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Nelsonville well-sampling shows repeated nitrate exceedances; county sampling finds elevated averages
Summary
A volunteer-driven Nelsonville residential well monitoring project reported that many private wells sampled since 2019 have nitrate levels above the local "standard" and several wells hit record highs. County sampling of a larger well set showed lower average nitrate readings.
A citizen-led well-sampling program in the Village of Nelsonville reported rising nitrate levels in many private wells and persistent exceedances of a referenced “standard,” and county staff described a related countywide sampling effort.
George Craft presented results for a pool of 22 privately sampled wells in Nelsonville; he and other presenters said 19 of those wells have sample records going back to 2019. For the April 2025 sampling, 18 wells were sampled from the pool. Presenters reported an average nitrate reading of 16.7 for that April sampling and said 14 of the 18 wells sampled were “above the standard.” Presenters also said five wells in the sampled set recorded their highest values on record and that 42 wells had paired samples in both 2018 and 2023 where the county observed no overall change in nitrate levels between those two countywide surveys.
County staff noted a related county sampling program that tested 60 wells in 2018 and again in 2023 and reported nitrate averages of 8.4 and 9.3 across the broader set. Tyler, a county presenter, referred committee members to a memo included in the meeting packet that detailed the standard homeowner testing package and the planned quarterly sampling cadence for Nelsonville.
Presenters described a varied pattern across individual wells: some sites have hovered below the standard for years, others have shown steady upward trends since 2019, and a few are highly variable. One presenter said, “we wouldn’t have any clue what this looks like without this quarterly sampling,” emphasizing the value of repeated measurements.
County staff described planned follow-up testing that will include tracers and pesticide analyses; staff said the next sampling for the Nelsonville project will be in July. When asked about costs, staff said an estimate was available but they could not confirm off the record whether a homeowner package or tracer-inclusive sampling would cost $6,000 per year or $6,000 per quarter and offered to provide the exact figures by email.
No formal action was taken. Committee members and staff discussed continuing quarterly monitoring and options for funding and noted that the committee will receive future updates when lab results are available.
