While the Safe Drinking Water Act mandates testing of public water supplies in the USA, private well owners are responsible for testing and treating their own water. A small percentage of well owners perform annual testing as recommended and many never test at all for common and potentially harmful groundwater contaminants. Finding effective ways to inform residents of the risks associated with their private well drinking water and promote the testing and treatment for common contaminants is a challenge faced by federal, state, and local agencies concerned with public health. Targeting residents whose wells are most at risk for having levels of regulated contaminants above the drinking water standard is a potential way to efficiently reach individuals. Results of this study show that individuals who receive specific letters that a contaminant in a neighbor's well had exceeded the maximum contaminant levels for one of five common well water contaminants (arsenic, radon, Gross Alpha, Escherichia coli, and nitrates) were more likely to test their well than were individuals who received a general letter about common contaminants in the region. Outreach that reports more localized, specific information on contaminants in well water results in an increased chance of testing when compared with more regional and generalized contaminant information.

尽管《安全饮用水法》规定在美国必须对公共供水进行测试，但私人水井所有者负责测试和处理自己的水。一小部分的井主按照建议进行年度测试，许多人根本没有对常见和潜在有害的地下水污染物进行测试。寻找有效的方法来告知居民与其私人井水有关的风险并促进对常见污染物的检测和处理是联邦，州和当地公共卫生机构所面临的挑战。针对居民的水井中受监管污染物的水平高于饮用水标准的风险最大，这是有效接触个人的潜在途径。与收到有关该地区常见污染物的一般性信件的人相比，大肠埃希氏菌和硝酸盐）更有可能进行良好的测试。与更多区域性和广义污染物信息相比，外联报告了井水中污染物的更多本地化，特定信息，从而增加了进行测试的机会。