BACKGROUND Many nonpublic water well users unknowingly consume contaminated groundwater containing unsafe levels of pollutants. This has important implications for more than 13 million households in the United States that rely upon nonpublic water wells for drinking, cooking, and other household uses. Although public water quality is regulated through the Safe Drinking Water Act, there are no drinking water standards for nonpublic water well quality in Kansas, nor is there an adequate public health infrastructure in place to prevent or address potential exposures to contamination. OBJECTIVES This project was conducted to identify promising action steps that would protect Kansans relying on nonpublic water wells for drinking, cooking, and other household purposes. METHODS The project team consisted of public health, environmental health, and legal professionals with experience working on groundwater quality issues impacting nonpublic water wells in Kansas. From 2015 through 2018, the team established and convened an advisory group; reviewed relevant state statutes and regulations, all Kansas county environmental codes, and a representative sample of 23 city water well codes; conducted an extensive review of academic literature to identify best practices; conducted dozens of key informant interviews; proposed recommendations; engaged dozens of stakeholders through a survey of these proposed recommendations; and conducted interactive webinars to identify which organizations need to lead each of the recommendations. DISCUSSION The project team developed 18 recommendations. The recommendations are organized by survey respondents' perceptions of potential public health impact. There are very few standard practices in Kansas that ensure safe water for nonpublic household water wells. Although not all of the 18 recommendations may be applicable to other communities and states, many likely would be useful for governmental agencies, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and others to consider. These recommendations offer more protections for nonpublic household water well users than any resource we have found. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP5507.

中文翻译：

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堪萨斯州水井政策分析和非公共家庭水井建议提案。

背景技术许多非公共水井使用者在不知不觉中消耗了含有不安全水平的污染物的受污染的地下水。这对美国有超过1300万家庭依靠非公共水井来饮用，烹饪和其他家庭用途具有重要意义。尽管《安全饮用水法》对公共水质进行了规定，但堪萨斯州没有针对非公共水井水质的饮用水标准，也没有适当的公共卫生基础设施来预防或解决潜在的污染暴露。目标进行该项目的目的是确定有希望的行动步骤，这些步骤将保护依赖于非公共水井进行饮用，烹饪和其他家庭用途的坎桑人。方法该项目小组由公共卫生，环境卫生，以及在处理影响堪萨斯州非公共水井的地下水质量问题上有经验的法律专业人士。从2015年到2018年，团队成立并召集了一个咨询小组；审查了相关的国家法规，堪萨斯州的所有环境法规以及23个城市水井法规的代表性样本；对学术文献进行了广泛的审查，以确定最佳实践；进行了数十次关键线人访谈；提出的建议；通过对这些建议的调查，吸引了数十个利益相关者；并进行了互动网络研讨会，以确定哪些组织需要领导每项建议。讨论项目团队提出了18条建议。这些建议是根据受访者对潜在公共卫生影响的看法进行整理的。堪萨斯州很少有确保非公共家庭水井安全用水的标准做法。尽管并非所有18条建议都可能适用于其他社区和州，但是许多建议可能对政府机构，学术机构，非营利组织和其他机构有用。这些建议为非公共家庭水井使用者提供了比我们发现的任何资源更多的保护。https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP5507。这些建议为非公共家庭水井使用者提供了比我们发现的任何资源更多的保护。https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP5507。这些建议为非公共家庭水井使用者提供了比我们发现的任何资源更多的保护。https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP5507。