Tips for good well servicing and maintenance

With around 25% of Canadians and close to 50% of Americans relying on groundwater for drinking, there’s a lot of municipal and private wells that need to be maintained to ensure safe supplies. While most municipalities that have wells will use a regular contractor for well inspection and maintenance, contracts will come up for tender from time to time. And for residential properties, every time a home with a private well changes hands, the buyers (If they are doing their job properly) will consult a contractor for a detailed well analysis before signing. It’s big business and can prove very lucrative for contractors, especially those that operate in areas with a high concentration of wells. To put a potential home owner at ease and improve your company’s chances of securing a long term contract, it pays to be comfortable with the mechanics of well inspection and maintenance.

There are three main types of water well—drilled, bored or dug. Bored and dug wells are usually situated above shallow aquifers, while drilled wells are used to extract water from deeper aquifers.

When inspecting a well for a client, the following checklist should be adhered to:

• Ensure there is a copy of the well record on hand for reference. The well record contains all the data about the well—history and specs.
• Check that the well is at least 50 feet away from any potential sources of contamination.
• Make sure the well cap is at least a foot off the ground and watertight.
• See that the ground slopes are away from the casing and that the casing isn’t cracked or damaged in any way.
• Check that the pump and all associated piping is in good condition.
• Ensure a 12-foot wide grass buffer is maintained around the well head.
• Check the tap strainer inside the house for signs of sand or grit, which would indicate a corroded well screen.

Finally, recommend that the buyer takes at least three water samples over a period of seven days and has them tested to ensure cleanliness of the water source.

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http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/private/wells/maintenance.html