ROCK ISLAND, Illinois – High water levels could be polluting water wells of people who live along or nearby the Rock and Mississippi River.
It’s the water you drink, and even if your well is located above flood waters, neighboring wells that are underwater can contaminate the same underground aquifer – or a shared water supply found beneath the ground.
The Rock Island County Health Department is offering free water sample tests for residents with wells in flooded areas.
All home owners must do is get a sample bottle form the health department and fill it up with well water. The day the sample is taken is the day the sample must also be brought back to the health department.
Health Department officials say people living on the north or south shore of the Rock River and on Campbell’s Island are the most prone to contamination right now.
“It doesn’t look that bad at all,” says Campbell’s Island resident, Bob Sickels. “It comes out of the well and its clean, but just a little safer I guess to get the bottled water. During this time, we use bottled water, but as soon as it’s gone, we’ll run the well a little bit and do whatever.”
The sample given to the Health Department are time sensitive and must be collected and returned the same day. The Health Department will accept samples on Mondays through Wednesdays.
Those samples are sent to Springfield and could take up to one week to get results.
