Helpful Energy Saving Tips for the Go Green Family

I was watching my local news last evening and was reminded of a situation that had happened to my husband and I a year or so ago. It was a property meeting regarding some land next door to us and one of the issues was an abandoned well that needed covered before the land could be sold. I didn’t think much of it then until the issue of it being a safety hazard to children, which I have several, came up. So I did some research and came up with some horrifying pictures of children that have fallen in and gotten stuck, pretty scary. These wells I learned can be anywhere from 20 to 50 feet deep and deeper. I also found that water quality can be effected.

An abandoned well can pose a health and safety hazard if it is improperly sealed or not sealed at all. When a well is no longer being used or maintained for future use, it is considered abandoned. Abandoned wells pose a serious threat to the preservation of groundwater quality.

Contaminants such as pesticides, petroleum products, human or animal waste and bacteria have all been found in abandoned wells and cause a threat to local water supplies and other newer wells to similar depth. Some people think that because a well isn’t that deep it isn’t an environmental issue but it is because of the amount of contaminants that can go further down into the aquifers. From the human health aspect and liability aspect, its one of the worse things you can have.

It is the land owners responsibility to plug any abandoned wells on their property. Let’s keep our children safe and our water clean.

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