STARKVILLE, Miss. -- South Mississippi homeowners in small communities and rural areas without public water supplies can learn how to better manage, operate and protect their private wells during a Dec. 1 program in Harrison County.

“The Water Quality and Private Wells workshop will be Dec. 1 from 6 to 9 p.m. to help Mississippi well owners understand groundwater basics, well care best practices and how to find assistance,” said Jason R. Barrett, assistant Extension professor with the Mississippi State University Extension Center for Government and Community Development. “The program will teach well owners about their private wells, how to sample their wells, how to interpret sample results, and what they can do to protect their wells and source water from contamination.”

Information about the workshop and registration is available at http://gcd.msucares.com/register. The program will be at the MSU Coastal Research and Extension Center in Biloxi. Additional information is available by calling 662-325-3141.

Joining Barrett in presenting the workshop will be Steve Wilson, a groundwater hydrologist with the Illinois State Water Survey; and Ralph Hayes, engineering director with the Mississippi State Department of Health.

The Mississippi State Department of Health and the University of Illinois are assisting MSU Extension to help Mississippians with private wells learn more about managing their water supplies.

“The majority of Mississippians get their water from municipal supplies or rural water associations, but there are thousands of homes in rural areas that depend on private wells,” Barrett said. “In fact, an average of 12 percent of households in the state’s 82 counties rely on private wells. In four of those counties, more than 40 percent of homes have private wells.”

Additional information on private wells in Mississippi is available online at http://bit.ly/1ClrFSH.