Boyblue
Member
I have a rental property with 12 units supplied by a shallow well. The waste goes into a septic tank with what we call a soakaway, which is a covered pit with no side walls that allows the water level to rise and fall with the tide. The well is more than 50' from any cesspit (what we call the septic tank and soakaway system) which is the minimum required by law, but somehow the water is contaminated.
Options are:
1) a drain well to replace the soakaway. The drain well will take waste water down 120 feet or more, to a level where there would be nothing seeping into the supply well, the cost of a drain well is $4,500.00. The added benefit of this option is that bi-monthly pumping [$170.00] would be virtually eliminated. The down side is, I am fairly certain that the contamination is coming from our well, but if it isn't then we will have spent $4,500.00 and not solved the problem.
2) We could deepen the supply well and case the top 15 feet (the depth of the current well) the layer known to be contaminated. This would avoid current contamination from all directions including any unknown wells in the area. This would cost only $1,000.00.
3) We could add a second well and draw from both or alternate between them.
Options are:
1) a drain well to replace the soakaway. The drain well will take waste water down 120 feet or more, to a level where there would be nothing seeping into the supply well, the cost of a drain well is $4,500.00. The added benefit of this option is that bi-monthly pumping [$170.00] would be virtually eliminated. The down side is, I am fairly certain that the contamination is coming from our well, but if it isn't then we will have spent $4,500.00 and not solved the problem.
2) We could deepen the supply well and case the top 15 feet (the depth of the current well) the layer known to be contaminated. This would avoid current contamination from all directions including any unknown wells in the area. This would cost only $1,000.00.
3) We could add a second well and draw from both or alternate between them.