essential Services
Documenting how programs contribute to the Essential Public Health Services may help health departments in the accreditation process with the Public Health Accreditation Board. The activities in this practice support and align with these services:
- Educate (3)
- Strengthen communities and partnerships (4)
- Ensure access to services (7)
Resources
Vermont Department of Health
- Ranking indices
- Fact sheets customized for communities:
Further reading
- Communicating results of drinking water tests from private wells: Designing report-back materials to facilitate understanding (journal article)
- Methods of conducting effective outreach to private well owners – a literature review and model approach (journal article)
Citation
In citing this practice in articles, presentations, or elsewhere, we suggest the following citation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Environmental Health. Environmental Public Health Practices Gateway. Outreach to increase private well testing: A practice from the Vermont Department of Health. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, 2026, https://www.cdc.gov/environmental-health-practice/php/gateway/outreach-to-increase-private-well-testing.html.