Environment: Don't hide your well - identify it!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Many of the province's wells are in need of repair and maintenance. This voluntary program will help you ensure that your well is doing its job in providing a clean, reliable and safe water supply for your family

by MARY JANE CONBOY

The Well Wise Resource Centre recently completed a yearlong study that surveyed different groups of professionals to provide advice and guidance on the proper maintenance and protection of rural wells. It found that 89 per cent of the wells visited in Ontario need some sort of repair.

Lack of awareness about private wells was identified as a common problem by all of the groups. The topics of greatest interest to well owners were well maintenance and water testing.

The centre's Well Aware program offers free educational home visits for well owners. Well owners are not sure what their well should look like and many are not clear on what they should be doing in the area around the well.

Research that I was involved with at the University of Guelph showed that the structure of the well and the area within 50 to 100 feet of the well were important in determining the likelihood of that well being protected or being vulnerable to bacterial contamination. It is only common sense that this man-made structure and our practices around it are crucial to the protection of the water supply.

The well itself goes deep into the ground and, if the structure is unsound, then material from the surface can use the well as a short cut to the water-bearing zone. As water percolates through the soil and rock layers, it often leaves behind fine sediment, bacteria and nutrients found readily at the surface. Short-circuiting through the well can contribute to these materials entering your water, affecting your water quality and your family's health.

When Well Wise staff talk to well owners, they frequently get questions: What can I do with my well? What can I put over it? How do I decorate it?

Are wishing wells helpful or a problem? Some people find their well ugly and want to mask it in some way to make their yard look nice.

Our advice is to focus not on the structure's beauty, but on its function. Most people recognize that if you decorated or masked your satellite dish, your television reception could be impaired. We can't take our water supply for granted. It is important to provide your water supply with the same respect we afford our television service.

The sound functioning of the well is the critical issue. In order to keep your well in good working order, you must be able to check it regularly. The well must be in an easily accessible location and the components of the well maintained so that the structure is watertight for at least the top 20 feet. Water needs to enter a well from the bottom, not leak in from the top or sides.

The Well Wise Resource Centre is working with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, Agricultural Adaptation Council and the Stewardship councils in eastern Ontario to help people shift their thinking about their water well and adopt good practices to protect their water supply.

The Well Identification project first started in Quebec and was brought across the border into Ontario by farmers in eastern Ontario. The program has been offered in Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry United Counties and Prescott and Russell United Counties since 2004 and 750 identification signs have been installed to date. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture and the Well Wise Resource Centre became involved in helping to spread this great project further across the province and are starting by installing a further 200 signs across the province this summer.

The Well Identification project is a simple concept, but it will change the way people think about their well. Instead of looking for ways to hide the well or neglecting it to the point of structural deterioration, rural well owners will start to realize the importance of this structure and the area around it for providing a clean, reliable water supply.

This program is a voluntary, confidential service which provides participants with a short report with suggestions for their well.

Staff visit your farm, install the identification sign and give you a resource package with information about wells and water testing.

Bacterial bottles are provided and funding has been secured to offer a chemical assessment of well water for a large portion of the participants.

This service will especially help farmers with wells located in fields or high traffic areas. The sign will make people around the well aware of its existence, and proper setbacks and caution will be taken to protect this water supply.

Funding for this project has been provided in part by Agriculture and Agri-food Canada through the Agricultural Adaptation Council.

If you are interested in learning more about this free service, or if you would like to volunteer, please contact the Well Wise Resource Centre or your local Ontario Federation of Agriculture Member Service Representative. BF

Mary Jane  Conboy is a hydrogeologist and executive director of the Well Wise Resource Centre in Orono.