Property owners with wells are seemingly lining up to take part in the Well Aware program that will help them minimize contamination and other problems.
The Elora Environment Centre started visits to properties in the first two weeks of July, and Sarah Lin Barron said last week the centre is booked solid right into August for the visits, and the earliest dates she now has open are in September.
The Well Aware program encourages Ontario’s residential well owners to protect those wells and the common groundwater supplies. It is a project of Green Communities Canada and has received funding support from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. Technical support is being provided by the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario.
Well Aware home visits are conducted by trained water guides like those at the centre, in order to help rural well owners identify priorities for action to protect their drinking water source. The visits, which are free, confidential and non-regulatory, guide well owners through a self-assessment to help identify and address potential risks to their well water.
“It’s great,” said Barron of all the appointments the centre has booked.
She said in the first few weeks, centre water guide Grant Jones visited 13 properties in the Arthur and Kenilworth areas. His visits are to assist well owners in assessing their well and any factors influencing the quality of well water. The visit includes information on:
– upgrading and decommissioning wells using licensed contractors;
– testing well water for contaminants;
– upgrading or replacing failing septic systems;
– reducing contaminant sources;
– redirecting runoff away from wells; and
– water conservation
The most common problems seen by the water guides have been bacterial contamination, cracks in well casings, wells not up to the provincial standards and wells located too close to barnyards and septic systems.
Barron said she checked with the MOE and learned there are 19,000 wells registered in Wellington County. The MOE provides information on wells free of charge and it has “a log of all the registered wells.”
She said when Jones visits a property he does a visual assessment and demonstrates a number of water testing techniques that people can use to test their water. Those include checking the septic system that might be too close for safety, or damaged, and a possible source of well contamination.
Barron added there have been instances where people used to municipal water systems move to a rural area and have no idea how to look after their well.
“They don’t know anything about it,” Barron said. She cited one client who found there was coliform in the well. “They didn’t know where to start.”
She added sometimes the problems are minor ones, such as an improperly capped well or a leaky seal.” She said minor repairs can often take care of problems.
“We’re trying to save well owners a large expense down the road,” Barron said.
People obtaining well assessments can usually have a report back within three days to a week. That report will include recommendations on how to bring a well up to standard and ways to minimize the possibility of contamination.
But Barron added that Jones is “not an inspector or enforcer. He is there as a resource. The information is absolutely confidential.”
A water guide will also help well owners learn to check their water.
They will teach proper water handling techniques for taking water samples. Those samples are analyzed for free through Wellington Dufferin Guelph Public Health.
There are numerous areas that are now taking part in the Well Aware program. Concerns for water and septage and manure handling all came about nearly ten years ago with the Walkerton water tragedy, where seven people died drinking contaminated water, and thousands got sick. Since then the provincial government has been taking steps to secure safe water.
Municipalities are forced to meet ever-stringent standards, and rural areas are coming under scrutiny and being offered water protection programs.
Bruce County council in 2008 approved a partnership and funding request in support of the Well Aware Program. Wellington County visits are in full swing.
Well Aware has five key messages:
– protect the source;
– maintain the well;
– test the water;
– hire a licenced well contractor; and
– decommission any unused wells.
To book an appointment for a confidential, 90 minute visit through the Well Aware program, call the Elora Environment Centre at: 1-866-865-7337 or 519-846-8464, or visit www.ecee.on.ca for more information.
