Master Well Owner Network Educates Thousands Of Water Well Owners

The Penn State Master Well Owner Network had another successful year of education for private water system owners across Pennsylvania.

Penn State MWON Program Educates Thousands of Water Well Owners Annually

MWON is a volunteer program dedicated to providing unbiased, research-based education for the millions of private water well owners in Pennsylvania.

Funding is provided by the Department of Environmental Protection and the Pennsylvania Ground Water Association.

MWON trained 38 new volunteers this year who join 232 active MWON volunteers in 57 counties. Active MWON volunteers reported spending 1,307 hours educating 3,260 private water supply owners in Pennsylvania.

Seventy-eight percent of volunteers educated water supply owners through one-on-one conversations while 22 percent utilized the table-top display at events and 25 percent gave presentations to small groups.

Since its inception, 684 MWON volunteers from 66 counties have dedicated 10,432 hours of their time to directly educate 39,872 private water supply owners.

Additional indirect education through newsletters, newspapers and publications has been provided to over 100,000 private water supply owners throughout the state.

MWON partnered with various agencies this year to provide 25 Safe Drinking Water Clinics or other educational workshops to 743 private water supply owners and free water testing to 211 households.
A new youth drinking water program was also presented by MWON state and regional coordinators and other Penn State Extension Educators to 200 youth in schools and 4-H clubs.

In May 2015 MWON partnered with numerous agencies to present the 2015 Pennsylvania Groundwater Symposium in State College for 251 groundwater professionals. Planning is already underway for the 2016 Pennsylvania Groundwater Symposium on May 4 at the Ramada Inn in State College, PA.

For more information, visit the Penn State Master Well Owner Network webpage  or contact Bryan Swistock, Water Resources Specialist, Renewable Natural Resources, Penn State Extension, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, 814-863-0194 or send email to: brs@psu.edu.

(Written By: Bryan Swistock, Water Resources Specialist, Renewable Natural Resources, Penn State Extension, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, and reprinted from the October 26 Watershed Winds newsletter from Penn State Extension.  Click Here to sign up for your own copy.)