Drinking Water Well Condition
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Drinking Water Well Condition Fact/Worksheet
How will these materials help me to protect my drinking water?
How do I complete the worksheet?
Why should I be concerned?
About 95 percent of Idaho residents use ground water to supply their drinking water and homestead needs. Wells generally provide clean, safe water. If improperly located, constructed, or maintained, however, they can allow bacteria, pesticides, fertilizer, or oil products to contaminate ground water. These contaminants can put family and animal health at risk.
There are many documented cases of well contamination originating from homestead activities near drinking water wells. The condition of your well and its location in relation to contamination sources determine the risk it poses to the water you drink. For example, a cracked well casing may allow bacteria, nitrates, oil, and pesticides to enter the well. A spill of pesticides being mixed and loaded near the well could result in a serious contamination of your family’s drinking water supply. Feedlots, septic systems, fertilizer applications, and waste storage areas can release large amounts of contaminants which may contaminate your well. Contaminants entering through a well can affect surrounding wells, posing a serious health threat to others.
Preventing well water contamination is very important, and once the ground water supplying your well is contaminated, it is very difficult to clean up. The only options may be to treat the water, drill a new well, or obtain water from another source.
The goal of Home-A-Syst is to help you protect the environment and your drinking water.
How will this fact/worksheet help me to protect my drinking water?
It will take you step-by-step through your drinking water well condition and management practices.
- It will rank your activities according to how they might affect the ground water that provides your drinking water supply.
- It will provide you with easy-to-understand rankings that will help you analyze the "risk level" of your drinking water well condition and management practices.
- It will help you determine which of your practices are reasonably safe and effective, and which practices might require modification to better protect your drinking water.
How do I complete the worksheet?
After reviewing the information provided, select Go To The Worksheet in links at the left. It should take you about 15 to 30 minutes to complete the worksheet and summarize your risk rankings.
Focus on the well that provides drinking water for your homestead. If you have more than one drinking water well on your homestead, fill out a worksheet for each one.
Information derived from Home-A-Syst worksheets is intended only to provide general information and recommendations to rural residents regarding their own homestead practices. It is not the intent of this educational program to keep records of individual results.