< Back to Previous Page County Helps Homeowners Protect Their Wells Dutchess County Executive, William R. Steinhaus announced today that the Dutchess County Department of Health will be providing a new informational brochure to Dutchess County property owners who get their drinking water from private wells.   The flyer entitled, ‘Drinking Water Safety... It’s Everyone’s Responsibility’, was created by the Health Department to offer guidance to homeowners on ways to assess and maintain the quality of their well’s water and to inform them about potential groundwater contaminants.  Potential pollutants can be bacterial, such as coliform bacteria, or chemical, such as the gasoline additive MTBE. County Executive Steinhaus stated that, “Because so many Dutchess County residents get their drinking water from wells this is an important issue that citizens should be better informed about.  We will soon be mailing a copy of this brochure to each household in the county that is served by a private well and our Health Department will be including it with every new Well Permit that they issue.  We will also be making a limited supply available to local municipalities and Real Estate Agencies in Dutchess for distribution to new property owners. We are committed to preserving the health of our community and our environment”. County Legislator Robert Horton (East Fishkill), the principal supporter of this program in the Legislature, noted that, “Most people assume that their drinking water is safe and most of the time they are right, but not always.  By initiating this program which encourages residents to periodically test their well water, Dutchess County is once again leading the way and showing other communities around the State and throughout the nation how to better protect the health of our citizens”. Commissioner of Health, Dr. Michael C. Caldwell said, “Some things like drinking water are simply taken for granted, but people cannot exist in a healthy state without safe, potable water for consumption.  The Health Department routinely oversees and enforces the monitoring of public and municipal water supplies, but it is the responsibility of each individual property owner to assess and maintain the quality of his or her private well.  This information will help guide residents”. Steinhaus noted, “Copies of the ‘Drinking Water Safety...’ brochure will also be available from the Health Department’s Environmental Health Services Division. Contact New York real estate lawyers from the law firm of Weinstein, Chase, Messinger and Peters, P.C. ,