Groundwater testing results in Stamford, CT recently revealed that 31% of Stamford, Connecticut wells tested may be contaminated by dieldrin and chlordane, organochlorine pesticides banned in the 1980's because of their tendency to bioaccumulate in animal tissues, hazard to wildlife, carcinogenicity, and other chronic effects. Connecticut public health officials recommend that Stamford residents served by wells filter their drinking and bathing water and that every homeowner served by well water statewide have their own testing done as soon as practical.

Scope of Connecticut Well Water Pesticide Contamination Unknown

"We believe that this problem in Stamford could reach much further than Stamford itself and it could exist even beyond Fairfield County," Sharee Rusnak, epidemiologist for the Connecticut Department of Public Health told the Stamford Advocate. But Rusnak also says, "There are no towns that are really actively doing their own sampling as far as I know."

Testing in Stamford is far from complete, with only 13% sampled so far. The only other town to report contamination is Wilton, a town approximately 15 miles to the northeast of Stamford which created a citywide well water testing program late last year that is the most extensive testing in the state.

The broad recommendation for testing in Connecticut stems from the absence of any pattern to the contamination so far. "There really isn't any rhyme or reason -- we couldn't postulate where it is or where it could be," Health Director Ann Fountain told the Advocate. ". . . [O]ne house may have it and the one next door may not. This is happening in Stamford and I don't think it stops at the borders."

Pesticides and Water Contamination Across the United States

The U.S. Geological Service estimates widespread contamination of dieldrin across the country. Based on sampling for contamination in fish at 648 stream sites between 1992-2001, USGS created the following probability map:

source: USGS

"The area with the most extensive potential concern is the central Corn Belt, where most streams have more than a 5 percent chance of exceeding the lower benchmark [81 µg/kg] and many streams have more than a 50 percent chance of exceeding this benchmark."

Protect Your Family's Health with a Berkey Water Filter

Read more about drinking water contaminants in well water, aquifers, and karsts and how a Berkey can help filter these pesticides, herbicides, and other contaminants from the water.