Johnston County officials say contamination of its water wells possible

A private water well in northern and western areas of Johnston County may have been contaminated, the Johnston County Health Department said Thursday

The county issued a press release about the possible contamination, just a few days after Wake County officials announced that 19,000 of its wells could be contaminated with radon, uranium and radium.

Uranium, radon and radium occur naturally in underground granite in eastern areas of Wake County, which is what lead to the contamination.

Drinking well water contaminated with these substances may cause significant health problems.

Johnston County officials said the only people affected are those with private drinking water wells.

Johnston County residents who pay a water bill or have public water will not experience any contamination, according to county officials.

Citizens with questions were urged to contact the Johnston County Environmental Health Department at 919-989-5180 or visit the Johnston County Environmental Health website.

"I'm not worried about it," Shannan Creech, of Clayton, said. "We've been drinking this water for years and years."

Another Johnston County resident had his well water tested within the last five years and said it's "good and clean" besides some iron being in it.

Some sections of Wake, Johnston, Franklin, Nash, Wilson, Vance and Warren counties have a high susceptibility to elevated radon in ground water, according to a map provided by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.

Additionally, significant portions of Orange County have a moderate to high susceptibility to detected arsenic in groundwater.

Water testing kits can be purchased from Pace Analytical, the only local water testing site certified by Wake County, for $179, but they are currently sold out. They expect to have more by Monday.

John Hamlin, a spokesman for Wake County, added that Pace does not have any capacity to accept water samples until July 8. However, residents may still ship water samples to the National Testing Laboratories and Florida Radiochemistry Services, both of which are state-certified laboratories and will ship bottles to their customers for them to fill.