Informative local workshop will help residents protect their drinking water.

Did you know a poorly maintained water well can put your water supply at risk? As a landowner, you’re responsible for looking after the water wells on your property. If you are one of the 600,000 rural Albertans who get their drinking water from a well, the key to ensuring your water is safe and secure is understanding how groundwater works, learning about your well and knowing how to properly maintain it.

Proper water well siting, construction, maintenance and abandonment will help protect your well from biofouling and contamination, save you costly repairs, and ensure your well water yields are sustained over many years.

Learn what you can do to protect your well at a free water well management workshop hosted by the County of Wetaskiwin (with technical expertise from Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, Alberta Environment and the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration) on March 31, 2009 in Millet. This hands-on, informative workshop is designed to help well owners better understand and manage their precious water supply.

Sign up for our free water well management workshop today. Please pre-register - so we can help you look up the drilling report for your well - by calling the Robbin Nikiforuk at the County of Wetaskiwin at: 780-352-3321 ext. 270

For more information or to register for this upcoming workshop please contact:

Robbin Nikiforuk
Phone: 780-352-3321 ext. 270
Mobile: 780-387-6182]
Email: rnikiforuk@county.wetaskiwin.ab.ca

Backgrounder – Protecting Your Water Well

A misunderstood resource

Despite its importance, many Albertans give little thought to groundwater and where it comes from. It is a common belief that groundwater comes from fast flowing underground rivers and lakes. This is not true. Groundwater is the water that fills the cracks and spaces between soil particles, sand grains and rock. An aquifer is simply a water-bearing zone in the ground where there are interconnected cracks and spaces (e.g. sand, gravel or fractured shale) that allow groundwater to move freely.

It is also a little known fact that groundwater and surface water are connected. In some areas groundwater can be a source of recharge for streams, lakes and dugouts. In other areas water from rivers, lakes, snowmelt and rain seeps into the ground, where it trickles downward until it reaches the water table. The water table is the point at which the ground is completely saturated with water. Below the water table, the spaces between every grain of soil and rock are completely filled with water.

Water, the great ‘dissolver’

Water is the world’s greatest solvent: it tries to dissolve everything it comes in contact with. This means manure, pesticides and fertilizers over-applied to lawns and fields can be carried by rain or snowmelt seeping down through the soil to the water table. Sewage from poorly maintained septic systems or spilled and improperly disposed-of chemicals can similarly seep into groundwater. 

If you have highly permeable soils on your land, such as sand or gravel, your groundwater could be at higher risk, because these soils are poor filters. Having abandoned or poorly constructed or infrequently maintained wells on your property is even more risky because such structures could be draining surface water and everything it carries directly into your aquifer. The water well management workshop offers all the information you need to protect and maintain your well.

For more information on water well maintenance contact:

The Ag-Info Centre
Toll free in Alberta: 780-310-FARM (3276)