Deq Offers To Test Well Water For Free

The state Division of Environmental Quality is offering free water testing for people with private wells who are concerned about heavy metals contamination caused by recent floods.

“It’s a legitimate concern,” said Steve Tanner of DEQ. “We would advise people to have the water tested, especially if there was sediment in their water supply.”

So far, the only requests for the tests have come from people who take water from Lake Coeur d’Alene or the Spokane River, Tanner said.

Lead, zinc, cadmium and other metals from historic mining operations contaminate the banks and bed of the Coeur d’Alene River. The metals tend to concentrate in sediment, Tanner said.

Public water supplies in the Silver Valley come from streams above the mining waste, Tanner said.

For more information, contact DEQ in Coeur d’Alene at 769-1422, or an office of the Panhandle Health District.

, DataTimes