Pennsylvania is one of several states nationwide suffering from dead and dying deer being killed by an outbreak of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD). In an earlier report, I said that some residents in Beaver, Greene and Washington counties, where kills seemed heavy, were concerned about contamination of drinking water supplies.
In that report, Game Commission Supervisor Barry Zaffuto, was quoted as saying there was nothing to worry about.
“A deer is 100 percent natural,†he said. “This virus is not transferable, so it would be just like a deer that dies in the water naturally, because it does happen.â€
The commission, he said, does not have the resources to search across a three-county area for deer and then remove them, especially when nature is taking care of that for them.
“That would just be totally impossible. What would we do with them?’ he said. “Deer decompose naturally and rapidly.â€
Susan M. Boser, a water quality/natural resources educator with the Penn State Cooperative Extension in Beaver County, says residents shouldn’t worry about their drinking water but for different reasons. First she was reassuring those with private wells that they shouldn’t be too concerned.
Streams don’t normally feed into the groundwater from which wells draw their water, groundwater, Boser said.
People’s concerns began when they witnessed and heard stories of a lot of deer dead and rotting in spring holes, ponds and streams.
There was also concern that with reports of over a thousand dead deer, that many would also be a threat to public water supplies. Not so says Helen Humphreys, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Humphreys said that even though animals die in reservoirs that feed public water systems, filtration systems, and chlorine take care of keeping the water clean, and water systems must, by state law, be tested on a regular basis to make sure that they are offering customers clean and safe water.
I’m not sure how reassured I’d be if I lived in one of those areas but if you are concerned about your private well, you can get it tested.
The Penn State Cooperative Extension in Beaver County is providing water testing kits to those who want to test their well water. The kits can be picked up at the Cooperative Extension, 2020 Beaver Ave., Suite 200, Monaca. For additional information, call the extension at (724) 774-3003. There are private labs in Beaver County that also will test water.
Tom Remington
