What do you know about your water well? If you wanted to find out about your water well, what type of information would be helpful? Here is a checklist that may help you gather and organize your Water Well System.
- Find your well log and get acquainted with the information about your Water Well System. You can search for your well log information at the following link for Montana: Montana's Ground-Water Information Center and review information about Well Drilling in Montana at the DNRC Montana connection.
- Find out about your well pump, it's age, and if possible, the year it was installed.
- Inspect your system for either a pressure tank, or a pressure pump. Some are located in basements, utility rooms, well houses and often in a pit in the ground next to the well to protect the system from freezing.
- Check the well casing and make sure it's 12 to 18" above the ground and that there is no negative drainage towards the casing. (You don't want nasty stuff running into your drinking water well from the ground)
- Check any filters and change them based on water flow and sediment buildup.
- Remember, water comes out of the earth, all of those things in the earth can get caught up in your well, including methane gas!
- Make sure your well is strategically separated from your septic drainfield, (at least 100 feet) and your neighbors drainfield. Your local County Sanitation Department can help you identify and manage the type and location of drainfields.
- Do you have a water right to your well? It usually runs with the land, but if you do not, you should get a right to the water. The DNRC Montana Connection is a good place to find out information about water rights in Montana.
- Test your well water for Coliform Bacteria every so often, especially if your well has tested positive in the past. There is a testing guideline available @ well water testing guidelines.
About 47% of the U.S. population depends on ground water for it's drinking water source. Learn about it, protect it!
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