Why Abandoned and Disused Wells Should be Professionally Sealed

Water tanks

Groundwater is one of our most precious resources. Thousands of people depend on it as their only source of drinking water. This is why there are laws regarding the construction and maintenance of wells, to keep the groundwater pure and uncontaminated. The whole process, from the drilling of the well, to the servicing and maintenance of the system, should be done by licensed professionals. Water well sealing too must ensure that the unused well does not become a conduit for contamination of the aquifer.

Groundwater is a precious resource
The earth is mostly water, but only about 1% of all the water on our planet is safe to use. The rest is either too salty, or unpotable, or trapped in the polar ice caps. Over the course of one year, the average American household uses 100,000 gallons of water, when you combine indoor and outdoor usage. The daily average water usage for each individual is about 100 gallons.
Thousands of people in the U.S. rely on groundwater for their water supply. All private wells use groundwater to provide water for homes for all drinking, cooking and cleaning uses. For the entire planet, the total amount of groundwater is estimated to be around 2.78 million trillion gallons. This constitutes 30.1% of the all the freshwater on Earth.

Wells as a water source
Wells have been used by humans for thousands of years. Throughout this history, until just about a hundred years ago, they were dug by hand. Now well digging services use mechanized drills used to dig down to the groundwater. Some wells can be more than one thousand feet in depth, and mechanical pumps are needed to bring the water up to ground level.
As many as 15million households use well water for their water supply. This makes it important to ensure that the groundwater stays pure and uncontaminated. It is the well owner?s responsibility to keep foreign materials and surface water from entering the well and contaminating the well and the ground water aquifer. Water well sealing of abandoned and disused wells also serves the same purpose.

Water well sealing prevents groundwater contamination
There are strict laws concerning the sealing of water wells that are no longer in use. Water well sealing helps to ensure that contaminants will not enter the groundwater by way of the unused well, and that it will not become a hazard for children and pets. Water well sealing is a complex process and should be done by licensed professionals.
Wells that have been abandoned or that are no longer functional can be dangerous for a number of reasons. If polluted water like rainwater or runoff from farms enters the well, it will contaminate the aquifer and impact the drinking water supply of millions of people. This is why the law holds well owners responsible if their abandoned or non-functioning wells contaminate neighbors? wells. Water well sealing helps to address these problems.

Well drilling services also provide a range of related services like water tanks and sump pump installation and maintenance. When it comes to water related services, from well digging to water well sealing, it?s best to call in the professionals who have the knowledge, experience, tools and machinery to do the job right.