Palomino Valley is ranch and large-lot well country north of Sparks, not a city water grid. When Desert Research Institute and the Healthy Nevada Project mailed free test kits for their 2022 private-well study, they did not only work from a map. DRI published a field photo of researchers collecting well samples in Palomino Valley. This is one of the Northern Nevada places the study actually stood in the driveway.
That study is the 22% number you will see on our campaign page. It is not a Palomino-only percentage. DRI reported more than 170 participating households, the majority around Reno, Carson City, and Fallon, with Palomino Valley in the field set. We are not going to invent a valley-specific rate DRI did not publish. We will tell you what they published, and what we see on jobs here.
What the kits found — and what we see
DRI’s paper, Naturally Occurring Metals in Unregulated Domestic Wells in Nevada, USA, found 22% of sampled private wells over the EPA’s 10 ppb arsenic limit, with some results about 80 times that limit. Uranium, lead, cadmium, and iron showed up too. Only 41% of those homes had a treatment system, and some treated samples still exceeded 10 ppb. Average metals were lower after treatment; many homes still could not get to a level the EPA calls safe.
On wells Pure Water tests in Palomino Valley, the infographic range is 2 to 110 ppb. That is our local band, not DRI’s 174-well pool and not a guarantee that your ranch well sits in the middle of it.
The well at the next ranch
Acreage here means the next domestic well can be hundreds of yards away, finished at a different depth, in a different slice of basin-fill. Ranch families share a lot of things. A lab report is not one of them. A neighbor who installed treatment in 2018 may still be over 10 ppb on a treated sample — DRI saw that pattern statewide. Copying their setup without a new lab test is how Palomino wells get the wrong media.
The short science
EPA limit: 10 ppb. DRI 2022: 22% of 174 wells. Pure Water shop tests: 58% over the limit on the wells we are asked to sample. Two samples. As(III) versus As(V) still matters, and iron — which DRI also found elevated — still blinds arsenic tanks. Design notes stay on Arsenic Awareness Month.
What to do on a Palomino well
“Arsenic treatment is not one-size-fits-all. It must be properly tested, designed, and installed to perform correctly.”
Bryce Pollock, managing partner
There is no city plant for this valley. Every house we work here is a domestic well. Test arsenic at a certified lab. If you already have treatment, test the treated water too — DRI’s 41% figure is the reminder that a tank on the wall is not the same as a result under 10 ppb. We design from the lab, including arsenic type and iron, not from the ranch next door.
Get a free certified lab arsenic test
If you pump a Palomino Valley well, or you have treatment you have not retested, request a certified lab arsenic test. October is Arsenic Awareness Month. Call (775) 324-2001 or request a free certified lab arsenic test.
Pure Water Systems of NV. 245 Vine St, Reno, NV 89503. NV Lic #94724. CA Lic #1054103.