Population Study 1: Iowans using private wells for household drinking water

We are studying adults who use private well water for household drinking water. 

We are enrolling one adult from each randomly selected household, and they  should live in the home more than half the time.

We are specifically looking at residents from eleven Iowa Counties: Boone, Buchanan, Cerro Gordo, Clinton, Greene, Hancock, Hardin, Johnson, Monona, Woodbury, and Wright. 

Population Study 2: Maternal Exposures

We are studying residual urine samples from 1,000 women over the course of all three trimesters of their pregnancy.  

Population Study 1: Iowans using private wells for household drinking water

Approximately 1,000 total private well users from the 11 designated counties will participate in the program.  Sampling will occur from August 2021 through May 2023.

Population Study 2: Maternal exposures

Samples will be tested from approximately 1,000 women who have participated in the Maternal-Fetal Tissue Bank at the University of Iowa.

The Iowa Biomonitoring Program is studying three categories of chemicals in human urine: metals, neonicotinoid insecticides, and phenols.  See the chemicals section of this website for a complete list of the chemicals.

We are not including bacteria and nitrate testing within this study.  However, we strongly encourage anyone with a private well to test their water for bacteria and nitrate on an annual basis.  You can do this through your County Environmental Health office for free or reduced cost.  

If you are interested in participating, follow the link in your letter to complete an online eligibility form or call our staff to complete it over the phone.  Enrollment is open through February 28, 2023.

After you complete our eligibility survey and are enrolled to the program, we will mail you a kit with all the materials you will need.  You will be able to complete the tasks entirely from your home.  You will not be asked to visit a medical clinic. 

You will be asked to provide a urine sample and a set of household water samples. You will also be asked to complete a questionnaire.  All these tasks will take about 60-90 minutes over the course of one day.  

The deadline for submission will vary based on individual enrollment dates.  All sampling concludes on May 31, 2023 and questionnaire access will be closed.  

• Free water test results
• A limited report for certain chemicals in your body (arsenic, cadmium, lead and uranium)
• A token of thanks for your time and effort

There is no cost to you for being in this study.  If you are invited to participate, you may opt to participate or you may refuse.  There is no penalty if you refuse.

Samples submitted after May 31, 2023 will not be accepted or tested and no compensation will be provided. 

The Iowa Biomonitoring Program is not accepting volunteers.  The program uses a random selection process to invite private well users in Iowa to participate in the program.  This process is designed to obtain representative samples from the study population. 

Proper sample collection is very important.  Visit the Sample Collection and Shipping section for detailed instructions.  

Collect from one of your most frequently used taps for drinking and/or cooking (usually a kitchen or bathroom sink).  Please do not collect from a refrigerator or water pitcher, even if that’s where you usually get your drinking water.  Follow the instructions in your kit for collection steps.  

All of the samples must come from the same tap; the one most commonly used for household consumption.  The different bottles are to test for different chemicals from that single water source.  

The water tests for this project are a bit different than standard water quality tests.  We are trying to compare exactly what you are taking from the tap and comparing that to what is in your body.  It is okay if there is a filter, reverse osmosis, softener, or other treatment system.  There is a place on the sampling forms to tell us if there is a treatment system.

Please try to return samples to the lab within 3 weeks of receiving your kit.

Once you collect your samples, you should ship them with 3 days or they may not be valid for testing.  Store the urine samples in the freezer and the water samples in the refrigerator if you do not ship them immediately.    

Visit the Sample Collection and Shipping section for detailed instructions.  

Please note, the kit materials expire. Participants are notified if their kits have expired, at which point, the laboratory cannot accept the samples.  The sampling phase of this study concludes May 31, 2023, after which samples cannot be accepted. 

Visit the Sample Collection and Shipping section for detailed instructions.  

You may contact our staff.  We may be able to provide you with information needed to access the questionnaire online or we can mail you a paper copy.  

Yes, you will get a report of your water results (metals and neonicotinoids) as well as a limited urine report for arsenic, cadmium, lead and uranium.  

Please visit the participant results section for more details.  

We are testing multiple samples from each participant for a very large number of chemicals on highly specialized instrumentation for study purposes (not for diagnostic purposes). We will not report any results for a sample until all the tests are complete for that sample.  Due to  the extensive testing being conducted, it may take several months for results to be mailed.  

Please see the results section of this website for more details.

Visit the results section and scroll down to "Reading and Understanding Your Report" to view a sample water report, learn more about the sections on the report, and find details about reading your results.   

The results will not tell you whether you will get sick or develop a health concern or disease from these chemicals.  There are many factors that determine whether you experience a health concern, such as age, nutrition, general health status, genetics, amount of exposure, and duration of exposure, among others.  Additionally, the health effects of some of the chemicals being tested are not known at this time.

The Iowa Biomonitoring Program is working to understand the levels of certain organic and inorganic chemicals in private or community well water compared to levels in the human body.  Tests conducted through the Iowa Biomonitoring Program are intended to assess population exposure and are not to be used as clinical or diagnostic tests. 

Yes, you may be able to reduce the amount of chemicals in your water.

First, it is important to find out how chemicals may be getting into your water. We recommend that you contact your county’s environmental health department or a well specialist. They may want to test your water for bacteria or nitrate or look at your well for any damage. Testing for bacteria or nitrate may be available for free through your county.

You may also be able to install an in-home treatment system to reduce chemicals in the water you drink. Not all treatment systems remove all chemicals. Talk to a water treatment specialist to determine the best options for the chemical(s) that may have been found in your water tests.