Are you neglecting an abandoned well on your property?

For too many farmers and rural residents, an abandoned well is a low priority on their to-do list. Yet they are a health, environmental and safety hazard that may catch up with you one day

by MARY JANE CONBOY

At the end of the summer in Pt. Franks Ontario, a man was helping his friend in the garage and fell through an old well to a depth of eight feet. Firefighters worked for two hours to remove him from the well and afterwards the man was treated for minor injuries at the hospital.

The owner of the well was not advised on any action that needed to be taken and just went home and replaced the rotted plywood, which does little to address the problem well.

There was another incident of a man falling in a well in Newcastle Ontario on Thanksgiving weekend. His dog fell in the well when he was out walking. The man tried to rescue the dog and fell in. He had to tread water 30 feet below ground, in cramped, cold, well water, for 30 minutes while his wife went to retrieve neighbours. The dog and gentleman came through this situation with no lingering problems but this situation could have been much worse if he had been walking alone.

I think about what would have happened if the friend had had a dog that attacked his helper. Someone would have surely stepped in to ensure that the dog did not pose a threat to future visitors.
In a situation like this, clearly public harm has been done, public dollars have been spent to address the injuries and some public official should require that this well either needs to be upgraded to current standard or decommissioned.

In some cases, these old wells may be long-forgotten and uncovered only by an unfortunate accident. But in the majority of cases - the Ontario Ground Water Association estimates 1.5 million - abandoned wells are known about by the homeowner but are simply not considered a priority for action.

Why would someone want to keep an open hole large enough for a human to fall into open on their property? Doing so can’t add value when trying to sell the property and the old well can only have a negative impact on the water quality of other nearby wells. Older wells usually have a lining that allows surface water, soil and often small critters to fall directly into the well. This unsanitary soup can move gradually towards pumping wells.

So why do people not retire old wells? Here are some of the reasons I have heard from clients. “The old well is such a masterpiece of craftsmanship and a real piece of history.” “We might need to attach a hand pump and use it as an alternate source of water at some point.” “I intended to retire the well, but I just haven’t got around to it” or “I wasn’t sure what I needed to do to close it off properly.”

True, older wells, especially the brick-lined ones, are excellent examples of craftsmanship, but they are also a health, environmental and safety hazard. I have found companies that make fountains out of the older hand pumps, so you could keep a relic of this old well in a less hazardous venue.

If you need to keep an older well as an alternate source of water, then you also need to maintain it. But why not just keep a rain barrel (for flushing toilets) or have some bottled water for emergencies.

As for the other excuses, decommissioning a well requires special sealants and expertise. Pouring soil or gravel in from the top of the well is simply not good enough. The vertical flow of water must be stopped to remove the short cut that was created when the well was constructed. In addition, the water must be cleaned up, debris removed from the well, holes in the casing plugged and the water in the water-bearing zone must continue to flow.

You should also use a licensed well contractor with the necessary experience and expertise.

Right now, the Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) federal-provincial program funded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, as well as many conservation authorities, have programs to help with the cost of decommissioning old wells. EFP pays 50 per cent of the cost and many conservation authorities will top up this rate by providing an additional $500. In some areas, the top-up is so significant that it will mean that there is very little investment by the farmer to cross a long overdue item off the “to-do list.”

For more information about caring for your well, visit Well Wise to purchase a copy of “Well Wise: A Comprehensive Consumer’s Guide for Private Well Owners”. BF

Mary Jane Conboy, PhD., P.Geo., has recently co-authored two books on wells and works as the hydrogeologist at the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.