Cedar County Environmental Health and Zoning has participated in the Private Well Grants program for over 30 years. In fiscal year 2025, all counties in Iowa received $50,505 from the Private Well Grant to help provide free water testing, reimbursement for well closures, reimbursement for well and cistern closures, and reimbursements for well rehabilitations.

Over the past six months, the county has utilized over $42,000 of this funding to test wells that have not been tested before, complete yearly tests on wells, well closures, shock chlorination, and well reconstructions. With the year not done and the temperature rising, we anticipate more testing and work to be done. Phil LaRue, Environmentalist and Sanitarian, requested additional funding to help complete documentation on wells drilled in the past twenty years.

According to Iowa Code, “49.27(1) The owner of a new, reconstructed, or rehabilitated well shall be responsible for submitting a water sample to a certified laboratory for coliform bacteria and nitrate analysis.”

Our office is working diligently on getting these samples collected for wells constructed in the past 20 years, but the biggest goal is to collect samples from wells drilled before our office was established and continue yearly testing on wells to track environmental changes.

The additional funding will help us do the water sample collecting and will also help homeowners rehabilitate their wells to help protect our aquifers.

If you would like to have your private water well tested, please email [email protected] or give our office a call at 563-886-2248.