Beginning Feb. 1, the health department will require a permit before any well is drilled, repaired or abandoned in Jackson County. The health department became concerned about water quality in the area after testing data from last year showed that 31 percent of wells tested proved positive for coliform bacteria. This was almost double the 16.5 percent from the previous year. Health department materials point out that coliform is not a pathogen. It is an indicator organism.
Pathogens are difficult to detect and impractical to test for in water supplies.
Indicator organisms like coliform are relatively simple to test for. While the presence of coliform does not guarantee the presence of pathogens, it does indicate that the water supply has been compromised and there is the possibility of pathogens. Health department officials at the Jan. 18 Jackson County commissioners meeting said that other counties across the state averaged 5 to 1.5 percent positive for coliform. Jerry Deweese was one of four Environmental Health staff members who spent four days in Guilford County in late November, studying their existing well program. The contamination rate in Guilford County was 2 percent, Deweese said.