Anyone in PA with a water well??

[verwon]

My dad called me last night, if you have a water well instead of municipal water, you need to contact your congressman, write letters, make phone calls, send email, whatever. You will also want to pass this on to any other PA residents you know who it might concern.

They are currently trying to pass a bill that will permit them to put a meter on privately owned water wells to charge for your water usage so if you do not pay, they can turn off your water supply and also in times of drought when the ground water table is getting low and your well may run low as well, they can turn it off to conserve and make you get your water from other sources. It has already passed in the house and is now going up to the next level for approval.

My Dad found out about this at a local township meeting and is trying to spread the word around to alert others.

[jsalba]

I don't have a water well but did know about this for some time.. yes.. you all need to contact your elected officials and raise ****.. and SOON

[pandybat]

How ridiculous! How can they do this? I would tell them that if they wanted money from me for water, they pay to hook me up to the city and THEN I'll pay for their water. I have well water and I can't imagine them coming onto my property and telling me that I have to pay them for it after I already paid $1000's of dollars to have my well dug and hooked up. It would be like I did all the work for them and they want to charge me for it. Not fair! Who says they own the water table under my property either. If the water table runs dry anyway under their regulation, are they going to pay to have another well dug for me? Are they going to pay for any repairs or replacement of my well equipment when something goes wrong? I think not. I certainly hope this doesn't pass in PA. It will give other states this ridiculous idea and then we'll all be in for it.

[KAZMAN]

here is the article I found on this topic.
From [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]

Well water in Pa. may not be free for long

News and comment
Life was simple in Greene County. If you wanted water you drilled or dug a hole in the backyard. If you wanted running water, you installed a pump or piped water in from a spring on the hill behind the house. At least that was the way it was before longwall mining.

If your water supply hasn’t been interrupted yet, or if you are holding your breath until the mining begins under your home, and it hasn’t happened yet, someone will be along to cause you problems if the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has its way. If you have to drill a new well…well…

“Bye, Bye Miss American Pie, drove my Chevy to the levy and the levy was dry…”—Don McLean.

Longwall mining helped to dry up the county. The state will try to sop up what’s left. House Bill 1591 has passed the the House and is now in a Senate Committee. This bill is intended to “regulate” your…sorry, that was then—this is now. It is the state’s water supply.

The act is to provide “for the regulation of the location and construction of water wells, for licensing water-well contractors and for the collection of information on groundwater quality and quantity; conferring powers and duties on the Department of Environmental Protection; creating the Water-Well Construction Technical Advisory Committee; establishing the Water-Well Construction Fund; imposing penalties; and making a repeal.”

And, why do we need this law? “The purpose of this act is to: (1) Protect public health and safety by establishing location and construction standards for water wells. (2) Establish a statewide program to regulate water-well construction in a manner which will protect the groundwater resource for present and future use. (3) Protect public health and safety and groundwater resources through the licensing of water-well contractors. (4) Provide information on groundwater quantity and quality which will enhance the economic and efficient use of this Commonwealth’s groundwater resources.”

“I introduced House Bill 1591, the Well Water Construction Act, for several reasons. First and most importantly, it was introduced to protect our most precious natural resources, our water. Secondly, HB 1951 will prevent minimally trained or uneducated drillers from constructing improperly drilled wells that could contaminate an entire community’s aquifer.”—Rep. Mary Ann Dailey (R-Montgomery)

“It was one of those bills that got a cursory look and passed on to the Senate by a large majority. I don’t look for it to come out of committee for some time—if it does come out. If it is amended, it will have to come back to the House.”—H. William DeWeese (D-Greene)

E-mails, faxes and letters are circulating which claim the state will be empowered to, by hook or by crook, charge for water that comes out of the ground. And, wells must be registered and monitored for quality so that their supply of your water can be shut off if the Department of Environmental Protection deems it necessary. One letter claims that the DEP will set quotas for the automatic shutoff of the state’s ground water when supplies are believed to be too low. The note also claims if your well is believed to be contaminated, you will be required to have it tested, decontaminated, filtered and monitored. Admittedly, the fears expressed in the rumors that are circulating seem a bit extreme, some even border on paranoia. However, you would do well to take a look at [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now] one of the current resting places for H.B. Number 1591. We might have printed it in its entirety, but that would have taken full four broad-sheet pages of fine print. So, find yourself a connection to the internet, take along your attorney and see if you can decipher what the wonks are up to.

Will all of the fears and trepidations circulating in the rumor mill be realized?

Most of us who didn’t flunk third grade know the original IRS law was peddled as a tax on the rich and working folks shouldn’t be concerned about ever paying an income tax. Most of us aren’t naive enough to believe that this sort of legislation is benign…or, all that beneficial.

The fact that existing wells are “grandfathered” as exceptions to the legislation is of little comfort. Anyone who has “lost” their water and may have to drill a new well will be affected. Or, if you have to modify an existing well, you will be affected. Moreover, the legislation erects another hurdle for potential homebuilders in rural areas. Homebuilders who are already mired in environmental restrictions and bureaucratic red tape. It will be just one more impediment to development.

Much of the bill addresses the problems of creating a massive new licensing bureaucracy. The cost of it all will be covered by fees, fines and taxes, which of course will be covered by YOU! Licensing well drillers will assure the state collects their fee, but it does little to ensure competence. The court dockets are filled with hundreds of cases of inept, inefficient, incompetent licensed practitioners who have been certified by the state.

The legislation calls for the establishment of a boondoggle of massive proportion. It will create a large, smelly, gross animal that will get one paw into your home. Soon that animal will move in, sit beside you and grow as you feed it—while your income declines.

Can your elected officials help? Even the ones from rural areas live in urban digs where there is a community water supply and many of them drink bottled water. The masses of folks that elect them don’t live in along the ridges, creeks and hollows.

I haven’t heard a single complaint or concern about the safety of well water. I have heard volumes about water taken by mining. If the safety of our water is a concern, a township officer could be designated to go out and check new wells and give a report to the homeowner. The minimal cost could be paid out of existing, exorbitant real estate taxes.

If you call on one of our Senators, be sure to tell them you are commenting on the SUBSTANCE of H.B. 1591 and that you have read it in its entirety. It has been my experience that they will try to trivialize your comments into the complaint of a paranoiac kook. You will be marginalized and filed away as another one of those people who have swallowed the anti-regulation line and you will be dismissed.

What the heck, call them anyway—and RAISE ****!

717-787-9684 Mary Jo White (R) chair Environment Resources & Energy Committee

717-787-7084 Joseph B. Scarnati (R) vice chair

717-787-1463 J. Barry Stout (D) your very own Senator on the committee

[pandybat]

Originally posted by KAZMAN
And, why do we need this law? “The purpose of this act is to: (1) Protect public health and safety by establishing location and construction standards for water wells. (2) Establish a statewide program to regulate water-well construction in a manner which will protect the groundwater resource for present and future use. (3) Protect public health and safety and groundwater resources through the licensing of water-well contractors. (4) Provide information on groundwater quantity and quality which will enhance the economic and efficient use of this Commonwealth’s groundwater resources.”

“I introduced House Bill 1591, the Well Water Construction Act, for several reasons. First and most importantly, it was introduced to protect our most precious natural resources, our water. Secondly, HB 1951 will prevent minimally trained or uneducated drillers from constructing improperly drilled wells that could contaminate an entire community’s aquifer.”—Rep. Mary Ann Dailey (R-Montgomery)

Thanks Kaz!
I'm sorry but the reasons they list for why they are doing this aren't good enough. Reasons 1, 2 and 3 all sound like the same reasoning to me, only worded differently.
Properties with wells and the people who own them have been holding their own for quite a few years now. We don't need the city, county or state's help. If you live in PA, own a well and are affected by this, I would fight this bill tooth and nail. It's not in the interest of public health and safety. It's in the interest of your commonwealth finding another way to make a buck off of you. Good luck!

[verwon]

Thanks Kaz for the further details on this. I really appreciate that and am going to send a copy of the bill and article to my Dad so they know exactly what it is they are fighting. I still don't like it, the state is trying to regulate way to much stuff.

[3tbear]

Verwon, I can't believe what I'm hearing, charge you for your own well water? Thank goodness Connecticut hasn't proposed this yet.

[luvmetender]

“It was one of those bills that got a cursory look and passed on to the Senate by a large majority. I don’t look for it to come out of committee for some time—if it does come out. If it is amended, it will have to come back to the House.”—H. William DeWeese (D-Greene)

Bill DeWeese is a friend of my husband's family. He spoke at my FIL's funeral. My husband is going to call him and see what is up with this.... will keep you posted.

[verwon]

Thanks Luv, please let us know what he says. I know my Dad would love to know more details on it and what the purpose of it is.