Well concerns

[jil101ca]

We are moving to a farm in May. The deal is said and done. I just found that the well went dry last summer. The landlord said that he will be responsiable for water should that happen. He thinks it went dry because the prior tenants kept filling up a pool. The well is only a 12 foot dug well, it was explained to me that there is a natural rock cistern under it about 20 feet long, depth unknown. I asked him if it was spring fed and he said no, it is ground water. Would you drink this water??? How careful do we have to be about keeping animals away from the area around the well? The rock cistern is about 60 feet from a field with a horse in it, the field is full of manure from not being picked up.

[Willowdale]

Yes, I'd want to have the water tested! You don't know what past owners have dumped on the ground, not to mention manure runoff. Filtering is pretty easy and cheap but you need to know what you're filtering, if anything.

I'm getting a new well put in, a deep well, but I'll have the water tested as well. I don't expect toxins, but it's possible. Mainly I want to know hardness, iron content, etc, so I can decide if I want a softener and iron filter. That setup is costly if it's not needed, but cheap if it saves my plumbing, kwim?

[xix]

12' well? wow, I thought the neighbors 30' wells were shallow. I'd have the water tested for sure and then make plans based on that. Where we live, no one drinks the water from their 30' wells - we tested our water (250' well) and happily drink it.

Around here the requirements for buildings required 25' clearance, I believe, from the well - I think this included farm buildings. Call the health department, they should be able to tell you how far stuff needs to be away from your well.

As for going dry - I'd certainly make plans to deal with it upon moving in - don't trust a "test and see approach. Wells have gone dry around here several times and is why the previous owner of our house (an 80 year-old-woman) finally put in a new well because it was too much of a hardship on her to deal with a dry well. Everyone else always keeps stocked up on extra water for if/when the wells go dry.

I'd also look into a rain water conservation system as well!