Masterful Gardening: Take steps to protect water quality

Wherever you are, you are standing in a watershed. Whatever you do, you impact that watershed.

This includes all water use at home, all the things you consume that require water to make, transportation, all the things thrown away -- and how you dispose of them -- how much energy you consume, and all the things you do in your yards.

We only have two choices for our drinking water: surface water and groundwater. Groundwater and surface water are connected, so we need to protect both.

Surface water, such as lakes, streams and reservoirs need clean watersheds to provide us with clean water.

One thing you need to keep in mind is that as population increases, one town's water intake is not that far from the last town's sewer outfall.

Private water systems, along with public systems, are an important part of the water infrastructure for Pennsylvania.

One million homes and 3.5 million residents are served by a private water system that accesses groundwater.

Ninety percent of these systems are drilled wells, but there are shallow hand-dug wells and springs, as well.

We are one of two states left that have no private water well construction or location standards or regulations. Poorly constructed water wells are more vulnerable to contamination.

Many municipalities also rely on wells to provide public drinking water. This is why groundwater protection strategies are so important.

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Masterful Gardening: Take steps to protect water quality