Penn State Extension’s Master Well Owner Network (MWON) now has 241 active volunteers in 55 counties across the state who spent 1,960 hours educating 4,309 private water supply owners in Pennsylvania.

These are just a few of the accomplishments of the Network in 2017 funded by the Department of Environmental Protection and PA Ground Water Association.

Since the inception of MWON in 2004, 759 MWON volunteers have dedicated 14,777 hours of their time to directly educate 48,118 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.

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 27 new MWON volunteers were recruited and trained during two online courses over the past year.

-- 76 percent of volunteers educated water supply owners through one-on-one conversations while 16 percent utilized the table-top display at events and 19 percent gave presentations to small groups.

-- MWON partnered with various agencies to provide 19 Safe Drinking Water Clinics or other educational workshops to 565 private water supply owners and free water testing to 258 households.

-- 16 new volunteers are currently enrolled in the online training course this fall. An additional online course will be offered starting in February 2018.

-- Three webinars on advanced topics were presented to MWON volunteers as part of their continuing education. Each webinar was attended by 20 to 30 volunteers with many other volunteers viewing the recorded versions which are archived on the MWON website.

In May 2017 MWON partnered with numerous agencies to present the 2017 PA Groundwater Symposium at Penn State for 256 groundwater professionals.

2018 PA Groundwater Symposium

Planning is already underway for the 2018 PA Groundwater Symposium on May 8 at the Ramada Inn in State College, Centre County.

For more information on the program and how you can get involved, visit Penn State Extension’s Master Well Owner Network webpage.

(Photo: MWON volunteer Bill Spigler provided a display on private water system maintenance at the Renfrew, PA Earth Day celebration in April 2017 (photo by Kathleen Seiler).

(Reprinted from the latest Watershed Winds newsletter from Penn State Extension.  Click Here to sign up for your own copy.)

[Posted: Nov. 17, 2017]

11/20/2017