116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Iowa grant program limits private well tests for PFAS
Tests can cost over $700, which eats into state allocations
SWISHER — David Gerleman has been following the news about toxic chemicals in private wells near The Eastern Iowa Airport and a possible connection to firefighting foam used there for years.
But when University of Iowa scientists tested groundwater flowing into Plum Creek and found per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) levels 2,000 times higher than the standard for safe drinking water, Gerleman knew he needed to test the wells at his farm near Swisher.
“I thought ‘If it's in Plum Creek, it's just a matter of time until it will progress downstream to my location',” he said. “I wouldn't expect the concentrations to be as high as in headwaters, but the problem with PFAS is they have not found a safe level.”
Gerleman, 75, a retired UI College of Medicine engineer, called Johnson County Public Health, which offers private well testing — which can include for PFAS — through the Grants to Counties program.
But the agency told Gerleman he didn’t qualify.
“They basically cut me off,” he said. “There really isn't any plan in place or monetary source for conducting these tests and they are very expensive.”
PFAS are a family of industrial chemicals used since the 1940s to make products more stain- and water-resistant or to create a non-stick surface. The chemicals also went into Aqueous Film Forming Foam used for decades to quell fuel-based fires that can happen at military bases and airports.
But evolving science has shown even small amounts of PFAS may be detrimental to humans by harming growth and development in children and reproduction, thyroid function, the immune system and liver function, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released proposed limits for six kinds of PFAS in drinking water.
Grants to Counties
The Grants to Counties Program, created in 1987, provides grants to local health departments to help residents pay for private well testing, closure and renovation. Private well owners in about a dozen counties are eligible for free PFAS testing through the program — but only if they live within a mile of a well that tested positive.
“The DNR has given us guidance on eligibility requirements for PFAS testing under the GTC program,” said Ethan Turben-Fuhrman, a Johnson County environmental health specialist. “We're given about a mile radius from any past positive test for PFAS. That could have been from a University of Iowa Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination (CHEEC) test or a test done by us in the past or by Linn County Public Health.”
One reason for the limit on PFAS testing is the cost. While tests for nitrate or arsenic — other common well tests — cost $60, PFAS testing costs at least $370. If the first PFAS test samples come back positive, the State Hygienic Lab tests the second sample, raising the cost per well to $740.
Focus on Swisher
Last year, Johnson County tested 40 wells for PFAS, with 35 of those within Swisher city limits.
“There are a large number of people living there without a central water utility,” Turben-Fuhrman said of the city of 900 in northern Johnson County. “They all are on relatively shallow, mainly sandpoint, wells, which makes them susceptible to surface contamination.”
Several Swisher wells have tested positive for PFAS levels over the proposed safe drinking water standard. The Iowa DNR has asked the airport to test more Swisher wells as part of a site assessment plan this year.
Each county in Iowa got $50,500 this year for Grants to Counties. The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services reviews expenses midyear and can reallocate from counties that aren’t using all their money, said Mindy Uhle, environmental health bureau chief.
“In the future with an increase in PFAS testing — it's very expensive compared to the standard bacteria and nitrate testing counties are used to doing — I would predict counties will run through their budgets a little quicker,” Uhle said.
Last year, Johnson County ran short, but it was in the second half of the fiscal year — after the reallocation — so the county did not get additional funds. This year, the county has done just a few PFAS tests so far, Turben-Fuhrman said.
UI trying to make tests cheaper
Gerleman, who lives about 3 miles south of Swisher, ultimately connected with the UI, which sent a scientist out to test both the well by his house and the well by the original farmstead, which is near Gerleman’s vegetable garden.
“If the concentration there is high, I don't think I should use it to water my garden,” he said.
The UI provided Gerleman two additional test kits so he could gather a second round of water samples and send them to the State Hygienic Lab for testing.
The results of the tests on his water are not in yet.
Dave Cwiertny, a UI engineering professor and CHEEC director, said they are trying to assess whether PFAS tests conducted by residents will get the same results as those done by trained professionals. That’s one way to save money on testing.
“So far the results there are encouraging that we don't have to send out a trained professional. We get comparable values,” Cwiertny said. “We're trying to push the limits of making the tests accessible.”
Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com
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