Senior volunteers protect drinking water in Snohomish County, Wash.

(l-r) Tom Pattee and Roy Barrows, volunteers with the Snohomish County, Wash. Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, check possible evidence of an abandoned storage tank.

Elsie Sorgenfrei is a retired educator. LeRoy Barrows is a retired aerospace mechanic. Ron Bennett is a retired investment manager. They all have something in common. They all volunteer their time with the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) of Snohomish County, Wash. as Source Water Protection Mentors to help protect public health and drinking water resources in their community.

The program is a unique effort to assist counties and townships protect community drinking water resources.

The efforts of these retired citizens result from a collaboration effort by the RSVP of Snohomish County, Evergreen Rural Water Association of Washington, the Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement and the U.S. Environmental Projection Agency (EPA). This program recruits and trains senior volunteers to assist small water districts with the development of wellhead protection and source water protection programs. (Wellhead protection refers to voluntary and involuntary methods to protect the surface surrounding water supply wells or wellheads; source water protection encompasses protection methods for both surface water and ground water.)

The senior "mentors" are trained to assist the local Rural Water Association (RWA) ground water technician. The technician travels through the state of Washington, assisting counties and small communities. Because there is only one technician per state, the mentors, under the supervision of the technician, provide communities with high-quality, low-cost assistance. Mentors are generally trained by the ground water technician, the state department of health or environment and the local RSVP chapter.

According to Cydnie Hill, director of RSVP of Snohomish County, the project addresses a high priority environmental need. "RSVP is aggressive in responding to important projects such as this," Hill said. "After all, everybody needs safe drinking water and the work we do now will effect the quality of water for years to come."

Initially, Hill recruited 12 volunteers who were trained in April. In Gold Bar, Wash., the volunteers conducted an inventory of potential sources of contamination and also distributed information to homeowners about the source of the community's drinking water and the importance of protecting it.

Gold Bar has one main well and two backup wells. The volunteers also are working with town officials to put information packets together for newcomers, who will receive the information when they sign up for water service. Hill sees the volunteers making major contributions to their communities and already has additional volunteers lined up and waiting for training.

In addition to their field work in Gold Bar, the volunteers have decided to meet monthly and invite specialists to speak so they can augment their initial training.

Kathy Carroll, who serves as volunteer co-coordinator, finds that the project is right up her alley. A retired public health nurse, she spent many years investigating the sources of water-borne diseases.

Jon Cleveland, the ground water technician with Evergreen Rural Water of Washington, directs the volunteers.

Cleveland is contractually obligated to work with 13 drinking water systems annually to help them move from the initial development stages of wellhead protection to implementation. The Mentor Project helps reduce the frustration he feels when he has to put communities on a waiting list.

The Source Water Protection Mentor Project in Snohomish County is one of 15 demonstration efforts currently underway around the country. These demonstrations are sponsored by the EPA in partnership with the National Rural Water Association, the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program and the Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement. NACo is also a partner in this effort, which combines a few objectives of three of its projects, the Source Water Protection Project, Aging, and Volunteerism Programs.

The concept also is being tested in Oregon, Texas, Missouri, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois, Colorado and Wyoming. Five additional states will be added during the next year.

(For more information on starting a program in your county, contact Tom Benjamin, executive director, Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement, 8733 Old Dumfries Rd., Catlett, VA 22019; phone: 540/788-3274.)

For more information on a mentorship effort in one of the states noted above, contact:

Washington: Jon Cleveland RWA Ground Water Technician 738 Cascade Way Ellensberg, WA 98926 509/962-6326 David Jennings Source Water Program Department of Health P.O. Box 47822 Olympia, WA 98504 360/586-9041 Cydnie Hill Snohomish County Retired Senior Volunteer Program 8225 44th Ave, Suite O Mukilteo, WA 98275 206/290-1270 Colorado: Kathleen Reilly Department of Health and Environment 4300 Cherry Creek Dr. S Denver, CO 80246 303/692-3573 Bobbi Canfield Ground Water Technician 2648 Santa Fe Dr. #10 Pueblo, CO 81006 719/545-6748 Carol Ferner Director Delta RSVP 247 Meeker, Delta, CO 81416 970/874-7661 Illinois: Rick Cobb Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Bureau of Water 2200 Churchill Rd PO Box 19276 Springfield, IL 62794 217/785-4787 Mark Mitchell Ground Water Technician PO Box 6049 Taylorville, IL 62568 217/287-1190 Kentucky: Marie Harding RSVP of Paducah-McCracken Counties 1400 HC Mathis Dr. Paducah, KY 42001 502/442-8993 Peter Goodman Ground Water Branch Manager Kentucky Dept for Environmental Protection 14 Reilly Road Frankfort, KY 40601 502/564-3410 Joe Burns Ground Water Technician PO Box 1424 Bowling Green, KY 42102 502/843-2291 Maryland: Joe Everd Ground Water Technician PO Box 4669 Salisbury, MD 21803 410/749-9474 Norman Lazarus MD Dept of Environment Public Drinking Water Program 2500 Broening Hwy. Baltimore, MD 21224 410/631-4167

Missouri: Rowena Jones RSVP of Springfield PO Box 3947 627 Glenstone Springfield, MO 65808 417/862-3595 G. Lawson Penny Dept of Natural Resources Division of Environmental Quality PO Box 176 Jefferson City, MO 65102 573/751-5331 Randy Norden Ground Water Technician 2610 Calvert Dr. Columbia, MO 65202 573/474-6990 Oregon: Sheree Stewart Oregon Department of Environmental Quality Ground Water Section 811 S W. Sixth Ave. Portland, OR 97204 503/229-5413 Tom Pattee Oregon Assoc of Water Utilities 12312 Silverton Rd N.E. Silverton, OR 97381 503/873-8353 Cynthia Hylton RSVP of Corvallis 630 N.W .7th St Corvallis, OR 97330 541/753-9197 Pennsylvania: Joe Lee Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection PO Box 8467 Harrisburg, PA 17105 717/772-4018 Judy Muehl RSVP 155 S Poplar St Apt. 318 Elizabethtown, PA 17022 717/367-5854 Texas: Brad Cross Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission Public Drinking Water Section MC 155 PO Box 13087 Austin, TX 78711 512/239-4753 Phyllis Hicks Ground Water Technician 1616 Rio Grande St. Austin, TX 78701 512/472-8591 Jerry Thompson State RSVP Program Officer Southwest Cluster State Program Office 903 San Jacinto, Suite 130 Austin, TX 78701 512/916-5671