Funding provided by the Department of Environmental Protection and Pennsylvania Ground Water Association was used to develop and implement programs of Penn State Extension’s Master Well Owner Network over the past year.

This volunteer network is dedicated to providing unbiased, research-based education for the millions of private water well owners in Pennsylvania. A glance at accomplishments from the MWON program includes:

-- A total of 54 new MWON volunteers were recruited and trained at face-to-face workshops and a seven-week online course joining a total of 249 active MWON volunteers in 64 counties.

-- MWON partnered with various agencies to provide 30 educational workshops or webinars to 1,225 private water supply owners and free water testing to nearly 400 homeowners and farmers.

-- Active MWON volunteers reported spending 1,447 hours educating an additional 3,197 private water supply owners in Pennsylvania. 73 percent of volunteers educated water supply owners through one-on-one conversations while 26 percent utilized the table-top display at events and 21% gave presentations to small groups.

-- Since its inception, MWON volunteers have dedicated nearly 8,000 hours of their time to directly educate nearly 34,000 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. 

-- 23 new volunteers are currently enrolled in the online training course this fall.  An additional training course for new volunteers will be offered on Saturday, December 14, 2013 in Bucks County.

-- In May 2013 MOWN partnered with numerous agencies to present the 2013 Pennsylvania Groundwater Symposium at Penn State for 150 groundwater professionals. Planning is already underway for the 2014 Pennsylvania Groundwater Symposium on May 7, 2014 at the Ramada Inn in State College, PA.

To learn more, visit the Master Well Owner Network website.

(Written By: Bryan Swistock, Water Resources Specialist, Renewable Natural Resources, Penn State Extension, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, and reprinted from Penn State Extension’s Watershed Winds newsletter.) 

1/6/2014