Drinking water from several roadside springs across the four-county region could pose health risks, an official indicated this week, after tests revealed the presence of bacteria.

A Penn State Extension Office official is continuing to sample a site in McKean County, and Penn State law students have been called in to determine if local government would be held liable should Elk County residents become ill after drinking contaminated water.

Last year, a majority of 35 roadside springs across 19 counties in the state tested positive for the presence of Coliform bacteria and less than half tested for E. coli, said James Clark, who is a water resources educator of the McKean County Penn State Extension Office. This year, officials with the office are re-testing eight of those locations, one of them between Port Allegany and Coudersport.

“Lots of people use roadside springs as a drinking water source. Yet they’re never tested,” he said, adding that the sites aren’t treated, either.

Coliform bacteria indicates the possible presence of disease-causing bacteria in the water. E. coli is a type of fecal Coliform bacteria often found in the intestines of animals and humans, a sign that that human or animal waste is entering the water supply.

“E. coli raises more health concerns,” Clark said.

Unfortunately, it’s a mystery as to how many people use roadside springs as a drinking water resource, but officials want to educate people about boiling water or having the roadside springs tested.

Clark said people can develop an immunity to the bacteria, but offering somebody water with bacteria could prove to be bad news. The individual could fall ill.

The quality of roadside springs is ever-changing, Clark said. One day the water could be clean and the next day could be different. And, that’s what officials want to find out: water quality over a period of time, Clark indicated.

A drinking resource between Coudersport and Port Allegany in McKean County is being re-tested throughout the year. 

Clark said he recently re-tested the roadside spring this month, and he is hoping to take another sample in November. He wants to do four tests this year.

In Fox Township, Penn State University law students will examine the liability of the roadside spring on Four Points Road, and the findings will be shared with township supervisors. One of the questions could be whether sign should be placed at the roadside spring. Clark said that the hope is that the work will be completed by the spring.

Clark conducted testing at roadside springs in McKean, Potter, Cameron and Elk counties and more often than not he found they had traces of Coliform bacteria.

In McKean County, a roadside spring tested positive for Coliform bacteria at Taintor Road in Lafayette Township. Two Mile Road in the Port Allegany area tested positive for Coliform bacteria and E. Coli, and a Route 59 roadside spring came back negative. A roadside spring near the Cow Palace in Limestone, N.Y. state tested negative.

Meanwhile, Potter County springs on Dingman Road in Coudersport and on Route 49 near Coudersport came back positive for Coliform bacteria.

In Cameron County, a test of a roadside spring along the Railroad Avenue Second Switchback resulted in the presence of Coliform bacteria and E. coli. Other springs in that county also tested positive for Coliform bacteria.

In Elk County, a roadside spring along Route 949 in Ridgway, resulted in no Coliform bacteria and no E. coli; but, a spring along state Route 3002 in the Ridgway area showed the presence of Coliform bacteria. A spring on Four Points Road in Fox Township tested positive for Coliform bacteria and E. coli.

Of the 35 roadside springs tested throughout Pennsylvania between April 3 and Aug. 12, 2013, 91 percent did not meet Coliform bacteria standards and 34 percent not meet E. coli standards, according to Clark.

As part of the water education, surveys are also being handed out to residents that includes the usage of roadside springs. Some people feel that roadside springs are more natural, and they do not like the taste of chlorine in public drinking water, Clark said.